Pepper swung the horseshoe back and forth until satisfied with the smoothness of his swing. He let loose, and watched the horseshoe fall four feet short of the post. Pitching more than two and a half pounds forty feet made it a little difficult to judge just how much energy to put into a throw. Sometimes a horseshoe would just land flat and lie there. Other times it would bounce a couple of times before coming to a stop. Sometimes it would cartwheel past the post.
He shook his head and said, "I'm never going to get the hang of this game."
Sam laughed at Pepper's frustration and said, "It helps to have a few beers first."
"Sam has this theory that when you're seeing double, you can aim at either post, and the shoe will hit one of them," Carl said with a broad grin.
John broke out in laughter while Sam said, "It's true."
John launched a horseshoe at the post. There was a clang and Sam's leaner was knocked down. John's horseshoe rebounded a couple of feet.
Sam said, "Hey, you aren't supposed to do that."
"Yes, I am," John replied good-naturedly.
Carl threw his shoe and watched it stop dead a foot from the post. It had landed with a dull thud. The group walked to the far post and looked down at the shoes. Sam's shoe was the only one within six inches of the post. Sam said, "I got a point."
"No you don't," Carl said. "That point is John's."
"That's my horseshoe," Sam said pointing at the shoe.
"That doesn't matter. It is John's turn to get a point. We're playing rotation horseshoes — a point for you and then two points for us. You're out of luck," Carl said.
"Ha, ha! Very funny," Sam said picking up his horseshoe. "Don't listen to him, Pepper. We got the point. He's just jealous because they're throwing like girls."
"So the score is three to four, right?" Pepper asked.
"Right," Sam said, "At this rate, we're going to be here until tomorrow morning."
John said, "You guys are still up first."
Sam let loose with a horseshoe and watched it cartwheel past the post. He shook his head and said, "I really need a beer. I really play a lot better when I hold a beer in one hand and a horseshoe in the other. It helps me balance."
"Last time you did that, you threw your beer bottle," Carl said chuckling.
"And parts of it were within six inches of the post," Sam countered. He leaned over to Pepper and added, "They should have counted it as a point."
Pepper stepped up to the line and tossed the horseshoe. It actually hit the post this time. He shouted, "All right! I hit the post."
"It was bound to happen, sooner or later," John said.
John stepped up to the line and tossed his shoe after an exaggerated approach. The shoe hit the post and careened away.
"Bad luck," Carl said. "Let the master show you how it is done."
"The only thing you've mastered is bating," Sam said. Even Pepper groaned at that 'masturbating' pun. Sam ducked when John tried to give him a tap on the back of the head. Carl tossed his horseshoe, and it landed well short.
Shaking his head, he said, "I don't know what the matter is, today. I guess gravity is affecting my horseshoe more than yours."
"That's it! Blame it on gravity," Sam said. "Heaven forbid that you admit you're a lousy horseshoe player."
"He's just getting warmed up," John said.
The four men walked to the other post. There was the short discussion about scoring despite the fact that Pepper's shoe was the only one within six inches of the post.
Sam said, "Another point for our team."
"What does that make? One?" Carl asked picking up his horseshoe.
"It makes it four to four," Pepper said picking up his horseshoe.
He was having a good time. The game was an easy one to learn, but that didn't mean it was easy to play well. He hadn't realized that it was more of a social game than a competitive game. At least that was the way they played it here.
"Sally would have won this game by now," John said shaking his head.
"Your wife is a terror with horseshoes," Carl said. "How many windows did she break last game?"
"Two and that's because you kept ducking out of the way," John said laughing.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that," Carl said.
Sam was about to toss his horseshoe when Sally came running out of the bunkhouse.
Waving an arm to get them to head over her way, she shouted, "Hey you guys. You've got to see what is on the television."
"What is it?" John asked looking over at his wife. He hadn't seen her that excited in years.
"It's the gang," Sally shouted.
Pepper followed everyone into the bunkhouse. He froze upon entering the main room, and stared at the television. The news station was broadcasting an overhead image of the strip club. Half of the roof had caved in. Two cars were on fire in the parking lot.
Shocked by the destruction being broadcast, he asked, "What happened?"
Donny stepped into the bunkhouse and said, "Sonny was shot this morning."
"Oh, God," Pepper said turning around to look at Donny. He backed away to make room for him.
Sally asked, "Is he okay?"
"He's in the hospital, and is in stable condition," Donny said gravely.
Pepper asked, "What happened?"
"Sonny was talking to some detective when a car drove by. Calvin must have been distracted because he never saw the car until it crashed. All he saw was Sonny sitting on the ground with blood coming out of his gut," Donny said. "I'll find out more when I get there."
"Our prayers are with him," Carl said.
"Amen to that," Sam said.
John said, "I can only imagine how your uncles felt."
