1969
Grunt had been living at the motel for a couple of months when Grizz said to him one day, “C’mon, kid. Let’s go for a ride.”
“On your motorcycle?” Grunt asked excitedly.
“No, we’ll take one of the cars.”
“Okay, let me check on something real quick.” Grunt hurried off.
Grizz shook his head. He watched as the boy went into Misty’s room. Why the kid gave a damn about Misty was beyond Grizz’s understanding. Enough time had passed. She had healed and was fine. Grunt could be a mystery.
Grizz headed toward the cars he kept parked on the far side of the office. He wouldn’t be taking his red convertible Mustang. With its loud engine and shiny chrome wheels, he’d stick out like a sore thumb. He wouldn’t take the Cadillac either. Just a little too classy for where he was going. Might get noticed. He settled on the average-looking four-door sedan. He didn’t say anything when Grunt climbed in the passenger seat.
“Where are we going?” Grunt asked.
“To check on a friend’s daughter.”
Grizz then turned on the radio at almost full volume. The kid was a talker and he just wasn’t in the mood for conversation. A couple of miles before they reached their destination, Grizz glanced over at the kid. Grunt. That was his new name and it was starting to stick. He turned the radio volume down.
“Friend of mine died a few years back. Left behind a daughter. Her mom and stepdad aren’t real stable. Kind of neglect her. I made a promise before he died that I would step in when I could and just keep an eye on things. Make sure she’s being taken care of.”
Grunt didn’t say anything at first. Grizz could tell that he was thinking. Finally, he said, “What do her mom and stepdad think about you checking on their daughter?”
This surprised Grizz. The kid was perceptive.
“They don’t know. And it’s not something I can do myself. Besides, when the hell would I have time?” He glanced over at Grunt. “Mavis keeps an eye on her for me. Just tells me when she thinks I need to do something. That’s why we’re checking on her today.”
Mavis was an older woman who did the bookkeeping for the couple of bars Grizz owned. They were his only legitimate businesses and the older woman had grown on Grizz. Mavis was rail thin and overly tanned. She had short cropped bleached blonde hair and the kind of gravelly voice that came with sixty years of chain-smoking. Grizz had realized early on that Mavis could be trusted and was only too eager to take on the role of Gwinny’s guardian angel. A widow with no children and no family, she had worked at a convenience store near The Red Crab. Grizz used to go in all the time to buy cigarettes. He didn’t remember exactly how the friendship started. Probably Mavis first engaged him in small talk, knowing her. Later, he found out through casual conversation that she’d run an accounting business with her husband before they retired. Her talents were being wasted behind a cash register. Offering Mavis a job was one of the best decisions he’d ever made. She used the office at The Red Crab and was dearly loved by even the roughest characters.
Not just that, but Mavis was also more than happy to insinuate herself into Gwinny’s life. She managed to get a part-time job at Gwinny’s elementary school, as the cashier in the cafeteria line, and was loved by all of the children. It was one way she could keep an eye on the little girl and strike up an occasional conversation with her without being obvious. Mavis looked forward to the days she got to work at the cafeteria. She loved not just Gwinny, but all of the kids. Except for one. She was having a hard time warming up to the school bully. As she said, that Curtis Armstrong was a troublemaker.
Grunt gave Grizz a questioning glance. “How do you check on her without anybody knowing it?”
“I thought it would be hard, but the sad truth is, this little girl is so alone nobody has ever noticed me. And I think I’m kind of noticeable. But the few times Mavis told me something was up and I’ve had to see for myself, I’ve been able to stay in the background.” He didn’t know why, but he felt prompted to continue. “Mavis told me one day that something was wrong. She suspected that Gwinny wasn’t being fed much at home. She was getting her free school lunch, but kept asking for seconds to take with her.”
Grunt looked at him. “Her name is Gwinny?”
