My Brother Says I'm Dangerous

(29)

The air is filled with awkward silence, so quiet I can hear the dripping of champagne down Dave's leg. Everybody stares, as Keith stands proudly, not letting the silence break down his confidence.

"A little late, don't you think?" Gregory spits, venom seeping from his words.

"I don't think so." Keith shrugs happily.

"The election is in two weeks." He seethes.

"What are you, afraid?" Keith asks innocently. I can practically feel the tension rising, and once again we can always count on Dave to break it.

He jumps up, knocking the bottle of alcohol to the ground, hurrying over to Keith. 

"Good on you man." He says, hugging him tight. "You have my vote."

"Yes." Gregory chuckles, almost menacingly. "Well, the people who matter will make the votes count in the end. Like I said, the competition will be fun." 

"Good luck." Keith says, raising his glass in his direction. Gregory slams his down onto the table, and collects his things.

"We will be going." He says low. "I will get my secretary to send you the election details." The whole family gets into their fancy cars, and one by one leave the field, speeding down the road, leaving us in another awkward silence.

"Good luck Keith." Dot breaks the silence, smiling widely. 

"Yeah." Rick grins. "You have my support." Others murmur their agreement, but some stay silent, obviously not convinced. 

"Thank you everyone for coming." Keith smiles gently. "But now, comes the dreaded cleaning up. Because tonight, we hand over the party to our younger ones. The bonfire. Tell your teens." Everybody claps, and starts to pack up, cars one by one leaving the area.

I help Emily and the other ladies stack plates and glasses, everybody still reeling from the previous announcement. I guess Keith would make a good president for this town. He knows everyone. He actually sees people as people, not profit. But I think it'll be hard. He entered late, he may not have a chance.

"Is there anything else we need to pack?" Keith asks us, wiping the sweat off his forehead. 

"No Dad." Hunter smiles. "Go rest, we can take it from here." Keith chuckles, and nods.

"Just don't burn down my ranch." He smiles. "Ok. You know where everything is. I might even take your mother out for dinner tonight. The younger ones all have sleepovers."

"Wait." Isaac stops. "You're finally letting us have the bonfire unsupervised?"

"You're old enough." Emily smiles. "Charlie and Maddy will be at the house, but yes. Unsupervised." 

"Thanks Dad." Hunter grins. "It'll be great."

"Have fun." Keith laughs. Him and Emily, along with the other ones get into their cars, Luke taking his horse. 

"Right." Hunter claps his hands together, once they were out of sight. "Lets get started."

<><><><>

We spend the next two hours setting up the corral for the bonfire, once again moving all the junk from a large field, into the hole.

"How are you going to light it?" Nick asks, as he throws a smashed up air conditioner into the pile. 

"Good old gasoline." Isaac grins. 

"Are you staying?" I ask Nick.

"No can do honey bee." Jackson whistles happily. "Nick and I are hanging with the big kids."

"A couple of the mechanics from town and from other ranches are coming over tonight, with their girlfriends." Nick explains. "A few people from Maddy's work, some others. We're having dinner."

"That's nice." Isaac smiles thinly. "Enjoy your old people dinner party. We're gonna have more fun burning shit." Jackson and Nick grin at each other knowingly. Somehow I don't think they plan on it being as boring as it sounds.

"What's the deal with the food?" Carter asks. 

"Dad left us the barbecues." Isaac shrugs towards the rusty pieces of metal. "Mom's wrapping up potatoes in foil for the fire, we have heaps of leftovers which we will put on the table and we have heaps of thawing meat in the freezers."

"Rick said he left us heaps of bread which he got from his restaurant." Hunter adds. "And we have plenty of...meatballs left." Nick and I give him dirty looks, and he dodges the small clock broken radio I throw at him.

"What about drinks?" Carter frowns. 

"Plenty of soda." Hunter says. "We'll fill the troughs with ice."

"And obviously there's going to be alcohol." Jackson says sternly, facing the younger ones who will be there: Ollie, Carter and the twins. "If I hear any of you touch the stuff, I'll tell Mom. You'll get your ass handed to you."

"We'll know." Isaac says, staring at his sisters.

"There's a strict junior/senior rule." Hunter finishes. "Anyone younger can forget about it. Just because we invite the whole school doesn't mean it's a free for all."

"You know we split up anyway." Carter rolls his eyes. "Freshman don't stay that long, and we hang out in the backyard. My mates are gonna go back to the house and sleep over in my room. We're just there for the food."

"And the sophomores barely even go near the bonfire." Ollie points. "We have the barn."

"Camilla is going to collect the food." Alyssa says.

"And Alyssa will figure out the soda." Camilla smiles.

"Good." Isaac smiles. "That way, it'll be a good night for everyone."

"What time does everybody arrive?" I ask.

"About seven." Isaac shrugs.

"It's four o'clock now." Hunter says looking at his watch. "We should go back to the house. I need a rest."

Everybody picks up their things, getting into Jackson and Hunter's trucks. I walk past the pile of trash, about to turn my back, when something catches my eye.

"What's this doing here?" I gasp, picking up my guitar case, and judging by the heaviness, no doubt holds my guitar.

"What do you mean?" Jackson calls out, starting his truck up.

"Why's it on the bonfire pile?" I ask.

"I saw it in the living room this morning." He says. "You said before you didn't want it, I thought I would put on the pile for you." I nod, remembering what I said. 

Before I can convince myself otherwise, I throw it into the back of the truck, jumping into the backseat. 

I decide to ignore the smirk I see on Hunter's face.

<><><><>

I remember absolutely everything. 

The men still visit, but they don't help me anymore. All I feel is pain. 

I heard that we have to move. People are angry with them.

But I don't know if I'll be going. They don't want me anymore.

Which I shouldn't worry about. 

I should hate them.

But I don't.

And that hurts even more than the pain I feel.