20. Galen
Chapter 20
Galen
T he first week of any job was always tough, and sitting in Royce’s tent, even with all its graceful touches, from the Keurig coffee maker and dozens of pods to choose from, to the little swamp cooler that made Royce’s tent an oasis of comfort, Galen felt a little wiped out. There was no escaping the fact that this summer was coming down warm, warmer than any summer Galen could remember.
Granted, they were all sitting a little close, their knees brushing. Two men sat on the cot and two men sat on small, wooden folding chairs that Royce had acquired from somewhere.
“I’ve got ice cold lemonade here in this cooler,” said Royce, gesturing to it. Gratefully, Galen reached out his hand.
“Thank you,” he said, and looked down at the printed agenda in his lap. Royce’s idea, no doubt, because while Gabe was the head team lead, Royce seemed to be the main organizer of meetings. He took a sip of the freezing cold citrus drink and winced with pleasure.
“Jonah went all the way to Chugwater to get them,” said Royce, pleased.
“Shall we get started?” asked Gabe, eager, it seemed, to get down to business.
Galen cast a sidelong look at Marston, who was eyeing the drinks, but hadn’t taken one when Royce had offered. “You got another of these frozen drinks?” Galen asked.
“Raspberry,” said Royce, handing it to him, puzzled that Galen would take two. But Galen handed the drink to Marston, who took it, a small pleased smile on his face as he unscrewed the top.
“Thanks.”
“Welcome.”
Settling back in his seat, Galen paid attention to Gabe, and then to Royce, whoever was speaking, as they went over their concerns. The main issue seemed to be that they were discontinuing the token system for the showers.
“What token system?” asked Galen.
“It had been a way to get an estimate for water and propane usage, but we’ve already pretty much discontinued it.” With a smile, Gabe added, “Turns out, Gordy takes the longest showers at forty-five minutes a pop, but far be it from me to ask him what he’s doing in there.”
Galen laughed under his breath, found himself relaxing, and followed along as the conversation shifted to the next topic, which was riding lessons and horse care.
“I realize you’ve been busy with the knapweed, Galen,” said Gabe, and suddenly Galen felt all three pairs of eyes on him. “But will you be able to pick up the riding lessons and horse care this coming week? It’s an important part of the program.”
“I just figured—” began Galen, straightening up, thinking he’d somehow misunderstood what he was supposed to have been doing all week. “That the knapweed job was kind of critical?”
“It was and is,” said Gabe. “And you’ve been doing a good job with it, too. It’s just that I was on the phone with Leland and he was asking. Figured you could split the days between the knapweed and the horses. You might have to start carting hay out to the pasture along the river, since it’s been so dry.”
“Will do,” said Galen, letting out a small sigh of relief that’s all Gabe was worried about. Though he might be worried about more, if he knew what had been going on in Galen’s head since day one.
That though the team was coming together pretty well, he still sometimes felt out of control when attempting to get his team to focus on the work.
As for Bede, Galen didn’t think there was any way to ask Gabe what to do with Galen’s feelings for Bede that seemed to have taken on a life of their own. He’d seen Bede cry in the dark. He’d seen Bede, under the influence of pot, flirty and smooth. At the time, he’d not thought to wonder whether Bede would be as flirty when sober, but there wasn’t a really good way to ask that. Nor a good time.
Bede had done him a huge favor with the IRS. So huge that Galen’s troubles with them had all but vanished into smoke.
As for the unexpected hospital bills, they, too, were firmly under control. All due to Bede’s knowledge of the system. He owed Bede, frankly, but had no idea how to repay that debt.
The meeting trundled on, focused on low-level issues such as littering by the parolees, and an old joint that had been found behind the first aid hut.
Galen had seen Beck tuck a used joint carefully away in his Sucrets box, but maybe one had fallen by accident. He wouldn’t mention it then, keeping Bede and Beck’s secret safe.
Lastly, they discussed the heat, and what would happen in the following summers when actual guests had paid to stay in all the tents.
Royce suggested his little swamp cooler for each of the tents, and Gabe agreed that was a good idea, and they could always raise the nightly fee to something closer to five hundred dollars. At which point Galen had to stop himself from scoffing out loud at the amount of money some people had.
Then Gabe said they were good for now, but maybe they needed a bigger place to hold team lead meetings starting the following Saturday. Even if Royce pouted at this, he had to agree, since they were all pretty much sitting in each other’s laps.
As they filed out, Galen rushed to catch up with Gabe.
“Yeah, what’s up?” asked Gabe, in his equable way.
“Got a question for you.”
“Sure,” said Gabe. He jerked his thumb in the direction of his tent, and said, “I’m headed to my tent, so if you don’t mind watching me roll my socks, I’ve got some time.”
Galen followed Gabe to his tent, which was as neat as Royce’s tent, only less busy with decorations and extra appliances. There were also no dust bunnies beneath the cot, no stray toothbrush, no haphazardly made bed.
“Have a seat,” said Gabe, gesturing to the other cot as he pulled a laundry bag from the shelf between the cots and dumped the contents on top of the cot.
Galen questioned himself as to whether he should share his personal confusion about Bede. Except those feelings, whatever he wanted to call them—affection, the strong pull of unnameable urges—were currently in his own head, in his own chest, and needed to stay there until he could sift through them.
Instead, Galen explained the struggles he’d been going through, then finished up by saying, “I thought they were getting a free ride, which made me irritated. I thought they weren’t working hard enough. Then the day we took the knapweed to the dump, everything seemed to click into place. Sure, it’s good now, and they work hard. Only I’m worried about losing control because I don’t understand why anyone would become a criminal in the first place.”
“Think about it this way,” said Gabe as he carefully folded folding a mountain of identical white socks. “I have read the folders of all the men in the valley, but let’s just focus on your guys, since that is your main task. Right?”
