Nobody

Wine in the Dark

The doorbell woke me up again. Like before my dreams had been nothing but swirling colors, random noises, and odd sensations. I rolled over and groaned, the skin of my back tight feeling and sore. I managed to wiggle out of bed as the doorbell rang again.

"Just a minute!" I yelled out. I could tell it was dark outside. Nobody should have been coming by, and how did they get past the gate?

Who's at the door? I wondered. I picked the .45 off the nightstand and headed toward the front of the house. The carpet was soft under my bare feet and for a second it was so strange it made me confused. The ranch house was all solid wood, no...

Except I'd left, running from Pru's ghost.

Because she was dead.

Stopping in front of the front door I wiped my face, knowing my eyes were probably red and bloodshot. I sighed, able to see someone outside by their shadow on the door, and opened the door.

Miss Mary-Beth stood there, holding a tinfoil covered casserole dish.

"I thought maybe you might be hungry, Mister English," She said. "Jesus preaches reaching out to those in need."

I went to tell her I wasn't hungry but my stomach rumbled loudly.

"Sounds like the Good Lord sent me to aid your stomach, Samuel," She laughed. She looked down, then up at my face, arching an eyebrow. "Expecting cattle rustlers?"

"Huh?" I looked down and saw the pistol in my hand, my trigger finger along the slide. "Oh, wasn't sure who'd be out here this late."

"Guess it's a Texas welcome then?" She giggled.

I flushed and Mary-Beth laughed. I moved aside and let her sweep into the house. She moved over to the kitchen counter, setting down the dish and removing the tinfoil from it. It was a tater-tot casserole with green beans and plenty of cheese on the top. I set the pistol on the counter after ejecting the magazine and clearing the chamber.

"I brought something else," She said, reaching into her massive purse. I stood and watched, putting the bullet back into the magazine without thinking, as she pulled out a bottle of rose wine and set it on the counter. She looked at me, "Not that, that's to celebrate."

Mary-Beth pulled out a sheaf of papers, setting them down next to the casserole dish. "I went down into Irving, to the county seat, and filed all the paperwork. It's all legal now," She turned to me and gave me a big smile. "The property is all yours. I cashed your check when I came back."

I walked over, looking over the paperwork. I'd arranged and negotiated plenty of land deals since I'd left the military, and knew where to look for anything tricky.

Property tax was current. It had been assayed two years ago. Property lines were marked out there with wooden stakes with red over yellow plastic ribbons. Water rights. Mineral rights, barring uranium. Airspace to two thousand feet above the highest point of the property.

"All in order," I smiled, setting it down.

Mary-Beth was already cutting me a slice of the casserole. It steamed as she set the slice on the plate.

"Ain't right for me to sit and watch you eat, Miss Mary-Beth," I told her. "Dish yourself up a slice."

She smiled at that, getting a plate and two glasses from the cupboard. She dished herself up a slice and then picked up the bottle.

"I can't. Doc Rutheford told me I have to stay away from alcohol," I told her. I cleared my throat uncomfortably. "I used to have a drinking habit, in the Army, and Pru doesn't like me..."