A Visit With An Old Love

Morning found Harmon in the forest, standing ankle-deep in the cool water of a stream. He coaxed a fish out from under a rock with his bare hands, quick as a striking snake. A few feet away, his small snares held two rabbits, just as he'd set them the night before in the brush. By noon, he’d gathered wild onion, a handful of fiddle-head ferns, and enough firewood to cook by sundown. Harmon lived off what nature gave him, taking only what he needed. What little cash he needed or wanted from town was earned as a hunting guide. No one knew the mountains as well as Harmon. He knew where the game was and, just as important, where it wasn’t. He didn't make much money guiding hunters to where it wasn’t. He didn't get a tip for that, but the money was enough for his needs, such as they were. He thought, if they need as guide to find meat, they should die of hunger.

He went into town to get a real meal at a real restaurant with real people to serve him and cook for him. It was Dill’s Diner. To be truthful, it was a real dive, but Harmon didn’t know that. Compared to his usual meals and to how things should be, Dill’s Diner was like a four-star restaurant. It had as many stars as Chappy, the owner, claimed for it. Chappy didn't have any competition to worry about. His diner was all the choice you had in town. The outsiders were most of his customers. They paid up, whethere they liked the meal or not. The few townies that ate there didn't count.. They believed that whole thing about" just like home-cooking." He even did better than the rats—unless they were dead, really dead. But not by much. A normal rat wouldn't touch the food here. It had to be poison. The rats knew their business.

“Hi, Harmon. Down out of the hills, I see,” May said to him. May and Harmon had a complicated history. They'd grown up in the same town and spent more than a few nights together over the years, neither admitting to any real feelings beyond the comfort and company it brought them both. She wasn't very pretty or well built, but she was easy to talk to, and Harmon found himself drawn to her honest laughter and sharp tongue. Despite what the folks around said, there was a warmth between them, something that hung around like smoke, hard to clear out, and left a mess behind. No man really wanted her, but Harmon did, even if he didn't quite know how to say it.He couldn't give her a tip. She was friendly, as people sometimes say about unattractive women. The men in the area, for their part, also resembled unattractive women.

“Yep, wanna real meal, served by a pretty lady,” Harmon said.

May was less than impressed. It was like being told you have a nice throat by a hungry vampire in the middle of the night..

“Well, take that booth there in the back, and I’ll be right with ya,” May told him.

“Nah, I don’t want to sit there. I want to sit up here so I can see out the window,” Harmon replied.

May wasn't having any of that.“Harmon, sit back there. I don’t care if you can see out the window or not. People can see in the window, and our reputation ain’t that much to begin with. Plus, I can seat people away from you,” May told him firmly.

“Now, why’s that, May?” Harmon asked. He really didn’t know.

“Harmon, there’s an old saying that folks can’t smell their stink. I don't know that's true, but others can. You ain’t exactly a breath of fresh air, ya know,” May informed him.

“Well, maybe I do smell a bit ripe,” Harmon agreed.

“As ripe as three-day-old roadkill. You never used to come to me smelling the way you do. You could at least take a bath before ya come ramblin’ into town. I bet I’m the only woman in town who talks to you. That’s only ‘cause I gotta. I bet the hookers turn you down,” May went on.

Well, he wasn’t going to admit that. He wasn’t going to admit to going to hookers. There are some things money won’t buy. It,though, would buy a hooker. The town only had one. She could be ripe herself.Dang! Maybe taking a bath <i>might</i> be the thing to do. Maybe May would go out with him if he bathed, got some new duds, and had a haircut. Have to consider the odds on that. Have to consider if she was worth it. As she walked away, he watched her and decided she was worth it.

Harmon walked into the Lucky Day Motel. Harmon didn't see any rats but a couple of reoaches were running around the ceiling.The desk clerk looked at Harmon and put his foot next to the 911 button. He didn’t think that would do him any good, though. All it would do is let the cops see him sliced into small pieces. Yeah, a lot of good that is. Harmon gave a look sometimes. He also gave a certain look when you pissed him off.