“Yeah. Her name is Gwinny.” He paused reflectively, subconsciously tugging on his beard before continuing. “Gwinny walks up to the convenience store once a day, like clockwork. One day after Mavis told me her concern, I decided to just hang out there, lay low, see if I could figure out what was going on. That day I saw her go into the store with a brown bag. She came out still holding the same bag and she looked upset. I went in after she left, and the lady behind the counter looked upset, too. I asked her if something was wrong. She said she felt awful because the little girl who’d just left was trying to sell some of her personal things to buy food.”
“Why didn’t her parents feed her?”
“I thought they did, but I guess they were gone so much, they ate at the bar they hung out at and would forget to make sure she had food.” Grizz gripped the steering wheel. “It really pissed me off. It bothered the clerk at the store, too, because she told me she was a working mother and didn’t even have a dollar to give her. And to make matters worse, the little money Gwinny did have, she used to buy her mom cigarettes.”
“So what did you do? Did you help?” Grunt’s eyes were wide.
“Yeah.” Grizz shrugged. “I got Mavis to start leaving a bag of groceries on their doorstep here and there. One time I left a bag by the door myself when I knew nobody was around.”
This shocked Grunt. He couldn’t imagine Grizz grocery shopping. Grizz must have read his mind and gave Grunt a half smile. “I had the girls get some extra stuff when they went shopping. I was just the deliveryman. And I only did it once when Mavis couldn’t.”
“Are we delivering groceries today?” Grunt asked as he turned around and eyed the back seat. He didn’t see anything.
“No, Mavis said things have gotten better since then.”
“So she looks like she’s getting fed?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I haven’t actually seen her in over two years. But I’m sure Mavis would’ve told me. Besides, she’s older now and I guess she makes sure she gets money from her parents. Mavis said she used to walk to the grocery store because it’s cheaper. But it’s a lot farther away than the convenience store.” Grizz looked at Grunt a little sheepishly before he told him, “I bought her a bicycle. Left it when nobody was around. I guess her parents think the neighbors must be helping out. They honestly don’t seem to give a shit.”
Grunt smiled up at Grizz. “You bought her a bike or you got someone else to buy her a bike?”
“Mavis picked it out. What the hell would I know about a girl’s bicycle? Mavis outdid herself. It was purple with a sparkly banana seat and tassels on the handlebars. The whole nine yards,” he laughed.
What Grizz didn’t tell Grunt was that it never occurred to him that Gwinny had nobody to teach her how to ride it. Mavis mentioned her skinned knees and elbows a few weeks after he left the bike. But she eventually got the hang of it and was able to fit a small grocery bag in the basket. He was glad she was using it. He still couldn’t believe her parents let her ride that far to the grocery store on her own. She was still only nine.
Grunt interrupted his thoughts. “Your friend would be happy to know you’re looking out for his daughter.”
Grizz didn’t answer him and wouldn’t meet his eyes. The kid seemed just perceptive enough to detect that he was lying. Gwinny wasn’t the daughter of a friend who’d died. She was just a little girl who’d offered him a kindness once and he was trying to anonymously return the favor the best way he knew how. He never did use the bandages she’d handed him that day outside of the convenience store, but he’d kept them. They meant something to him.
That day, those bandages—it was the first time he ever remembered someone giving him something without expecting something in return.
Grunt looked up and realized they were at the end of a cul-de-sac. He hadn’t been paying attention to where they were going. Grizz was turning around. Eventually they edged slowly past a house with thick hedges along its driveway. Grizz went past it just a little, then backed far up into the driveway, hidden from sight. He cut the engine and looked at a house across the street to their left. It was two houses down from the one they were facing.
He pointed. “That’s where she lives.”
Grunt looked over the dashboard and strained to peer above the hedges that were camouflaging the car. He didn’t see her. He looked at Grizz questioningly.
“Mavis said the school bus should be dropping her off at the end of the block.”
Just then, Grizz was interrupted by a loud noise. A lawn cutting service had been unloading their gear at the house next to Gwinny’s when they first drove past. They had just started up their equipment and were now busily mowing the lawn, using an edger and trimming up some bushes. The smell of fresh cut grass mixed with gasoline from the lawn equipment wafted into the car.
