Page 40 of Resilience on Canvas

Chapter Twenty-One

Henry

Two weeks later . . .

Henry was restocking the cans of vegetables in the store when the chime of the bell above the entryway pulled his attention away.

He looked up to see Joe and Rose coming down the aisle, huge toothy smiles on their faces.

Probably they had figured out how they wanted to spend the money from the competition.

It had been burning a hole in their wallets for weeks.

Not that they wanted to spend it on nothing frivolous (both Rose and Joe were too smart for that sort of thing), but Henry knew that they were trying to work out how to optimize it somehow, like maybe by purchasing some type of equipment that could help their farm or buying something that might be worth more money in the coming years.

But they hadn’t found the perfect thing. Until now, maybe.

Smiling back, Henry stood up, awaiting their news.

Rose said, “We have the best surprise for you.”

“Yeah? What’s that?” Henry said, tilting his head.

“We’re comin’ to California with you!” Joe exclaimed.

Henry’s hand flew to his chest. “Really?!”

“Well, not with you , exactly, since we won’t be taking the train, but maybe we could settle somewhere nearby,” Rose said. “Joe and I realized that we shouldn’t stay here, what with the land the way that it is. And, so, what could be better than starting over in California with our best friend?”

“With the money we won, we’ll find a house to rent no problem,” Joe said.

“And Joe can find work in a store or something while I—”

“Rosie can sing!” Joe exclaimed.

Rose chuckled. “Well, we hope that I can find a theatre company. I’ll probably have to work somewhere else, though, for a while.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful.” Henry swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. “What about your farm? Can you really sell it?”

Henry couldn’t see how it would be possible.

It seemed like a miracle that his parents had found a buyer for their house so fast, though probably it had been easier for them because of how close the house was to the center of town where the businesses were.

Even though nearly every one of the businesses in Guymon had suffered financially in recent years, many still remained profitable enough to stay open, and once in a while, a new one sprouted up, too.

“Our neighbors want to buy it.” Rose shrugged and shook her head. “But we won’t make much. I can’t blame them for offering so little money for it, though.”

“Good thing we have our winnings.” Joe nudged her a couple of times with his elbow and then wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive kind of way. “Thanks to Henry here!”

Henry’s cheeks burned. Lord Almighty, his friends would tease him over that for forever. With a soft chuckle, Rose shook her head once more.

“Are you sure you won’t take a little of the money?” she asked. “We really only won because of the fun you and Robert were having in the bell tower. ”

“Nah, I can’t take none of the money from you,” Henry said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, his cheeks still burning.

Robert would kill him if he ever took the charity.

Metaphorically speaking. Hopefully. “Me and Robert are workin’ on comin’ up with the money for California ourselves.

Robert thinks he’s close to, uhm, to sellin’ the car.

Actually, he’s meetin’ with someone who wanted to buy it right now.

” Henry smiled a crooked smile and shrugged.

“Don’t worry ’bout us. We’ll have enough soon. ”

“Alright, well, tell us if you change your mind,” Rose said.

“Yeah, I-I will.”

Over the next half hour or so, Rose and Joe followed Henry around the store as he restocked some more shelves and waited patiently the two times he had to help customers.

All the while, the three of them chatted about California—what it would be like, how they’d make money, where they’d settle, when they’d leave.

Even though him and Robert had yet to come up with the money, Henry found himself becoming more and more excited for their new beginning.

Gosh, they were so close . Just a couple hundred bucks stood in the way of them finally leaving Guymon.

Unfortunately, Henry’s father had been right with regards to how long it would take for him and Robert to save up with the income from the store alone.

It had been two weeks, but still, the two of them had only saved up twelve dollars.

And that was with him and Robert skipping one supper each, too.

Lord Almighty, taking care of a whole family was expensive.

Hopefully the money they’d make on the West Coast would be more than what they were making pushing the store’s register keys.

It had to be, right? Why else would so many people be traveling out there?

And, even if it wasn’t that much better, the weather was sure to be pleasant.

How nice it would be to enjoy summer’s soft breezes again!

