path of the pipeline, lifted up over the opposite slope, cleared the next ridge, gone, leaving the frank morning in its wake.
Rudy squinted after it. “Doing another flyover, inspection or some shit, right?” he said.
“But this early in the morning?” I asked. “I never saw them do that before.”
“I told you those assholes are planning something,” Rudy said. “After all these years, they’re finally checking on the line.”
“If they’re selling out, maybe they’ll leave us alone,” I said.
“Maybe,” Rudy said. “Maybe not. Maybe what’s next will be something worse. The devil you know.”
* * *
Karen and Lily were on the sofa eating reheated acorn mush for breakfast when I replaced the .22 in the rafters. Perley sat on the high stool at the kitchen counter, murmuring to himself over a comic, his bowl of mush untouched beside him.
“Well?” Lily asked.
“The pipeline company sent a helicopter out,” I said.
“How do you know it was the pipeline company?” asked Karen.
“Rudy says he heard it from the mailman,” I said.
“What in the hell is Rudy doing out there this early?” asked Karen.
“He’s camping on the pipeline,” I said.
“He’s living out there?” asked Karen.
“He wants to be close to his fruit trees,” I said.
“This is exactly what I was worried about. That man will not rest until he’s eating dinner with us every night,” said Karen.
“And sleeping in our beds,” added Lily.
“I don’t think he eats dinner,” I said. “He doesn’t sleep in a bed. Did we get any mail from the company recently? About plans to sell or something? Mowing?”
Karen shrugged. Lily shook her head. Perley closed his comic book and sat with his hands in his lap, gazing out the window. Karen and Lily looked at each other.
“Come on, Perley, eat your mush,” Lily said. “Mush is a treat! Mush is fun!”
Perley smiled gently.
“Oh please, Lily,” Karen said. “Can you quit it with that? That is such bullshit.”
“He needs to eat,” Lily said.
“Food is not fun,” Karen said. “Food is food. Why should food be fun? Isn’t it enough that we need it? That without it we would die? Does it also have to be fun?”
Perley asked, “Do we fight?” and stopped them.
“Who?” Lily asked.
“You and Mama K,” Perley said. Then he added, “And the Mean Aunt. And me.”
“Do we fight?” Lily repeated, setting down her spoon.
“Bexley said his parents fought all the time and that’s why his mom took off,” Perley said.
“Bexley?” asked Karen.
“Bexley Epps?” asked Lily. “His dad grew up just down the road. I thought he had a boy your age. Oh, Piglet, I’m so glad that you’ve made a friend.” Perley stabbed a finger into his acorn mush. Karen looked at him.
“Is that right? Bexley’s a friend?” she asked. Perley didn’t answer, just gave a laugh like someone had clapped their hand over his mouth.
Karen put down her spoon. “Perley, I asked you a question.”
Perley raised his eyes to the ceiling, put his acorn mush finger into his mouth. In the bowels of the sofa, the black snake squirmed. I could hear the industrious wasps building their homes in our walls. Karen and Lily leaned forward.
“Yes,” Perley said. “Yes, that’s right. Bexley’s my friend.”
Lily leaned back, exhaled. “There, you see?” she said. But Karen frowned, rapped her spoon once and twice against her knee.
I could see that, as usual, they needed my help. “Perley’s only asking if we fight because he doesn’t know what a fight is,” I said.
“I know what a fight is,” Perley said.
“And obviously he doesn’t know what a fight is because he’s surrounded by fighting all the time,” I said. “It’s like asking a fish what water is.”
Lily said, “Perley, in this family, we all have a lot of important discussions. It’s not really fighting.”
“Yes, it is,” Karen said.
“It is,” I said.
“Okay, but even if we fight,” Lily said, “we’re not going anywhere.”
“That’s the point,” Karen said. “That’s what family is. The people who stick around to fight with you.”
“Don’t worry, Perley,” Lily said.
“I’m not worried,” Perley said, and he sat there looking at us. Even Karen couldn’t think of any more useful life lessons. Perley said, “I’m going to miss the bus.” He slid off his stool, stuffed his comic book into his backpack, and left the house.
“Do Karen and me really fight that much?” Lily asked, after he’d gone.
“Not much,” I said. “It’s just that you’re in a lifelong disagreement.”
“But we’re close,” Lily said. “Some people aren’t close.”
“We’re close to what?” asked Karen. They sat together on the sofa, which was covered