Dropping a sack of groceries into the backseat, Eugene slid behind the wheel and started driving again.He didn’t stop until they’d reached the outskirts of town.Cutter recognized the low slope of Lampett Peak directly before them.Directly before that was a dirt pile that was muddy and deserted in the rain.Even with the windows up, the scent of wet earth seeped into the car.
“I was ten years old when my daddy found the first crystal,” Eugene began, sitting back in his seat and stretching his long legs as best he could.“It wasn’t here.It was over by Mount Blue.He thought it was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, but he didn’t know what to do with it.So he took it down to Boston and sold it for piddling little, and it never occurred to him to look for more.It occurred to me, though.I used to spend all my free time walkin’ around, kickin’ at the dirt, keepin’ my eyes peeled for another one.I kept thinkin’ that was an easy enough way to make money, and that we could sure use the money.We were poor as church mice.”
Cutter couldn’t imagine that.For as long as he could remember, Eugene had been rich.He didn’t always act rich—he still hung around with his old friends—but he had the kind of confidence that came from knowing he was set for life.Cutter couldn’t picture him without that confidence.
“Year after year,” Eugene went on, “I used to dream of finding more of that stuff.From the time I was little on up into my twenties, I was working at Grady’s, doin’ whatever needed to be done, but they were nearly as badoff as the rest of us.So they couldn’t pay much, and my daddy was goin’ blind, and my mama was takin’ care of my older brother, who was sick, too.Things were looking pretty bad, but since everyone was kind of in the same boat, it didn’t matter so much.We laughed about what we didn’t have.There was a group of us used to sit around on the bench in the center of town and dream about makin’ lots of money.I kept most of my own dreams to myself, because they seemed crazier than the rest.
“Then in the fall of ’32, the rains came.It was the tail end of a hurricane, they said, and even though we didn’t get the winds, we got three days of driving rain.The sun was out about a week before I had a chance to get back to Blue.The rain had carved a big gouge out of the side of the hill.And there they were.”
“Just lying out there in the sun?”Cutter asked.He’d seen pictures in town of the Peary Necklace—everyone around was big on tourmaline since it supported the town—and was trying to imagine a hole with emerald-green stones sticking up for anyone to take.
“Not just lying there.Not like you think.Tourmaline comes buried in pockets of pegmatite.Once in a while, natural erosion will be enough to expose a crystal, but usually you have to know what you’re looking for in order to find it.That was where I had the advantage over most others in these parts.I knew what I was looking for.First thing I did was to stake my claim.Next thing I did was to learn more about the stone.I wanted to know how much there was around here and whether it was in demand.I wasn’t about to let it go for next to nothin’ the way my daddy did.”
Cutter thought a bit facetiously of the big house in town and the one he figured to be just as big in Boston.He thought about the car and the fine leather wallet, the money Eugene had taken out of that wallet and the money that no doubt remained.“You sure didn’t do that.”
Eugene turned a sharp eye his way.“I worked hard for what I got.I took those stones out, as many as I could, and cleaned them up, then went looking around for the best buyers.And when I had all that arranged, I came right back up here and went looking for more.”
“Why wasn’t half the county lookin’ along with you?”Cutter asked.He sure as hell would have been.If he’d been living at the time of the gold rush, he’d have been on his way to California as soon as word of the first lode came in.
“Because I had the sense that they didn’t.I had the organization.I knew about tourmaline, knew how it was formed and where it was goin’ to be found.By that time, I also had the chain set up to get the stones to market for top dollar.Tourmaline isn’t as valuable as diamond.One stone won’t make a fellow rich.The odd stone that’s picked up may make someone a little money, but it’s only on the larger scale of keeping a steady supply flowing into the market that the money comes.So I hired all my friends to work for me, and I guaranteed them the living they couldn’t be guaranteed anywhere else.”
“You were that sure you’d keep finding the stones?”
“No.But I figured that a week’s wages was better than nothing, so I went week to week.And I’m still around.”He straightened in his seat, overlapping his hands on the top of the wheel.“We’re just about to open LampettPeak.That dirt is from the start of the mine.We’ve got to dig a whole lot deeper if we want to come up with much.I’m looking for help.”His hands slipped down.One closed around the keys, starting the engine again.The other steered the car around and back toward the main road.
Cutter watched him cautiously.He wondered if he’d been offered a job.He wasn’t sure he’d take it if it was.
As though anticipating the argument, Eugene said, “Your daddy worked for me for a while, but that wasn’t what killed him.What killed him was the booze.It rotted his mind so he couldn’t see straight or think straight.He started drinkin’ long before he went to work for me, long before he married your mama, long before they had you.”He paused, then said almost casually, “I didn’t see any bottles lying around your place.Were they stashed under all the mess?”
“You think I have to drink because my daddy did?”
“I don’t know.Do you?”
“If I don’t have money for food, how would I get money for booze?”
“People who want it find it.”Eugene darted him a look.“Don’t you want to tell me what a big man you are and how well you hold your liquor?”
Cutter turned his face to the window.“What’s the point?”he muttered.“You’ve seen me with my pants down.”
“You got some problem in that department, too?”
“I got no problem!”
“Lots of women?”
Cutter snorted.“Sure.”
“Clean yourself up a little, and you will.You’re not a bad-looking guy.Eat some, and you’ll fill out.Put on a little weight.Give your body a chance to grow into itself.”
Cutter snorted again.He was getting uncomfortable with talk about his body.Coming from Eugene, it had a ring of truth.“Look, are you goin’ to drive me over to the jail, or aren’t you?”
“Haven’t you figured that one out yet, boy?”
“You’re not?”
Eugene didn’t answer.Without another word, he drove back to Cutter’s place.Only when he’d stopped the car did he speak again.“Do you want a job?”
“I don’t know.”
