Options (Hugo & Karl)

I locate my phone and find a heavy barn coat on the hooks on the back porch. I put it on over my T-shirt against the chilly fall night. I check on Smokey in the barn, running my hands along his withers, letting the contact soothe me.

What the fuck do I do? I knew this shit was going to catch up with me eventually and now it has. How do I tell people I care about that there's another part of my life that's ruled by insanity? They won't believe me.

But I know one person who did, maybe because he's a little out there himself. Somehow Hugo found a way to tell Johnny about the shifts and Johnny not only believed him, but stuck by him.

I give Smokey one last pat and leave the barn. There's a place on the other side of the barn, where the wall holding back one of the terraces slopes down to the building. The wall gets lower and makes a vee where it meets the foundation of the barn. I go around there and climb into the spot, a familiar place from childhood.

Hugo's number is stored in the phone and it's a little after eleven o'clock in Wellie. Hopefully he's still up and in the mood to help me out. I punch the number and wait, listening to the ringing.

( Weaving's Mortuary. You stab 'em, we slab 'em. )