Outrunning Shadows

Chapter 7: The Aftermath of the Second Set-up

Chapter 7 – The Aftermath of the Second Setup





         Around 10:45, Engrid’s car returned to her driveway. Andrew looked out the window. He hoped that her house had not been too badly disrupted in the robbery attempt. He decided to go let her know what had happened so she wouldn’t be too shocked to find jewelry missing or anything out of place.


         “Engrid!” He called out. She was turning the key in the door. “It’s me Andrew.”


         “Oh, hello Andrew, how are you?”


         She opened the door and went in. She turned on the lights and Andrew followed her in.


         “What’s the matter?” she asked.


         “While you were gone, there was an intruder upstairs and I called the police. They came and arrested him. I thought you should know in case there’s any jewelry missing.”


         “Oh, no!” she gasped, clasping her hand over her gaping mouth, a look of horror on her face.


         “You might want to go down to the police station in the morning to file a report and press charges.”


         “Oh, no!” She exclaimed.


         “I’m sorry, Engrid, but they caught the person who did this, and they didn’t get away. I saw them arrest him.” He was trying to be reassuring.


         He could see the panic in her elderly eyes. He suddenly felt he was missing a very important piece of the puzzle. What had he done wrong? He’d seen her house being broken into and so he called the police- what had he done wrong?


         “We’ve got to go down to the police station.”


         “You can go in the morning.”


         “No, we have to go right now.”


         “Engrid, what’s the matter?”


         Engrid was pacing in a circle around the foyer.


         “It was Evan, Andrew.”


         “What?”


         “You had Evan arrested.”


         “Evan? What are you talking about?”


         “You don’t know him?”


         “Yes, I’ve met him, why?”          


         “What was he doing in your house in the middle of the night?”


         “That’s all you know?”


         “Well yeah, what else is there? What was he doing in your house in the middle of the night?”


         “Oh dear, oh God,” Engrid was pacing faster. She’d just assumed that Andrew knew about the relationship between Evan and herself and that Evan strongly disliked Andrew. She realized that Andrew truly had no clue what was going on.


         Poor Andrew just stood there utterly bewildered. He was mystified by the complexities of the society of which he had just become a part.


         “What are you talking about, Engrid?”


         She just kept pacing and mumbling to herself so jumbled Andrew couldn’t understand what she was saying.


         “Engrid, you aren’t making any sense. What are you talking about? What did I do wrong? What happened?”


         “Nothing, you did the right thing. Now go home and get some sleep, I’ll explain in the morning.” She waved him away as she pushed back toward the door.          


         “No, something’s happened. What’s going on?”


         “I’ll take care of it. You just go get some sleep.”


         He wasn’t convinced. “Engrid, you’re lying. Tell me, what did I do wrong?”


         “I can’t explain right now.”


         “Why not?”


         “I just can’t. Please go home. I’ll explain it in the morning when I can think clearly.”


         She hurried out the door, to her car and drove away. Andrew ran to his Pathfinder, but by the time he got out of the driveway she was already gone. He guessed she was going to the police station. He didn’t know where the police station was. He backed out of his driveway and sat in the middle of the street trying to decide what to do. He drove to the main part of town to see if maybe it was there. He didn’t see it anywhere around. There was an all night diner out by the interstate. He sped as fast as he dared out there. He got directions to the police station. He finally arrived. Engrid’s white Town Car was parked outside. He jumped out and ran into the front of the police station.


         “Whoa, whoa, there skippy, where do you think you’re going in such a rush?” the desk sergeant said blocking his path.


         “Did an Engrid Matthews come in here?”


         “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. Sorry.”


         “Why not?”


         “That’s confidential and on a need to know basis.”


         “I need to know.” Andrew insisted.


         “Sorry, I can’t help you. Now, please return to your vehicle and go home.”


         “I need to see Engrid.”


         “Do you think she is in custody?”


         “No, she’s here because someone broke into her house a little while ago. She was away and I am the person who called you guys to come out to her house.”


         “Oh, so she’s not incarcerated here?”


         “No.”


         “Oh, well that’s different. I’ll see what I can find out. Have a seat.”


