Chapter 6

A woman has got to love a bad man once or twice in her life to be thankful for a good one.
—Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

After wandering the streets, Ryan and Josie had come to a stop in front of a house. It was more of a ground-floor apartment, really.

“This is where my brother lives,” Josie said.

Ryan nodded. They stood around.

“I’ll just knock, shall I?” said Ryan.

He stepped up and knocked smartly on the door. There were some sounds of miscellaneous chaos[1] and then the door opened.

For a second Ryan couldn’t tell that it had. Then his eyes adjusted and he realized a great bear of a man was filling up the entranceway.

“Hello?” a booming voice asked.

“Hello,” Ryan responded. He decided the best thing to do would be to step aside, revealing the slender form of Josie.

“Hi, Boris,” she said.

The great man’s face lit up.

“Josie! It’s been so long! What made you stop by?”

Josie hesitated.

“Oh, I was…just passing through, and thought I’d say hello.”

“And who is this you’ve brought with you?” Boris asked, gesturing at Ryan.

“My name is Ryan,” said he, and stepped forward to shake Boris’ hand. The man had, unsurprisingly, a grip that would powder stone. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Just passing through, eh? Where are you on your way to? When do you plan on leaving?” Boris asked, turning back to Josie.

Again, Josie stopped to think.

“Oh, we’ll be pushing on to Calamity City. I expect we’ll be leaving pretty soon, probably tomorrow.”

“We? And who is this, that he should tag along with you in such a fashion!” One of Boris’ sausage-like fingers prodded Ryan in the chest.

“Ryan is… a…” Josie halted.

“A mercenary. I’m a mercenary,” Ryan chimed in. Josie gave him a look of gratitude.

Boris paused in thought, his brow wrinkling in cogitation.

“Oh, well. If Josie likes you, that’s good enough for me!” he boomed.

“Well, this has been fun,” said Josie. “I’ll see you around, Boris.”

“Don’t be a stranger!” Boris called to their retreating figures.

Now Ryan and Josie walked along the street in silence.

“So… You used to live here, then?” asked Ryan, finally.

“Yes.”

“Right. Um.” Ryan was aware that all was not well. “What made you move?”

“I needed a change of scenery.”

“Ah, I know how that is.” Ryan gave up. “D’you want to get some dinner?”

“Yeah, why not.”

Family is always a touchy subject, thought Ryan. I know.

[1] This always happens when somebody’s coming to the door after somebody else has knocked. It could be an empty warehouse with the answerer standing a foot from the door, and you’d still hear it.