Craig leaned up against the top rail of the corral with one boot-clad foot resting on the bottom rail. He was watching the mare they were trying to breed move around the corral.
He said, "Have you ever talked to the guy about his life back in Los Angeles?"
"No," Donny answered. "Frankly, I'm not interested."
Craig frowned while thinking about some of the things that Pepper had told him. "Do you know what the high point of his day was?"
"No," Donny answered. He looked over at Craig realizing that something was really bothering the man. Deciding that it would be best to let him talk it out, he asked, "What was it?"
"Every morning on his way to work, he would stop at a coffee shop and pay four dollars for a cup of coffee. That was the high point of his day," Craig said.
"Getting overcharged for a cup of coffee was the high point of his day?" Donny asked incredulously.
Craig said, "I swear listening to him talk about getting his morning coffee was like listening to Hank tell his story about getting that twelve point buck. He described the parking lot, the layout of the store, the people who were usually there in the morning, and how he ordered the coffee. He talked about taking the first sip of coffee and how good it tasted. Then that was it. He would get into his car, and go to work."
"I enjoy my first cup of coffee in the morning," Donny said.
He thought about how he liked drinking his coffee while looking out at the mountains in the distance.
"Is that the high point of your day?" Craig asked.
"No. It is just the start of the day," Donny answered.
Craig said, "He was telling me that he was afraid of half of the customers that came into his store. It seems that most of his clientele were drug addicts, drunks, or gang members. His store has been robbed over a dozen times."
"Of course it has. He never did anything to stop it," Donny said scornfully.
He didn't think much of anyone who let others rob them.
"He doesn't know how to stop it. The guy has never been in a fight in his entire life. They didn't approve of such things in his school," Craig said.
Donny laughed and said, "They didn't approve of them in our school. That didn't stop us from going out back, on occasion. My cousin Jack and I fought almost every week."
"You don't understand. He was never left alone to be a boy. There was always an adult around that would break up something like that. He's totally defenseless," Craig said shaking his head. He gave a bitter laugh, he continued, "I asked him to show me how he would throw a punch. The way he flailed about was like a first grader. I made like I was going to take swing at him and he dropped to the ground and curled into a ball. It was pathetic."
"So he's a coward," Donny said.
"I don't think he's coward. I mean, he goes into that store every day, despite being afraid of his customers. That isn't exactly being cowardly," Craig said.
Donny said, "I don't know what to think about that."
"He knows the first time he stands up to someone that he's going to get killed. Do you know that he's been hit only a couple of times in his life? Once by Rose, once by Vincent, once by John, and twice by you! Rose and Vincent just gave him little taps up side the head without really meaning to hurt him. That switching you gave him was the first time anyone punished him with a whipping," Craig said.
"So?"
Craig said, "It is his imagination. He doesn't know that if he gets hit it will hurt, but he'll get over it. He imagines that pain is going to last for the rest of his life."
Donny looked over at Craig and asked, "Are you saying that we need to kick his ass every night to toughen him up?"
"I'm not saying that," Craig said. "I just think he can't help being what he is. He just doesn't know any better."
"Maybe he'll learn something out here," Donny said. He looked over at Craig and could see that the guy was really bothered by this, so he asked, "Are you getting soft on the guy?"
Craig understood what motivated the question, but he didn't like it.
He said, "I laughed as hard as anyone about him thinking he was digging a practice hole. Hell, I started the joke. Then I realized that I was laughing at him because he was ignorant and that was kind of mean. He really thought that digging a practice hole made sense. To him, it was no different than your daddy teaching you how to use a saw, by having you cut up a piece of scrap wood."
"That's pitiful," Donny said. He looked over in the direction of the barn wondering how anyone could grow up that ignorant. He snorted and added, "Even a kid five years old wouldn't fall for that."
"It is pitiful. That's what I've been saying," Craig said. "He doesn't know how to use a hammer, a screwdriver, or wrench. He's never repaired anything, or built anything. He doesn't own a single thing that wasn't made in a factory. He can't replace a light switch, or even change the oil in his car.
"Fixing something, to him, was making a telephone call to get someone to come fix it for him. He's totally helpless. He really doesn't know how to do anything. He was telling me that he even has a service that will come out and change a flat tire, if he has one.
"He can't cook. Half of the meals he eats are frozen foods that he cooks in a microwave. It either comes out of a box, the freezer, or a can. He has never barbecued anything on a grill. A real meal, to him, is something he gets at restaurant or a diner.
"He wasn't playing dumb that afternoon in the garden. He really doesn't know one plant from another. He's never had a garden. He's never cut the grass. He had never seen a snake. God knows what he's going to do if he ever sees a bear.
"The guy has never been out of the city. The first time he's ever slept on the ground, was when you were bringing him here. He has never gone fishing. Hunting? The only animals he's ever seen were penned up in a zoo."
Donny shook his head in disbelief, and said, "No one can be that ignorant."
"Do you want to know what is really scary?" Craig said.
"What?" Donny asked.
"He's not alone. The guy thinks he has led a normal life, because everyone he knows grew up the same way he did."
