Chapter Text
There was a scrabbling at the door. Hank smiled. If someone was opening it with a key, that meant that some of the others had made it back. Squads would just break the door down.
Gary and Collie bounced into the room. ‘Is anyone else back?’
Hank did not get up from the rocking chair. He had Jasmin on one knee and Clementine on the other and he was feeling very comfortable.
‘We’re still waiting on Pete and Ray.’
Gary went over and kissed his Meemaw. She patted his back. ‘I’m so glad to see you here baby.’
‘How did it go?’
‘Smooth,’ Art said. He was sitting on the couch, holding hands with Ethel and looking very happy.
‘We had the most obnoxious idiot. You’d think he’d have realised we saved his life but he just kept arguing.’
‘Arguing with you, Gary? Surely not.’
Gary poked his tongue out. ‘I’m gonna have a shower and when I get back I want to hear all the details.’
‘Not if I get there before you!’ Collie called as he sprinted out the door, heading back to Meemaw’s.
‘Oh you fucker!’ Gary ran after him.
&&&
By the time they got back downstairs Pete and Ray had also arrived. Hank got the feeling that they had stopped by their apartment on the way home for a shower and maybe a roll in the hay. He did not blame them.
They had a very confusing debrief, as each of them wanted to tell the others what had happened and no one really wanted to listen.
But then Gary pointed at Billy. ‘You!’ he said, ‘Tell everyone what you said!’
‘Oh my God,’ Collie said, ‘Just before it all went down Billy said he would introduce us to his mother. Did anyone else know he had a mother?’
‘Everyone has a mother,’ Richie murmured.
‘A ma who is alive,’ Gary clarified.
‘I did,’ Richie said, ‘But he said they could not be together.’
All eyes shifted to Billy who blushed. ‘Um, when I was fourteen I left my Mom because life is really hard for a single mother.’
Hank nodded. He knew that single mothers were shunned which was ridiculous. It took two to tango.
‘A single mother has to take the worst jobs and can’t have friends, but an unmarried lady might marry a widower and have a life.’
‘But…’ Ray said.
Hank seconded that. Why not mention his mother?
‘My father was the Major.’ Billy said quietly. ‘The one who was at our walk.’
There was complete silence for a moment.
‘What?’ Hank’s mind was not processing this.
‘I was one of his bastards. He had a lot of bastards, raised us up to do the walk.’
‘He was your father?’
‘One of my half brothers won the seventh walk and one was fourth when he got his ticket year before last.’
‘Sweet Jesus.’ Art almost never swore. Maybe that was a prayer rather than an exclamation.
‘So I went in thinking that if I won I would make him have a filmed meal with me. I could tell everyone about my mother and how he treated her. But then… you know… he died…’
Ray’s voice was very tense. ‘I feel like it is not appropriate to say that I am sorry for your loss.’
Billy shrugged. ‘Anyway, my Mom was always under some supervision because of her link to the Major. Her phones were bugged and soldiers tailed her sometimes. I’d always had ways to contact her surreptitiously.’
Richie nodded. ‘Dead drops.’
Hank had no idea what that meant.
He nodded. ‘But now I figure that they will have forgotten about her. It’s been a year, she’s just one of the many women linked to a previous Major. I’m pretty sure they won’t be bothering to track her now. I’m going to invite her to come for a visit.’
‘That’s great man!’
Gary screwed up his eyes. ‘I’m trying to imagine what she could possibly be like – like maybe she’s a female version of you.’
Billy smacked his arm but laughed.
&&&
They had a big meal that evening, all stops pulled out. There was pulled pork and dumplings and at the end there was fruit cake.
Pete lifted his glass of beer. ‘Well done to us! We saved twenty nine lives!’
‘And we’ve made people think about whether they should sign up next year!’
‘To the Walkers!’
‘And I have more good news,’ Art said. ‘Ethel has agreed to marry me.’
There was a whooping sound from the end of the table. ‘I told you!’ Collie shouted.
‘Congratulations,’ Hank said. He was entirely unsurprised but entirely happy.
Clementine cleared her throat. She’s already talked about her plan with him, because she was the cleverest person in the world.
‘And I had an idea while you fellows were out,’ Clementine said, ‘I think I know what to do about next year’s walk.’