Things were going quite well for Righty. His meetings with Tats had long ago became so frequent that he had realized he was going to have to either resign at Roger’s Grocery Store or get fired. He opted for the former. There was no reason to leave on bad terms with Roger, and so today he had thanked Roger very much for the opportunity that he had given him but that he was going to resign for personal reasons. He offered to stay for another couple weeks if that would help, but Roger told him that wouldn’t be necessary.
This was a glorious moment for Righty, clouded only by the realization that he was going to have to explain to Janie how it was that he was able to quit his job. He didn’t want her to think that he was going to turn into a loafer—or worse, back into a drunkard. He had an idea lined up already for what he would do next, but first he felt this was a moment he was going to have to savor, or otherwise he might lose the drive he had to carry out what he was starting to see taking shape in his mind as his destiny.
Without realizing he was doing it, he copied the steps of his son Eddie—of whom he had thought little lately, given his other preoccupations—and began climbing up the tree that led to the large branch Eddie had always called The Pathway, but which had been the last thing Eddie’s nemesis Brian had ever fallen off of.
Righty felt a nervous chill go down his spine as he realized the only way to get up the big tree was to cross that pathway, and he was aware of the fact some kid in Eddie’s class had fallen off of it and died. But he was craving altitude right now the way many of his customers were craving Smokeless Green, and compared to some of the risks he had taken so far, this one seemed relatively benign.
He walked across it carefully and then began making his way up the tree it led to. He was surprised just how tall the darn thing was because the thickness of the trees overhead obscured their full height. He found himself climbing and climbing and climbing what surely was several hundred feet until he suddenly saw some sort of structure.
Then, he saw wizard drawings carved onto the boards, and he realized that little dreamer son of his must have dragged these boards up here and nailed them together. He heard a sound and suddenly looked to his right, and for a second he thought he saw some huge monstrous creature in the air, but by the time he blinked all he saw were a couple feathers disappearing between the small view offered by the many crisscrossing branches in the distance, and he realized he must have gotten a little dizzy from the climb and seen some kind of optical illusion as a result.
He made himself comfortable on the edge of the little fort Eddie had built, and he felt a sense of extreme peace. The view was breathtaking, and although it didn’t permit much horizontal sight beyond a couple hundred feet due to the thick branches overhead, the view alone of all the massive, spider web-like connecting branches was impressive in its own right. He couldn’t see the ground beneath him, so thick were these branches.
The breeze was cool and soft against his head. He realized this was one of those moments that he had to take in and really enjoy. He had read about many great men who failed because they worked themselves so hard and never gave themselves time to stop and enjoy the successes they had accomplished. He was determined not to make that mistake because otherwise there would be no point in accomplishing the goals he had in mind.
He thought back to his deeply frustrating failure as an almost boxing champion, and he saw his sudden expulsion from boxing followed by his miserable years at the lumberyard being almost tantamount to being snatched from a wedding altar and forced into slavery. When he had suddenly gotten the determination to quit drinking, he hadn’t really thought he could do it, but he did. He then didn’t think he could educate himself beyond the basics, and now he was reading some of the most advanced books in various subjects that Janie could find at the library.
Now, economic success was within his grasp. He knew there were two basic ways this could go. He could take the game as having already been won and get arrogant and sloppy, and within a few months he would be inside a prison somewhere, divorced, and suicidal. Or, he could recognize reality—which was that he had about a thousand and one obstacles ahead of him, any one of which could bring him down—play his cards really carefully, and maybe, just maybe, with a little luck, he would attain the grandiose success he was starting to envision for himself.
But for now, it was time to just . . . relax. He breathed deeply and noticed just how sweet and fresh the air was up here. More deep breaths. Soon, Righty was collapsed back inside Eddie’s tree house, sleeping like a baby. Fortunately for Righty, Eddie had made it strong.
About three hours later, Righty came to. He saw that it was almost dark but not quite. Janie would be worried about him. It was time to do what he had to do. He hoped he could keep Janie in the dark forever about the source of his activities, but she was no fool, and he knew it would only be a matter of how long before she knew and whether he could earn enough brownie points in the interim to soften the sting of her discovery.