She pulled up to the bar in her pale yellow 1965 T bird. A forty year old car, for a forty year old woman. She came to a stop, opened her door, and stepped into the street with her cowboy boots. She wore skin tight blue jeans paired with a dark brown leather jacket that matched her eyes and fit snug on her tiny frame. Half of her curly hair was pulled back and the rest cascaded over her shoulders. People who didn’t know Tara personally, may have called her a stunner.
It was karaoke night and she was ready to sing. Although her voice wasn’t as angelic as she believed it to be, she did have a decent set of pipes.
She walked in and was met by a handsome stranger at the bar. He glanced her way once, then back again.
“Evening ma’am.” He said in a deep southern drawl, as he tipped his worn cowboy hat. “Can I buy you a drink?”
“I’ll take a double vodka.”
The man nodded, and waved to the bar tender.
They exchanged introductions and were on their second round of drinks when Tara’s son came up in conversation.
“What’s your boy’s name?” He asked with a smile.
“Bobby.”
“Bobby huh? No kiddin’! Well, I was called that too. ‘Cept I go by Robert mostly, these days. How old is Bobby?”
She looked at her hands. “He was five, when he passed on.”
“Good Lord. I’m sorry. I’ll bet he would have grown to be a fine man with a mother like you.” he said after knowing her for thirty minutes. He slowly reached over to her and when she didn’t pull away, he gave her hand a squeeze.
“Thank you.” She nodded and wiped away tears that weren’t there. “But, it was a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t be sad about it. There’s no expectation date on grievance.” He said firmly. “I know it’s none of my business-but- how’d it happen?”
“There was an accident. My husband at the time-” if he didn’t make me so mad that day– “well, it was an accident.”
A shadow of understanding fell over the man’s face. His lips tightened, eyes grew fierce.
She didn’t want to talk about Bobby anymore. “C’mon cowboy. Let’s dance!”
2
She stumbled into her house well past midnight, unaccompanied. Threw her keys on the table, her jacket on the couch. She walked and swayed to the bottom of the stairs where she paused and dug her hand into the pocket of her jeans. She felt a beat in her chest when her hand came up empty. Moving a little more quickly now she frisked herself, finally pulling out her wedding ring and slipping it back onto her finger.
A few minutes later she was crawling into bed trying not wake her husband. She slipped in, and cringed in disgust when she felt his arm wrap around her middle, and even more so when he whispered, “I love you, babe.”
She grunted a reply, and taking solace in her drunken stupor, fell straight to sleep.
3
A group of workers, mostly men, waited in a gravel parking lot for her to show up. A half an hour already passed from their meet time.
But that was okay. They were on the clock.
Most smoked cigarettes, the amber tips burned in competition with the rising sun. Others sat, fiddling with their work gloves, on the bumpers of cars or work trucks. Waiting. Well dressed, only their faces were pink with cold against the waning winter air.
“What’s she got planned for us today?” an older man by the name of Teddy had hobbled over to ask the foreman Jack. The years of hard labor and summers spent in the sun were evident in every movement. He waited patiently for Jack’s answer, tried to keep his breathing steady.
“Cripes, who knows with her. Last I heard, we were taking down that Elm over on Pike street.” Jack said. He took a final drag of his cigarette before flicking the butt to the gravel.
“The one we were supposed to take last year?”
“Mhmm.” Jack lit another cigarette. “I guess they worked out their differences. But you know how that goes.”
Teddy nodded, Jack continued. “She called me late last night to talk about it. The wife is starting to lose her patience with Tara.”
“What time did she call?”
“‘Bout eleven.”
“And you answered?” Teddy asked wincing.
“Well, yeah. Didn’t mean to. Just tried to turn the ringer off before it could wake Stevie. Answered it instead. No going back at that point.”
Stevie was Jacks new baby. There were some minor complications with his boy’s birth, enough to make the young twenty something sick to his stomach. Things ended up being okay though, and Jack was left with the only concern of making sure Momma and baby got plenty of rest.
Teddy noticed a coldness in Jack’s blue eyes; it put stitch of ache in his heart for the guy.
The T bird came tearing into the parking lot, spitting gravel.
4
Tara slammed her car into park and reached for the clipboard on the seat next to her. Her head felt like it was splitting down the middle. Too much vodka. She thought as her stomach turned. She opened the glove box, grabbed a bottle of pain pills and send them flying all over the car in an attempt to open them. That’s it!
She whipped open her door and marched over to her crew, papers and clipboard in hand. Everyone stood still, watching.
“JACK!”
“Yes ma’am?
“Why is everyone just standing around and not in the trucks?”
“Um. Sorry. We just didn’t know who was going where.”
“What, you need this?” She chucked the clipboard presumably at one of the trucks and missed; it ricochet off of a woman’s thigh and then hit a truck.
