Larry Goes To Space by Alan Black Page B

Gary.”
    “Never mind,” Gary said, coming out of the dark with a suitcase in each hand. Gary was thin and average height, but strong across the back and arms with big hands calloused from hard work. His head was covered by a gimme cap from the feedstore over in Lyons, Kansas. “The courts didn’t allow us to take but one bag of personals each. The rest has to be “adjudicated”.” He spat out the legal term as if it was something that dropped out the south end of a northbound diseased rodent of uncertain parentage.
    “Bastages,” Larry sympathized. “Don’t worry about tying up Ol’ Bucky. He hasn’t met a rope he couldn’t chew through or a chain he can’t break and drag behind him.” He pointed at his bedroom. “You can carry those suitcases right into the big bedroom up front.”
    “We don’t want to put you out. That’s your bedroom. We can take the other,” Gary said. Even though he said it, he didn’t move toward the guest bedroom, waiting like all guests for his host to insist that he take the nicer of the two rooms.
    “Nope,” Larry said. “I’m sure Dad told you I was leaving for a while tomorrow. So, no sense in letting the big queen-sized bed sit empty. The guest room has twin beds, so that isn’t good for a married couple. Did you two eat yet?”
    “We’re stuffed to the gills,” Gary said. “We have a huge chunk of your mom’s peach cobbler in the car for you.”
    “Good. I hope you don’t mind but I’m about ready to burn me a steak, so we can talk while I eat.”
    Marcy shook her head, “No. You men folk talk about business and what not. I’ll go cook your steak. Gary, please go get the cobbler and put it in the refrigerator before it goes bad. How do you like your steak, Larry?”
    Since Larry liked his steaks rare, it didn’t take them long to be arranged around the kitchen table. In between bites, Larry told his cousin and new wife about his farm, the cattle, the barn, where the keys were to everything that took keys, and what to do with Ol’ Bucky when he rolled in and ate skunk roadkill. He told them to help themselves to anything and everything in the chest freezer out on the back porch. He told them to ride Dollar anytime they could catch him. He told them to go through the clothes in the closet Nancy left behind to see if any fit Marcy. He doubted anything would fit as Nancy prided herself on being tall and model thin. Marcy obviously prided herself of being happy and healthy, eating another piece of cobbler while Larry attacked his slice of dead cow meat.
    No matter what Larry’d told Nancy, she’d left a closet full of old clothes in the guest bedroom closet while cleaning out the master bedroom closet. He told them to use any of his clothes he left behind, not that he had that much worth borrowing and he doubted Gary wanted anything to do with his old used boxers. He even told them who to call if the septic tank backed up and where to go for a cold beer, if they’d a mind to go out for a bit.
    Gary stopped him when he pulled up the bank records on his laptop and started writing down the passwords. “What are you doing? I’m grateful for the help and we’re flat broke, but you can’t just open up everything and give it to us like that. You sound like you aren’t planning on coming back.”
    Larry chuckled. “I’m trusting you to keep all of this—” he waved his arms around indicating what he meant when he said all “—everything on my place, under your hat. I’m excited about going. I’ve never been where I’m going and I’m looking forward to getting there like you wouldn’t believe. But, I’m planning on coming back. For that matter, every time I go into town I plan on coming back, but you just never know. It doesn’t take but one small step in the wrong direction and you can’t go home. Just like you and Marcy, it isn’t even your fault, but you can’t go home.
    “Both of you listen up. You’re doing me a bigger service than I’m