Max and Justin sat up in the Crow’s Nest tree for a long time, talking.
When Justin finished his story about Trevor, Max asked, “Are you sure it was Slash?” It didn’t really surprise him that she betrayed Justin, but it had sounded like a very confused situation.
“Of course I am,” Justin told him. “Bitch even smiled at me when she turned away… They say she’s like that, instead of hiding behind her crew like the others.” (If you want something done right, you have to see to it yourself… she had muttered more than once during his short stay aboard the Sea Breeze.) “They say she’s paranoid, and I’ve seen it for myself. She‘s got eyes in the back of her head or something! I’ve even heard she doesn’t sleep for days at a time.”
An insomniac, some called her, and he could not recall hearing of her sleeping anytime during those three days.
“Anyway, my ass hurts,” Justin told him as he started climbing back down. He was not as accustomed to sitting in tree branches as Max, and now that he was no longer lost in the pain and confusion and frustration of that day, he realized that he had sat like that for too long. Still, now that he had seen it for himself, he decided that he loved the view up here even more than the slit back in Benton.
“So what now?” Max asked as he followed him down.
“I’m gonna go take a piss,” he replied. “Then how about we go and see if we’ve got any crabs for dinner tonight?”
“Sure.” Max dropped from a few branches up, landing on both feet as he had learned from his feline friend, as Justin wandered off behind a large rock outcropping.
Bandit looked up from his catnap with half-awake eyes that exuded a kind of bored curiosity, then stretched to his feet.
As it turned out, they did find a few crabs in Max’s traps, and over dinner, Justin would tell Max more about his stay at Pullman Mine Camp.
Author's Chapter Notes:
taking a break
