To Build a Home

28 | Sanctuary

Sadie refused to leave. Instead of driving back to Windber with us, she pulled a blanket out of nowhere and tucked herself into the bed of her truck. The bartender walked past us trying to convince her to leave and waved goodnight, like the sight of someone sleeping in the back of her truck was typical stuff for the Trinkle's parking lot.

"Good night, Raul," she said as she waved from under the blanket.

The doors to the bar were locked and most of the crowd was already gone except for a few stragglers who were making out between their cars or trying to cajole one of their drunk friends into the back seat so they could start the long journey home. The parking lot was mostly dirt on the side of the state road and there were no other buildings for miles––just trees rustling in the night wind and a million stars illuminating the pitch-black sky.

It was almost three in the morning and I was sweaty and tired from dancing. The last half hour we had watched from a pub table by the door as Raul and Sadie argued about house plants while Raul and the rest of the staff tried to clean up and kick people out. Darren and I had been the last two on the dance floor before last call, chugging water and taking turns running to the bathroom, before we slowly melted into the pleather cushions of the pub chairs and waited for Sadie to be ready.

"We're not going to leave you," I said at the tailgate of Sadie's truck.

"Why not?" Sadie asked, stuffing the flannel shirt she had given me into a ball behind her head as a pillow.

"Well, murderers, for one thing! We're in the middle of nowhere. What if someone pulls over and attacks you?"

Without saying anything or opening her eyes and looking up from the make-shift pillow, Sadie pulled a handgun from under the blanket and pointed it at the sky, ready to shoot. "Next," she said.

"Jesus, Sadie." Darren backed away with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

"Did you have that the whole time?" I asked.

"Since my daddy gave it to me when I was fifteen." She tucked herself back under the blanket and closed her eyes.

I looked to Darren for an idea and in the time that it took for us to think of anything to say in response, Sadie was already snoring. "We could carry her," I suggested, although with the amount of alcohol she had consumed, even though she was short, she would be dead weight.

Raul spun his truck around and pointed to the security camera over the door of the bar. "She'll be fine. She does this all the time. I'll check the feed when I get home," and then he drove away. I hadn't noticed it as everyone was leaving, but the bartender's twin had somehow found his way into the passenger seat of Raul's truck.

We looked at Sadie asleep in the back and then at each other and shrugged. "I'll call her in the morning," Darren reassured me. We hopped into his truck and pulled away.

I turned for one quick glance back at Sadie as she grew smaller in the distance and couldn't help but laugh at the image of her asleep on the truck. In a way, it looked peaceful, alone under the stars. "At least she's not drinking and driving," I said. "Are you ok to drive?" I turned back and buckled in.

"I only had that one shot and it was like twenty songs ago."

"You were the dancing queen..."

"Me? What about you?"

"What about me?"

"I thought gay people were supposed to have rhythm." We both laughed.

"If that were true, you'd be the gayest." I didn't think before I said it and it shouldn't have mattered, but it did. Darren didn't laugh and the ride was silent for a few minutes. The state forest's canopy was darker than dark and he turned on the high beams, which gave everything a spooky glow.