"No wonder Los Angeles is screwed up, if he's representative of the people there," Donny said.
He had wondered about some of the things coming out of Washington, that he had watched on the news. It seemed to him that people had lost all common sense. This explained a lot.
"Digging that hole, was his first real physical job," Craig said. "I'm glad you had him do it."
"If he hadn't tried to kill me, we'd a dug that hole with the backhoe. It would have taken an hour rather than the whole damned day," Donny said. "I can't afford to have you standing around like that until Sonny gets back."
Craig said, "We had to pour him into his bed last night, and feed him Ibuprofen this morning, so he could even move. He's so stiff that it's going to take him all day to muck out the barn. Pushing him to do more than that, today, would kill him."
"I was going to send him out to the pasture to work on the bridge with Sam and Carl. I figured that he would help them build it," Donny said. He was putting in a bridge over the creek to make a shortcut to the place he was going to lease. It would be a lot of work, but it would save a lot of time and money over the long run.
"Trying to manhandle a posthole digger would kill him," Craig said. "I wouldn't trust him with a chainsaw. He's liable to cut his foot off."
"We'll send him out there tomorrow anyway. He can help carry the lumber," Donny said. He shook his head and said, "What a miserable waste of a human being.
"I'm surprised we don't have to wipe his ass for him."
"It was your idea to bring him out here," Craig said.
Donny said, "What could we do? He was going to get somebody killed, sooner or later. It was just a matter of time."
"You're probably right," Craig said.
Donny said, "We thought it was stupidity. It is just like that mentally retarded Sanders boy. Do you remember how he used to wander off? Everyone in the area would have to drop what they were doing and track him down. We gave him the job of taking care of the chickens over at Joe's place. We pay him twice what the work is worth, and we treat him with respect. He can't hurt anyone doing that job, and he earns a living. He's happy."
"I'll never forget when he realized that all of those chickens were his responsibility. He grew a foot taller, that day," Craig said.
"Yeah. They are the best cared for chickens in the whole county," Donny said. "You can't cure stupid, but you can keep it out of trouble."
"That's true," Craig said.
"We didn't realize Pepper was that ignorant," Donny said.
Craig asked, "I've got to ask this ... why did you decide to bring him here?"
"When we were discussing what to do about Pepper, we were really at a loss at what would be the best thing for everyone involved. We all agreed that he was a danger to everyone around him. I can only imagine what Sonny must have felt like when he pulled that trigger, and the pistol went 'click'."
"I can guarantee that Pepper knows what that feels like now," Craig said with a smile.
"Dan was so mad at Pepper about him not letting Sonny know the gun wouldn't work that he wanted to kill him outright. I think he would have killed him if Sonny had died. I do know that if Uncle Dan had run into Pepper the night when Sonny was attacked in the hospital, that Pepper would not have lived to see morning," Donny said.
"I can see Dan doing that," Craig said.
"I'll admit that I wanted to hurt him. I was tempted to beat the hell out of him, and leave him bleeding in an alleyway. It was Mom who convinced us not to do that. She went on and on about giving a man a chance to make amends for his actions," Donny said.
"That sounds like Mrs. Daniels," Craig said, nodding his head.
"Bringing him here seemed like the only way to give him a chance to make amends," Donny said. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I know it sounds kind of crazy, but that was the best we could come up with."
"I guess I can see that," Craig said.
It didn't change the fact that most folks thought that the Daniels family had gone around the bend on this one.
"At least Sam appreciates not having to muck out the stalls every day," Craig said.
Donny said, "Making Sam happy is costing me a fortune."
"Why?" Craig asked.
"I'm paying the rent on Pepper's apartment. Uncle Joe is arranging to have a management company take care of that damned store of his. It will probably cost us a pretty penny to do that," Donny said with a snort.
He was going to have Pepper sign the papers to hire the management company at the end of the week.
Craig was surprised to hear that. He asked, "Why are you doing that?"
Donny said, "It isn't right to strip a man of what he owns. That's the equivalent of stealing."
"I didn't think about it like that," Craig said looking over at Donny.
His opinion of the Daniels family rose once again.
"He'll go home when Sonny gets back, and it will be like nothing has changed. All that will be different is he might be a little less ignorant," Donny said. He was silent for a moment and then said, "None of that is going to keep us out of jail."
"Do you really believe that all of you are going to end up in jail?" Craig asked.
"More than likely," Donny answered. "Sonny might remain free to finish school. Uncle Dan and Uncle Joe have kept him out of it. They are the ones who are taking all of the real risks."
"What's going on there?" Craig asked.
Most of the incidents with the gang had not made the national news.
Donny said, "There have been four attempts on Sonny's life. He had to move to another hotel, for the time being. Calvin appears to be having fun playing guardian angel. He got to blow up a car."
"I bet he enjoyed that," Craig said.
"The gang is really starting to get hurt. They've lost two drug houses and four cars. Seventeen gang members have died, and nearly that many have been seriously injured. Uncle Dan sent another message to the leader of the gang, saying that he wants the two guys who shot Sonny taken to the police station," Donny said.
