Page 60 of When The Noise Stops

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Thirty-eight."

"I don't know your mama's name. I don't know if you got brothers or sisters. I don't know what made you join the Marines. I don't even know what your favorite fucking food is, even though you seem to eat anything. What do you prefer?"

He shrugged.

"Food."

I sighed.

"What'd you want to be when you were little?"

"Mechanic."

I rolled my eyes.

"Tell me something personal."

He looked at the ceiling.

"My granny has a farm in Arkansas. It's my favorite place. I'd go in the summer because my mama got tired of me in the house and my daddy worked too much. Granny let me run. Burn off the energy. I remember running until my chest hurt. Catching crawfish in a ditch. She made me snap beans on the porch," he almost smiled.

"I never wanted to go home."

I watched his mouth.

"She still there?"

"Yeah. She's eighty-something now. Refuses to leave. I ride down there every few months, spend days with her. She fusses at me about leaving. I guess since my grandpa died when I was twelve, she got used to the quiet. When she wants company, she walks down the road to her best friend's house. They've known each other since they were twelve."

He stared at the ember.

"My mother was Anna. My father was Garrett. They died in 2008. Both of them at once. Car accident. I was overseas. By the time they got the word to me, the funeral was over. Granny did it. She said she wasn't waiting on the Marine Corps to decide when she could bury her child," he was quiet for a second.

"I hadn't seen them in almost four years. I live with that guilt."

There weren't any words that would fix that, so I changed the subject.

"What's your granny's name?"

"Her name is Granny."

I stared at him.

He stared at me. He really didn't know that woman's name.

I nudged him.

"I'll ask her when I ride down with you next time."

"I didn't invite you."

I shrugged.

"You're my friend like Ronny. If Ronny goes somewhere and I want to go, I just go. Are you going to tell me no?"

He set the blunt in the ashtray I kept for Ronny.