         He disappeared into the back of the building while Evan took a seat in the dark brown plastic chairs that were lined up against the wall. A few minutes passed and the sergeant returned.


         “Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Matthews is fine and asks that you go home. She said that it was her mistake and that she will explain it in the morning.”


         “But what does that mean?” Andrew pleaded. He just wanted a few answers. Engrid was being maddeningly evasive.





                                                 #





         Evan was done with the toilet. It hadn’t taken very long because he couldn’t find anything wrong with it. He disassembled the flush valve to see if any parts were corroded, but could find nothing wrong at all. Not even the float bulb or flap chain seemed to be out of place. He decided he should go home and watch some TV. He clicked off the light. He wasn’t sure why Engrid had been so insistent that he come tonight. It could have waited until tomorrow. He walked back through the bedroom, past her four post bed to the door. When he got to the front door, he thought he saw some movement outside. He paused a moment, but didn’t see anything. He stepped out on the porch and pulled the door closed behind him. He heard cars cranking. That was an unexpected sound for this time of night. He saw lights, lots of blue and red ones. He turned around from facing the door.


         “Freeze, this is the police.”


         His mind spun and froze.


         Evan threw his hands up in the air as panic and fear set in. What in the world had just happened? Evan had no clue. What idiot would call the police on him? He was in and out of Engrid’s house all the time.


         Two police officers hurried up the steps with their weapons drawn. They forcefully grabbed his arms and put the cold metal handcuffs on him. They led him out to the car like a common thief. They threw him in the back of a squad car and sped away just like in all the cop shows. How had this happened? Evan was confused.


         Within minutes, they arrived at the police station. He was put in a holding cell with a few other people. There was an old drunk man asleep on the floor with an extinguished cigarette hanging from between his index and middle fingers. There were two people who were most likely prostitutes, but Evan dared not ask. Evan was dressed in his usual white t-shirt and faded blue jeans. He sat on a bench suspended by two chains from the wall. He put his hand on his chin like a form of The Thinker sculpture. He was still confused. He couldn’t imagine what had happened to get him thrown in jail.


         He sat there for a couple of hours. He figured he would get his one phone call in a few minutes. He wasn’t looking forward to telling his mom that he was in jail. He had been in jail twice before, but not since high school. He was arrested once for stealing a car and again for DUI. He nearly had his license revoked for that one. As time passed, he began to calm down.


         A uniformed cop came and stood at the cell bars.


         “Grayson. You’ve got a visitor.”


         “Huh?”


         Engrid appeared around the corner.


         “Engrid, thank God you’re here!”


         “I am so sorry.” She said, “It was all a big mistake.”


         “I guess someone thought I was an intruder and called the damned cops.”


         “Language.” She scolded lightly.


         “Sorry. But who would have called the cops?”


         She cast her eyes at the floor.


         “Andrew,” Evan spat, “I’ll bet that asshole called the cops on me.”


         “Well, he didn’t know any better.”


         “Holy shit.”


         “Language.”          


         “Sorry. I’m gonna kill that bastard. I’m gonna f***ing kill him.”


         “You’ll do nothing of the sort,” Engrid commanded, scowling, “He doesn’t know what’s been going on.”


         “What’s that supposed to mean? What’s there for him to know?”


         “He doesn’t know that you and I know each other.”


         “What?”


         “When I talked to him tonight, I realized that he has no idea that you and I are closely acquainted. As far as he knows you and I are mostly strangers.”


         “What difference does that make?”


         “A lot. He doesn’t know that you think he is a whatever it was that you called him. Then I tried to set up a meeting that he wouldn’t understand the significance of. Oh my goodness, this is not what I had planned. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”


         “What meeting? What are you talking about?”


         “I tried to get you two reconciled, but then I realized that he didn’t know that reconciliation was needed.”


         “Engrid, you aren’t making any sense. What are you talking about?”


         “Never mind. I’ll explain later. Let me try to get you out of here.”


         “Thanks. Mom’s probably having a fit right about now. She knows I went to your house to fix the toilet, but that was hours ago.”


         “I’d better call her before we leave. I’ll drop you off by your house.”


         “Ma’am, you’ve already taken care of that.” The officer interrupted, “Mr. Grayson is free to go.”