“Y-y-yes, sir?”

“I want a room,” Harmon said. This was a motel. Harmon figured that out. He never got used to paying for a crummy room.

“A room? Here?” the clerk stammered. He could think of nothing this motel could offer. Even Polly the Pro wouldn't come here. He didn't have rats, which was a blessing. He did have people like Harmon, though. That scared him

“Yeah. This is a motel, ain’t it?” Harmon said. It was the only motel in town.He figured the odds were on his side.“Well, yes, sir, it is. If you fill this registration form out, I’ll get you a room.”

Harmon filled out the form, at least as much as he could.“I ain’t got a driver's license. I ain’t got plates on my truck neither, so I ain’t got no numbers there. This  part asks what card I want to use. I reckon you mean credit cards. I ain’t got one a them neither. I’m paying cash,” Harmon told the clerk.

“Cash?”

“Yeah, cash. You know, folding green. Well, I guess it could be a coin, if ya mean a silver dollar.Ain't got one of them, so it don't matter.You do take cash, dontcha?” Harmon went on.

“Yes, sir, it’s my policy. At least it is for now. Now, I can run a sort of, tab for you-”

“Then it’s all settled,” Harmon said.

The clerk wanted to step on the 911 button. He gave Harmon his key card. Then, after Harmon was out of sight, he sprayed the lobby with an air freshener. He saw that he should spray a little cockroaeHe wanted to take a shower too.

Harmon had stopped and bought new clothes on the way over. The store clerk had convinced him that he didn’t need to try them on. The clerk guaranteed they’d fit. The clerk thought that if they didn’t, they’d have to be burned anyway. Harmon took a long, long shower. He had to take the dirt, grime, and God knows what all . His hair alone took five washings. Harmon looked in the mirror and decided he needed a haircut. Well, dang! I can do this myself, he thought, so he did. He did it with his Bowie knife. He also shaved, not with the Bowie knife, though. It wasn’t that sharp. He even splashed on some kind of sissified stuff on his face. Wow! Now he did smell.

After getting dressed, Harmon took a look in the mirror. Didn’t recognize himself. Maybe May wouldn’t either. That could be a good thing. He thought he looked pretty good. He didn’t like the way he looked, but he did like the way May looked.

He went over to Dill’s Diner. At first, May didn’t know who he was. Then, when he told her, she laughed and told him he looked great. He looked handsome and sexy. She was thinking the hookers wouldn’t turn him down now. He went to see May.

“May, I want to take you out,” Harmon said.

“Harmon, I ain’t going out with you,”May said.

“Why not? I got all cleaned and spruced up. I did it for you, May,” Harmon told her.

“I know, Harmon, I know that,” May said very softly, “I just don’t want to go out with you, and I don’t think my husband would like it either.”

"You got hitch?Who did you marry? How come I wasn’t invited?”

“I married ‘No Fingers Charlie’. Didn’t want you there. I like him.’”

“I don't know, May. He being my cousin, he ain't that close by blood. Wouldn't be sinning, or that kind of thing.I mean that the Reverent Peabody would choke like being hanged by a hangman that ain't too good at it. You renumber when they hung Grady. He flopped around like he was given a hotfoot.”

“Yeah, I remember that. It wasn't fun. He looked awful, swinging away as he did. That damn chipmunk should have been shot. Oh, I guess he was kind of cute. Grady wasn't going to need his hair, and the chipmunks would make good with it. Wonder why they didn't take innards and sell them.”

“May, would you want to use any of organs?”

Noteable Quotes

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. Mark Twain

I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money. Pablo Picasso

A poor man is like a foreigner in his own country. Ali ibn Abi Talib

It is the poor man who'll ever count his flock. Ovid

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. Aristotle

A loving heart is the truest wisdom. Charles Dickens