Galen nodded.
“Why are they here?” asked Gabe, but it was a rhetorical question, so Galen kept his mouth shut. “They committed a crime. Smart or foolish, they got caught. They also paid their time. Spent their days and nights trapped in a very small space with other men, some of them violent, most of whom they did not know. And then they came here. Why? Surely they could have gone home, back to their old ways. With the rate of recidivism in this country, over forty and sometimes as high as fifty percent, it would have been the easier, most expected option. But they did not go home. Again, why?”
Thinking that this wasn’t rhetorical, Galen took a breath. “I honestly don’t know, and maybe that’s part of my problem. Why are they here if not to do easy work, get free food, and have a comfortable place to sleep?”
The issue felt old and worn, as if he’d been tearing at it a while and just needed to let it go.
“Very good point,” said Gabe, stacking his rolled-up socks in neat piles. “You’ve got to look at this on a case-by-case basis. Take Toby. You think he’d sign up for a summer like this on his own?”
Slowly, Galen shook his head. It was easy to see, when Gabe pointed it out like he had, that Toby wouldn’t make a move without Owen.
“Owen led him here,” Galen said.
“Exactly right. Which begs the next question.”
“Why did Owen come here?” Galen suggested.
“Right. And why did Owen come here?”
“Because he thought it would be easier than going back to breaking into houses or picking locks,” said Galen, the realization of it flickering into focus. “He’s a low-level criminal. Always takes the easy path. The valley seemed easier, and now that he’s here, it’s easier to stay than to leave.”
“Right again,” said Gabe. “The benefit of this program will come to them in spite of themselves.” Gabe looked at Galen exactly like a teacher might at a prize pupil. “And what about Bede? Why did he sign up?”
Galen shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“Sometimes,” said Gabe slowly, his gaze drifting to the opening of the tent where the heat shimmered in the trees. “We know the answer. We just don’t think that we do. What’s the first thing you thought when I asked you why Bede was here?”
“Kell,” said Galen, promptly. “He came because of Kell.”
“Why?”
“Why?” asked Galen, but he realized he knew the answer to that, too. “He once said Kell was like a brother to him, so of course he’d follow Kell to the valley.”
“Just because someone has committed a crime, many crimes,” said Gabe. “Doesn’t mean every part of their life is a crime. Bede’s got feelings. He cares for Kell. I reckon he came just to shut Kell up—” Gabe paused to laugh under his breath. “In the mess tent, I overheard Kell on the phone almost every other day, just begging Bede to fill out the form. Could you have resisted that sunshiny kid? I don’t think I could have and obviously Bede couldn’t. Even if he meant to leave the second he got here, and I could see it in his eyes that’s what he was thinking he was going to do, he stayed.”
The idea of Bede’s presence in the valley became awash with a kind of warmth. First Galen had seen Bede as a hard worker, and then a vulnerable one, when he’d witnessed his tears in the dark of the woods. Then had come the help with Galen’s bills. And now this. Bede staying because he’d changed his mind, something Galen would have bet money would never happen. And if that change could happen, what else was possible?
Kell was smarter about people than his young years might suggest, having seen beneath the granite surface of Marston’s unsmiling face to find a wealth of affection and devotion. He obviously held Bede in high regard, in spite of, again, superficial indicators that would suggest Kell stay far, far away from him. Instead, he was overjoyed to have Bede as a tent mate.
“He stayed because—” Galen paused, then shook his head. “I don’t know why he stayed. I have no idea.”
“Well, he might not know why either, but he’s glad he stayed,” said Gabe, his voice lowering to seriousness. “Keep your eyes open. Make your mind a blank slate. Consider what it might be like to be released after five years in prison, and why on earth you would not go back to what you had before. Bede was making a shit ton of money, and he had a lot of power and influence. He could have that again inside of a heartbeat. But he’s still here. Walking around barefoot every chance he gets.”
“Yeah, go figure,” said Galen, a tornado of thoughts whirling in his head. “I told him it wasn’t safe, but?—”
“You might ask yourself why he does that, as well.”
“I will,” said Galen.
This was an assignment on a whole ‘nother level, but a flicker of brightness inside of him told him that he was glad he’d get to find out.
Every man on his team had made decisions, good and bad. Now that they were in the valley, they had opportunities being placed in front of them. It was Galen’s job to aid and assist them.
Most importantly, he wanted to find out why Bede stayed.
Thanking Gabe, Galen stepped out of the tent and stood on the wooden platform, letting the faint breeze brush across his skin. He felt a new confidence that he could do the job that he’d agreed to do.
In the meantime, he needed to gather his team together so they could put in a good afternoon’s work attacking the knapweed. At the end of the day, they’d put away their tools and clean up, and then everybody would get a whole Sunday off. Well worth looking forward to.
But first, where was his team? Surely they were done with the counseling session by now.
He marched along the path to the mess tent, where he found a few parolees lounging at tables as they glared at their clipboards. Of note, Toby and Owen were having a clipboard battle, giggling like mad when the clipboard missed, and howling when it didn’t.
“Guys?” asked Galen, then he raised his voice. “Guys. Stop a minute.”
“Yes, boss?” Owen asked, and Toby echoed him.
“How’s it going with the applications?” Galen asked. “You guys know what to do?”
“Sure do, boss,” said Owen, and Toby nodded.
“Great.” Galen paused as if the thought had just occurred to him to ask where Bede was, though that had been his main objective. “Where’s Bede? I need to check on him as well.”
“Down by the lake,” said Owen.
“Yeah, the loser,” added Toby, making the shape of an L on his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, all with a complete lack of fear or respect.
With a nod and a wave of thanks, Galen turned and tramped through the woods, following the push of cool air that came from Half Moon Lake.