         As they were walking through the front of the police station, they saw Andrew sitting in a chair.


         “YOU!” Evan roared marching over to Andrew.


         Andrew looked up in shock. Evan was looming over Andrew’s more diminutive form. Engrid grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the exit. “YOU!” Evan growled again pointing his finger. “It was you that called the cops.”


         Andrew had no defense. Andrew had no clue.


         “Come on Evan, I’ll take you home.” Engrid said gently, pulling him toward the door. Andrew sat silently, there was no blood in his face at all so he was as pale as a ghost. He was just as baffled as ever. He had figured out that Evan and Engrid were connected somehow, but didn’t know the precise nature of their relationship. Neither Evan nor Andrew had any idea that Engrid had engineered the whole thing. She had a perfectly innocent plan to bring them closer together but it ended up failing disastrously. She feared the damage between them was now beyond repair. She felt so guilty about what happened that she couldn’t bear the thought of explaining it to them right now. All she wanted to do was go home and be alone so she could sort through what she was going to tell them tomorrow by way of explanation.


         In the car, Evan sat with his arms crossed. Engrid drove in silence. She was churning over how she was going to explain the events of the evening.


         “Engrid, what happened tonight?”


         She didn’t respond.


         “What happened tonight?”


         She was still thinking about whether or not she should tell him. She was afraid of how he would react.


         “I’m so sorry. I had no idea this would happen.”


         “What happened tonight?”


         “I wanted you and Andrew to get to know each other a little better. That way maybe you’d like him.”


         “Oh, God. Not Andrew again.”


         “Now listen, I wanted the two of you to have a chance to get to talk without me around. I knew you were too damned stubborn to do it yourself. Andrew, bless his heart, has no idea anything needs fixing. He has no idea that you hate him.”


         “I don’t hate him.”


         “Well, strongly dislike. He doesn’t know that. So, I told you to go over to the house and fix the toilet tonight while I was gone. I told Andrew to keep an eye on the house and if he saw anyone in my house while I was gone, he should go over and investigate. I thought he would go over to my house and find out it was you and the two of you would strike up a neighborly conversation and things would get better between the two of you.”


         “Engrid, you know I love you like my own grandmother, but that has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.”


         “I know, but…”


         “Did you actually expect that to work?” Evan was in total disbelief. Engrid really didn’t know when to just butt out and let things run their own natural course.


         “Yes. I did. I had no idea Andrew would call the cops. That wasn’t what I expected.”


         “Engrid, that’s what people do when they think a house is being robbed. They don’t go over to introduce themselves to the robbers. I mean geez. People get killed doing shit…”


         “Language.”          


         “Sorry…like that. You don’t ‘go over to investigate.’”


         “So, you’re not mad at Andrew?”


         “No, Andrew did what he was supposed to. I’m pissed as hell…”


         “Language.”


         “Sorry…at you. You got me arrested. They had guns pointed at me, they put handcuffs on me right on your front porch and they threw me in the back of a squad car. I’ve never been so humiliated!”


         “I just wanted to help.”


         “DON’T HELP ME!”


         “There’s no need to yell.” She said in an attempt to calm him down some.


         “Things only get worse when you try to help- just STAY OUT OF IT.” He tried to calm himself down a little- his temper was at full throttle. “I will get to know Andrew when I want to. If you keep forcing the issue, it’ll never get any better. Maybe we were just meant not to get along.”


         For Evan, the weirdest thing that that when he saw Andrew sitting in the police station, his angst turned to anger. Now that he was sitting in the calm interior of Engrid’s car, he had time to think about it. The angst was that he found himself weirdly drawn to Andrew. Part of him wanted Andrew to be the one to take him home. Part of him never wanted to see Andrew again as long as he lived. He didn’t know what all that meant. He knew on some level it meant that he was attracted to Andrew, but didn’t know how to wrestle with that. In his mind, he could be as gay as he wanted, but on the outside, he couldn’t. Gay people don’t exist around here, Evan kept telling himself. Evan didn’t want to give up his life here. Evan had studied at New York University. His apartment overlooked Broadway just a few blocks north of Houston Street. He took a year off after that and got a paid internship at a publishing company in New York City as a manuscript reader. Then he stayed on at the publisher’s for another two years.


