The Drip, a novel by Michael Gullo
“Love.”
“Love.”
“The boys were knee deep in process, so I split out early for our last night.”
“Uber Eats?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Pizza Hut, then.”
“Pizza Hut last supper. Sounds about right.”
“It’ll be a while before we get to have dinner at home again.”
“Are we all packed?”
“Every scrap.”
“It’s awesome they wanted all these TVs and beds and stuff.”
“Still, two full ten by ten storage units full to the rafters, and a third about half.”
“And three trailers. I can’t imagine if they didn’t buy all the furniture.”
“And the pool table.”
“That was perfect. Can you see my guys taking that thing apart?”
“They were my guys when they packed.”
“You checked all the cabinets and everything?”
“Yup. I had the cleaning ladies check everything today when they detailed.”
“Double checked?”
“I double checked. All we gotta do is roll the bedding into the fitted sheet like the end of a handkerchief stick in the morning when we leave, and we’re out of here.”
“Did you pack me beddings for the shed?”
“It’s in those garbage bags in the garage.”
“I was trying to figure that out. I thought you had a rager party for the Department of Revenue or something before the closing.”
“I ordered the pizza well done.”
“There’s no drinks.”
“I like water. Turn on the driveway lights; Eats says it’s a girl delivery.”
“Who are you going to shill for the girl deliveries at the shed?”
“The ho’s, of course.”
“Why not just have them bring dinner with the cocaine?”
“Cocaine dulls the appetite. Tanner is my new Uber Eats.”
“Does he know that?”
“He negotiated like a champ. Got himself a free dish with every delivery and a bonus meal if he picks up in Knoxville.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“God’s ears.”
“You better check that Ring.”
“It’s just the guys.”
“It’s dark out, Michael. Besides I watched the one where they walked down to their cars.”
“Holy shit. There’s a guy, two guys on dirt bikes.”
“Where?”
“At the critter cam.”
“Maybe they, like, are used to dirt biking up there. Have you ever seen them before?”
“No. I gotta head up there. You watch the cameras and call me if they get into the trailers or the shed.”
“You’re not…”
“I am, Stefanie.”
“You won’t be there for an hour. You won’t be back before eight.”
“I’ll just stay there. I gotta go.”
“You can’t do this.”
“Just load the Ring and watch them. I gotta get Kitty.”
“Are they still up there?”
“I hear the bike motors, but I don’t see them.”
“Like, are they past the shed and…”
“Yes, the Equipment Yard never saw them. You saw the Critter Cam one. They stopped at the shed, but they didn’t get off. Where are you?”
“I just got on Pellissippi. My phone rang a few times.”
“They drove back to the pond twice and back up over that trail with the tree.”
“The Charlie tree?”
“Yes, the Bobbie tree. I still hear their motors, but they’re nowhere in sight.”
“Okay, close the app. Let it alert you, preserve the batteries. I’m flying here.”
“I’ve never heard a creature hate the car so much.”
“It’s like my own siren. I gotta concentrate for cops. Call me if you see them, and I’ll call you when I get there.”
“Hey.”
“They’re pulling out.”
“I’m on Ellijoy.”
“Maybe you’ll pass them.”
“Maybe. I’ll be on Dripping Springs in a minute or two.”
“That was fast.”
“I hit a hundred on Pellissippi.”
“Still.”
“I went around two cars on 411 too. One of them did that thing.”
“What.”
“The thing. Where they try to speed up when you whip around them. I fricking love electric power. Their engine roaring, and mine leaving wind burn on their driver door.”
“Wind burn, ha?”
“I think I’ll just head up and follow through. Kitty’s in the car, five minutes of suffering and it’s over.”
“I mean, you left with that intent.”
“Yeah, but it was quick-act. I didn’t think of this moment. If she wasn’t here, I’d turn around and come back.”
“You still can.”
“Then she’d suffer the round trip, this time much longer, and then do it all over again tomorrow.”
“Pizza’s good.”
“Ouch.”
“I hope there’s a house-call vet up there. No way Dr. Barry is going that far.”
“I’m sure there is. You don’t just pack the horse in a carry box and drag it to the vet. And those vets usually treat the whole farm when they get there.”
“I need a vet for Clover.”
“Same vet.”
“No vet yet.”
“Logistics.”
“Have you got everything you need up there?”
“I think so. Live it and list it if I don’t.”
“You don’t have plates or glasses or anything.”
“I have a couple McDonald’s drink cups in the back seat.”
“I wish I thought of that with the pizza. I cupped my hands under the sink.”
“Everyone’s camping tonight. I’m pulling in now. No sign of the dirtbikes.”
“Those poor neighbors. All those years, and nothing but passers-by, and now nighttime traffic galore.”
“I’ll have to stop in down there tomorrow and exchange phone numbers and such.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“This place is so dark. Let me go so I can get Kitty inside and figure shit out.”
“I love you, Michael.”