“Hey!”
Tara shot daggers at the woman who had cried out, silencing her.
“It’s not that hard! Two people on stumps, the rest of us are going to Pike street!”
Jack picked up the clipboard, and ushered people into two dump trucks and a bucket truck. The last two got into the truck that was hauling the stump grinder. As people started driving away Tara turned to Jack.
“Sorry. Late night last night.” Was all she said before getting back into her car.
“It’s okay.” He mumbled as he followed her.
5
She hung around the jobsite for a couple of hours before leaving to run errands. “Estimates, customers, pay roll” she muttered something like that before rolling away.
Now she was standing outside of her car, in the parking lot of a pet store, looking at her keys trapped on the other side of the glass when her phone started ringing. She took a breath.
“Tara’s tree service, what can I do for you today?” Her voice did sound angelic.
“Hi- um, Tara? Teddy he-” commotion in the backround.
“Who is this?” She already knew.
“Um- it’s Nick-Teddy-”
“Why are you calling me? If anyone should be calling me on work time, it’s Jack.” Tara was livid. Who does he think he is? Calling me on my personal phone.
“Please! Teddy- he’s hurt, bad-”
“Jack can handle it.” And she hung up on him.
Nick called again and she ignored it. Twice more, no answer. Finally, at the height of Tara’s rage, her phone rang again and she answered.
“WHAT?” Passing people glanced her way.
“It’s Jack. Teddy’s hurt. Bad.”
“Well, give him a bandaid and get him back to work.”
“We can’t, he needs to go to the doctor.”
“Jack.” She said lowering her voice. “That man, Teddy? He will be fine. I have my own things to deal with right now and we need to get that job done. Not one truck is to leave that site until the job is finished.” She ended the call. Moaning and groaning, she dialed her husband.
“I need you to bring me the spare key to my car.”
“Sure thing, I’ll leave right now. Where are you hun?”
6 Twenty Minutes Earlier
The morning had gotten quite warm and Jack was taking a long drink of water when he heard the screams. Nearly choking, he whipped his head around. Disoriented by the fear that gassed his mind, he wasn’t sure where the cries came from.
His eyes locked on Nick, a guy who looked barely eighteen and was two days new to the crew, was hunched over in the grass, his back toward Jack. Nicks whole body looked like it was convulsing.
Getting over his shock, Jack broke into a sprint. As he got closer, he realized that it wasn’t Nick who was hurt. Teddy was on the ground, both hands wrapped his leg not far below his knee, trying to stop the blood flow. It wasn’t working, his hands were drenched.
“He cut himself! I didn’t see-”
“Shut up- go get the first aid kit- now!”
Nick took off for the trucks and Jack dropped to his knees, putting his hands carefully on Teddys leg. His heart hammered as he willed himself to look Teddy in the face. It was sickly contorted; his skin was drained of color leaving it an ashy, pale gray. His eyes were closed tight, the pain ruthlessly pushing breath out his lungs leaving him gasping for more.
Nick was back and fumbling with the first aid kit.
“Get behind him, hold him up.” Jack said, taking the kit from him. He noticed that most of the crew was there now, standing a respectable difference away, watching. Waiting.
Jack ripped open the first aid kit and his heart dropped. There was maybe a handful of bandaids. A busted cold pack. A used up tube of burn cream. That was all. He fought the rising panic.
“Hey Rich.” Jack motioned him over, Rich had to kneel down to hear him, his voice was barely above a whisper. “He’s on blood thinners. We need to make a tourniquet- fast. You know how to do that?”
Rich was already standing, hiking his shirt up over his head. As soon as he had it off, he was tearing ir into a long strip.
“Yep.” He was kneeling next to Jack again.
“Okay, Teddy? We need you to move your hands, ok?”
Teddy continued to hold onto his leg for dear life. Jack nodded to Nick. “Help him, don’t let go of his arms.”
Teddy put up less of a fight than expected, and that worried Jack. When the mess was revealed, Jack and Rich had to fight against recoiling stomachs. His skin was gorged leaving shredded flesh and blood. Too much blood.
“Teddy? How’d this happen?”
“The saw. Kicked back on me.”
A flame ignited inside Jack’s chest and it took all he had to ignore it. How many times had he told Tara the chains needed to be replaced? Of the first aid kits replenished?
Rich was getting to work, wrapping his t-shirt around Teddy’s leg- below the knee, above the ugly gash.
“Not too tight or loose.”
“Got it.”
Jack held Teddy steady while Rich pulled the shirt tight. “Alright, let’s get him to the truck.” He and Rich got on either side of Teddy and pulled his arms onto their shoulders. Between the two of them, Teddy was almost lifted off the ground.
“Nick. Call Tara. Let her know we’re going to the hospital.”
To be Continued