"Uncle Dan and Uncle Joe decided it was time to quit fooling around," Donny said.
He looked at the screen, and the devastation that was presented there. The plan had been to blow the roof off of the strip club in the middle of the night when it was empty. They weren't supposed to do it in the early afternoon when it was filled with gang members. He wouldn't have wanted to be around his uncles, considering how angry they must have been to go that far.
He gestured to the screen and said, "As you can see, they quit fooling around."
Looking at the screen, Carl asked, "What did they do there?"
"Hank blew up the roof, and part of the backside of the building. Dan and Joe took care of everyone inside the building. Hank and Calvin took care of everyone outside the building," Donny said, shaking his head.
He hadn't believed that they had gone that far. Even Dan had been in a state of shock. His uncle had repeated several times that he was unable to believe what he had done.
"Did anyone see them?" John asked.
"I don't know. No one stopped them when they were leaving," Donny said.
He left out the fact that they were disguised as homeless people pushing shopping carts. That had basically allowed them to walk right up to the gang.
He said, "They figured that so long as no one knows who they are that they stand a good chance of getting away. They paid cash for everything while they were down there, so there's no paper record of them being there. As long as no one comes forward and places them in Los Angeles then it will be pretty tough to pin it on them."
Pepper noticed that everyone was doing their best not to look at him. He knew what they were thinking.
He croaked, "I ... we know who they are and where they were."
"I guess that it true," Donny said looking at Pepper.
"I don't think any of us would talk," Pepper said looking around at everyone.
He knew what they were thinking. He was sure that they were all of the opinion that he would talk to the police and everyone would get arrested. He was uncomfortable at being the sudden center of intense scrutiny.
"I won't talk," Pepper said.
Donny said, "I guess time will tell."
"What are they going to do now?" Carl asked.
"They are on their way home. They should be back in two days," Donny answered.
Concerned, Pepper asked, "Is Sonny going to be all right?"
"I hope so," Donny said.
"I know you probably won't believe me, but I like Sonny. I used to think he was from a different planet, but I liked him. He was always polite and friendly," Pepper said.
The tension in the room was almost a physical presence. It seemed to him that all of the camaraderie that had been present during the game of horseshoes had disappeared. He glanced over at the television thinking it would have been much better if the attack on the gang hadn't happened.
Donny nodded his head and said, "Craig is bringing a truck around for me. I'll be heading to the airport now to fly into Los Angeles, tomorrow. Craig will be in charge until I get back or my uncles get here. I want all of you to listen to him, and do what he says. Is that clear?"
"Clear as a bell," Carl said.
"Yes, Sir," Sam said.
"Yes, Sir," John said nodding his head.
"Of course," Sally said.
Everyone turned to look at Pepper when he didn't answer. Surprised by the attention, he asked, "What? It is not like I have a choice."
"You could decide to start acting like a horse's ass," Donny said.
Well familiar with the product that came from a horse's ass, Pepper said, "I've been doing everything he tells me to do, ever since I got here. I don't see any reason to change, now."
Donny chuckled and said, "I didn't think about it like that."
Pepper didn't reply. He figured that the less said, the better. After a few minutes of conversation, Donny left the bunkhouse.
Wondering what was going to happen to him, Pepper said, "I'm going to my room."
"Okay," John said watching Pepper leave.
Pepper went into his room and sat on his bed. The room wasn't much, but it did afford a little privacy. He thought about his situation, and the impact of recent events upon it. For the past few weeks he had been thinking that Sonny would come home and then he would go home. He had been satisfied that his ordeal would come to an end.
The idea had never fully solidified that he would be returning to Los Angeles with enough information to get every member of the Daniels family and all of the ranch hands sent to prison. He had known it, and sometimes thought about it, but it was almost an unreal thing. Now it seemed very real ... not only to him, but to everyone there.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and he said, "Come in."
Carl opened the door and stepped into the room. He closed the door so that they would have a little privacy. He looked around at the barren room that had nothing of a personal nature in it. It looked almost like a prison cell.
He said, "I didn't realize your room was so bare."
"I've got the bed, the table, and a chair. I don't need much more than that. I don't spend much time in here," Pepper said.
The only time he spent in his room, was when he slept.
Carl said, "I probably should have expected it. You didn't have anything with you when you came here."
"That's true," Pepper said. He gestured to the lone chair and said, "Have a seat."
Carl went over to the chair and sat down. Facing Pepper, he stared down at the floor for fully five seconds.
Finally, he spoke.
"There are times in every man's life when he has to decide who he is. You might say that he comes to a spiritual crossroads in his life. He has to decide if he's going to deal with the devil or walk away with a clean soul.
"At times like that, a man is all alone. No one truly knows what they are going to do. Not even the man faced with the decision. Until he acts, no one knows his decision. We may think we know what he will do, but we really don't. We don't know who a man really is, until he shows us.
