Well Fed - 05 Read Online Free Page A

angst.
    “Um, could you, um, like, fix our swing?” Becky asked in a raspy squeak.
    “What happened to your swing, honey?” the older man asked.
    “Well, it happened like this. I was swinging just fine, but when Chad took his turn, he stood up on the, um, on the seat, and the rope busted on one side, so, like, nooow we have no seat for our bums.”
    “That true, Chad?”
    Chad’s head hung between his shoulders, caught in embarrassment and probably unaccustomed to standing still. The kid had a wild streak in him, plus an everlasting tank of energy.
    “Yessir,” the boy muttered, twisting his upper body left and right as if he’d been hooked through the shoulders and couldn’t quite wiggle off. “But it wasn’t my fault.”
    “No? How’s that?”
    “The swing was like, old, see.”
    Becky had taken on a flat expression of disagreement, but to her credit, she let the boy talk.
    “It would’ve broke anyway , so it’s best it happened this way, before someone got hurt.”
    “That’s true, Becky?” Adam judiciously asked.
    “Um, it is, but, like, it’s not. If he wasn’t, um, hopping on it?” At that point, she took a deep, clarifying breath and focused on a spot past them all––which prompted Gus also to check just to make sure nothing was amiss. “If he wasn’t hopping on it, we could still be swinging. But he did, so we aren’t.”
    “You were hopping on it too,” Chad accused.
    Becky rolled her eyes.
    “I’ll fix it,” Adam declared. “Won’t take long. You guys got anything else to do?”
    “Noooo,” they both chimed, which suggested that might need checking on as well.
    “All right, you guys better be telling the truth,” Adam said. “Say seeya to your uncle Gus.”
    Gus didn’t really like that. He wasn’t their uncle. A friend, yes, but not an uncle.
    “Gus, are you mad?” Becky asked, charming him.
    “Nah, I’m not mad.”
    “Old Gus just has a lot on his mind,” Adam added with a wink. “He might be taking a trip.”
    Fucking guy. Gus flashed a glare. Old, my ass .
    “And he never got a hug today either, so go on and give him a hug. That’ll make him feel better.”
    “Aw, they don’t––” he got out, just before Becky ran up and threw her arms around his chest and squeezed for all she was worth. The embrace left Gus breathless, the shock as clear and crystallizing as plunging into tropical waters, except it was the cuddle of a little girl. Her hair smelled of unspoiled beaches, her clothes of hand-washed detergent. Gus’s frown dissolved under those little arms. A smile surfaced, and he hugged her back, held it for a few seconds, and released. All his fight was sucked out of him.
    Then Chad roped him around the neck.
    “You’re… choking… me,” Gus half croaked, half chuckled. The youngster was strong for his age. Chad eased off, but Gus’s arms engulfed the boy and hugged him for a three count before letting go.
    “Seeya, Gus.” Chad waved as he departed after Adam and Becky.
    “See you, Gus.” Becky beamed and pulled a few strands of hair out of her eyes.
    Gus waved back, feeling a pang of sorrow watching them go. Adam glanced over his shoulder, his smile victorious. Clearly, that had been an orchestrated and outright weaselly move.
    They disappeared around a corner of the main house, and Gus’s thoughts darkened.
    Fucking Talbert.
     
     
    The next morning, he packed a few supplies into the back of a beige SUV and left as the sun began to brighten a clear night sky.
    He didn’t say good-bye to anyone.
    Not even the children, who slept in warm beds, dreaming good dreams, while November chilled the world beyond their shared room.

3
    The sun glared down on the 101, a highway war-painted with skid marks, freckled with craters, and splitting at the seams from hard-punching winters. Gus drove with the SUV’s sun visor down. His aluminum bat rested in the foot space of the passenger seat, rattling at times, its handle leaning toward him, ready to be