"Do you think they'll turn themselves in?" Craig asked.
"Not this week. Maybe next week, though," Donny answered. He looked over at the mare and said, "Let's bring that stallion out here. It is time for him to mount that mare again. After that, I'm going over to see Rose. When I get back from there, we'll have him mount the mare again."
"What are you going to do over at Rose's house?" Craig asked.
"I am going to ask her to marry me," Donny said.
"It's about time."
Pepper had been listening to the conversation from outside the barn. He tied the horse off to the hitching post and shuffled back into the barn. He was thinking about what he had heard. There was a lot there for him to reflect upon.
Some of the things they said about him really hurt. Especially after the humiliation that resulted from digging the hole. He had really bought into the idea of it being a practice hole. In hindsight, he couldn't imagine how he managed to fall for that line. He wanted to think that it had something to do with him believing that he was digging his grave, but that was just wishful thinking.
It was hard to admit that their comments about him being ignorant, held a grain of truth. He liked to think that he knew how to do things. Sure, he could fill his car at the self-service gas station, but that was nothing for the folks out here. They could probably repair the pump at the self-service gas station if it broke.
Pepper tried to think of one thing that he knew how to do that they didn't know how to do. His first thought was that they probably didn't understand computers, but then he remembered that Sonny was majoring in computer science. If they used the internet, he was pretty sure that they would use it for more than just looking at porn. He realized they probably remembered as much about history from high school as he did. He drew a blank on coming up with something that he knew how to do, and they didn't.
These folks were just as informed about current events as he was. They watched satellite television with the same programs as he had in his apartment. They didn't watch the situation comedies or prime time shows. More often than not they were still working or doing something when those programs were on the air. They did sit down and watch the news every night.
He wondered how he got the idea that people out in the country were dumb. Maybe it was because they weren't fashionable or trendy. They were wearing the same kinds of clothes that their parents wore: blue jeans, work shirts, boots, and cowboy hats. They weren't loaded down with the current line of electronics, but what they did have served the same function. He hadn't seen a single iPod since getting out there, but Sam did have a CD player.
Probably the biggest surprise to him was learning that Donny was taking care of his apartment and store. He was pretty sure that if the situation were reversed that he wouldn't have thought of doing that.
Of the Ten Commandments, he could only remember three of them: thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not steal. He was pretty sure that Donny knew all ten, and lived them. Maybe that wasn't exactly true for the commandment about not killing people. It seemed to him that Donny was more than willing to kill someone who threatened him, his family, or his property. He couldn't remember enough about the Bible to know what it said about that.
Thoughts of people shooting people, reminded him of what had happened to the gang. Ever since the gang had moved into the neighborhood, it had seemed to him that it was too powerful to resist. These country boys were proving that wrong. Even if they didn't succeed in wiping out the gang, the mantle of invincibility had been shattered. People would look at the gang members and know that they could be eliminated. The gang would know that, as well. Seventeen dead! Unbelievable!
Having finished with mucking out that stall, he went out to lead the horse back to it. He carried the iron bar without thinking about it. His mind was still on events in Los Angeles. In a way, he was hoping that the Daniels were successful in getting rid of the gang. It would make life there a lot nicer.
That evening there was a great celebration, because of Donny's engagement to Rose. Steaks and hamburgers were served along with huge quantities of potato salad, cole slaw, beans, and canned fruits. The food provided by Mrs. Daniels had been augmented with Jell-O salads, casseroles, cakes, and pies, which were brought by the guests.
A lot of people attended the party. They included the ranch hands from the three Daniels ranches, Rose's family, a number of neighbors, and even a couple of people from town. It was quite a crowd.
The men wore blue jeans, work shirts, boots, and hats. They may have been dressed casually, but their clothes were clean and without holes. The women were dressed in jeans or skirts. All of the women were attractive, but none of them wore outfits that were explicit or revealing. It was a conservative crowd.
Although conversations tended to focus on topics dealing with hunting, weather, and agriculture; they often touched upon politics, also. Politically, the people were conservative but not radically Republican. There were quite a few Democrats present, although they were a totally different kind of Democrat than those that lived in California. Patriotism, law and order, and God seemed to be central to their political core, as opposed to animal rights, world peace, and entitlements.
One of the surprises, to Pepper, was that these people knew more of the world than just their backyards. A lot of the men had served time in the military, and had seen quite a bit of the world. Perhaps the places they had gone to in the service of their country were not the best, but they knew more than just the backwoods.
The descriptions of vacations included trips to places like New York, Washington D.C., London, Paris, and Saint Petersburg. There was even a guy who was talking about a national tour as part of a Barber Shop Quartet.
Pepper watched the celebration with a small degree of envy. Donny was younger than he was, and seemed to have it all: a big house, a successful business, an attractive fiancé, and a large circle of friends. On the other hand, he had a small apartment, a small business, no girlfriend, and a small circle of acquaintances.
He was beginning to wonder if the people out in the country knew something that he didn't.