Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Silence hung for a moment before I turned to Tommy.

“I think we should look at the land.” I stared at my hands a second, then glanced at him.

“Hell, yes. I agree.” Tommy didn’t look at me but nodded.

“Now’s a good time before late spring gets here,” I added. “Shouldn’t take more than a few days at most.”

Tommy nodded again. “Wanna eat lunch after this? We can make plans then.”

I watched him for a moment before saying, “Sure.”

Silence returned to the room only because our swirling thoughts made no noise.

When Marshall returned, we told him we agreed we needed to look over the property. The lawyer picked up the two manila envelopes from his desktop, studied the type-written labels on them, and handed an envelope to each of us.

“I’d really appreciate it if you could get back to me in the next couple of weeks. I surely would.” The old man stood and shook our hands.

I understood his hurry. He didn’t look like he was going to last much longer among us. 2