“I love you too. We’ll get through this.”
“Sheesh, don’t you have any other friends?”
“Just calling for a night-cap.”
“Did you see the bobcat on the Critter Cam?”
“I saw the Bobcat on the eyeball cam.”
“Does she know the sharing deal?”
“Welcoming committee.”
“Kitty feel welcome?”
“She’s in the corner, paws tucked under. Eyes wide. Do you hear that owl?”
“I heard something. Thought it was the TV.”
“No TV yet. We sold all those.”
“It’s loud.”
“Real.”
“Real loud. Chilling.”
“The app says low of twenty-seven tonight. Thermometer says it’s forty-two in here now. Forty-one when I got here.”
“There was a heater in your list today.”
“Yeah. We didn’t have time to build and balance the new batteries into a pack today. We got them unboxed and stacked, and we built them into a cart with dolly wheels, but we didn’t connect them yet.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Means no heat.”
“You’ll freeze your ass off.”
“Nah. Kitty’ll come around. I’ll make the bed up, and the minute I sit down she’ll be up for pets.”
“Never two more different animals. If I had to make the bed, Clover would be all over making sure I couldn’t.”
“This one will be in my lap the second I sit, and she’ll be back in the crook of my arm drooling within days.”
“You’ll need the heat.”
“It’s no picnic, but the down comforter ought to handle it, and if it don’t I can get in the truck and turn on the heat.”
“So, you’re just sitting there on the bed wrapped in a comforter?”
“No, I’m organizing. The boys got the red recliner from my Florida days in here. The futon is set up, but I needed to put the fitted sheet on it. I needed to get all the stuff out of the truck.”
“You’ve been busy.”
“Need to be. We have to get this place set up as a side project. We filled the whole back of the dam with dirt. We intentionally blocked off the spillway pipe with bucket after bucket. The pond is fuller than a tick right now, and we need to get things set up in here plus get an emergency spillway slipped in, or it will overtop.”
“What does overtop mean?”
“Means one team solar and one team emergency spillway tomorrow.”
“You keep saying emergency.”
“The pond is full. Right now it’s just drooling over the top, diffused – slobber. If we get one more drop of rain, it will find the lowest spot, and it will start to dig a trench in the top. Now, we set that place up to be where the mountainside meets the dam, but that will only buy a few hours if it rains like this week.”
“What’s the emergency though?”
“If the water starts cutting a trench, the trench increases the water flow, and it just keeps serving itself, deeper trench, more water, deeper trench, and it just empties out.”
“Okay, so, it’s twenty-seven tonight. No heat. A dam on the brink, and a Bobcat running perimeter checks. Sounds like a fun walk across the bridge to pee.”
“Oh, hell no. I open that door, and Kitty’s outa here. I had three cups in the car. Got a place cleared on the shelf, and I’ll toss the water in the morning.”
“You’re gross.”
“You wouldn’t go out there either.”
“I wouldn’t have puzzle pieced myself out of a home.”
“Then you wouldn’t have the funds to build this one. Speaking of which, add soffit lights to the shed building schedule.”
“Well, Davey, I’m taking Clover out, and we’re going to bed.”
“Davey –”
“Yeah, it’s…”
“Crocket. Beat you there. This ain’t Kentucky though.”
“Greenest state in the land of Tennessee, smarty pants.”
“Love you.”
“I love you too. Call me when you wake up so I know you survived.”
“It’s like he know’d I’s comin, Deddy.”
“Why you bring that saw back there no-how?”
“Deddy, he gonna notice that saw missin’ minute he order a tree cut.”
“So what? He don’t know it was you.”
“That ain’t the point.”
“How it’s not the point, Cody? We’d get big trade off’a that saw.”
“I’m bringing it back.”
“How you do that?”
“I make a Z. Go in the one side at the Y, and I double back to the X.”
“The hell you talkin’, the X?”
“I cross the holler on the angle, and I come in the trailers outside that new cam he put in thar. Put the saw in the side door.”
“Why you didn’t juss do that when you’s there?”
“I come in the other way, no need the Z, but then he whip it up the driveway.”
“Why you think he come a day early?”
“Prolly had a fight with his old lady. All they do on that phone, bicker.”
“So you set up on that high ridge, and you overlook him?”
“Yeah, he park nex’ the shed, and he carry that cat in, n make a few trips back n forth. Coward piss in a cup, put it on the shelf he so scared go out in the dark.”
“Ever one, a coward. Why you come back?”
“Moon was big, South-east. Shining on me like a spotlight. Full was just a couple days ago. He turn off his light, I come back.”
“But why not juss trace back steps and finish?”
“I did, but that put me closer to home. I left the saw in that old hollow oak just by the tree stan’.”
“We gotta get on that; now he live there, that’s our only stand.”
“That stand steps rot off.”
“Get you some that scrap wood from the site, and we build new steps.”
“I go back up, go in the right way, drop that saw off, n I come home.”