The Talisman Wars Box Set

Chapter 11

Chapter 11They stopped at an intersection. Terrell looked around and adjusted his grip on his cane. After some discussion, the two decided to have an early lunch at a diner across the street. Jingle bells attached to the door signaled their arrival. The smell of bacon and ground beef filled Dakota’s nostrils. His stomach growled.

An elderly white woman behind the counter gave them a brief once-over with her eyes before motioning toward one of the empty booths. “Go on and have a seat, boys. I’ll come by with some menus in just a minute.” With that, she picked up a pot of coffee and began making the rounds with the other customers.

They shuffled in and took the closest booth. When the waitress sauntered up to the table, she smiled wide. “Nice to see a couple of new faces. Can I get you’s some coffee to start? Maybe some sodas or juice?”

“Coffee sounds great,” Terrell answered first.

“Yeah,” Dakota agreed.

No surprises on the menu. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, pot roast, burgers, steamed vegetables—good old fashioned “American” cuisine. Dakota wasn’t exactly impressed, but he’d survive. He pointed to a box on the menu. “These any good?” he asked when the server returned with steaming coffee.

“Yessir. That’s a house specialty. A couple of hotdogs, boiled, then chopped up into little bites. We batter and fry them. Normal or with a kick. And you get fries with that, or we could do a house salad for ya instead if that’s more to your likin’.”

He ordered the spicier version. Salad, with Italian dressing. Terrell got an open-faced meatloaf sandwich. Dumping some cream into his coffee, followed shortly by five sugar packets, Dakota stirred the hot liquid and took a sip. It tasted strong and still quite bitter. Terrell drank it black.

After a long time of sitting in silence, Terrell reached across the table and took up one of Dakota’s hands in his own. “I never actually thanked you for protecting us.”

Dakota offered a slight smile. “I just wish I could have stopped the fucker. I don’t like that he’s still out there.”

A strange look of curiosity flashed across Terrell’s face. “You wish you could’ve killed him.”

“Yeah,” he replied eventually. Though he hadn’t really thought about it, to stop the guy most likely meant killing him. Dakota felt angry enough at the time to take that step.

Terrell leaned back in the booth until his head rested against the wall behind him. For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, he looked away, choosing instead to stare blankly out the window. “I think we’re a lot more alike than you know.”

“What does that mean?”

He shrugged. “I’d do the same thing, for the same reasons, if I could.”

“Maybe, but you’re a better person,” Dakota said in a subdued voice. He tapped on the table out of discomfort.

Terrell shook his head dismissively as the waitress returned with their food. “That’s not true. You just haven’t given yourself a chance.”

Dakota took another sip of his drink. Grimacing, he started in on the food, with the salad as his first target. He didn’t look up until he heard Terrell’s quiet voice once more. “I know a good person when I see one, Dakota. Believe me. You’re wonderful, and you’ve done incredible, courageous things. You just have to learn to forgive yourself for anything else.”

Before Dakota could form a response to such a ludicrous notion, an old black man—the only other person of color in the entire establishment—let out an audible sigh. Seated on a stool at the main counter, he was the closest patron to them. He turned to face the couple and stared them down from behind a pair of dime store reading glasses. Dakota spied an abandoned crossword puzzle in the day’s local paper and a piping hot cup of tea.

The man cleared his throat in order to ensure he had their attention. His eyes drifted across Dakota first before settling on Terrell. “You’re Maria’s boy, aren’t cha? Her grandson Albert, right?”

Terrell blinked in confusion for a moment before finally answering. “Umm, no. No, sir. Al’s—he’s my cousin. But Maria was my grandmother. I’m Terrell.”

“Terrell? Oh! The boy with the cane, right? The one who got in that car wreck.”

Clearly mortified, he nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, s**t. You know, I’ve seen Maria’s girls hereabouts now and then. Runnin’ into town for supplies, keepin’ to themselves. But it’s nice to meet more of her brood, you know.” He paused, then continued, “Funny weather we been havin’, by the way. A little bit a rain down here last week, but I heard you’s all got some snow up at that ranch. A lotta snow. Isn’t that right?”

Trying to conceal his nervousness, Terrell pressed himself back into the booth a little. “Yeah, well, we’re a lot higher up.”

“Right.” The man narrowed his eyes. “Point of advice. Your Nana was a lovely lady. And she had a whole lot of them gemstones you two are wearin’. Now, don’t think I didn’t notice. And I can’t hardly see, what, two feet in front of my damn nose! That’s the sort of thing that draws attention, you hear me? The kind your grandmomma didn’t partake in if she could help it. I’d put them things away if I was you. And I’d be careful what you say in public places.”