         He’d been so excited to go. It was one of the few times in his life he had left the state of South Carolina. Engrid had begged him to go to school out of state, but he knew he couldn’t be gone that long because his mother needed him with the store. He remembered when he had applied for the study program in early American Literature. He remembered how excited he had been to be accepted into the program. His mother was happy for him. She didn’t want to see him leave, but she knew it was best in the long run. He had packed up his things and took the bus all the way from the station in Columbia to the station at 24th and Broadway. He remembered the first time he ever saw the Holland Tunnel in the early morning hours and the sunrise over the NYC skyline as the light dawned over New Jersey. It had sounded so magical and foreign- New Jersey. It was the haunt of all things great and small.


         He set foot for the first time in New York nearly nine years ago. He loved it there until about the last four months. He loved the lights and sounds. He loved drag shows and martini bars. It just never occurred to him that he would find someone to do that with here. The guys in New York just seemed too artificial. He wanted someone who was a real person. He wanted someone who would be part of his life in a long and meaningful way rather than the one night stands that were universally available there.


         Evan did things in New York on a daily basis that would get him run out of Deerfield on a rail. Then about four months before he moved back to South Carolina, he realized how cold and impersonal the city was. He realized that he doubted anyone there really cared about him. It was all steel and concrete with tiny patches of grass with a scruffy tree in it and that qualified as a park. Central Park was nice, but it was too little too late. After being there nearly seven years, he realized that the city was just too oppressive and overbearing. There was nowhere to go to get away from zillions of people crowding around you. He felt like the city was crushing him and he was starting to lose his breath. The honeymoon period ended. While New York was a gay southerner’s dream come true. Like all dreams, that one ended too. But it ended with Evan realizing what really matters in life. What truly matters is having other people in your life who have known you and will know you for as long as you live. He wanted to be surrounded by people that he loved and who loved him. It only takes one very special person to fulfill that, but having lots of other more auxiliary people isn’t a bad option.


         He looked over at Engrid as the street lamps reflected off her glasses and the light passed over her wrinkled face. This woman embodied love for Evan. He knew in his heart that all she wanted to do was help him. He understood that she was afraid that if he and Andrew didn’t get along and become friends, she would lose one or both of them. Evan knew that Engrid would never lose his love and respect no matter what foolish lunacy she got herself and other people into. But Engrid didn’t know that. She was afraid that Evan would let his pride wreck everything. He was determined not to let that happen. She was afraid that Evan would distance himself from her because he wouldn’t trust her any more.


         Neither of them spoke the rest of the way to Evan’s house. She dropped him off. His mother had already gone to bed. She trusted Evan; after all he was 27 and had lived in the ‘big city.’ He looked in on her and she was sound asleep.





                                                 #





         Andrew sat in the waiting area at the police station for a few minutes. What had happened? He knew that Engrid and Evan were connected. He didn’t think they were related. There were a number of big pieces of the puzzle that he was completely missing. He racked his brain as he walked out of the police station toward his Pathfinder.


         As he was driving home, it struck him what had happened. It leapt out in his mind what Engrid had said to him on the phone yesterday. He distinctly remembered her saying, ‘if you see anything going on at my house while I’m gone, I want you to go over there and investigate.’ Then this mysterious stranger turns up in her house that very night. Andrew thought, ‘I’ll bet she sent him over there. But why? Why didn’t she just bring Evan over that afternoon and say “Andrew, this is Evan…Evan, this is Andrew.” Why did she feel the need to orchestrate this whole cockamamie scheme?’ Andrew had no answer for that question. Why Engrid did half the things she did was a mystery to most people. Then when they would ask, she would have a perfectly logical, albeit completely irrational, explanation. Tomorrow was Saturday, he decided to go over there and ask directly what was going on. Engrid was going to fill in some of the missing pieces for him.


         Saturday morning dawned cloudy and humid.


