During his day off Nathan read almost half of the book that Ray had lent to out to him. While it was a stirring book about a gruff and very tough P.I., Nathan couldn’t help but think there was a parallel he was missing. There had to be a reason why Ray would give him this particular book, rather than one of the dozens of others that apparently exist. The young man would have to wait before he got a chance to find out as he put the book away and dressed very lightly for his next day of community service. This time he surprised Ray but coming out of the house already dressed in the orange jumpsuit, which led the old Sheriff to snort and chuckle out loud as he sarcastically applauded Nathan’s walk out to the truck.

“Now you’re getting it, kid.” Ray said with a smile as he started the truck back up and proceeded to drive off to pick up the other kids. “You and Cheryl did such a great job with the first part of the wall that I’m going to leave you two there again to keep up the good work. Is that all right with you?”

“Sounds good,” Nathan replied, not really paying attention.

“I didn’t think you’d have a problem with it,” Ray replied, “The shop owner next door liked you two as well. Said you were respectfully quiet and did a great job and that went far with me. That’s the kind of talk I like to hear.”

"I’m glad to hear they’re satisfied with our service.” Nathan responded as he kept looking out the window.

Ray could tell he was distracted so he decided to change the subject. “Did you happen to read any of that book I gave you?”

“I’ve managed to read a bit,” Nathan answered.

“Is that so?” Ray responded, intrigued to hear the answer. “And what do we think of dear old Frank?”

“I can see why you like him,” Nathan answered. “Frank’s tough, aggressive and takes no shit from anyone. Not even from that mean woman he hates so much.”

“You mean his wife,” Ray corrected.

“Yeah, his wife.” Nathan answered, “Do marriages actually get that ugly? I mean these people made an oath to love one another no matter what, so how can it end up becoming so bitter?”

“Promises are just words, kid,” Ray replied, “They have no value nor meaning until they’re backed up with action. Promises are nothing until you keep them.”

“So, vows are nothing when you make them?” Nathan inquired.

“They’re not nothing,” Ray corrected him, “They do have value as it’s a promise being made, but sometimes its hard for people to keep them in the long run. While some couples are able to ride out the storms and be stronger for it, there are just some couples that buckle to the pressure and fall by the wayside.”

“And this is why Frank hates her so much?” Nathan asked.

“Yes,” Ray replied, “Frank hates her and yet still loves her at the same time.”

“Okay,” Nathan said, “That is very confusing.”

“Truer words have never been spoken,” Ray answered. “When people make those vows, the majority of them mean it and make an effort to keep them, but there are some things that happen we can never be take back. Once certain bell has been rung, you can’t be unring it. It’s like trying to put shit back into the cow. Sure, you can try, but in the end you’re just going to get kicked and be covered head to toe in shit. Sometimes people try to hide their pain and that is actually worse than freaking out.”

“What’s worse than freaking out?” Nathan asked.

“Hiding your pain is a worse,” Ray continued, “Because when you bottle all that hostility up the anger grows, festers, and eats away at you. There are some who become so upset and depressed over it that to them the only way out seems to be to take matters into their own hands. I’ve been called in to clean up after that mess and it’s not a pretty sight. People seem to think live is nothing without love and feel determined to end it all once it’s gone.”

“All that over love?” Nathan asked, somewhat petrified.

“No,” Ray disagreed, “All that over the loss of love.”

Nathan didn’t respond to that but instead chose to think about it for as long as he could as they were driving to the station to pick up Cheryl. So, Frank was upset about the fact that he still loved her rather than not being in love anymore. It was the loss of what they had that upset the private investigator, and what drove him to empty all those whiskey bottles. Nathan was old enough or remember how upset his mother was the day his father moved out, yet that felt like nothing compared to what Frank was going through. Sure, she drank a little bit and shed a few tears, but that was all Nathan saw after his father had left. The way Peter was describing it in the book, Frank was ready to pound someone and take his anger out on the first person that crossed his path. Or like Ray had said, he was driving almost to the point where he might do something to himself just to end his suffering. Didn’t seem like the right thing to do, but love made people crazy both during and after the fact. It was something Nathan wasn’t going to have to experience for a bit of a while, as he didn’t plan to marry anytime soon if at all since this book was suggesting Nathan avoid it completely. When Ray picked up Cheryl, no one said a word, but the big sheriff did chuckle a little when he realized that Cheryl had too was already dressed in her orange jumpsuit and ready to go. Nothing was said on the ride over to the shop where the remainder of the graffiti wall waited to be painted over like the first half. Once they arrived Ray tossed the rollers, trays, and some old and new buckets of paint out there for them.