Grizz continued, “I’ve never watched her house, but Mavis told me this lawn service is new. I don’t know if these guys realize she’s alone. I just want to make sure they’re not gonna cause trouble for her. She’s so vulnerable.”
Grunt looked back toward Gwinny’s house. A little girl was making her way down the street, ponytail swaying. She walked with long, deliberate strides. He gulped back his surprise as his eyes widened.
“Is that her?” he asked, as he sat up to get a better view.
Grizz didn’t answer. She made her way up to the front door and took the key from around her neck to unlock it. But Grizz wasn’t watching her. He was watching the lawn guys. Nobody seemed to pay her any attention, he thought with satisfaction.
“Are we leaving now?” Grunt asked, sounding disappointed, like he wanted to stay a little longer.
Before Grizz could answer, she barged out of the house carrying something large and heavy. They realized it was a table. They sat quietly as they watched her quickly and expertly set up a card table on the sidewalk.
Grizz was surprised by how tall she had gotten in the two years since he’d last seen her. But she looked healthy enough. She carried the card table out effortlessly. Good, she’s being taken care of. But why is she wearing a sweatshirt? It’s fucking a hundred degrees out here. He swiped his brow, sweat trickling down his back.
She went back into the house and came out with a large sheet of construction paper. She taped it to the front of the table. In large block letters that had been neatly written, it read, “Fresh squeezed lemonade, 25 cents.”
“Can we get some?” Grunt asked.
“No, we can’t get some,” Grizz growled. He was starting to get upset. Here he was worried that the lawn guys would notice her and he was relieved when they didn’t seem to. But now, she was outside with her lemonade stand. Calm down. They don’t know for sure that she doesn’t have a parent or other adult in there. She could have someone who works nights and sleeps during the day, so she would have to let herself in.
Grunt interrupted his thoughts. “If you don’t have any money, I have some,” Grunt said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an impressive wad of cash.
“Where the hell did you get all that money from?”
“It’s mine,” Grunt answered defensively.
Before Grizz could comment further, Grunt sat up straight. “What’s she doing now?”
She had finished setting everything up and was sitting in a lawn chair when she looked over at the guys mowing the lawn and stood up. She was watching them. Then she took five paper cups from the stack and set them on the little tray she’d used to carry her supplies. She filled up each cup and proceeded toward the house next door. Grizz shook his head. She was bringing the lawn guys lemonade! Damn!
She approached each man and offered him a cup. The first guy reached into his pocket, but she shook her head and smiled. She did this with each person, and each time they tried to pay her, she refused to take the money.
Grunt looked at Grizz, then her, then back at Grizz.
“You told me she used to barely have money to get food and now she’s giving away her lemonade?”
Grizz sighed and swiped his face with his hand. “Yeah. She’s giving away her lemonade.”
By now Gwinny had made her way back over to her table and sat down.
Just then, Grunt said excitedly, “Look, she has new customers!”
Then his excitement seemed to ebb as he squinted to get a better look.
Grizz glanced at the three boys approaching Gwinny. They were on bicycles. He stiffened. He recognized one kid. Curtis Armstrong. The boy who had bullied her the first day Grizz saw her a few years back. Curtis had grown a little. Were they friends now? Mavis hadn’t mentioned him in awhile, so maybe he left Gwinny alone. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Gwinny stood as the three boys approached her. They got off their bikes, letting them drop on her front lawn. Her body language told Grizz she was ready for a fight. Dammit.
They couldn’t hear the conversation, but they could tell Curtis spoke first. They watched as he leaned over her pitcher of lemonade and quickly poured a bag of dirt in it.
All three boys starting laughing.
The muscles in Grizz’s jaw tightened and he looked away. “I can make sure she’s fed and has a bike to ride to the store, but this is one thing I can’t get involved in.”
Grunt was staring out over the dashboard as Grizz spoke. Finally, he turned back to Grizz, smiling broadly. “Doesn’t look like she needs you to get involved.”
Grizz glanced back over at the lemonade stand and laughed out loud.
Gwinny had dumped her pitcher of muddied lemonade right on Curtis Armstrong’s head.
