Robert was usually the first person to wake in the morning. Because of Kyle’s illness, he knew they would not be travelling anytime soon, so there was no urgency to wake early and start the day. When Kyle’s sickness faded, he took advantage of the temporary tranquility as he stretched out and faded into sleep once again. He knew the other two would do the same; Kyle needed as much rest as possible.
Robert was deep asleep when he felt the tap of something metal on his forehead. He did not understand why they would be trying to wake him up. Staying up the entire night from Kyle’s violent illness should have been fatiguing, and he knew they needed to rest. Then he heard the voice; it was a man’s voice, but not Kyle’s.
“Hey, wake up,” said the stranger to Robert, as he took a step back. He had poked Robert on his forehead with the barrel of a shotgun.
Robert’s eyes flew open wide at the sound the strange voice. He sat up startled and shifted his body slightly away from the man, but not very far, as the raft confined him to a seated position. He quickly turned his head to see his rifle, but it was out of his reach on the opposite side of the raft from the stranger.
The man was wearing a flannel shirt and overalls with black cowboy boots. One of the overall straps was not clasped and hung loose. The man had the shotgun under his arm hanging downward, not in a threatening way.
“Who are you?” The man’s eyes squinted, more from curiosity than anger or fear.
“Nobody, we’re just passing through.”
The man saw Robert quickly glance toward his rifle. The look toward the weapon was enough for the man to respond.
“Don’t do anything stupid.” He patted his shotgun gently. “We’re just talking, so stay cool. You’re on my property and I need to know what you want.”
“We don’t want anything and we’re not looking for trouble. Like I said, we’re just passing through.”
The man paused, looked toward the sleeping couple and faced Robert again. “I’ve had some people ‘just passing through’ before. They caused problems for me. They were really crazy, sort of spooky. You look like you’re doing okay, not starving and desperate like the others.”
Robert nodded.
“Do you need any work? I’ve got a lot of corn in this field.” The man tilted his head back toward the field of corn, but kept eye contact with Robert.
“He’s sick. We’ve been up all night.” Robert nodded his head in Kyle’s direction. “We just wanted to wait it out until he gets better.”
The man stepped away from Robert and more toward Kyle.
“What’s he got?”
“Snakebite. It was a copperhead.”
The conversation woke Alexis and she gasped at the site of the man and his shotgun. She quickly shook Kyle. Kyle was groggy from sickness and fatigue. He acknowledged the man’s presence with a lethargic groan.
“Hey, amigo, let everyone know we’re just having a conversation and not to do anything stupid. Okay?”
“This is…”
“It’s Ben. Just call me Ben.”
“I was just telling Ben that we’re passing through. We’ll leave when Kyle gets better. This is Ben’s land and—”
Kyle interrupted. “Water, I need water, please,” said Kyle, in a hoarse voice.
Ben saw a bottle of water between him and Kyle. He picked up the bottle and bent over to hand it to Kyle, but not before he gave a quick glance back toward Robert and the rifle. Robert noticed the glance and held up his hands passively.
Kyle reflexively tried to reach for the water with his right hand. When he pulled it out from underneath the tarp, everyone could see it had swollen to enormous dimensions. That hand was not going to work. Kyle then slowly extended his left hand for the bottle of water and Alexis quickly intercepted it, opening it for her husband, and holding it while he drank. Vomiting and diarrhea throughout the night had dehydrated him.
“Hey, buddy, your jaw is messed up, too. You look like you’re in a world of hurt,” said Ben, sympathetically.
“It’s his tooth, and it’s infected,” said Alexis. “We should have taken care of that a year ago. I just don’t know what we’re going to do. We need a doctor.”
“Pardon the expression lady, but the shit has hit the fan. Good luck on that.” He paused and removed his hat to scratch his head. As he spoke, he pointed at Alexis with his index finger as he held his hat in his hand. “If his tooth is infected, then you better pull it. You better yank it out with pliers now, before it gets worse.”
Kyle closed his eyes and groaned.
“Robert says we don’t have any pliers,” said Alexis, looking at Robert.
Robert shrugged his shoulders. “I wouldn’t know how to pull a tooth anyway.”
Ben went over to Robert. He got close to him and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “Your friend over there is getting ready to meet Jesus. I’ll see what I can do.” Ben stood up and started to back away from the group. “My wife worked at a dental office for a while. I’ll see what she has to say about that tooth.”
“Bring her back, let her look at his tooth,” said Alexis, with exasperation.
“No can do. No offense, but I don’t know you, so she’s not coming over here and you’re not going near my house. It’s better that way.” He turned completely around and walked toward the field of corn.
“Hey, Ben,” said Robert.
Ben stopped and turned back around.
“How did you know we were here?”
Ben laughed. “Smoke, lots of smoke. It was like you were trying to give away your location.” He disappeared into a row of corn.
Robert looked at Alexis and she realized that she was the one who had put the leaves and green wood on the fire.
“Hopefully, something good will come of this,” said Robert, as he grabbed his rifle and moved it to his side. “Cover him back up. Let’s try to get some sleep.
Robert slept for several more hours, and it was hunger that woke him up this time. The late morning sun was bright, so he changed his tarp to lean over the raft for shade and tried to quietly fix some food while the couple slumbered on. The sun was climbing higher in the clear sky and a warm breeze was picking up. Robert looked at the smoldering fire, and then looked at the grove of wood where the snake had been. He frowned to himself and went in that direction to get more wood for the fire. Robert carefully stepped around and kicked the wood before picking it up. He cautiously collected a supply of firewood and deposited it all by the fire. Kyle and Alexis woke up as he stacked the wood.
Robert took some food over to Kyle and offered it to him. Kyle lethargically shook his head and reclined again. Robert handed the food to Alexis. “We can’t waste it, so here you go,” said Robert. He stepped back from the couple and silently motioned for Alexis to come towards him.
“He’s bad. Ben was right, we have to do something,” said Robert.
Alexis nodded; she had a sad and defeated expression on her face.
“He’s got to have some pliers,” said Robert, angrily. “Damn it, I should’ve said something. I should’ve told him to bring back some pliers.”
“But you said you didn’t know how to do it?”
“This isn’t worth dying over. I should have said something. We have to try.”
Alexis’s face was horrified.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”
Alexis held the crucifix around her neck with her thumb and first finger, and then gently gave it a kiss, trying to comfort herself. “I heard what he said,” Alexis said, nervously. “I heard that man whisper to you; he thinks Kyle is going to die.”