The bed was comfortable, laying on it on my back for a change, ashtray on my stomach and without any clothing. I was just staring at the ceiling, thinking.
Why was sex with Miss Mary-Beth so exciting? Was it the adultery? Was it the fact that she was relatively inexperienced? Maybe because she wasn't Prudence and that made her new and different after all these years?
I sighed, blowing smoke toward the ceiling.
I'd picked that habit up quick again. Like no time had passed.
When I'd been burning hot during my nervous breakdown I'd gotten back into eskrima too. Now that I was allowed to exercise again, I was seriously thinking about starting from the beginning and working my way up. That meant I'd need to see if I could buy a training dummy and some rattan sticks.
I sighed, exhaling slowly.
The odd thing is, once I'd gone on to take over my own site I hadn't really kept going with the eskrima. Miranda had been put on Tony's crew, which meant I really had nobody to push me to improve my skills. I'd been all right at it, nothing like Heather or Foster. Jesus, Foster. He'd been amazing at it to the point where the only people that really pushed him was Miranda and Heather. I hadn't even been as good as Tony. When his leg was blown out. And his shoulder. And his left eye.
Once I got out of the military, I hadn't bothered with a single kata.
Until I heated up and into a meltdown.
I put out the cigarette and lit another thinking about it.
I wasn't planning on fighting, and I wasn't going to try to be competitive, but doing eskrima to stay in shape might be all right. It wasn't a thing John Bomber did, but it did sound like something that Sam English would do just to stay in shape.
My recovery had given me some time, unintended, to create my new persona.
Sam English was outed as being a Silver Star and Purple Hearth winner. Thanks for that, Gary. It had gotten around, thanks to my license plates and gossip, that I was permanently disabled. Everyone had found out I'd rebuilt an entire house, mostly by myself, in a little over a week. I was friendly, had a Texan accent, and had a tendency to be somewhat formal with the ladies of the tonw.
I sighed, reflected on what I'd put forward to everyone.
So, Sam English was a bit of a homebody. A hard worker who had a tendency to throw himself fully into a project and was capable of high levels of dedication to a project or goal.
The Silver Star silently attested to that.
The odd thing was, is I was entirely free to do what I wanted.
Which is something I wasn't used to.
When I'd been John Bomber every day was arranged for weeks in advance. Where I would be going, how I would be getting there, who I wanted to meet and greet, what I would be wearing. Hell, even what I was going to eat was scheduled and planned out.
Was that's why I was enjoying cooking and just sitting around?
I tried to think of any hobbies I had.
Two cigarettes later and I realized I couldn't think of a single hobby I had.
Jesus, had I put that much of myself into increasing the Bomber Family Legacy?
I play a lot of video games
Miss Lily-Rylee had made it sound like she would be on the computer or on the game console every waking hour if she had her way.
I got up, picking up the ashtray, and walking into the computer room. I hit the power button, set down the ash tray, and went and poured myself a glass of koolaid. By the time I got back in the computer was booted up and waiting on me.
Damn. That was quick.
I remembered what Miss Lily-Rylee told me she played a lot of late at night, looked at the papers she'd left me, and found she'd made me an account and downloaded it already for me. I logged on, found out I needed a subscription, and bought a month long one.
While it was updating I started going through the site, reading the documentation. Skills, how to level, maps (which I printed out), the races, the classes, details on the world. I sat and read player opinions on the official web-site, which led me to another site with something called a wiki, which apparently was a branching link data site, with stats on the game that didn't match what was on the official site. I checked the dates where I could and figured out what information I should be able to trust.
Apparently, the whole world was divided between two factions and if I wanted to explore the whole world I'd need to have a character on each side. No problem.
By the time I was done reading enough documentation I felt comfortable playing the game it had been updated for a while. I logged in, followed my plan, built a character, and lost myself in a virtual world for a while.
When stretched, yawning, I looked at the clock and realized I'd stayed up till nearly four in the morning, completely lost in a video game. Hell, I'd been fishing of all things.
That made me laugh at myself. I logged out, shut down the computer, and went to bed.
I dreamed of swirling colors and disjointed sounds.
When I woke up, I took a shower, ate breakfast, and stared at the computer. It was tempting to go back to exploring, but then remembered I'd had a plan for the day. I got dressed, went out to the shop and grabbed a machete, and headed off into the across the lawn.
The woods were cool, despite the morning's mugginess. Insects buzzed around me as I headed back toward the creek. First thing that went through my mind was that the brush needed cleared. It was a fire hazard with lots of dead underbrush and fallen trees and branches.
The creek was a ways back, with another acre of property beyond it, and was a lot nicer than I expected. The water was dark and murky, as well as slow moving. I tossed a few twigs into the water, judging the water speed, and figured it had to be running deep. I could see the ripples now and then from fish nipping at the surface and there was some nice shadows moving down in the murky parts of a slow corner that was slowly eroding into a pond. The creek was about ten feet of water across the surface for most of the length on my property, but that corner was nearly thirty feet wide and fifty feet long.
A nice spot.
I sat down on a log, picking at the moss and tossing it into the water, watching as it moved.
More than once a shadow would pull the moss down.
There was some nice fish in here.
