Gloria still hadn’t seen Rick yet. She might have heard him if he yelled but he didn’t. Then Gloria stopped and looked back at a woman with short blond curly hair, in jeans and a tie/dyed T shirt. The woman approached Gloria and they talked for a minute and then they were hugging and talking some more as they held each other at arm’s length. They dropped their arms and talked some more and then, to Rick’s horror, they started walking together toward the tent.
“Oh God, please no!” Rick said, as he watched them advance.
He imagined them reaching the tent, Gloria wondering aloud where he was, calling him, then opening the tent, Gloria and her friend seeing Frank laid out in his charcoal suit, his hat by his side, a hole in his head, sleeping the big sleep.
He decided he’d have to run down to meet them and somehow turn them back. Just as he was about to start Gloria and the girl stopped walking. Rick watched them talk a little more and each write on small pieces of paper, which they exchanged. Then they hugged again, and the blonde girl started back down the hill.
Rick looked up at the sky, at large, white clouds floating by. He put his right hand to the side of his forehead, saluted the sky and vowed to make a more of an effort to appreciate nature. Then he thanked God that Gloria had stopped before reaching the tent and spared herself, himself and the other woman from the mother of all awkward moments.
“Rick!”
It was Gloria waving from about half way down the hill. Rick started walking toward her, as fast as he could without falling. She walked toward him, not toward the tent as she had been doing.
When they reached each other they hugged and Gloria said, “I need to sit down for a minute.”
Rick sat next to her and turned to look at their stuff which looked secure enough. “How was the om circle?”
“It was okay. A lot of interesting looking people there. My arms are killing me though, all that holding hands. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, all the stuff is packed and right up there.”
“What about the tent, why is it still up?”
“This guy I’d talked to before came by and he really needed a tent so I let him have it.” Rick figured that was true, Frank did need it.
“Good, one less thing to carry back. I’m tired, let’s get our stuff and get
Rick drove and Gloria slept off and on all the way to Reno where they gassed up and used the bathroom to change into clothes that wouldn’t keep them out of a hotel. They rented a room at the Sands Regency and each took a hot shower which felt like a shower can only feel when you haven’t had one for a while. They ordered room service, watched a movie in the room, enjoyed a quickie, and went to sleep.
The next morning at 6:30 am Gloria and Rick drove out of Reno on the 395. Gloria insisted on driving first since she hadn’t driven the day before, and in fact had slept most of the trip. Rick used Gloria’s mini-max to find the mileage from Reno to Bishop.
“It’s 203.5 miles to Bishop. Four hours and three minutes driving time.”
“We should be there just in time for….. brunch.”
“Do you think they serve brunch in Bishop?”
“If not we can get a late breakfast or an early lunch. Tell me, how did you like the Rainbow Gathering?”
“I liked it. It was different, as different as anything I’ve ever been to in my life, but it was fun. How about you, how did you like it?”
Gloria looked over at Rick and said, “I enjoyed myself. I wasn’t sure I was going to but I did. It was nice to see Meg after all these years. She’s the woman I was talking to right before we left. It was amazing that she recognized me.”
“You didn’t recognize her?”
“No, not at first. I did after we started talking and she reminded me of some things that happened at the Gatherings we were at. Once I made the connection I saw that she was the exact grownup version of the kid I used to play with and then I wondered why I didn’t recognize her right away. The whole Gathering was a blast from the past for me. It’s probably the last one I’ll ever attend so I’m glad I enjoyed it.”
Gloria concentrated on her driving and Rick leaned back and closed his eyes. When he opened them Gloria looked over.
“You’re not asleep are you?”
“No.”
Gloria sat up straighter in her seat, her hands tightened slightly on the wheel. She looked over at Rick, then back to the road.
“He was there wasn’t he?”
“Yeah, he was there.”
“What happened, did Bobby shoot him?”
“No, Bobby was there but he didn’t shoot him.”
“So what happened? For God sake, tell me!”
