good outcomes, all the time

"The Lucky Compass"' pt.3

"Sure you can be... reckless at times, but that does not, by any means, make you anything less than the rest of us."

We waited a very long time after that black truck pulled away from our house to actually leave the chicken coop. We all just sat there, unmoving in fear that they may come back. Fortunately, they didn't.

Despite the events of the afternoon, John B had somehow convinced us all to go with him to follow his idea about where his father might be. However, he didn't feel obliged to share what that idea might be.

Somehow, I had gotten stuck in the back of the van again, sharing the double seat with JJ while Pope sat across from us, leaving Kie and John B in the front.

"I mean it's obvious. Right?" my cousin asked, leaning his head slightly towards us as he spoke. "A family heirloom? I mean what better place to hide a message, he had to know it was going to get back to me, right?"

"Yeah," Kie nodded, trying to make him feel better, "it's possible."

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help... you know, help deal with your sad feels," Pope chipped in.

"Bro you know how I process my sad feels," JJ felt it necessary to add, "dank nuts and a sticky-"

John B rolled his eyes and cut JJ off, "guys I'm not concocting. Okay? My dads trying to get me a message."

"If it helps you believe John B-" Kie attempted to comfort my cousin.

"Look, I don't need a therapy session, okay?" He tried to convince. "I'm not tripping out."

"It's okay to trip bro-" JJ tried to argue.

"Look, my dad is missing. Okay? Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish. And then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering..." I knew almost exactly what he felt.

"JB it's okay to be sad," I sympathized, "but it's been almost a year"

"But hey, he could have been kidnapped," JJ optimistically added, "That's definitely possible."

"Yeah, he could be in a soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere," Pope agreed.

Resting my head on his shoulder, I whispered a thank you in JJ's ear then looked over at Pope and mouthed my thank you that I hoped John B couldn't see in the rearview mirror.

"Absolutely... or Atlantis," JJ added, veering off track. Which earned a stern look from Kie and me both.

"JJ," she simply said before turning back to my cousin, "look what do you think the message is?"

"Redfeild." he restated, "Redfeild lighthouse."

Suddenly, I connected the dots, "your dad's favourite place."

John B pulled the van in front of the lighthouse and we all jumped out, despite our scepticism, we were anxious to explore.

Before we could walk too far, John B, ever the leader, turned to JJ, "alright. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?"

"Wait, why me?" JJ argued, clearly offended.

"What do you mean?" John B asked, as though it was obvious.

"Cause you're not coming," Pope simply stated.

I had to choke back a laugh at the thought of everyone knowing JJ might do something stupid.

"Why?" he repeated.

"Look JJ there are independent and dependent variables," Pope attempted to explain. "And you're an independent variable-"