"We're all Christians here. We believe in redemption. We believe that a man can lead a life of sin, and then erase all of that sin from his soul, with a single act of redemption. That's part of the reason you are here. You are here to give yourself a chance at redemption.
"We are also realists. No one will expect a past sinner to avoid sin in the future. Redemption only earns forgiveness ... not forgetfulness and not trust. We'll forgive, but we will never forget.
"In the Lord's prayer, we beg God to forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. God's forgiveness is infinite. He will forgive us, over and over. Man's forgiveness is finite. A man will forgive only so many times, before he stops forgiving.
"It is getting close to the time when you will have a chance to redeem yourself with respect to the Daniels family. You will be entering a crossroads in your life. It is up to you to choose redemption, or damnation. You're going to have to decide what happens after you leave here."
"What are you saying I should do?" Pepper asked.
Carl said, "I'm not saying you should do anything. When you leave here, you will walk into the crossroads alone. I don't know what decisions you'll be asked to make. You won't know what choices you will be forced to make, until you are faced with them. It will be up to you to decide what you'll do. Will you deal with the devil, or will you reject him? If you reject the devil, you'll leave the crossroads with a clean soul."
Pepper was silent for a moment while he considered what Carl had told him. His conversations with Carl always left him feeling unsettled.
He asked, "How will I know which decision is right or wrong?"
"That's a good question. If you were a Christian, then I would say that you should pray for guidance. You aren't, so I don't know what to tell you," Carl said.
"So you think I'm doomed because I'm not a Christian?" Pepper asked.
Nothing irritated him like a true believer telling him he was going to hell because he didn't believe in God. It angered him when people said that he couldn't be a good man because of a lack of faith.
Carl shook his head and answered, "I've been around the world enough to know that it isn't the God to which a man prays that is important. It isn't even the fact that a man believes in any God or not, that makes the difference. It is what is in that man's heart that is important.
"There are times when I think that all prayer does is open a door in our heart for us to see the good that is inside. It doesn't require a belief in God to open that door. It does require courage, however, to open the door and to look. It can be a fearful sight."
"I guess I can accept that," Pepper said.
Carl gave a weak smile and said, "You aren't the only one facing some tough decisions. There has been a lot of behavior, recently, that is of dubious morality. I fully believe that leaving you in Los Angeles would not have changed the outcome of events there, one whit. I also believe that your time here has changed you for the better. So, as far as the decision to bring you here, I really don't know what to think of it.
"As far as what has happened to the gang, I'm divided on that. A lot of evil men died there. They are described on their arrest records as of some of the gang members on the news. Their souls were black as the darkest night. I have no doubt of that. With the exception of you, all of us bear some responsibility for their deaths."
Pepper interrupted and asked, "With the exception of me?"
Carl nodded his head and said, "Every one of us could have picked up a telephone and called the Los Angeles police department to let them know what was happening. None of us did. You didn't have that choice."
"That's true," Pepper said.
Carl said, "We still have that choice. Any one of us here, could tell the police what happened, there. When you leave here, you will have that choice, as well."
Knowing exactly who would get blamed if the police learned of what happened, Pepper said, "None of you are going to make that call."
"You don't know that," Carl said. "You don't know if any of us lie awake at night wrestling with the morality of killing so many people. All of us believe in the commandment: 'thou shalt not kill'. A lot of people were just killed. Of course, there was a lot of 'smiting' going on in the Bible, as well. So we all know it isn't as clear cut as all that."
Pepper said, "People can justify just about anything, when they base their arguement on the Bible."
"That is, and isn't, true. We are imperfect beings. We do things we know are right, we do things we believe are right, and we do things we know are wrong. They say that Satan is the great deceiver. I think we are each our own greatest deceiver. A man can justify anything to himself, if the desire is great enough," Carl said.
Pepper said, "That's true."
"I know that all of this talk about God makes you uncomfortable. I'm not a preacher, and I'm not trying to save you by converting you to Christianity," Carl said.
"I appreciate that," Pepper said.
"I'm talking about right and wrong. For many of us, 'right' is defined in the Bible. I guess you're going to have to go about determining right and wrong the hard way. Have we done right if the good that results from our actions outweighs the bad? Does the bad negate all of the good? Those are tough questions to answer," Carl said.
"Yes, they are," Pepper said.
"I like to think of myself as an introspective man. I like to reflect on my place in the universe, and the meaning that my life might have in the grand scheme of things. I try to be a good man and I think that being introspective is a part of that. I don't think that you are introspective enough," Carl said.
"I wouldn't say that," Pepper said.
Carl shook his head and said, "You aren't blameless in the events that have happened in your life, just recently. Some of your actions set all of this in motion. You need to think about that, before you step onto the crossroads. If you don't, you will make wrong choices."