Rick told the story and when he was done they drove in silence for a number of miles.
Finally Gloria said, “Wow, it’s almost hard to believe isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Did you think it would end like this?”
“I don’t know but now that it did I wish I had figured out something better to do with the body. It won’t take long before someone finds it in that tent.”
DW and Hugger had just finished eating at a kitchen near bus village.
“What do you think Rick and Gloria are up to today?” DW said.
“Yesterday they told me they hadn’t decided if they were leaving today or tomorrow.”
“Let’s walk over to their tent and see if they’re still there. I’d like to say goodbye to them before they go.”
“Let’s do it.”
They walked ten or twelve minutes before they saw Rick’s tent up on the small ridge. “Looks like they might still be here,” said DW.
The climbed up to the tent and called out but didn’t get an answer. “Take a look,” Hugger said. “Maybe they took off and left the tent.”
“Why would they do that?” said DW as he pulled back the flap. “Holy shit!”
“What?”
“There’s a dead guy in there.”
“Let me see.” They switched places and Hugger lifted the flap, using his shirt tail to avoid leaving finger prints.
“Smart idea, I should have done that.”
“Just wipe down the flap when we leave.”
“I’ll do it now, I want to get away from here.”
DW took off his shirt, wiped the flap and put it back on. Then they walked down to the trail and then put a hundred yards between them and the tent. They sat on the opposite side of the trail and were silent for a minute.
Then Hugger said, “I didn’t expect that.”
“How could you?”
“I wonder who it is?” You think it had anything to do with Rick and Gloria or did someone just use their tent to dump a body?”
“I don’t know,” said DW. He thought for a minute and then said, “Gloria told me not to tell this to anyone but under the circumstances I think she won’t mind if I told you. The night they got here, and I helped them with their tire, I asked her why she came to the Gathering and she said someone in San Diego was trying to kill them.”
“So you think the guy in the tent is that guy?”
“I don’t know, could be.”
“That would mean they would have to have shot him. They don’t look like the kind of people who carry and can shoot well enough to put a bullet in a guy’s head.”
“Agreed, but when someone’s trying to kill you it can motivate you to learn new skills. We’re probably only talking about Rick, yeah? I don’t see Gloria directly involved in this side of things.”
“Probably not.”
“I can picture Rick taking some lessons and plugging a guy who is trying to kill him and his girl friend.”
“Especially if the killer traveled all the way up here to do it. You wouldn’t come this far unless you intended to finish the job.”
”Right.”
Hugger and DW sat and looked down the trail and up to the tent. “Any ideas? said Hugger.
“Not a one. How about you?”
/> “I got one. Let’s bury the sucker.”
DW thought for a moment and said, “Yeah, that could solve a lot of problems, if we don’t get caught. Where were you thinking to do it?”
“On the other side of the tent. A few feet down the slop it levels off making a good place to dig. Between the tent and the slope there should be plenty of cover.“
“Let’s do it dude.”
“We’ll need shovels.”
“A. Camp, they should have some extras since they’ll have less fire inspections with so many people leaving.”
“Should we go together?” said DW.
“How about I’ll go and you make sure no one gets into the tent.”
“Okay, but how am I supposed to do that? I’m not going to wrestle them to the ground and tie them up until we’re done.”
“You’re a people person, talk to them, entertain them, tell them why you’re called DW.”
“Yeah, that will tie them up for awhile. Probably no one is going to go up there anyway. No one has since we’ve been sitting here.”
“There you go. I’ll be back soon.”
DW watched Hugger head off toward A. Camp. When the trail and Hugger turned out of site, DW went back over and found a spot where he was close to the tent but not close enough that anyone would think he had anything to do with it. He figured, he wouldn’t have long to wait. A lot of people had the perception that a doper was a slow, laid back type who didn’t get much done because he couldn’t or wouldn’t. DW knew that Hugger wasn’t that guy.
