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'It's not the trees falling over that you have to worry about. When the forest fire gets hot enough, the sap boils inside the trunk--' He brought his hands together flat, and then pressed them against each other until they leaped apart. '-- the tree just explodes, sideways, no time to react. No way to tell which way they'll jump. An entire tree, flying at you. There's a certain sound they make, right before that happens. Sometimes you don't hear it, though. I lost a good friend that way.' "Where were you visiting?" 'Oregon. See some people. And there was an old girlfriend of mine up there, we still get along. So I went to see her. Nothing happened, you know, just to let her know I was in town.' I nodded, just to keep him talking. 'But so this guy she's seeing now, he's crazy. I mean, he gets into fights for no reason, the whole thing. A dangerous man. Well, somehow he finds out where I'm staying, kicks in the door, takes my money off me and tells me I've got twelve hours to get out of town.' I winced on his behalf. 'I wish the fucker would go away, because me and that woman had some good times. Good times.' The desert continued to slide pink and blue through the sunset windows of the Greyhound. The engine rumbled beneath our feet and the restroom door leaked the smells of blue disinfectant and unhappiness. 'During a little while when we weren't getting along, I moved out, and he came along. Shit, she's tried to leave him three, four times. But like I say, he's crazy, and all her friends and family are there.' "I'm sorry, man. " He nodded, then nodded again. "Sometimes, it bees like that." 'Yeah.' |
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