         Andrew was standing at his front window in the living room marveling at the fact that he had a front yard. He was watching two squirrels running up and down the trees and was so excited that there were squirrels right out there. He went out on the porch and sat on one of the two matching rocking chairs. He rocked slowly as a car languidly moseyed by. He just breathed in the warm thickness of the air. Next weekend was Memorial Day and then it would be June. Junes in South Carolina weren’t too bad. It was Julys and Augusts that it became a matter of survival.


         As he sat there, he heard a sound- a swish and thwack. That was an odd sound. He looked around to see where the swish and thwack sound was coming from. A young man on a bicycle appeared between the massive oak trees that line Oak Grove Avenue. He had a large canvas bag on the front and back of his bike.


         Andrew almost leapt out of the chair when he realized that it was the paper boy. It never occurred to him that paper boys actually exist. He had subscribed to the paper. Maybe today would be the first issue he received. Sure enough, when he got to Andrew’s house, he reached into his bag and threw one in the general direction of the front porch.


         “Thanks!” Andrew called out.


         “No prob, Mr. Garrison.” The boy called out over his shoulder. Mr. Garrison? Andrew suddenly felt about 60.


         Andrew literally jumped up and down on his porch then ran out onto the concrete walkway to retrieve his newspaper. He’s never been so happy to see a newspaper in his young life. He ran back inside. It was his first newspaper in his new house, he was going to do this properly. He went to the kitchen and poured himself a heaping bowl of corn flakes and sat down.


         As he was fixing breakfast, Andrew couldn’t help but think about what Engrid was going to have to say to him. What had yesterday really been about? He felt like there was too much of the story he didn’t know to really figure it out on his own. He crunched thoughtfully on his corn flakes as the rolled newspaper waited patiently. He was doing this properly, so he nonchalantly unrolled it to see what news and information awaited him as if it were nothing special and was just another day.


         He eyes bugged out. The front page story that Saturday morning: “Local Man Arrested for Robbing the Elderly.” The story went on to say that Evan Robert Grayson, 27, was arrested last night in the act of robbing the home of Engrid Mae Matthews, 84. Mr. Grayson knew that Mrs. Matthews would be away that evening and so took advantage of that time to relieve Mrs. Matthews of some of her antique jewelry. The burglary was prevented by the quick thinking of her new neighbor, Andrew Michael Garrison, 24, who phoned the police to report suspicious activity at Mrs. Matthews’ residence.”


         Andrew stared in shock. Engrid didn’t believe that Evan had robbed her. Apparently, she knew him and thought there must have been some mistake. Oh goodness, Andrew knew that Engrid was a sweet, kind woman, but had no idea that this Grayson guy was playing her for a sucker. That was just wrong. You don’t treat elderly people that way. Andrew was incensed. He didn’t know what to do. He knew enough about Engrid to know that she was too stubborn for him to explain to her that Evan really had tried to rob her.


         So, that meant that he was going to have to bite the bullet and talk to Evan himself. He didn’t know quite what to say, but knew that he was going to have to say something. He couldn’t just sit back and let Evan take advantage of a kind, elderly woman- regardless of how weird she could be. He paced back and forth in his kitchen trying to decide what to do. He wondered whether or not Engrid regularly read the paper. He figured she might subscribe out of habit but rarely actually read it. Maybe today, she would just put it in her recycling pile and not see it. But this story was emblazoned front and center. Even if she just unrolled it to lay it out flat on the stack of others, she was bound to see it.


         He heard a buzzing sound. He looked out of his kitchen window. Evan was outside Engrid’s house with a grass string trimmer. He was trimming around the edge of the back porch. Engrid was beside him with a pair of hedge clippers in her hand.


         “That sick f***!” Andrew said out loud. Andrew couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Evan was weaseling his way toward her so he could try again. What made it even sicker was that Engrid seemed perfectly happy to let him do it. Her hermeneutic of suspicion was broken. It must be in the same repair shop as her gaydar. Andrew was convinced that something sexual had passed between Evan and him at his office the Monday before last. He felt it again last night when Evan nearly attacked him in the police station. He could just feel it. He knew without a shred of doubt that Evan was gay. He wasn’t sure if Evan was willing to accept that, but it was pretty evident to him.