Hugger was a business man/grower who every year walked hundreds of miles over federal land planting seeds that yielded an always in demand cash crop. He was hugely successful but never talked about it, something that DW really admired. DW knew a number of people who were now guests of the government because they couldn’t keep their mouths shut.
DW wished he could convince Hugger to work with him. He knew they’d both make more money, and after all making money was one of the main reasons they were in business.
As Hugger approached A. Camp he saw two men laughing and wrestling with each other. He could tell they were mildly drunk and just having fun and were nothing to worry about. Across from the wrestlers was another guy in typical Rainbow attire, short and drunker then the wrestlers. As Hugger approached the man said, “Welcome to A. Camp, come right in and we’ll show you the secrets of the universe.”
“Thanks,” said Hugger, “I’ll catch you on the way out.”
Then Hugger saw a tall guy in a sleeveless shirt with A Camp tattooed on a muscled arm. He was leaning against a tree and was holding the handle of a shovel, the blade resting in the dirt.
“Hello,” said Hugger.
The man nodded.
“I need to get a hold of couple of shovels, can help me?”
“What do you need them for?”
“A few people up at bus village have their vehicles dug in and we want to help them get out.”
“I could probably get a couple of guys to go up and do it now.”
“Yeah, that would be good except that a couple of the people that need help are a pair of sweet sisters that my friend is enamored with and is pretty set on helping personally.”
“So your friend is enamored with them but you’re not?”
“Not as much as him, but yeah, I’m slightly enamored. If you saw them you’d understand why. You might become enamored yourself.”
“I wish I could help you out partner but we need the shovels for our fire checks.”
“Yeah, but your fire checks will be cut in half with so many people leaving, right?”
“We’ll still have to check their campsites to make sure everything’s safe.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said Hugger, as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a baggy half full of weed, “this is prime stuff, mostly flower tops, no stems or seeds. You can roll yourself a joint and smoke it while you look for another shovel. If you’re back here in 15 minutes I’ll give you the bag and I’ll have the shovels back by tomorrow morning. Deal?”
“You got papers?”
Hugger pulled a pack of Zig Zag papers from his pocket and tore one off. “What’s your name?”
“Tall Guy, that’s my Rainbow handle. A few years ago they called me Guard Dog because I caught a guy who was going through people’s stuff and helping himself to what he liked.”
“It didn’t stick, huh?”
“I made sure it didn’t. Who wants to be called a dog? I guess it’s alright if you’re 18 and you and your friends all call each other dawg. Or you’re Big Dawg, the TV skip tracer who hunts down bail jumpers with his wife and sons, in a black SUV as big as a tank. Anyway I don’t want to be called dog or dawg so Tall Guy is an improvement, until I come up with something better.”
The joint rolled Hugger struck a match and Tall Guy took a hit that filled his lungs. “I’ll be back soon,” he said in the high strange voice that all dopers use when they want to talk but don’t want to exhale.
Twelve minutes later Hugger saw Tall Guy walking toward him with a second shovel. When he got closer Hugger saw he had blood shot eyes and a smile on his face. Tall Guy walked over and got the shovel that was leaning against the tree and handed both of them to Hugger.
“Good luck with your rescue efforts. I hope you impress the honeys.”
Hugger handed him the baggy. “I think they’ll be impressed that I got the shovels. They didn’t think I’d be able to.”
“Keep the shovels, you don’t have to return them. Give one to the sisters so they’ll be prepared the next time they get stuck. And thanks for the high grade weed,” said Tall Guy, as he held up the bag. “This is serious shit.”
When Hugger got back DW stood up, nodded at the shovels and said, “Nice work, what did they cost you?”
“Half a bag.”
“Wow, you gave them a great deal.”
“I can afford it and we need the shovels, right?”
“Right,” said DW as he took one from Hugger.
They walked up to the tent and then behind it where the ground dropped a couple of feet before leveling out.
“A perfect spot for it,” said Hugger. “You want to start now?”
