“I admitted they were freezing and my socks were wet. Then my father asked, ‘So, you understand how Greer felt when he was wearing them?’ When I nodded my head, Freddie added, ‘Wearing those shoes, you now understand how he felt, but most importantly, you feel a small portion of what Greer’s life is like. As a father, I want to say let’s go to the store and get you a new pair, but that isn’t what Greer’s father would do, is it?’”
Silas took a hit of the joint and stretched his long legs before continuing. “When I said, ‘No,’ he said, ‘Then, since you’re walking in his shoes, you should fix the problem, shouldn’t you?’ Damn I wanted out of those shoes so bad. My toes were freezing off, my ass was freezing off on that rock, and Dad was still crying.”
Reaper saw the sheen of tears on Silas’s cheeks in the firelight.
“By then, it was getting dark, and I told him I was cold and wanted to go back to the house. He said he was waiting for the stars to come out. It took me for my ass to go numb before I figured out what he was doing. Dad told me he could read the stars to see what was going on in people’s lives. That’s when something clicked, and I scrunched up my legs to sit better on the rock. Dad could read the stars, like he had me looking at Greer’s shoes to find the details of Greer’s life. He wasn’t buying me a new pair of shoes, because he wanted me to solve my own problems.
“I told him about my stepfather and my mom and what she was allowing. When I told him, he quit crying. He didn’t get angry at Mom or her husband; he just sat there and listened without making a noise, even when I told him that my stepfather would kill us because I told.
“Freddy said he was going to call the sheriff, and I wouldn’t be going back to my mom’s house to live. Then he got off the rock, took out his pocket knife, and said, ‘Come here, Son.’ I got off the rock, and Freddy pointed at it. ‘This rock doesn’t have any feelings. No matter how hard you beat it without your fists, it won’t break or chip,’ Freddy went to the rock and used his knife to scratch the surface to make a mark. ‘Is the rock different now?’ he asked, and I told him it was, because he gouged it.
“He said, ‘This rock has sat here untouched for years with storms passing overhead, yet I made a mark when a tornado hasn’t. The mark will always be there because of what I did. If we use our gifts the wrong way, we could hurt someone without meaning to, where you can’t hurt the rock. No matter how angry and mad at someone we can be for pain they’ve caused someone we love, we can’t interfere.’”
Silas weaved his fingers together around his beer bottle as he talked. “I asked him what I was supposed to do. Freddy handed me the knife and told me to make a mark, and then walk away, leaving all the pain and anger in the rock. That the rock would hold the pain and rage, and that I wouldn’t have to carry that burden any longer. So I scratched a line on the rock, then gave Freddy his knife back. After that we went home; Freddy carried me all the way.”
Greer took a hit. “Freddy was a good man. Didn’t weigh hundred ten pounds soaking wet.”
Reaper stroked Suki’s head. “How long did you have to wear those shoes?”
“Until Monday, when I asked Greer if I could have the shoes the teacher had given him, which was why the kids had made fun of him. Greer had hidden them in the coat closet and then stole mine when I was in the bathroom. He gave them to me, but never gave mine back. Greer and I never fought after that.”
“Yep, we came to an agreement that benefited both of us.”
“Which was?” Reaper asked curiously.
“I’d leave him alone to take his dumps, and he’d give me a new pair of shoes each year.” Greer waved his boot tips. “Thanks, cuz, these may be my favorite pair.” Standing, Greer squashed the bud out to put it back into the plastic baggie. Reaching into his pocket, Greer then took out a pocket knife and went to stand next to the large rock. He looked down at it as he took something out of his pocket. Reaper heard a scraping sound and saw a flame and knew Greer was holding a lighter in order to see the rock.
Rising, Reaper went to the rock to see what Greer was staring at. What he saw had his knees shaking.