         He watched Evan through the window. Even though he hated the fact that Evan was thoroughly evil because he was taking advantage of Engrid and that he was going to have to be stopped, he couldn’t help but notice Evan. His non bulky, well muscled body moving beneath his clothes- Andrew could see Evan’s shoulder muscles as he moved the weed whacker back and forth through the grass.


         “Argh!” Andrew mumbled to himself, “Why do I have to be attracted to the town psycho?” He watched Engrid and Evan for a few minutes through the window. Engrid eventually went in the house. It was his opportunity. Andrew marched out to where Evan was trimming grass.


         He walked up behind him and tapped him on his shoulder. Evan turned around to see who it was. He turned off the trimmer.


         “What?”


         “We need to talk.”


         “About what?”


         “Follow me.” Andrew turned and walked back toward his house. Evan walked along beside him. Neither said another word.


         Engrid was dusting an end table in her sitting room. Some movement outside the window caught her eye. She saw the two men walking towards Andrew’s house. She was so excited she could barely stand it.


         “Finally! They’re going to be okay!” She was almost to the point of being giddy. She watched them go up the steps and disappear into the house.


         Once inside, Andrew turned to face Evan.


         “I know what you’re up to and I’m not going to let you get away with it. It’s just not right.”


         Evan looked confused. That ticked Andrew off even more that Evan didn’t seem to see what he was doing to Engrid as being wrong or unethical.


         “Do you want some breakfast?”


         “I want to know what you’re talking about.”


         Andrew turned and walked toward the kitchen. Evan followed.


         “What is going on?” Evan demanded.


         “Sit down. Do you like toast?”


         “Yeah,” he said cautiously. He placed his beautiful, postcard quality posterior in a chair and stretched his arms out on the table. Andrew got out the bread and put some in the toaster. He went to the refrigerator and got out some strawberry preserves. Here he was making breakfast while Evan sat at the table waiting for his food. It was somewhat less romantic than he imagined, but at least his imagined scenario came true.


         “Do you like strawberries?”


         “Yeah. Do you mind getting to the point? I’ve got a lot to do today.”


         “I know you tried to rob Engrid last night.”


         “What?”


         “I read the paper this morning.”


         “So?”


         Andrew threw the paper in front of Evan. Evan picked it up curiously and looked at it. He leapt up out of his chair.


         “HOLY SHIT!” Evan yelled. Andrew was startled. Evan’s eyes were wide as quarters as he paced around the room. Andrew was proud of himself- he had trapped a criminal. He’d stopped a burglar dead in his tracks. John Walsh would be so proud. The toast popped up. Andrew didn’t take his eyes off of Evan. Evan was dangerous. He was a known felon so who knew what he would do. Andrew suddenly realized that he was in a very vulnerable state. What if Evan tried to kill him? Andrew eyed Evan warily. Evan was too thunderstruck to notice.


         What was happening to him? Evan was completely confused and scared. What did people think? He was ruined in this town. No one but Engrid and his mother would ever trust him again.


         “How could you Evan? She’s such a good person.”


         “I didn’t,” Evan growled.


         “It’s right there.”


         “It’s lying. I would never do anything to hurt her.”


         Andrew was beyond furious. Evan could tell that Andrew didn’t believe him. Andrew could see the fear in Evan’s eyes. Andrew suddenly realized just how beautiful Evan was- seeing Evan trapped and scared turned him on a little. Being attracted to Andrew was the last thing on Evan’s mind at that moment.


         “You don’t believe me?”


         “Why should I?”


         Evan turned and stormed out of the house. Andrew just stood there in his kitchen. He watched Evan leave. Watching Evan leave was never a bad thing, aesthetically speaking. He looked out the window and watched Evan go back over to Engrid’s. She was standing in the side yard with the hedge clippers.


Evan walked right past her and picked up the weed trimmer and cranked it. Its little engine sprung to life and Evan attacked the grass that was growing on the side of the house with a vengeance. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to tell that their meeting had not been a pleasant one- again. Engrid decided that she had had enough and she threw down the clippers and walked toward Andrew’s house. Since he was still watching through the window, Andrew knew she was coming. At least he had fresh toast to offer her. She was not the least bit interested in food.


