The Space Between by Erik Tomblin Read Free Book Online Page B

before gaining control of his tongue.
    "Oh, yeah. I'm...fine, I suppose."
    The man watched him carefully, silently, yet Isaac wasn't as uncomfortable as he felt he should be. Closing the distance between them, the stranger spoke again, extending his hand.
    "I'm Walter. Or just plain Walt, if you like."
    Isaac leaned forward and shook the man's hand. He wasn't sure he was ready to stand again just yet. His muscles were quivering anew with the little effort he'd just exerted.
    "I'm Isaac. Isaac Owens."
    "Nice to meet you, Isaac," Walt said, then stepped back to lean against one of the rails flanking the steps. "You just get in town?"
    Isaac nodded. "Yesterday. I drove in from Nashville." He looked behind the new arrival, scanning the yard and driveway for some form of transportation. When he saw none, he couldn't help but wonder where Walter had come from.
    As if hearing the question in Isaac's thoughts, Walt turned and pointed off into the woods across the road where the mailbox labeled "90" stood.
    "I live up there, about a hundred yards down that other driveway you might've noticed. I heard the commotion down here and I guess my curiosity got the best of me. By the looks of it, I move a lot slower than I thought I did."
    Isaac smiled, still not in much of a mood to laugh. He glanced over Walt again and noticed how the man's hand trembled a bit as it hung at his side.
    "You want to take a load off for a few minutes?" Isaac asked, turning his head to nod toward the pair of rocking chairs on the northwest corner of the porch.
    "If you don't mind a little company, at least until I get my wind back."
    Isaac stood and waved Walt up onto the porch. They each took a rocker, sitting back and wincing from their own personalized pains. The younger man couldn't keep from sighing as he leaned back, his taut muscles finally allowed to relax a bit.
    "I take it you've had a rough time of it this morning?"
    Isaac let a small laugh escape. "That's one way to put it," he answered, then proceeded to tell Walt about his fainting spell the night before and the subsequent events up until Walt had shown up, though saying nothing about his hallucination. "I suppose it was road fatigue, maybe stress. I don't know." He glanced over at Walt, who was watching him with a curious glimmer in his eyes that faded as soon as their gazes met.
    Walt looked out into the front yard. "Hate to hear you had such a hard first night in your new place."
    "Well, it's not exactly my place. I mean I own it, apparently, but I'm just here to check it out, see if it's something I might want to keep. I travel a lot, so a place this far out probably wouldn't work well as home base."
    "Oh, yeah?" Walt asked, still staring out over the yard with a look that belied his interest in the conversation. "What kind of business are you in?"
    "I'm a performer. I write and sing my own songs, do tours to support my records. Not as glamorous as it sounds, but I have fun and can still pay the bills."
    Walt nodded, finally turning back to look at Isaac. Now he appeared a bit more interested.
    "Seems to me a place like this would be worth hanging onto. All that traveling and living from city to city...a man needs a place like this to keep in touch with his roots, with himself."
    Isaac, staring back at Walter through narrowed eyes, couldn't suppress the quizzical little grin that danced across his lips. Was it so evident that he had indeed grown a few roots in country living, mostly through trips to more rural relatives' homes and long summers at his grandfather's? It was, he thought, also a little presumptuous for Walter to question Isaac's self-concept. Even at a much younger age, Isaac had always thought he had a pretty good idea of who he was and who he wanted to be. That was especially true up until a year ago, a time when suddenly nothing made much sense or seemed important enough to pursue clarification.
    Let's not go down that road , Isaac pleaded with himself. Not right now .
    "Maybe