Drifter’s Code
Chapter One
by Tim Oleson
“So, you’re about to live a song into existence, huh?
“Yes, that’s my plan,” Beau said.
“And what song might that be?”
“I wrote a song after my family was gone. It’s called The Drifter’s Code.”
“Really? That sounds interesting. Do you need another one?”
“Yes, please.”
Frank, the bartender, walked over to the cooler and retrieved a fresh bottle of beer. He opened it and put it on the bar top in front of Beau.
Beau slapped some dollars down. He didn’t have to tell Frank to keep the change because Beau had never expected change for all the years he’d been frequenting this hang out.
They’d had many conversations at this very bar. There was the party after graduation when Frank saw Beau get engaged to Sara. It was here that they had the celebration of life after Sara, Beau’s wife and his two kids were taken from this world in a car accident.
It was here that for the past 6 months, Frank and Beau’s other friends had tried to pull him back from the depths he had sunk to after he was left alone. They were not successful. He was still alone.
“So where will this song take you?” Frank queried.
“That’s the beauty of it, I have no idea where I am going and I want that. No, I need that. No wrench can screw up my plans, because I have none.”
“ Well, that explains the drifter part. What’s the code.”
“Oh, I have a code, not sure you would be interested in that though. I’ll play the song for you someday when I have it perfected. I haven’t played it live yet. It’s still getting polished.” Beau looked up at the clock behind the bar. He watched the second hand ticking away the time he was wasting right now.
Waking up in the morning used to be him waking to the activity of his family scurrying around the house. The sound of his children protesting to Mom, that they don’t have a dog or that all their friends get a candy bar in their lunches. For the last six months, he had awoken to silence. He suspected that detail was not going to change soon, if ever.
“I’m leaving tomorrow. I’ve got my van loaded up, new strings on my guitar and I checked the weather report and they say there is blacktop all across this country just waiting to be explored.
“You sure you’ve been watching the Weather Channel?”
“Well, whether or not I have been, the silver lining in this life is out there somewhere.” Beau pointed west, then swept his arm in a wide circle, as if every road in the country were calling his name.
“Who knows where.” Beau stood up and got off the bar stool he had been sitting at for the last hour. “Heck, I’m not even going to look for it. That would take a plan and I don’t have one.”
Frank said, “You leaving? You still have half a beer here, Drink it.”
“I don’t plan to, I’m off. See you somewhere, someday… maybe.” Beau reached across the counter and slapped Frank on his shoulder and said, “Bye.”
A NOTE ABOUT THESE SAMPLE CHAPTERS:
The following chapters jump ahead to later adventures in Beau’s journey.
Chapters 10 and 11 tell one story, as do Chapters 20 and 21.
There’s a lot of road ahead. Enjoy the journey!