“I gotta go into town for an appointment,” he said.

“How long will you be gone?” I said.

“I expect for a couple hours. Ain’t nothing changed since you was last here, so you make yourself at home.”

After they left, Gentry went upstairs to sleep and I wandered around the house. In the front room, Uncle Alva had the same record player that had belonged to my grandmother: an old console about the size of the couch. When I was a kid, there’d been a picture of my grandfather in his Klan robes hanging in that corner, but now there was just a square of wallpaper that wasn’t as sun-faded as the rest.

I looked around for some books, but all he had were old Reader’s Digest Condensed Novels. Since I’d already started it, I went out to the truck to get Yvain. The dog was sleeping, sprawled out like he was dead, but when I came down the steps, he jumped up and trotted toward me, dragging his chain.

“You mind your business, buddy, and I’ll mind mine,” I told him.

Out of curiosity, I took a peek behind the truck seat at what Gentry had stored back there. The usual stuff, like a roadside kit and the jack, but also a chain mail shirt, an axe, and a sword. I unsnapped the strap that kept the sword in its sheath and slid it out halfway. Unlike the “real swords” he and Rhys and Edrard fought with, this was a real sword. Like the one that hung over his bed, but a lot smaller. Shiny and sharp and dangerous looking.

“What do you want anyway, coming around here?” Dane said behind me.

I slid the sword into the sheath and slammed the seat back into place. With one hand I grabbed my book and with the other, I pushed the lock button down on the door. When I turned around, Dane was right there, so that I had to sidestep to close the door. I didn’t often have to look up at people, but Dane was at least half a foot taller than me.

“Like I said, I needed to get away and see family.”

“You ain’t seen my dad for almost twenty years, but now he’s family? You know he had to find out from the prison chaplain that Leroy died. Y’all didn’t even invite him to his brother’s funeral.”

“That was my mom’s business. Not mine,” I said, which wasn’t totally true. I hadn’t tried to get in touch with Uncle Alva when Dad died.

“But here you are, coming around like you’re looking for something. What are you up to? You know he ain’t got no money. You can’t get nothing off him.”

“I didn’t come looking for money.”

“Right. You just need your family at a time like this.”

I took a step sideways, planning to walk around Dane, but he cut me off.

“Why don’t you get the hell out of here and leave us be?” he said.

“Because Uncle Alva asked me to stay.”

“Because he can’t see what you’re up to.”

“What am I up to?” I said. To show him I wasn’t afraid, I took a step closer to him. Sure, he was taller, but he wasn’t that much bigger than me. His hygiene wasn’t great, either. Between his BO and his breath, I wished I’d kept my distance. His eyes were red and raw looking.

“You’re stirring up trouble. Go on home and wait for the cops to find them two jailbirds and LaReigne.”

“Oh, you didn’t forget that my sister’s been kidnapped?”

“That’s your problem,” he said. “Ain’t nothing Dad can do about that. So you need to mind your own business, and stay outta ours.”

“Do you remember what my dad used to say? I was born on a Thursday, but it wasn’t last Thursday. Do I look stupid? People coming around at night. You up all night. The stink. The fact that you have fewer teeth than your father. Meth much? I don’t give a shit what you’re up to. Doesn’t interest me at all. I’m just here to talk to Uncle Alva.”

“You ain’t fucking talking to him! You need to go in the house, get that weird-ass boyfriend of yours, and get the fuck out of here.”

“Or what?” I said. “Are you threatening me, you peckerwood?”

“You goddamn right I’m threatening you!”

He was shouting by then. We were both shouting. He reached out and put his hand on my chest, pushed me until my back was pressed against the side of the truck. I lost my grip on Yvain, and the book landed in the gravel.

“You don’t get the hell off my property, I swear to god, you’ll wish you had.”

“It’s not your property,” I said.

“It will be. Old man ain’t gonna live forever.”

The things I wanted to say. I had a whole mouthful of them, but looking past Dane, I saw Gentry, more wild-haired than usual, coming across the yard, not even pussyfooting on the gravel in his bare feet. We’d woken him up. He was scratching his neck with his left hand, and his right hand was in a fist.

“Tell you what,” I said to Dane, wanting to end the argument before it got worse. “When your dad comes back, I’ll ask him what I want to ask him and then I’ll go.”

“Master Dane,” Gentry said, about fifteen feet away and still coming. Dane let go of me and turned around. “I will not allow thee to outrage thy cousin.”

“Fucker, don’t come at me. You gonna find out I ain’t a pussy like my little brother.”

“Come. Let we two fighten. I am ready to meet thee.”

“I ain’t gonna fight you, faggot.” Dane backed up to put more distance between Gentry and him, but Gentry closed the gap, so they were only a few feet apart. It worried me how Gentry kept his head tilted to the right as he looked Dane over, like he and the black knight were doing the math on how to fight Dane.

“Put thine hand upon the lady again, and I shall fight thee whether thou wilt or not.”

Dane took another step back, and Gentry took two steps forward. I put my arm out, not close enough to touch Gentry, but to signal him to back off. From what I could see, Dane didn’t have a gun on him, but I didn’t want to find out.

“I’m serious,” I said. “When Uncle Alva comes back, we’ll talk, and then I’ll go. You’re the only one trying to make trouble, Dane.”

He took a few more steps back, shaking his head. He pointed at me and then at Gentry.

“You—you better not fuck with me. You have your little chat with Dad, and then get the hell outta here.”

Dane kept backing up, like he was worried Gentry would jump him from behind. Then he finally turned around and headed toward his trailer.

“You okay?” I said, but Gentry didn’t answer. He walked around his truck, running his hand along it. I figured he was having a conversation with one of his voices, so I left him alone. He went around the truck a second time, and stopped at the rear quarter panel, a few feet away from me.