Farts Like Gold: 49 - Lucy and Kent

Lucy was making coffee when Brendan and I walked into the dining tent. I felt like I was looking at a ghost. It was silly but my instinct was to turn and run.

Instead I stood there and took one slow, deep breath. She looked up just as I started moving again. She smiled and I thought, "Okay, don't be foolish. Everything's fine." I decided then and there that I wasn't going to ask any questions. What was the point? I was leaving camp. It was one random night. She didn't expect me to be here. If I hadn't been here I wouldn't have suspected a thing. And, besides, most likely she was innocent.

"Hi Kent," she said.

"Hi Lucy."

I leaned forward and kissed her. She took a sip of coffee almost as soon as my lips left hers. There was something about that one small gesture that made me change my mind. My resolve had lasted all of ten seconds. I sat down on the bench facing her with my back to the table.

"I couldn't find you last night." I said. "Where were you?"

"Well, you know - party night. It was pretty crazy."

"It wasn't that crazy. And this camp isn't that big." I was angry now. "You weren't in your tent. You weren't in my tent. You weren't in the dryshack, the dining tent, the cookbus -- any of the trucks. And it was pouring rain."

"Well, you know. I just got to talking to someone. And we wanted to get away from everyone. And it was raining and so I just spent the night there. It was no big deal."

It took a lot of effort to stay sitting down. I knew if I stood up, I wouldn't be able to keep still. Standing would lead to pacing. Pacing would lead to arm waving. As it was, my voice was getting louder despite my efforts to control it. "Whose tent was it, Lucy? Who did you just get to talking with? Who did you spend the night with?"

She backed away slightly and leaned against the breakfast table. She held the cup of coffee in front of her mouth. "It doesn't matter - just a friend."

"Well, it wasn't Kathy. It wasn't Cassie. It wasn't April. It wasn't Amber. It wasn't Matt. It wasn't Paul. It wasn't Alistair. Do you want me to go on? The camp's not that big. Even if it's a secret, it's not going to stay that way. Somebody's got to know and they're bound to talk. You know what it's like."

"Well it doesn't have to stay a secret for long."

"What?"

"It doesn't have to stay a secret for long," she repeated. "How long until you leave me again? An hour? Two? It only has to last until you're out of camp. And then when will I see you again? A couple of weeks? A month? At the end of the season?"

"Leave you again!" I said. "I broke my hand! It's not like I said I was going out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back."

"Look," she said. "I'm not saying I did anything wrong. I'm just saying -- how was I supposed to know you were in camp? If I'd known you were in camp, I would have been with you."

I stood up. I didn't care if I started waving my arms now. "You're crazy. I don't know why I hadn't seen it before. You are completely amoral. Keep your little secret. I don't care who you were with last night. I don't even care if you slept with them. I don't care if you talked all night. And you're right. Who knows when we'll see each other again? Maybe we should just pretend we've never met. Maybe it's time to start pretending right now." I walked away.

"Kent... Don't go."

"Tony, have you got your shit together?"

Tony was standing by the door, goggle-eyed. "Yeah, Kent. All ready to go. But what about your tent and stuff?"

I'd forgotten all about my tent. I'd meant to pack it up once I got up but Tony was still sleeping. And now I just wanted to get the hell out of camp.

I looked back. Lucy hadn't moved from the breakfast table. She looked distraught, but she hadn't actually moved. She still held her coffee up near her face. I continued through the door. Tony followed.

I went straight to my tent. I untied the tarp and flung it onto the path. It got a bit tangled in the brush on either side but I ignored it. I opened the tent and threw everything I could find of Lucy's out the door. I left all of my own stuff inside. I zipped up the tent and collapsed it. Tony stayed on the other side of the tarp and watched as I pulled up the tent pegs and removed the fibreglass supports from their sleeves. I pulled the tarp forward overtop of Lucy's stuff and dragged the tent and its contents onto the tarp. I wrapped the whole mess up in the tarp and hoisted it onto my shoulder. Tony started picking up Lucy's clothes. "Leave them," I said. I turned and walked down the path, dragging my load through the branches on either side.

At the truck Brendan helped Tony and I pack our gear and some bags of garbage around the quad.

"It's none of my business, but maybe you should give Lucy another chance," said Brendan. "You know what party nights are like. Everything will probably work out all right. Don't take it too seriously."

I didn't say anything. I just tightened up the ratchet strap on my side and got into the truck.

Tony waved to grab Brendan's attention. "Don't worry about him," he said. "He gets this way sometimes. Strong silent type. You know the kind. I'll talk to him."

"Well, have a good trip." He shook Tony's hand and then said to me, "And Kent, give me a call when you get to town."

I nodded. Tony got in the truck. I started driving as soon as he shut the door.

The road was much drier but still slightly slick. I drove angry and the truck slithered around on the road.

I could tell I was making Tony nervous. "Maybe we should stop for a couple of minutes," he said.

"Not yet. In a while." I wanted to make sure I was well and truly out of camp.

After a couple of miles we came up to the bridge. On this side of the river the road curved down and then up as it approached the bridge. As soon as we started going around the curve I could see it was gone. It had washed away during the night. I kicked down hard on the brake pedal. The truck skidded into the ditch. Without taking my foot off the brake, I yanked the transmission into four wheel drive, then got off the brakes and onto the gas. The truck bounced through the ditch and up on to the other side. Tony hit the ceiling of the cab. I turned the wheel and the truck bounced through the ditch again and it managed to crawl out on to the road. When I stopped, it was almost perfectly sideways in the middle of the road.

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