I was careful to not leave any trace of the cigarette I smoked. I got up and headed back to the house, marking my trail on my way back. I was careful not to mark any living trees. From the way Miss Mary-Beth had made it sound, I'd need to have the forestry service come out and take a look at the land to see what I could cut and what I couldn't.
Endangered species maybe?
My house was cool inside and I poured myself a glass of koolaid. I went back out to the back deck and sat down to look at the forest around my house.
I had planned on mowing the lawn, but it was still pretty flat and even. No hurry there.
I was used to cattle nibbling the grass down flat.
My list of things to do was pretty short, so I finished my koolaid, went inside, and did the house-work. Laundry, dishes, vacuum, sweep, make the bed.
Once I was done I watched a movie and had to admit, special effects were a lot better than they had been the last time I really watched movies. Some of them I could barely tell the difference. The big thing I saw was that apparently they'd finally gotten Lord of the Rings onto the big screen. I made a mental note to watch it, then got up and went into the computer room.
Next thing I knew, it was dark already. I'd spent the entire afternoon on a video game, chatting with other players and exploring the digital world.
As I went into the front-room I shook my head. It would be real easy to completely lose track of time and get addicted to the game. Already I was tempted to go back in and log in for just a few more hours, maybe one more mission, maybe one more dungeon.
It made me smile and reminded me of playing the text adventure games, looking at the clock, and thinking to myself: OK, just one more command and I'll go to bed.
Curious, I looked in the phone book and saw there was actually a tavern in the town. I got my keys, locking the door three times, and head out to my truck. I started it up, turned around, and rolled the window down before sticking my arm out the door and relaxing.
The night air was cool, if a little humid, but it felt good as I drove down the winding road that led to town. There was something about living this far away from town but not owning everything in sight. Something nice.
I liked seeing other people's houses have the lights on and knowing they were just in there, living their lives. People with their wives, husbands, kids, just normal everyday life.
There was a slight twinge of pain at the reminder that I didn't have that any more.
because Pru is dead
I pushed the anger down and away. Ignoring it.
Town was dark, not even a stoplight, just stoplights at the crossroad in the middle of town. I hung a right and headed down the road till I saw the tavern. I was an older, brick building with a lot of cars in the parking lot next to it. I pulled in, took a deep breath, put out the cigarette, and got out of the truck.
I locked and unlocked it three times before heading into the bar.
It wasn't what I expected. I hadn't been in a normal bar since before I'd married Pru. Married life doesn't really leave a person time to hang out in the club. Once I was out of the military I hadn't gone to clubs because I didn't have the time.
The Blue Creek Bear Tavern was a nice place. Good hardwood floors, polished bars and tables, three pool tables, plenty of round four chair tables with good spacing, a jukebox in the back, a stage for a band and a small dance floor, and nicely polished bar. I could see there was a single bartender and barmaid, both of them looking busy as they worked.
I went in and sat down in one of the empty stools, taking out my wallet and waiting. I took off my Stetson and set it on the bar, pulling the pack of cigarettes and the Zippo out of my pocket and setting them next to it. It took a bit for the barmaid to come down. She looked at me, raising an eyebrow at the sight of me in a flannel shirt with a bolero.
"Whatcha want?" She asked me.
"Got juice or ice-tea?" I asked, smiling.
She gave me an odd look. "Got cans of ice-tea if you want one. They're a buck."
I pulled out a five-spot and gave it to her. She vanished and came back, looking depressed as she slid me the ones.
She probably figured I wasn't a tipper.
I smiled and slid her one of the dollars. "Sorry," I told her.
She smiled back, scooping the dollar up. "No problem," she cracked the ice-tea and poured it into the cold frosty mug, tipping it to make sure it didn't foam up or anything.
She walked away and I lit myself a cigarette.
A large hand set down on the bar next to my hat.
"So you're that Texan guy that bought ol' crooked Mary-Beth's trailer," the guy said.
When I looked over I knew exactly what I was looking at.
Six foot, wide shoulders, heavy-set, scarred face with a bent nose covered in the broken veins of a long time drinker.
Well, I was from Texas, I knew how to handle this.
I smiled, holding my hand out, "Sam English," I said, smiling at him. He took my hand out of reflex and I just gave it two pumps with a firm grip, no knuckle-crushing. "Nice to meet you, Mister..."
I let trail off.
"Bubba," he said, looking a little surprised. "Bubba Coldwren."
I pointed at his beer, which was mostly full. "I'd offer to buy you one, but it looks like yer doin' good already," I smiled. I gave a sigh. "Nice of you to come over, I was feeling a mite outta place," I told him. I slapped the empty seat next to me. "Have a seat, Mister Coldwren."
The guy was really off balance. I knew he'd come over to feel me out for a fight, but I didn't feel like fighting anyone any more.
Bubba sat down.
"So where you work?" I asked.
He ducked his head slightly. "Down at the scrap yard in Richmond," he said. It was obvious he was embarrassed by the job.
"Good honest work there, Mister Coldwren," I told him. "I used to work in the mill myself."
"Hey, Bubba, you coming back or not?" A scrawny guy yelled.
"Can't you see I'm talking here?" He yelled back, turning a little red.
The scrawny guy sat down.
"Lived here all your life, Mister Coldwren?" I asked.
He smiled, nodding.
I had it nice and deescalated.
As long as someone didn't fuck it up for me.