The Perk by Mark Gimenez Read Free Book Online Page B

for the flood."
    "Flood would be a nice change of pace after
seven years of drought."
    The main room of the house had a high cedar-beamed ceiling and
a longleaf pine floor. At one end was the kitchen; at the other end a leather
recliner and couch fronted a flat-screen TV.
    "Had a sale over at the Wal-Mart,"
J.B. said. "Figured the kids might enjoy that."
    Beck had grown up
without a television; his father hadn't believed in wasting time watching TV
when there was work to be done—and there had always been work to be done. Luke
plopped down on the couch and pointed the remote at the TV. The screen flashed
on, and Meggie said, "Can we watch SpongeBob? "
    "The hell's a sponge bob?" J.B. said.
    "You've got cable?" Beck said.
    "Yep."
    "For The Beverly Hillbillies? "
    "And the cooking shows. Hell of an
invention, the crock pot."
    "You've got a crock pot?"
    "Yep."
    "J.B., you never cooked an egg in your
life. After Mom died, I did all the cooking."
    "You left."
    Luke found a baseball game, and Meggie started a
tour of the house with the doll. Beck went to the kitchen and opened the
refrigerator; everything inside was organic, just like their refrigerator back
in Chicago.
    "Annie?"
    J.B. nodded. "Made a run into Austin day before yesterday. Whole Foods. Never seen so many women with tattoos that
don't shave their legs."
    "How'd you know we'd come?"
    "Annie said you would."
    "How'd you know when?"
    "Annie said this summer, after school let
out and you …"
    "Failed at raising the kids alone?"
    "Figured out you needed help. Which ain't a sign of weakness,
Beck. Anyway, I knew you'd have to sell the house, so I checked the listing
online. When it said the sale had closed, I figured a few days to get packed,
few more to get here."
    "You always were a figuring man."
    Beck walked out of the kitchen and through the
doorway leading to the screened-in back porch that allowed the breeze in but
kept the mosquitoes out. The same wood rockers still sat there, where J.B. and
Peggy Hardin had ended every day of their lives, watching the sun set over the
hills and planning their next day of hard work. After she died, J.B. had sat alone
out here and his son had sat alone down by the river or in his room.
    Where Beck now stood.
    His trophies still sat on the shelf, free of
dust, and his clothes still hung in the closet, as if he had only left for an
out-of-town game. Beck put on his black Gallopin' Goats letter jacket; it
still fit. He replaced the jacket and picked up his old black cowboy boots.
He had left them when he had left home—he didn't figure on wearing cowboy boots
at Notre Dame and he wasn't coming back. The boots had been freshly polished.
They still fit, too. He pulled the boots off and went over to the window he had
climbed through so many nights to go skinny-dipping in the river by moonlight
with Mary Jo Meier. She had been his high school sweetheart, blonde and blue-eyed,
slim and strong, a goat rancher's daughter. He had asked her to go with him to
Notre Dame, but she said she would never leave home. He told her he wasn't
coming back, but she had said, "You'll be back. You might leave me, Beck
Hardin, but you'll never leave this land."
    He wondered if Mary Jo Meier had ever left home.
    Beck walked out of
his past and into the new addition. One bedroom had an attached bathroom, a
king-sized bed, and a nightstand with a framed photo of Annie. It was his
favorite one of her, taken on a Hawaiian beach before they had the kids; the
setting sun caught her reddened face and made her glow. She was young, she was
beautiful, and she was alive. She had written across the bottom: I'll love
you forever from the hereafter.
    Beck stared at the image of his dead wife.
    Two other bedrooms were joined by a bathroom. Luke's
bedroom had wood floors and a bed with a Chicago Cubs bedspread. Meggie's had
thick carpet and walls painted a sky blue. J.B. had re-created home for the
children.
    "I still do good work."
    J.B. was standing next to