She opened his door and came in without knocking or announcing her presence or anything. She marched right into his kitchen where Andrew was eating the toast.


“I don’t know what you said to him, but how could you?” she hissed. Engrid hissed. He had no idea she had a temper. Engrid was royally pissed off.


“What?”


“I don’t know. But I’ve seen something I have never seen before in my life.”


“What’s that?” Andrew snapped.


“Evan is crying.”


Andrew sat in shock.


“Yes. He is over there right now with tears just streaming down his face. Now what on God’s green earth did you say to that boy?”


Andrew’s mouth hung open. He had no words.


“I don’t know what happened in here, but you had no right saying to him whatever it is that you said. I know you think he’s a dumb redneck, but he’s still got feelings for Pete’s sake.”


“I don’t think that.”


“Yes, you do. You think Evan is a stupid, ignorant, low class redneck.”          


“No, I…”


“Stop talking.” She said waving her hand in his general direction, “The way you treat him. You should be ashamed. There’s more to that boy than you could ever understand. He is smart and well read. He lived in New York City. He studied at New York University for Christ’s sake. He worked for a publishing company. He lives in Deerfield by choice. He could still live in his apartment in New York that overlooked Broadway. He could live in Paris, London, Los Angeles or anywhere he wants. But he came back here because he knows what is truly important in life. You and your high and mighty self took one look at him and decided that he was trash. You judged him to be nothing but pure white trailer trash.” She was so full of emotion that her voice was cracking as she spoke.


Andrew just sat there. He had no idea how to respond. If Evan was anything in Andrew’s eyes, he was not a dumb redneck. In Andrew’s eyes, Evan was embodied perfection, except for having committed a crime. Engrid just seethed.


“What happened last night?” He asked.


“I asked Evan to check on something at my house while I was away. He wasn’t robbing me. He was there because I asked him to be there. You and your itchy trigger finger is what started this whole mess.”


Andrew was ashamed. He had completely misjudged the situation.


“What should I do?”


“You could start by going over and apologizing to him. You really hurt him.”


Andrew sighed deeply. He really hadn’t meant to hurt Evan. Well, actually he did, but that was before he realized that he had been totally off base.


“How? What do I say?”


“That’s between Evan and you. I actually am staying out of it this time.”


“I don’t know what to say.”


“You made a royal ass of yourself and now you’ve really hurt someone.”


“I know, but I don’t know what to do to fix it.”


“Neither do I, but you’ve got some fixing to do.”


With that, she turned and left. Andrew sat at the table. He went over and looked out the window. Evan was sitting on the back steps looking out over the backyard. Engrid went in the front door and disappeared into the house. Andrew summoned up the courage to go outside and see what he could do to repair the situation. He walked over there. Evan saw him coming and looked away. Andrew wasn’t going to be deterred. He owed it to both Evan and Engrid to at least attempt to patch things up. He sat down on the back step next to Evan. Evan looked the other way. Andrew could see the wet streaks down his face. Evan wiped them away with his fingers.


“Go away!” Evan growled.


Andrew just sat in silence. He hoped he looked penitent enough that he wouldn’t actually have to say those dreaded two words- ‘I’m sorry.’


“Evan, I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry I didn’t understand what was going on. I didn’t mean for you to get arrested.”


Evan didn’t say anything. Andrew hoped that Evan would eventually speak to him again. Evan just sat there with his hands on his knees. They sat next to one another on the steps for a long time. Evan eventually stood up and faced Andrew. Andrew looked up. Evan was fine now. He wasn’t crying anymore. In fact, he looked surprisingly calm.


“Andrew, I know you were just doing what you thought was best. I know what you think of me and I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for you.” He turned and walked away.


“Evan, wait!” Andrew stood up and followed him.


“Go away,” Evan turned and said warningly.


“We need to talk.”


“I don’t have anything to say to you so get out of my face.” Evan stormed off. Andrew stopped following him. He turned around. Engrid was standing on the back porch watching them. Evan disappeared through the gate in the privacy fence and went down the gravel path that ran between the rows of houses. Evan was taking the back way home. Andrew hung his head in shame. Engrid just looked at him stonily. He went over to the gazebo and sat down on a bench.