Soon, Joe and Rose left for home. Henry’s shift was almost over.

After seeing his friends out, Henry locked up and started sweeping the floor.

It was filthy, especially near the entrance where the topsoil had crept in some.

Pushing the broom’s bristles over the tiles, Henry relished the simplicity of the task.

Cleaning up was, by far, his favorite part of his shifts.

He could switch off his brain and let the repetitive motions of sweeping the floor or scrubbing the counter relax him into a place of tranquility.

While in this state of mind, his near constant buzz of nervousness calmed to a low hum, and he could let his thoughts lazily flit from one pleasant memory to the next.

The swish-swish-swish of the bristles scraping the floor was like a melody to Henry’s ears.

He began thinking about Robert and about the time they’d spent together over the last two weeks.

Every evening, they had supper together, their knees secretly (or maybe not so secretly) touching beneath the kitchen table, and in the mornings, they tended to the rows of Robert’s crops together, shoveling away the excess topsoil that had blown on top of them and fetching water from the family well.

Sometimes, they had a couple of ripened berries or vegetables to pick, and once, they’d harvested enough to sell a basketful in town.

Despite the hardship involved in taking care of Robert’s family, Henry couldn’t help but find happiness in every moment that him and Robert were together.

By far, the best hours were the ones in the nighttime.

Him and Robert shared a bed. Robert’s bed.

Since the twins were in the room, nothing unsavory ever happened, but it was still nice to sleep next to each other.

Good God, Henry loved every second of it.

He loved it more than he’d have ever thought possible.

Just as Henry was finishing up, someone banged on the window.

He looked up to see Robert motioning for him to unlock, his cheeks pink from what might have been either exhaustion or fury, though Henry wasn’t sure which.

Either way, he felt a little shiver of excitement roll through him, making him shudder with want , but only for the briefest moment before he both remembered where they were and realized that Robert’s temper ought not to be something that thrilled him like this.

Gosh, there must have been something wrong with him.

After leaning the broom handle up against the wall, Henry came to unlock the door. And the moment Robert yanked it open, he started ranting.

“Goddamn son-of-a-bitch bastard of a car!” he shouted, pushing past Henry.

Henry’s heart sank. “What happened?”

“It won’t start! I went to sell the piece of crap, and it... it died on me.” Robert let out a small frustrated scream. “No one will buy it now!”

“Maybe you need to try it a couple more times? Sometimes it takes a few tries before—”

“I know that! It’s my Goddamn car!”

Henry chewed on his lip for a few seconds, trying to think of something else they could try. “Well, uhm, we could see how much the parts are worth? Individually?”

Robert rolled his eyes. “We have one and a half weeks left before the bank kicks us out! We wouldn’t never sell the pieces in time to make enough for everyone’s train fare!”

“Alright, well, we still have the tractor, right?”

“No one wants to buy that thing! Christ, folks were laughin’ at me when I asked some of the people at church!

No one wants to spend money on a tractor when nobody’s farmin’ nothin’!

Sure, maybe a couple of fortunate bastards still have land that’s producin’ wheat or corn or such, but barely.

Not one person in Guymon wants to spend two hundred on a tractor. ”

“What if we sell it for less? ”

“No one is spendin’ one hundred on it, either.” Robert ran a hand through his hair. “I’d be the luckiest son of a bitch west of the Mississippi if I somehow even sold it for fifty.”

Henry let Robert’s words sink in, and with them, the reality of the situation sank in, too.

Goodness, they’d never make it to California now.

At least before, they’d had the option of taking the car there, though no one had been too keen on that because of May’s scarred little lungs.

Still, it had been a possibility. But now. ..

Lord, Henry could barely breathe, the weight of reality settling on his chest, pressing him into the earth and tethering him to Guymon, to this godforsaken wasteland where there wasn’t no future for him. Or for Robert. Or for both of them together.

Henry’s eyes filled with tears. Grief bubbled up in his midsection, pushing up a sob.

“Oh, Robert, I’m sorry,” Henry choked out. He shut his eyes to try to contain the tears, but some still escaped, wetting his cheeks.