I noticed that her eyes seemed to shine a bit as she talked. Looks like someone has a crush and someone else is eating it up in a big way. I was about to give him silent kudos until he spoke.
“I had Mary help me get up because when I heard how quiet you two were in here, I knew it meant you were thinking about something. You have to be careful, Josh, my brother’s ‘plans’ usually don’t work out so well.”
“Don’t you have an injury you can go ham up?” I asked him.
“You shot him in the head!” Mary exclaimed.
“It’s alright, Mary,” Gary said calmly. “Now do you see what I’ve had to put up with?”
“You poor baby. Here, let me help get you back to the couch, or would you be more comfortable in a bed? I’m sure Josh will give you his.”
“Mom!” Josh yelled.
“The couch is fine,” Gary moaned.
“Oh brother,” I said as both a euphemism and a commentary on his acting skills.
“But I’d love to hear Mike’s plan before I do,” Gary said, smiling to me when Mary turned to scowl at me for delaying his return to a horizontal position.
“Mom, Gary is smiling,” Josh said, pointing over his mom’s shoulder.
“It’s a grimace,” Gary said as Mary turned back to face him.
Mary turned back to hear me out and Gary took his index and middle finger and pointed at his eyes, then at Josh as if to tell him, I’ve got my eyes on you.
“Mom?!” Josh wailed.
“That’s enough, young man, I want to hear what Gary’s brother has to say.”
At least, I knew where I was on the pecking order. “I’ve got to find my friend,” I started. Mary was about to protest. “I know there’s no way out right now, but I can’t wait two or three days until they clear out. He might need our…”
“Gary’s not going anywhere in this condition!” Mary stated with a tone that said it was not open for discussion.
“Okay, my help.” I clarified, Mary nodded in ascension. “I would like Josh.” I knew I was treading on thin ice here. She would kick me out in a heartbeat if she thought I was putting her son even remotely in danger. I figured it best to continue my dialog and quickly. “With Josh’s permission, of course.” Mary’s stance was telling me that whatever hare-brained scheme I was coming up with, it wasn’t Josh’s decision to make. “No, nothing like that,” I said, putting my hands up. “I don’t need Josh.”
The kid instantly looked like he deflated.
Mary appeared a little heartbroken at the sight of her son.
“See? What did I tell you about his ‘plans?’” Gary said.
“Wait a second. I need Josh, but not in any way that exposes him to the zombies. I need his skills and a radio-controlled car, if he’ll do it.”
Go on, Mary motioned with her hand.
I laid the rest of it out there. Josh was immediately on board; he seemed actually pretty excited about it. Mary took a few minutes longer, trying to think of any way in which this exposed her son to anything close to danger, but she finally placed her stamp of approval on it.
“I’m going with you,” Gary said.
“In your condition?” I asked him. “I think not.”
Mary nodded with my words.
“You made your bed, brother, now you need to lie in it,” I said cryptically.
I pushed away from the table, placing my dishes in the sink. I thanked Mary for the meal. I would have normally waited for the morning to launch my ingenious idea, but the moon was nearly full and there were no clouds. It was a fairly bright night and I wanted to get BT back into the fold as soon as possible. The big guy was probably scared to death without me.
Gary found me about an hour later. I was in a small sitting room on the south side of the house. I was alternating between staring out the window at the zombies that periodically walked by, and stretching out my muscles for the endeavor they were about to undertake.
“You sure about this, brother?” he asked me.
“Of course not,” I told him.
“I’m serious,” he said.
“So am I,” I answered.
“What about back-up?” he asked.
“I appreciate it, Gary, I really do. Listen I’m no track star and that goes double for you. I won’t get to BT if I’m looking back for you.” Gary looked down. “And hey, if something happens to me, would this be the worst place in the world to wrap up the remainder of your days?”
“You’ve always been like a younger brother to me,” Gary said.
“Kiss my ass,” I told him.
“You be careful.”
“I will, I always am.”