DW used his foot to push his shovel into the ground. “We’ve got to dig at least six feet down if we don’t want the animals digging him up. By the time we finish it will be dark which will give us cover to toss him in and cover him up.”
“So let’s do it and hope no one gets curious about the tent.”
The ground was full of unruly wild grass so they used their shovels to cut one foot squares in the earth which they then cut under, pulled up, and set aside to return to when the job was done. The ground was damp but not wet or heavy and the digging went faster than they’d expected. They whispered a little now and then and every so often DW would walk out by the tent and look down at the trail. No one seemed interested in the tent or anything near it.
When the hole got to three feet it was too deep to dig from the rim so they worked from inside the hole. They discovered that it was too crowded for the two of them to be digging at once so they switched, one worked while one rested. They made good progress since the one working knew he’d rest soon so he was able to go full steam ahead.
When Hugger had to swing the shovel over his head to get the dirt out of the hole he realized they’d dug deep enough. He called up to DW, “I think we’re there.”
DW came to the edge and said, “Yeah, we made it. Nice work.”
“Take the shovel.”
DW reached down for the shovel then pulled it up and stuck it in the dirt. Then he knelt down and reached into the hole. Hugger grabbed his arm and DW started to pull until Hugger was able to grab the side and pull himself out of the hole.
“What about this,” said DW. “We take all the stakes and poles and throw them in the hole. Then we drag the tent with the body inside over here, wrap the tent tightly aroun
d the body, and roll it into our nicely dug grave.”
The two of them started up toward the tent, happy to be close to finishing the job, when Hugger suddenly dropped to his knees and pulled DW down with him. DW held out his hands palms up and lifted his shoulders asking, without words, “What’s happening?”
“Rangers,” whispered Hugger. “Six Federals on horses.”
“Oh.”
They waited awhile and checked again. The Rangers were gone but DW and Hugger needed a minute before they continued. Hugger said, “That was a bit of a wakeup call, eh? Makes you realize you don’t want to get caught burying a stiff in the middle of a forest on federal land.”
“Especially one with a bullet hole in his head.”
“Let’s finish the job and get out of here.”
Hugger pulled up the stakes and used his knife to cut the cords that connected them to the tent while DW pulled the poles out of the tent. They threw the poles and the stakes into the hole and dragged the tent, with Frank in it, to within 8 feet of the grave. Then they rolled the body, until the tent was tight around it, and used the cords to tie it in place.
When they were ready to drop the body DW said, “Let’s make sure he goes in face up.”
“Why, you think it’s going to matter to him?”
“No, but if it was me, if I was going into an unmarked grave, I’d want to go in face up.”
“Face up it is then. You take the feet so you can make sure they’re pointed in the right direction.”
When they got the body, face up and over the grave, they dropped him in.
“I’d like to be lowered in,” said DW.
“Get it done at Forrest Lawn then. As you can see, unmarked grave diggers don’t have all the equipment needed for the complete job.”
Filling in the grave went a lot faster than digging it and soon they were replacing the squares of grass and spreading the extra dirt. The sun had been down for awhile but there was moon light and the two men leaned on their shovels and looked out at the rolling hills and the trees.
DW said, “It sure is beautiful out here. I can see why you like working in this environment.”
“It’s funny you should bring that up because I’ve been thinking about working with you for awhile. Try it for a year and see how I like it.”
“Really?”
Two weeks later Gloria checked her mail box and, among the bills and junk mail, found a letter addressed to her. The handwriting, a combination of cursive and printing, was clearly a man’s. The postmark was from San Francisco and the return address was illegible. Gloria sat down on the couch in the living room and opened it. She pulled out a white sheet of paper and unfolded it.
Dear Gloria and Rick,
Hi! I hope all is going well with you. I wanted to let you know that DW and I went up to see you, probably right after you left. We found something at your place that was broken beyond repair. We didn’t want you to be charged with littering so we got rid of it for you. We disposed of it in a good place so no worries there.
