Eye of the Diamond-T by Bill LaBrie

Author:Bill LaBrie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, thriller, suspense, adventure, 1950s, drugs, supernatural, conspiracy, magical realism, pop culture
Publisher: Dion Blaine

* * * * * * * *

Nick and Euri were washing clothes together near the well.

“I want to go to Chicago,” said Euri. She abruptly got to her feet. Nick looked up at her. He noticed it was still cold on the mountain. The sunlight itself seemed cold.

“Why?” he asked. He really didn’t need to.

“You tell so many stories about it. About the river. About Russian Division. About the trains. About the grass museum. There are so many more books there.”

Grass museum. Nick pondered.

“Oh, the Field Museum!” he said with a laugh. “Yes, it’s pretty special, I guess.”

“Let’s go.” She had already showed a streak of the resolute that ran through her. It would occasionally surface, letting Nick know that the shyness, the humility, and the avoidance was all were part of an act she had acquired somehow.

“We’d need to leave this behind,” said Nick, his hands cold in the rinsing water. “What would your dad do?” Nick really didn’t want to leave the farm.

“He raised me on his own. He can live on his own. He’s strong. He’s an Indian.”

“He’s an old man now. He was younger when he raised you.” Nick was regretting making Chicago sound so glamorous. He wasn’t sure what he’d find if he ever returned there-- what the company would say. He didn’t know if his apartment on Diversey was still in his name. He didn’t know if he had been gone a week or a month or even a year. He didn’t know what he’d do for a living, or even if he’d want to do anything. On one level, he thought of Chicago as a miraculous place of legend, having seen it through Euri’s fantasies. But the rational part of him knew it to be a shithole of deceit, disappointment, and death.

In the back of his mind, there was the fear that the two men in the black Mercury were out there still. Maybe they had given up after seeing the truck explode. Maybe they had written him off. If he suddenly reappeared, what would happen?

“Nick, we are young. We need to go before we are old too.”

“You’re younger than me.”

Euri gave him the look. He started to wither. She was silent for a while, then turned back to the washing. There was tension. She didn’t like being reminded of her age, especially in any way that grew barriers between them.

“Look, Euri,” he began while wringing out a blanket. “I told you about Chicago because it’s my hometown. It’s where I grew up. It’s a big city. It’s kinda ugly. It’s also where my mom drank herself to death, and my dad killed himself in a garage. I stayed there because it was home, in a way. But now I feel this is my home. I’ve made this my home with you and Bacho and the dogs and the—”

“You’re a coward. Like Charibovi.” she shot back. Her eyes darted at him. Her lips were curled in a half sneer.

That came suddenly, and it stung.

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