Nine Lives To Die

Cletus Thompson awoke early on the last day of the old year. He tended the fire, petted his dog, opened a can of spaghetti that had been in the Christmas basket from the church and ate that. A cup of hot coffee helped warm him up from the inside out. As his stove was gas and he paid the bill, no matter what, he always could make hot coffee. Sometimes he might scrounge up the money by shoveling a driveway or taking on other odd jobs that the convenience store owner allowed him to do. Cletus’s neighbors sometimes helped, but an alcoholic loses friends as trees drop leaves in the fall. Even if the drinker does not cause scenes or turn nasty, the inevitable unreliability destroys friendships. Still, Cletus was always loyal and good to The Terminator, ancient as the creature was. Even if Cletus didn’t eat, his dog did.

Despite the years of alcohol abuse, the former math teacher had a strong constitution. Had he not, he would have been dead long ago.

He felt in his bones more snow was on its way, so he thought he’d dig out his driveway in advance. Whatever came down would still need to be removed, but this would make that future task easier. Coat and gloves on, cap, too, he opened his front door.

“What the—” He walked over to Flo’s car.

She was asleep inside, with her dog, Buster, in her lap.

Rapping on the window, he startled her. She sat up straight, staring up at Cletus doing the tapping. Buster barked.

“Flo, are you all right?”

She rolled down her window. “I was so tired I fell asleep.”

“Come on in the house. It’s warmer than out here, and I have a pot of coffee on the stove. Bring the dog. My fellow sleeps most of the time.”

“Okay.”

“Unlock the door.” He turned his back on her, knowing that would do the trick.

Sure enough, she stepped outside, her dog in her arms, following him into his house. Flo hated to be left behind.

After using the bathroom and brushing her teeth (as she carried a small bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and some aspirin in it), she joined her unruffled host in his kitchen.

“Sit down,” he said kindly. “Milk? Sugar?”

“Sugar.”

Two heaping teaspoons dumped into the liquid pleased Flo, who gulped it right down.

“Flo, all I have to eat are some canned goods the church left me. In fact, it was brought over by Harry and Susan, my old students. You remember them?”

“They left me things, too,” she said, wrinkling her nose. The warm coffee felt wonderful. “Your house is warmer than mine.”

“In winter, I mostly sit in the kitchen or by the fireplace. No reason to run up the bill. It’s warm in the kitchen. I don’t need much.” Once he thought she might be relaxed, he got to the point. “What brings you out here?”

“I’ve been avoiding Esther.” She breathed deeply a few times. “I’m afraid of my sister. She wants to kill me.”

“Esther?” Cletus was taking all this in with a grain of salt.

“She’s not the same person you knew when you all taught together. Oh, Esther was always looking for the main chance, I can tell you that, but she kept on track.”

“Why ever would Esther want to kill you? I would think she’s happy. Married. Enough money to live good in retirement.”

“Ha!” came the derisive response. “She tells people I’m the one with mental problems, but it’s her. She was jealous of the fact that I was more popular than she was when we were kids, and then when she fell in love with Al Toth that took her right round the bend. It was all she could think about, talk about. Esther was always trying to get me to help her attract men, especially Al.”

“Well”—Cletus paused—“I knew, of course, that Esther was wild about him. We all did, but she didn’t run her mouth. Naturally, she would to you, you’re her sister. She got him in the end.”

“I hate her for all that and more,” said Flo. “He didn’t make her happy. It’s not Al. He’s okay. It’s her. She can’t stand that I know who and what she really is. She scared me so much I hid at the Valencia farm and then Deputy Cooper found me. Fair Haristeen was with her, and Harry too. They were the ones who figured out where I was. They thought they were helping. Esther had everyone in an uproar.”

Cletus wanted to say that it was Flo who appeared to have everyone in an uproar, but instead he said, “Did Esther threaten you?”

“She says if I don’t behave she’s going to put me away. A lot, she says it a lot.”

“That’s a mean thing for her to say.” He poured himself another cup of coffee and one for Flo, too. “Look, your little fellow is curled up next to mine.”

“They can keep each other warm.” Flo smiled, a rare event.

“Why did you come here?”

“We always got on, you and me. Sometimes I’d stop by and we’d remember the old days, the days before everything went haywire. I thought you’d hear me out.”

“You want to stay here?” His eyebrows and voice raised.

Flo nodded. “If you help me hide my car when she drives by, I should be safe.”

Cletus didn’t answer that straight up. “We never had bad words, Esther and I. But she’s like everyone else, doesn’t want to waste time on a drunk.”

“She doesn’t want to waste time or money on me either. She doesn’t need me anymore. Tonight, I’ll prove to you that Esther wants to kill me. You’ll understand everything then. We’ll need to go out, but not far.”

“Supposed to snow.”

“I know.” Flo held the coffee cup in her hands. “You have to promise me not to drink.”

He shrugged. “Easy promise. I’m all out of hooch.”

“And whatever I eat, I’ll replace. I have money.” She pulled forty dollars from her pocket, slapping it on the table. “I can’t go out and buy food because someone might see me. I don’t think Esther knows I’m gone yet. She calls in and checks every day. If I don’t call back after a couple of hours, she drives over.”

He put his hands in his lap. “Keep your money. We can get by on the canned food.”

“Well, I’ll pay when I go, which will be tomorrow at the latest because when you see what I have, I’ll be in the right. I can go up against Esther before she finds me. She will eventually. She’ll call the sheriff’s department again. The fact that it’s New Year’s Eve helps. Everyone’s busy. Take the money now.”

“No. I’ll buy bourbon. I don’t trust myself. I’ll want to buy food for both of us, but I don’t trust myself. Especially on New Year’s Eve.”

“Then I’ll give you the money later.”

“Flo, don’t worry about it. Let’s go hide your car. First, I have to move my truck. You drive your car. I’ll push if you get stuck.”

“Where are we going to hide it?”

“Only place I really have is behind the woodshed.”

Going slow, Flo steered her dilapidated vehicle around the back of the house, the domicile’s curl of smoke from its chimney the one sign of habitation. Behind her, Cletus kept his hands on the car’s trunk. Once she did slide out a bit. The right rear wheel spun, but he gave a hard push and the car straightened out. Cletus made Flo drive around so the car nosed out the way it had come, just in case. Then he moved his truck back in place in the driveway.

From the state road, a person wouldn’t see the tracks to the side of the house unless they looked carefully. And if it did snow, that would somewhat cover them. The woodshed behind the house did the rest.

Back in the house, they stomped their feet. Both dogs woke up. The Terminator barked. Buster followed suit, but neither dog moved off the pile of old towels they’d burrowed into.

Back in the kitchen, Flo bent down to pet her dog and Cletus did the same. He opened a can of soup, poured it in a saucepan.

“Made me hungry, and I know you are, too.”

She didn’t deny it. “Cletus, you’ve tried to stop drinking. I didn’t help in the past, bringing a bottle. I thought I was being sociable.”

He nodded. “Longest I went was a year. I stopped and then I don’t know. Just started up again. No reason.”

“Does it make you feel good?”

“Used to. I crave it sometimes. Can’t explain it. Then I’ll take a drink, next it’s two and I don’t know. When I wake up, the bottle’s empty.”

“So you get these cravings, the booze doesn’t make you feel good anymore, but you still drink it?”

He thought a long time as he stirred the soup in the saucepan. “Well, kills the pain.”

“Maybe I should try it.”

“Don’t.”