You might be wondering how we got your address. DW is somewhat of a memory freak. He can recite the batting averages of hundreds of major league players as far back as the 1920’s and the names of every automobile made since 1890. He memorized your license plate when he helped push your car. He has a number of acquaintances in law enforcement and one of them used your plate number to look up your address for us.
It was real nice getting to know you and hopefully our paths will cross again sometime in the future.
Take care,
HGR
P.S. Please burn after reading – both letter and envelope. Thanks.
Gloria read the letter a second time and then called Rick. When he answered she said, “Rick its Gloria, I need to see you. Do you want me to come over or can you come here?”
“How long will it take you to get here?”
“Fifteen minutes, the same as it will take you to get here. It’s not an emergency but it’s something you’ll want to hear right away.”
“Good news or bad news?”
“Good news. Details when you arrive.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
“See you soon.”
Fifteen minutes later Rick walked through the front door. “No tickets, no accidents – what’s going on?”
Gloria patted the seat next to her on the couch and Rick walked over and sat down. She handed him the letter and watched him read it. Like Gloria he read it a second time. “Wow, that’s good news.”
“You think they buried him?”
“Yes, they must have. What else could it mean besides cremation and I doubt they did that.”
“That was nice of them to do that, yeah? And to let us know.”
“Yeah, they were taking a risk. If they got caught the cops might have figured they were good for the murder.”
“It wasn’t a murder, it was self-defense.”
“Yes, but how could you prove it? Bobby and I didn’t think we could, so we took off. Speaking of Bobby I should call him so we can get him this information.”
From her bedroom Fran called out, “Bobby and I are going rollerblading. He’s going to pick me up in an hour.”
“Bobby rollerblades?”
“I’m teaching him, and in case you’re wondering how much of your conversation I overheard the answer is zero, zip, zilch, nada. I don’t want to hear anything that might put me on the witness stand and that seems to take more effort these days.”
“Smart and beautiful, that’s my girlfriend’s roommate.”
“She’s your girlfriend now?” said Fran from her bedroom.
Rick looked at Gloria and smiled. “I like to think so.”
When Bobby came over Gloria had him sit on the couch and handed him the letter. He read it, and read it again. “That’s something. Who are these guys?”
“They’re guys we hung out with at the Rainbow,” said Gloria. “One of them helped us change a tire when we first got there.”
“You two seem to be a good influence on people. Earl rides up to warn you that Frank’s on his way and these guys get rid of the evidence. How do you account for that?”
Gloria thought for a minute. “Clean living, I guess.”
# # #
Glossary of poker terms used in this novel. For a more complete glossary Google ‘Glossary of poker terms.”
Bluff – to bet a hand that probably won’t win into a strong hand, or hands, with the goal of getting the player, or players, to fold.
Board Cards – the face up cards in the middle of the table that are used by every player in the hand.
Burn Card – the card put face down by the dealer as a safe guard against cheating. In hold’em the dealer burns a card before the flop, the turn, and the river.
Flop – the first three face up community cards dealt by the dealer.
Flush – five cards of the same suit.
Maniac – an overly loose aggressive player
Monster – a very strong hand
Muck – to discard a hand. Also describes the discard pile.
Nuts – the best possible hand in a given situation. If the dealer flops the 2, 5, and jack of spades and a player is holding the ace, 10 of spades he has the nuts at that point in the hand.
Power House – a very strong hand; a monster
Rainbow – a board with many different suits
River – the last card dealt. In hold’em it’s the fifth card on the board
Rock – a player who plays few hands, almost always good ones
Smooth Call – when a player calls when he could have raised. Often used to keep an opponent in the pot
Straight – five cards in sequence. 5,6,7,8,9 is a straight
Tilt – when a player gets emotional, which often results in poor play
Trash – bad cards that are usually mucked
Trips – 3 of a kind
Turn – the forth communi
ty card in hold’em
Wired – usually refers to the first cards dealt a player being a pair. If a player is dealt a pair of aces it could be referred to as aces wired.
# # #
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