WyzWmn's World©

the sound: Seals & Crofts – Hummingbird, SuperTramp – Fools Overture, Rory Gallagher – Secret Agent, the Beatles – Free as a Bird, Tom Waits – Waltzing Matilda, Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Philadelphia

Round about the time I remember to close my yap I hear Greybeard chuckle and tell Robert that he should ‘pay his debts’ as opposed to trying to wiggle outta them.

There’s a couple of tense moments while the 2 groups of men glare at each other and then Barnyard pipes up and invites them to a bbq.

Robert looks perturbed but agrees, and Greybeard nods his head and allows as he and the boys may be hungry after the long ride.

“There’s enough goat for everyone” Robert answers.

As if by magic there’s a full relaxation that comes across the group and almost immediately the tension leaves and these people start to talk and laugh and joke amongst each other.

Again I find myself gawping.

“Two minutes ago I expected gunfire and now they are sitting side by side at the fire discussing bbq technique….” I muss.

As I begin to relax I spot Rosie walking from the garage towards the fire and I make a beeline to head her off and get some answers. She laughs as I approach and tells me that I look like a woman on a mission. I admit that I am and that I want more info. She sighs and agrees that maybe I do need some background then ushers me into the big barn like garage so that we won’t be overheard.

We settle onto a couple of shop stools and both of us light a smoke in silence, then I start with something eloquent…”what the fuck was that all about??”

“What?” she asks, playing stupid.

“that’s the second near shoot out between those two in two days…what the fuck is up with that?…And now they’re sitting there like brothers cos there’s food? Come on!”

Rosie shakes her head and smiles as she says…”They are sitting there like brothers because they are brothers….birth brothers not just blood or riding bro’s.”

I’m gawping again…I just know it. “Well what’s all this shit about debt? And what was in those saddle bags? And why does Robert keep referring to me as if I was a product? And how the hell did BarnYard get away with suggesting supper?”

Rosie laughs as she gets up and walks across the end of the garage to the an old “Coke” cooler…the kind that with the sliding doors on top and slots to hold the bottles by the neck…she reaches in and pulls out a beer “want one?” she asks before she continues.

“Sure…as long as you start talking…I’m like to have a cardiac trying to figure all this shit out” is my reply.

Rosie brings me a beer and settles down again. “Robert and Grey are brothers, hard to imagine considering how different they look, same mamas, different daddies. There’s someone else here that’s their family too…betcha can’t figure out who?”

“I don’t really care…except to say that it’s likely Barnyard cos he’s too stupid to get away with some o the shit he does and says.”

“Right on the money!” Rosie replies….”Grey….Barnyard and Robert…are 3 of 13 kids….7 boys, 6 girls, 3 fathers. Irish Catholic, and as tough as the day is long. Story has it that the first person to shoot Robert was Greybeard and that was over a fight they had over Barnyard…who’s the baby.” Grey’s the eldest and BY’s the baby and there’s 11 more of them in between….betcha also didn’t know that all 3 of them boys are my brothers?”

“Brothers? yours? waitafuckinminute! Didn’t you tell me yesterday that Robert owns the bar and alla you? What the fuck is up with this place? Can’t I get a straight answer outta anyone?”

Rosie laughs at me again…”yer quick on the uptake little girl. Robert does own us…he’s now the ‘father’ in our family…at least he is since Grey left us.”

“Ok…Grey’s yer oldest brother and Robert lands somewhere in between, and he gets to treat you like he does cos Grey left?”

“Right again” she says as she takes another pull on her beer. “Once our last daddy died and it became clear that Momma wasn’t gonna be able to keep us all together we started working towards makin the family some money…each in our own way.”

“Well,” I harrumphed, “if my brother tried to turn me out to flat back, he’d find himself sitting in a puddle of his own blood.”

“Be careful with your mouth little girl, don’t let it take you places that you have no knowledge of.” Rosie said as she set down her beer bottle, rose and walked out of the garage.

the sound: Led Zeppelin – Communication Breakdown

The smell of wood smoke brought me back to the present and I looked up in time to see Robert lean across the fire and pour some of the ever present bottle of Jack on the barbequing goat meat.

This would be a meal I wouldn’t soon forget.

As the hangover began to leave me I became aware enough of my surroundings to realize that there were likely four times as many people here this evening as there had been the day before. And even as the thought crossed my mind I heard the sound of motorcycles coming towards us and looked up the hill to see a dozen or so more bikes come over the crest of the hill.

Robert looked up and the smile left his face. I looked around me to see the uncomfortable almost nervous movements of the people around me.

“Now what?” I wondered.

The bikes came towards us and I slowly began to understand that these were people that I’d seen before…it was that Greybeard guy that had been at ‘the Dump’ the day before.

There was a rustle of movement around me as the women seemed to virtually slip back into the darkness and men stepped forward in several large groups around Robert.

I looked, and looked again seeing, as if for the first time, Rosie and her ‘macdaddy’ first aid kit standing between the men. It was then that I realized that every one of the men that I could see was armed.

With the realization that everyone was packing also came the understanding that I was the only person not armed that was still in plain view of everyone around the fire pit.

I held my breath, afraid to move with the thought that movement would only attract attention to my being out in the open as Greybeard and his men came to a stop in front of the barn like garage. Slowly they dismounted and turned towards Robert and the fire.

“Evening Robert” Greybeard started as I realized that, all of Greybeard’s men were armed too.

“this could get really messy” I thought as Robert nodded in response to Gregbeard’s greeting.

“Once again Robert, you know why I’m here?”

Robert nods and glances over his shoulder. At his glance 4 women materialize out of the darkness each of them carrying a pair of motorcycle saddlebags obviously filled to capacity. They scurry up between Robert and his men and Greybeard and his men and deposit the bags on the ground.

The quiet of a group this size was ominous, had there been a floor one could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

“how much?” asked Greybeard

“50 thousand” came Robert’s reply.

“not even half!” snorts the man to Greybeard’s immediate left and his men began to shift and lean forward.

Greybeard shakes his head slightly and their movement stops as he leans forward, “I told you what the price was…and I gave you the timeline…”

A slow smile spreads across Robert’s face as he points towards the big tree that I’m leaned against. “She’s here for the taking” he replies.

The fire crackles and I gawp as I realize that the ‘she’ he’s talking about is me.