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smiles and
organizing house parties? If I saw you doing something like that
I’d have to take off my belt and whip the shit out of you. The way
I see it is you’re handling it as good as you know how. Another man
would be lying in the ground beside his wife by now after taking
the chickenshit way out.”
    “ I came close though, didn’t
I?”
    “ Yes. You did.” Lenny said.
“But close is still a million miles away from done and you’re still
here talking about it. That’s good enough for me.”
    Jake set his glass down and rubbed his
hands together. “So what do I do?”
    Lenny’s face grew somber and he
pointed a long gnarled index finger at Jake’s glass. “Being a bit
lighter on the devil juice might help you some. I’m your friend,
Jake, but if calls like that one two nights ago start getting
regular I’m buying an answering machine for Christmas.”
    Although Lenny chuckled to show he
meant it as a joke, the point was clear. It scared Jake however to
think what his nights might be like without the cushioning effect
of alcohol. Then again, he realized, if drinking led him to that
old shoebox beneath the bed again, the next cushion might be the
one in his coffin.
    “ You need to start finding
distractions,” Lenny continued. “I’m not saying you jump into a
whole routine but you could start setting aside days to go for
walks. Go catch a movie every now and then. Come with me to Bingo
some Friday night; see if we can’t beat the pants off those
Harperville hags. Hell, even stopping by to see me and the wife
would be a start.”
    “ I know, you’re right, but
most of those things you mentioned only remind me of who’s missing
from the picture.”
    Lenny leaned forward, his elbows
resting on his knees, his hooked nose mere inches from Jake. “It’ll
get easier,” he said and laid a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “But you
have to start somewhere before you smother yourself.” He stared
hard into Jake’s eyes, as if trying to discern something written
there. “Do you understand?”
    The phone rang then and Lenny sat back
in his chair. “Joanne, most likely,” he said and Jake nodded as he
rose, pain flaring in his knees.
    “ Will I tell her you’re
here?” he asked as he made his way out into the hall.
    “ Might as well,” Lenny said.
“She can sense it anyway.”
    “ Still reading tea
leaves?”
    “ Earl Grey, morning noon and
night.”
    Jake was smiling as he picked up the
phone. “Hello?”
    The voice on the other end of the line
was gruff, even over the static the weather wrought.
    “ Mr. Dodds?”
    “ Yes?”
    “ This is Sheriff
Baxter.”
    Jake swallowed and felt a
chill thrum through him, even though a distant voice inside him
posed the question: what’s left for you to
be afraid of?
    “ Mr. Dodds?”
    “ Uh yeah, hi Sheriff. What
can I do for you?”
    “ Is Lenny Quick there with
you?”
    The chill intensified. “Yes,
why?”
    “ Good,” Baxter said,
ignoring the question. “Tell him to stay put until I get
there.”
    “ All right. But what’s – ?”
The realization that he was talking to nothing but static stopped
him and he stared at the receiver for a moment before hanging
up.
    All sorts of nightmarish scenarios
paraded through his mind as he slowly made his way back into the
living room, where Lenny was gazing into the fire and humming to
himself, but he pushed them away, blaming his own recent loss on
the almost overwhelming dread that attempted to drape itself over
his shoulders as he took his seat.
    “ Well?” Lenny asked a few
moments later when his expectant look went unnoticed.
    “ It was uh…it was Sheriff
Baxter. The line is buggered with all the snow. I couldn’t hear him
very well.”
    “ Baxter? What did he want?
Is he on to our little speakeasy here?”
    Jake tried to think of a lie, or at
the very least a semi-truth he could give Lenny to appease him, but
the cryptic nature of Baxter’s call left no room for anything but
the truth.
    “ It was