Grizz and Grunt watched in amusement as a humiliated Curtis and his friends rode off in the same direction from which they’d come. Gwinny quickly packed up her lemonade stand and went into the house. Grizz kept an eye on the lawn guys, who didn’t seem to notice what had happened.
Finally, it was time to go.
They silently pulled out of the driveway and slowly drove down the block. They had passed about ten homes when Grunt ordered, “Stop!”
Grizz jammed on the brakes, and before he could stop him, Grunt jumped out of the car. Grizz watched as he ran back toward a house they had just passed. Grizz started to back up and follow him, but then stopped when he realized what Grunt was doing. Grunt ran halfway across someone’s yard, removed a pocket knife from his back pocket and, in the span of ten seconds, had expertly punctured the tires of three bicycles left lying on the lawn. Then, he trotted back to the car, got in without a word, and slammed the door.
Grizz looked at him and nodded. The kid was learning.
After a couple of miles, Grizz finally asked, “You wanna tell me about the money?”
Grunt looked over at him. “I didn’t steal it.”
“I didn’t ask if you stole it. Where’d you get it?”
“I earned it.”
“How’d you earn it?”
“When Doc came last month to sew up Chip’s arm, he gave me ten dollars for being a good helper.”
“That was a helluva lot more money than ten dollars,” Grizz said, giving him a sidelong glance.
“It’s sixty dollars,” Grunt replied, and before Grizz could say anything else, “The rest of it’s hidden in a good place.”
“The rest of it?”
“Yeah, I have four hundred and sixty-two. I just keep the sixty on me in case I need it. Like today. I could’ve bought you a cup of lemonade.”
“I could’ve bought my own damn lemonade. How the heck did you get all that money?”
Grunt gave a hint of a smile. “I won it playing poker.”
This surprised Grizz. He knew some of his crew had a weekly poker game in one of the rooms. He’d never really bothered with it and hadn’t noticed Grunt had been playing.
“Who taught you?”
“Nobody. I taught myself. I was helping Moe get the guys their beers and stuff and I just started watching real close. I figured it out.”
“Who the hell is Moe?”
“You sure do cuss a lot,” Grunt remarked, then added, “It’s Misty. Sometimes I call her Moe.” And before Grizz could ask, he added, “Some of the new people call her Moe. Someone asked her once what her name was, and she made an M kind of sound, but she couldn’t say Misty. So I guess the guy thought she said Moe.”
“So it’s Moe now,” Grizz said matter-of-factly.
“I asked her if she liked it and she nodded ‘yes.’ She wanted a new name to start over,” Grunt told him thoughtfully. “She writes me notes a lot.”
He looked at his lap.
Grizz didn’t say anything for a while. He wondered what the kid thought of what he did to Misty, or Moe, or whatever she called herself now. Was the boy judging him? He started to wonder if he cared, but was instantly reminded of the earlier conversation.
“So you taught yourself to play poker and won a ton of money. Does Blue know you’re playing poker with the guys?”
“Yeah, he knows. He told me it was okay, but he said I had to be careful with my money. Having some is a big responsibility and it might make some of the guys mad. He even said that some of them might be mad enough to try and steal it back from me so I had to learn how to protect what was mine.”
Grizz glanced at him. “He’s right. You being Blue’s brother might scare some of them off, but that’s a lot of cash, kid, and someone might just be gutsy enough to try and get it back from you.”
“I know. That’s why I hid most of it. I picked a really good place where nobody would look.”
The conversation was starting to amuse Grizz. “So, where’d you stash it? The freezer? The A/C vent?” He paused. “The floor?”
“No way,” Grunt said emphatically. “I had to pick a place where they’d be scared to look.”
“Ah,” Grizz said. “The swamp. I’ll tell you what. You better be super careful out there. You go out there burying your money and you better be watching your surroundings. An alligator could snap you up and disappear in seconds.”
Grunt looked over at him. “It’s not hidden in the swamp. I told you, Blue told me to pick a scary place.” He paused before adding, “I hid it in your room.”