“Same routine as last time,” Ray started, “I’ll be back with lunch and then to pick you up when it’s all done. If you managed to finish before I get back, you can walk on over there to the park and hang out as long as you don’t disturb anyone. Just take it easy and chill till I get back. Understood?”

The two kids nodded to acknowledge their compliance.

“Very good… now have fun you two!” Ray let out a loud chuckle before pulling the truck out and taking off for the next thing he had to take care of. He honked once before driving out of sight.

“Is it just me,” Cheryl started, “but does that retro highwayman seem a little to chipper this morning?”

“He’s definitely up to something.” Nathan concurred.

“He sure is,” Cheryl said, setting up the supplied. “Sheriff gets free labor and a cleaner town all because we were too stupid to not realize the things we were doing were wrong.”

“That’s true,” Nathan said, as he passed her one of the rollers and took one for him. “But I can’t help but think he’s got something else up his sleeve.”

“Well, I really don’t want to look up that man’s sleeve. Yuck!” Cheryl said, as she started to roll new paint onto the wall. There was a silence for the first few minutes as they got their work underway. Finally, after a few more minutes, Cheryl broke the ice.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I googled your Dad a few nights ago,” Cheryl started, “He’s not the biggest writer out the man’s got quite a devoted following. He’s got a reputation for being a bit of a book snob too.”

“Really?” Nathan asked, somewhat curious. “Do tell…”

“Well,” Cheryl continued, “He’s written a lot of book with great characters, but he’s never written a sequel, ever. The impression I got was that your old man seems to think that writing a second book about anything is like selling out. Every book he has ever written has been about new characters, as he’s never gone back to update on the ones he’s already written about. Not even the one that made him the most money that would have guaranteed a huge payday.”

“So, he’s completely against sequels?” Nathan asked.

“Completely,” Cheryl continued, “I read an article where your dad swore up and down that he would never write one, and I mean ever.”

“That’s interesting,” Nathan said as he kept working.

Cheryl stopped painting and looked over at him. “What is?”

“I think the book he’s writing right now is a sequel.” Nathan answered, “Why would he write one now after holding out on them for so long?”

“I’m not sure,” Cheryl replied, “But if this new book is a sequel, it will be his first and that will make a ton of money. His most loyal fans might not get it, but they’ll still buy it. They’d buy anything that man wrote, even his personal diary.”

Nathan paused for a moment. “I wonder if he keeps a diary.”

“Oh, that’d be interesting.” Cheryl said, “Would you read it?”

“I might,” Nathan honestly replied, “It would be interesting to see what my Dad was thinking on big days, like when I was born or when he moved out.”

“Are you sure you want those answers?” Cheryl asked.

“I think so,” Nathan said, “My curiosity would get the best of me I think. I wouldn’t be looking for any excuses or reasons, maybe just an idea of what he was thinking when things went down. You know, for some clarity.”

“And you think reading his inner feelings give clarity?” Cheryl said, her eyes almost rolling at the thought.

“It would be interesting,” Nathan admitted, “I’m actually reading one of my Dad’s books right now, and in it he keeps describing this unbearable pain the main character is going through over his divorce.”

“You are reading one of your Dad’s books?” Cheryl said as she stopped working. “Which one?”

“The Hounds of Huntersville,” Nathan answered. “Ray lent me his copy of the book because it’s apparently his favorite.”

“That’s an interesting choice,” Cheryl said as she tried to remember what she read online. “If I’m not mistaken, this is actually one of your Dad’s darkest books. I think he wrote this one right after he left you guys, so chances are he poured a lot of emotion and feelings into it. You might just be reading a coded diary of what your father was going through at the time.”

“Well, that’s interesting.” Nathan said, while putting more paint on the roller. “So, if I just take notes and pay attention the answers I want seek could be within this book?”

“It’s entirely possible,” Cheryl said, “We should hit a bookstore to look up some of the other books he wrote around that time.”

“Yeah, we’ll do lunch and spend most of the day at that store you said had central air.” Nathan said, as he actually liked the idea. He wanted to learn more about his father through his books. It would also be nice to have lunch with Cheryl that wasn’t hand picked by the local Sheriff.

“That would be cool,” Cheryl agreed.

“It’s a date then?” Nathan asked, using those exact words to see how Cheryl would respond to them being used to describe their purposed outing. She paused for a moment and the smiled.

“Alright,” Cheryl said, smiling back at him. “That sounds good to me. We should meet at that park over there on Saturday around, say around eleven?”

“Sounds like a plan, “Nathan said, “I’ll be there.”

