The 'Cousins'

Chapter Ninety-Seven : A New Beginning

"I guess the bag got itself a bit too wet. Ma said it might do that and when we got here it did happen, just like she said it might. I think I got most o' the bad-boys that ran away."

Wayne laughed at the incongruity of the sight and with relief that nothing serious was amiss. Greg joined him with a shake of his head and a loud chuckle.

Ma saw the men standing gawping at her and with a large, audible intake of breath became the mother figure she was to all men who crossed her path.

"Get inside an' outta this rain. We is already wet enough fer us all. An' by the look o' what you got gripped to yo' chest Walt, there's more'n enough there for the four of us." With a final hoot of her infectious glee she pushed Wayne on the chest to encourage his movement inside and bent down to pick up the sack at her feet before pushing past him to waddle across to her stove; leaving a trail of muddy dampness on the floor in her wake.

Walt followed her to the stove, passing between the boys with a silly grin on his face and nodding as if in apology. He dropped the potatoes onto Ma's workbench,where they landed with a loud rumble. The four anxious, snatching hands of Ma and Walt prevented them rolling and falling to the floor. Ma looked up to see Greg and Wayne watching them and shook several glistening drops of rain at them from a damp, podgy finger.

"You boys got bizness to talk so you go set yoursels down at a table an' ah'll be bringin' yer supper in no time at all."

She busied herself pulling down pans from a rack, and rattled them on the stove, humming a haunting melody familiar to Greg from his school days. He racked his brains to put the name of 'Shenandoah' to it after a few seconds of deliberation. Ma bellowed to get them moving.

"Well go on then, set yoursels' down like I said."

Walt remained standing, dripping water that landed in tiny pools at his feet and smiled sheepishly at Ma. She brushed past him and bawled in his ear.

"Walt Kempster, What yo' think yo' doin' stannin' there like some doorman at Maceys...?"

The analogy amused her and she paused to emit another loud hoot of laughter before grabbing a towel drying on the bar of the oven door and pushed it into his midriff.

"You go dry yourself off an' then go sit down with the boys, just like I said to do, there's plenty here for the four o' us." She turned to raise her eyebrows in Wayne's direction. "Won't be no problem Walt joinin' you boys over there?" It was heard as a statement rather than a question.

"None at all Ma and Walt's right welcome to join us." Wayne pulled a chair over from the neighbouring table and ushered Walt towards it with a welcoming smile.

Wayne's cheerful invitation surprised Greg. They had serious business to discuss here tonight and he sat looking from Wayne to Walt and back again in bewilderment.

Wayne knew what he had done and Greg inadvertently gritted his teeth in dismay. There was surely no room for outsiders in these discussions. 'What the hell are you playing at now Wayne, you know we've got to be able to talk freely and openly tonight and we don't need to mask our words for outsiders.'

He sat looking at Wayne with smouldering eyes and mouth agape, wordlessly conveying the question running through his head.

Walt readily picked up on Greg's discomfort as he rubbed his face and hair dry on the towel. "It's okay Ma, but I've eaten a'ready tonight down at Wendy's."

"Tchaw! Wendy's? What you eat there? Somethin' made outta beef litter. Yo' is havin' a steak wi 'us all and no arguin'. Now set you down an' let me get me a' cookin'."

It was a command that disallowed argument. Ma turned her attention to her stove with yet another whoop of laughter and Walt ambled over to the table with self-conscious apology to sit down with Greg and Wayne.

"Sorry gentlemen, but I guess orders is orders? But if you are about to talk confidential business like, I guess I could persuade Ma to let me take a rain check on the steak."

The stern, fixed features on Greg's face made plain his thoughts that Walt's suggestion would be a good idea in the present circumstances.

Ma heard him and stopped humming, but before she could protest Wayne stood up with his face split by an enormous grin.

"No way, sit down and welcome Walt. There's nothin' we'll be sayin' in here that cain't be heard by Walt or anybody else here tonight. B'sides, bein' folks o' these parts you could be right helpful with suggestions since what we're talkin' about is animal manure, an' there seems to be a bit of it around in these parts...."

Greg interrupted. "I thought we were talking about setting up a bio-diesel plant, has that changed?"

"No, but we can talk about that over breakfast, before the truck arrives with the gear." Wayne drummed the table top with his fingertips to add emphasis to his words. You also got other things to do tonight before your meeting with Elbury tomorrow, so I want to keep this short and take this time to explain a few things to give you a better understanding of what you'll be readin' in the dossier I'll give you back at the motel." Wayne paused to give Greg a sideways glance before adding the afterthought. "You'll need to find time on top o' everythin' else you have do to read through it tonight."

Greg snorted, and his nostrils flared as a prelude to protest, but before he could argue Wayne turned to Walt. "Sit yourself down Walt, I'd welcome any of your thoughts on what we'll be talking about here t'night."

The smile on Walt's face broadened with reassurance as he pulled back the chair to sit down and settle himself at the table.

"I was on my way to see you Mr. Mitchell when I bumped into Ma and she tol' me you was in here, so I came on over to tell yer I've not long back seen young Jesse White comin' outta Harry's..."

Greg sat bolt upright in his chair and his voice carried through the room like a whiplash.

"Harry's? What's he doing in Harry's. Was he with those three apes of Felix Gleitner's. Was he okay"?

Walt chuckled and held up his hands against the onslaught of Greg's questions.

"One at a time Mr. Mitchell, one at a time if you please sir..."

Wayne sat back to watch Greg. The vehemence of the response upon hearing the boy's name coming from Walt adding further to his belief that Greg was more closely affected by Jesse White than he would admit - in spite of his earlier protestations otherwise.

Ma's comforting, mellifluous tones restored normality.

"Is everything okay over there?"

Greg realised he had over reacted and shuffled uneasily on his seat, and lowered his head towards the table to mumble. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay Ma, no troubles here." Walt turned his smile on Ma, adding a wave of his hand as she stood watching from the stove and swivelled around to answer Greg's questions.

"No sir, he was on his own and he was okay, looked to me like he was headin' back to the schoolhouse and in a bit of a hurry to get there. What he was doin' in Harry's is anybody's guess. There's a high old party goin' on over there. He was with the Silvers' boy when I seed 'em in Wendy's earlier. Now that boy's got hisself a reputation fer bein' somethin' of a maverick, but Jesse wasn't with those three you was frettin' yourself about, an' as fer them, as far as I could see, they seemed to be on some mission drivin' folks in and outta Harry's all night."

Wayne took charge of the conversation at that point.

"That's great. The boy's fine. Now let's get at it and get on. Time's movin' on an there's a bit to get through before we're done tonight."

With the salivating aroma of frying steak filling the room, Wayne held the undivided attention of the two men - and Ma.