#74
Hoggis raced down the stairs, rather than take the pokey slow elevator. Marjean was just turning off the lights, and Hoggis cleared his throat and nervously tried to get Marjean to sit in the dark and listen to his terrible tale of confession.
Marjean said, "hold on, I need to call my mom and let her know I'll be delayed. Hoggis, I'm willing to listen to anything you want to say, so go ahead."
Hoggis had to clear his throat at least seven times, before he gathered the courage to begin his tale of woe. He was a pitiful wreck when he finally finished his deep confession."
"Hoggis," Marjean took his ice cold hand between her warm ones. "I have been aware of what you, Clayton and Tyson have been doing. In fact, when we reached my house tonight; I was going to tell you I couldn't see you anymore, because of the terrible things you men were doing. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear you say that you are no longer associated with Tyson."
Hoggis took a big gulp of air and tried to speak, it came out as a squeak. At that moment, his phone started to ring. In a surprise move, Marjean took the ohone from his hand and glanced at the caller. She hit a couple of buttons and handed the instrument back to Hoggis.
"That was Tyson; I blocked calls and texts from him. Hoggis, you have to choose between me or Tyson."
"Marjean, I think a powerful bunch on you. I don't care if I ever talk to Tyson again." Hoggis could barely whisper he was so nervous and tied up in knots.
"Oh Hoggis, that was just the right thing to say; I think we should go steady," Marjean grabbed his hand again and leaned over the table to kiss Hoggis on the cheek.
"You do?" he squeaked once again; "I mean you do?" he marshalled up all his male confidence and spoke in his deep voice.
"Yes I do," Marjean giggled, "You are so handsome and such a worthwhile person, I will be proud to be your girlfriend."
As they walked out of the darkened room, Hoggis felt ten feet tall.
Back at the motel, Don finished the meal that Clora had intended for them all. "?"Honest to Pete kid, where are you putting all that food?" Mark was a little crabby watching his supper stuffed into Don.
"Don't forget, I've been at Tesses for three weeks and she kept us all starved. I finally told her I was going to call CPS if she didn't start feeding her kids. That was a disgrace the way she ignored them. I guess I finally got through to her by calling Woody and telling him I was leaving. There was no sense to the way she was carrying on. She was blubbering about someone intending to kill you and Ma, if she didn't knuckle under and do what she was told to do. A disgrace, it is." Don got up for a drink of water. "I believe it was Wyatt that was bedeviling her."
Mark nodded, "I'm certainly glad you finally got around to saying something," he censured. "It's nice to know when your a target,"
"Listen," Don was a little steamed, "I sure didn't get any notice of where you and Ma where, so don't be acting like I'm the bad guy."
Mark was taken aback; he didn't think any of his children had ever spoken to him in that tone. "Your right," he said slowly, "I guess we all are at fault."
"I've been sore about Tess, and I blame her for setting the whole family on edge. She doesn't act like she's in her right mind."
Clora was listening, as she rolled biscuits and stirred gravy. Don was drinking another glass of water and hanging over the stove, acting like he was still hungry.
"No deal, Dad and I get to eat and you can have what's left." Clora was firm, Don's appetite was rapidly getting out of hand.
"Tomorrow, I want to ride to town, we need to replace the food we have eaten. This is really a poor household." Clora said between bites.
"Most of the food here, was what MR bought to bring up here. She wouldn't let me buy any," Don reported. "A guy by the name of Tyson has been holding the old couple in an extortion scheme. Either they pay money or he comes at night and trashes the cars of any customers. He used a bear, to make it seem like a force of nature, but when I heard the stinkin bear, I opened the cabin door and killed it. That's what has advanced this problem to this point. They fired on us this afternoon, and that's when Bub started having heart trouble."
"Then we need to do a watch tonight, do you want first or last watch?"
"I want the use of IR," Don said without hesitation. "There's no outside light around here, and it's too damm dark." Don got up and forked several biscuits on his plate and ladled several scoops of gravy. He had noticed Ma slowing down eating, so he felt safe in eyeing her share.
"No more, until I'm full, you've already had a gallon of beans and a pan of cornbread," Mark complained.
Gary, Milo and Toby were conferring. "Where the heck are Ma and Dad now. There's some guy wanting to talk to them about a barn; and why the heck did they give my number as a second notification."