Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

supplies for the hike.
    Ty had promised him a better tour of his hometown at a later date, and Zane was actually looking forward to it. He hadn’t seen much more of Ty’s parents. Mara had spent the day cooking and making various and sundry edible things for them to take with them on the trail, and Earl had headed back to the mines.
    Ty had carefully avoided anything even remotely concerning the mines or accompanying his father. Zane didn’t blame him. They’d sat on the front porch and relaxed for the remainder of the day, not even really speaking much as each of them tried to unwind and accept their forced vacation for what it was.
    Once dinner was over and they were sitting around the table enjoying the last cup of coffee for the night, Mara stood and tapped Ty on the top of the head. “Come help me make up the couch,” she requested.
    Ty sat back and frowned at her. “I have to sleep on the couch?” he asked her incredulously. “I’ve slept on rocks more comfortable than that thing!”
    “Then you go out back and find yourself a rock so you’ll feel better about it,” Mara suggested.
    “Couch?” Zane asked in a low voice as he leaned closer to Earl, an eyebrow rising.
    Earl was smiling widely. He nodded when Zane looked to him. “My wife has made up Ty’s old bedroom for you,” he told him in a low voice as Ty and Mara argued over the merits of the couch cushions versus the rocks out back.
    “Oh Christ.” Zane laughed, falling back in his chair. “He won’t let me forget this. Losing his bed to me.”
    “Well,” Earl said with a sigh, “it’s either that or fight his mama over it.” He sat and watched Ty and Mara for a moment, sipping at his coffee contentedly. “Ain’t none of us ever won that fight,” he told Zane flatly.
    “Me and Zane’ll just bunk together,” Ty was arguing.
    Mara laughed at him. “You two boys won’t fit in a double bed any more than I’ll still fit in my wedding dress,” she scoffed.
    “But—”
    “I know Zane would end up on the floor when you’re done with him,” Mara continued, “and I will not have a guest in this house sleeping on the rug, so come help me make up the couch.”
    Ty glanced at Zane, his lips twitching at the irony of what his mother said. They would fit in a double bed together just fine, but only because they had a lot of practice with occupying the same space while horizontal.
    “I’ll make a pallet on the floor, Ma,” Ty assured Mara. She looked at him dubiously, but he just smiled at her innocently. “For myself,” he added.
    Mara rolled her eyes, smiling as she turned away. “Fine,” she agreed. “As long as he don’t end up on the floor,” she warned.
    “Not like tomorrow night, when we’ll all be on the floor,” Deuce mumbled.
    “Outdoors in the cold,” Earl added from behind his mug.
    “With the rocks,” Ty concluded as he glanced sideways at his mother and smirked.
    “Buncha dumbasses,” Chester muttered as he stood and shuffled out of the room.
    “Get out of my kitchen, all of you,” Mara ordered with an irritated wave of her hand.
    Ty and Deuce practically scattered, leaving Zane to fend for himself. Earl remained where he sat, finishing his coffee and laughing softly. Shaking his head at their retreat, Zane said his goodnights and walked up the stairs. Earlier in the day, he and Ty had brought their bags upstairs to the spare room—Ty’s former bedroom—and now he pushed the door shut with a soft click as he sat down to pull off his boots.
    Looking around the room, he realized that it wasn’t so much a spare room as it was still Ty’s bedroom. The walls were still adorned with the trappings of high school life: pictures, awards, trophies, and knickknacks lined the shelves and hung from the walls.
    It was enlightening to see a younger Ty, before the FBI, before the military. Zane stood up and started around the room, smiling at some of the photos. Ty’s wide grin was clear, so much more so than now. He’d been happy and unbothered by life’s problems.
    As Zane surveyed the items displayed on the shelves, he gained little pieces of insight into what had been important to Ty then. There was an old football with faded writing on it, as well as several ribbons that signified first and third place finishes, but they didn’t tell what they were for. There was a fiddle case on a shelf near the window and an old guitar beside it, and Zane smiled as he remembered how appalled Ty had been when