Engrid waited a few minutes for him to be alone and then she walked over. She sat next to him on the bench and patted his knee lightly.


“Andrew, I know you didn’t mean for this to happen. I know I didn’t mean for this to happen. But, it has and we have to face facts. Evan genuinely doesn’t like you. I tried to change that and failed. There’s nothing else I can do to help you two if not be friends at least get along.”


There were tears welling up in Andrew’s eyes. He knew that somehow deep down in his gut, he loved Evan. It absolutely killed him that Evan hated him so much. It tore his guts out to think about how much he had done to destroy any hope that Evan might one day love him.


What Andrew couldn’t have known was that Evan didn’t hate him. Evan was afraid of him. Andrew wasn’t the only one who felt a spark between them. Evan felt it too and it scared him to death. In New York City, it was okay to be gay. Evan could be gay there and it wasn’t an issue. No one within 1500 miles knew it, but Evan had a boyfriend for a little over a year while he lived there. He and Grant were close to becoming partnered. But Evan couldn’t give up South Carolina. South Carolina and its people and places lived in his skin. South Carolina was the only place on earth that he could feel at home. He could live in New York City and survive, but he couldn’t thrive anywhere but right there in Deerfield. Grant was a native Vermonter and couldn’t fathom the concept of living anywhere within 1500 miles of Deerfield.


Andrew sat on the gazebo and stared at the floor. Engrid sat beside him with her hand on his knee.


“I don’t know what to tell you.” She began, “Except to say that I will be here for you. I love Evan. I’ve known Evan since the day he was born. He was absolutely terrified of me for years. I was the scary old woman who lived in the big scary house. Then when he was twelve, some neighborhood boys and he hit a baseball through that window right there,” she pointed toward the house, “Evan got dared to come retrieve the ball. He and I became friends after that. He’s been to my house countless times and we’ve spend God only knows how many hours together. Evan may be nearly 60 years younger than me, but he is my best friend- except for maybe Dora who I’ve known since the foundation of time. When he lived in New York, he wrote me once a month to tell me what was going on. I wrote him back and kept him up-to-date on what was going on here. I loved hearing of his grand adventures in the big city. I visited him there twice.”


“Really?”


“Yes, I did. I spent a week there two different times. It was nice. He had school and work, so it was mostly a self guided tour. He had a friend named Grant who showed me some of the sights.”


“When were you there?”


“My first trip was in September of 2001. The second time I was there was in May of 2002. I was there when those planes hit the World Trade Center.”


“You were there?”


“Yes but I don’t really want to talk about that. You and I don’t have what Evan and I have. I know positively nothing about you as a person. I don’t love you the way I love Evan because I don’t know you. We have no history. But we will. You could move out right now and I would be sad for a couple of days, but then life would move on and I would have trouble remembering your name in a few months. But building a history takes time. It can’t just be invented. That’s what Evan discovered in New York. You can’t just up and invent a life one day. If has to be built over time. It takes effort, it takes work, and it takes time. All that you see here didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. My house was built in 1916. Your new house was built in 1872 as part of the reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. The history here isn’t perfect. We’re not far from Selma and infamous places like that. God knows this place has been home to some of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history. But whatever it is, it’s ours. It took centuries to get this far. You can’t expect to just jump into the middle of it and expect everyone to just open their arms and bring you in full force. That kind of trust requires time and it requires commitment.”


“I understand. I want to be part of it.”


“Part of what, though?”


“This!” He said sweeping his arms around. “I want to be part of this place, this town. I want to love and to be loved. I want to have someone to come home to at the end of the day. I want to be in a place where people are interested in each other and care about what happens in each other’s lives.”


“You will. Eventually. Just don’t rush it. I think you rushed it and Evan doesn’t like that. Most folks in this town don’t like being rushed into things when they’re not sure what it’s all about.”


“I’ll try to slow down a bit.”


“Good. That’ll help.”


She stood up. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with Evan. He may not want to talk to you for a while. The best thing with Evan is to let him come to you- just a piece of friendly advice.”


“I’ll remember that.”


She stepped down from the gazebo and walked toward the house leaving Andrew alone. Andrew feared that the day would never come when Evan would talk to him.