The two quietly went back to work to make sure a decent part of the wall was finished by the time Ray came back to check up on them. The rest of the morning seemed to fly as after what seemed like a short time later, Ray was driving back over to check up on them. As he pulled in, Ray was happy to see much progress had been made since he left them there. The sheriff didn’t mind the two talking amongst each other as long as they kept working away as they did so. Ray handed Nathan two bags, each containing a burger combo from a local place that was a short distance away, along with fries and a drink.

“You guys are doing excellent,” he complimented, “Take forty-five minutes to eat lunch and then get back to work. This is the last workday of the week so try to get this wall finished. Like I said before if you finish early, then you can hang out at the park and mingle until I get back.”

Ray had a smile on his face as he disappeared back into the truck and took off. He could see the rapport building between the two and he liked what he saw. Two less kids with too much time on their hands meant less brats making trouble and committing crimes in his town. The thought brought a smile to his face as he took off to check up on the other punks working for him.

Nathan looked at the combo and then back at Cheryl. “I just have one request.”

“Sure, what is it?” Cheryl asked.

“Just pick a nice place for our lunch,” Nathan replied, “I think we’ve had enough fast food and diner options to last me a while.”

“There are a lot better places here in town than just the ones mister retro highwayman prefers to eat,” Cheryl confirmed, “We eat there on Saturday.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Nathan said, as he took out his burger. “It’s a good thing neither of us are vegans. I think this one died of a heart attack on the range. And now he’s going to make a contribution to my own heart disease.”

“Ugh, that’s gross.” Cheryl said, laughing at him before taking a bite out of her own burger. The thing was disgustingly greasy, but it was still good to eat. “There’s even a piece of bacon on this thing, so it’s a good thing neither of us are Jewish.”

“Or Muslim.” Nathan added. They both had a laugh at the Sheriff’s expense despite the fact that he used his (or the town’s) money to get something rather decent for lunch. Ray’s heart was I the right place but not his head apparently and that’s what made it so amusing to them.

“I didn’t know they didn’t eat pork either.” Cheryl confessed.

“It’s a lot more complicated than that.” Nathan said as he sat down to make himself more comfortable. “From what I read; they actually don’t eat any animal that consumes another animals. For example, they wouldn’t eat alligator meat because those buggers are predators and eat a lot of other animals.”

“Wow, that is really fascinating.” Cheryl replied. “Have you actually eaten alligator?”

“Oh yeah.” Nathan said, smiling back at her. “They are amazing! There is this great place in the city that is famous for selling it. The first time I had it, it was battered into these little balls and deep fried, just like popcorn chicken. It was pretty awesome.”

Nathan paused as he realized what was going on. He was thinking about something that he did with his mother, something he hadn’t done in a while since her passing. He thought of her all the time, but this was the first time he thought about something just in passing without really meaning to do it. It was a good memory as well because his mom loved seafood and thought he would get a kick out of trying something exotic like breaded alligator and fish tacos, which was what he had that day.

“You alright, Nathan?” Cheryl asked as she could tell that he had spaced out and was somewhere else.

“Yeah, I just had a really good thought about my mother.” Nathan said as he looked back at her and came back to the real world. “She was never afraid to try new things and let me experiment with her. She was the kind of person who would always try something once no matter how gross it was.”

“How gross are we talking here?” Cheryl asked.

“Well, there was one trip my parents took to Asia before I was born,” Nathan explained, “I think it had to do with one of my Dad’s books releasing over there and the used the promotion tour as an excuse to go on vacation. They tried a while variety of weird stuff, like dog.”

“Dog?” Cheryl said, “Oh, that’s gross!”

“I had the same reaction when she told me, but she said it wasn’t bad.” Nathan said, as he found her response just as amusing.

“Wasn’t bad?” Cheryl said as she could barely keep down what she had eaten. “I don’t think I could handle that.”

“That makes two of us,” Nathan agreed.

He could never imagine eating a pooch or what could be someone’s pet. Funny thing was he never had the chance to ask his Dad about that to see what his take on it was. For all he knew, Dad was just as disgusted but put up with it to be a trooper with his Mom. She was the weird one when it came to eating stuff and his Dad seemed more like the tame one that never really went outside the box. That’s one thing he liked about his mom, she wasn’t the plain Jane kind of person and was always up for something new and exciting. That might be the reason why he liked Cheryl so much and why he was looking forward to their lunch date. After he finished his burger, Nathan tossed his and Cheryl’s trash. Even though they had a fair bit of time left to rest for lunch, Ethan went back to painting the wall as he was determined to finish early. He preferred to rest afterwards and share some time at the park with Cheryl before Ray came to get them. She quickly took the hint and joined him.