Toward the Sound of Chaos Read Free

that desert, I’m in peak physical condition so I know it ain’t the
jog that’s got me gasping for breath. I lean over, my hands rest on my knees,
and my dog jumps up to lick at my face despite his own exhaustion. I scratch
behind his ears and whisper in a ragged voice, “I’m good, buddy. I’m good.”
    I
glance down the road. From here I can see the red and white tape sectioning off
the footbridge. It fights against the breeze off of Mobile Bay and I watch it
move in the wind and think about yesterday’s checklist.
    Morning
Run? Good.
    Crash?
Bad.
    Blue
eyes and . . . what was it she said again? Whiskey lullabies? Jury’s out on
that one too, for far too many reasons.
    I
unclip Nuke’s leash and allow him a moment to shake and just be a dog.
Normally, I’d never let him off-leash here or anywhere else around town, but
he’ll likely spend the next twenty-four hours cooped up inside with me so just
this once, I let him go. His eyes dart right to the ducks in the pond but he
doesn’t make a move towards them, though his head is high, his ears straight,
and his tail slightly wagging. I head for the beach, needing to feel the bay water
on my feet and the sand beneath my toes. It’s then that I notice the beat up
red Datsun parked a couple yards away. My eyes scan the beach for that mane of
windswept blond hair and that of her son’s. And there she is, watching the
water, as her son plays in the sand just a few yards away.
    I
take a step forward and then falter.
    I
should leave them be.
    I’m
glad to see her doing better. The last glimpse I had of her was as an ambulance
carted her off on a stretcher, her son screaming for his mother as Olivia tried
to wrangle him into her minivan. Now, less than a day later she’s here, alive,
and clearly feeling well enough to get back behind the wheel, even if her car
is a little more beat up than usual.
    Walk
away, you pussy, before this becomes another of those bad moments.
    I
take another step forward and gunshots ring out. The squealing whistle of the
bullets assail the air around me and my body moves on autopilot. The kid
screams and covers his ears. Nuke and I take off down the beach, headed right
for the both of them. An explosion sounds, a loud boom overhead, and she turns
toward me just as I shout, “get down.”
    Our
bodies collide. She hits the sand beneath me and I shield her from the hail of
bullets and debris.
    “Get
off me,” she yells, beating my arms and chest. On shaking limbs, I lift my
weight off of her and turn to see my dog attempting to console the screaming
child. There’s a boom from overhead and my gaze zeroes in on the idiots occupying
a wooden row boat. They’re setting off fireworks. The afternoon sky is ablaze
with red, white, and blue starbursts.
    “Get
OFF!” She shoves at my chest more forcefully this time.
    The
kid screams with every bang and the woman is frantic beneath me. Disorientated,
I sit back and yell for Nuke to heel, but for the first time since I adopted
him, he doesn’t obey. I get to my feet. The blonde is already running down the
beach, and despite the fatigue in my muscles I run across that sand faster than
I ever ran across any battlefield.
    I
reach her son before she does and find the kid flat on his back, squealing in
delight as Nuke licks his face and whines.
    “Nuke
heel.” My dog clambers off the kid’s body and sits by me.
     Breathing
raggedly, Ellie drops to the child’s side. “Baby, are you okay?”
    “I’m
fine, Mamma.”
    “Did
he hurt you?”
    “No.
He about licked me to death though.”
    Assessing
that there’s no permanent damage, she turns on me. “Your dog needs a muzzle. He
attacked my son.”
    “I’m
sorry, ma’am. He’s not usually like that.” I grab Nuke’s collar and clip on the
lead. He whines, but sits awaiting my next command. “He’s trained to detect
distress. Granted, he’s only supposed to talk me off the ledge, but I guess
your son needed him more.”
    “He
could have