Unlikely Angel

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

That night as Susan drifted off to sleep in her bed watching the steady rise and fall of the chest of the man in the next bunk, she contemplated the confusing day that had been. People were such a puzzlement to her and she wondered if she would ever be able to figure them out completely.

Amid her confusion was fear. She had so much fear for the future. If anything happened to Johnny, she didn’t know where she would go or what she would do.

Hound Dog had helped her understand Johnny’s actions and made it so she was less afraid of him. But what she learned only made her more afraid for him—and for herself if anything happened to him. If he had cases to kill people to defend himself or others then he could be killed or someone could misunderstand as she had and he could go to jail or even be killed.

This idea Tusk had about this party scared her as much, if not more, as it excited her. She had read about parties and heard others talk about them but had never been to one. She was curious to see what a party was like. At the same time, she was afraid of too many people. Sometimes when a lot of people got together, they made so much noise and that was very hard to take. Only that night, she’d had to go outside to get away from the people she loved and saw as family because there was too much noise.

There would be many more people at this party. Unconsciously she reached and grabbed a piece of Johnny’s long hair and worked it between her fingers. She paid little notice but he had become so aware of her that, without waking, he rolled toward her to make it easier for her. Eventually she was able to sleep but sleep only brought frightening dreams filled with taunting people and Johnny nowhere to be found.

In time, the sun’s soft early rays made their way to the little bunkhouse and began prying at the eyelids of those sleeping inside. Sometime in the night, half awakened by Susan’s thrashing, Johnny had wrapped the girl in her blankets and brought her onto his bunk. Once there she had settled a bit but still whimpered occasionally from dreams she may or may not be able to relate once awake.

Movement nearby caused Johnny to stir and realize that Susan was with him. He didn’t remember bringing her to him but then, he must have. He looked up to see Tusk looking down at him with concern.

“Rough night?”

Johnny nodded, the world of sleep still having its claws too firmly entrenched in him to allow speech. Tusk sat on Susan’s bunk and took in the pair of them. It was hard to not feel joy at the new life that had serendipitously come to his friend but there were difficulties too.

“I’m glad you finally got some sleep. I was beginning to wonder if you were just going to sit and stare at that picture all night.”

“Was I keeping you up?” Johnny tried for a biting tone but fell a great deal short and ended up with a question fraught with concern that he’d disturbed his friends along with frightening his princess.

On another day, with different circumstances, Tusk may have tried a more comedic route and teased his friend for his tears and sentimentality but he knew that if the roles were reversed, Johnny wouldn’t tease him either.

“No. I was worried about her too,” silence fell between them for a moment as it can with two men who are comfortable with a lack of words. “You ever wonder how Hound Dog does it? How he knows what to say or do to calm someone down?”

Johnny laughed quietly so as not to wake Susan. She’d had a hard night and needed her sleep.

“I just always figured he was lying to us when he said he never reared no kids. I’ll bet he’s got a passel of ‘em somewhere.”