The Tunnel: Tent City

They walked along the highway and no one came. The road lay empty as far as the eye could see south and a pair of crows played a game of tag overhead, squawking in delight. The rain had passed, leaving the air charged with ions and the grasses and trees sodden.

     To their right the forest opened and spread for some distance, a wisp of black smoke pushed it's way through tree tops but the source could not be discerned from the road. Bart thought he heard a conversation taking place, men's voices.

     "Somebody's living back there," Devin said.

     "Looks like it," Bart said.

     "Think they'd mind visitors?"

     "Probably--hey, where are you going?"

Devin trudged through the leaves and undergrowth and briars and branches, not paying much attention except to that hidden source of smoke. The conversation could be made out more clearly, as the participants all commanded distinct voices, light enough to be carried in the breeze. To Bart the words smelled like burning leaves.

     "No, no, no, Carl. Look, you were never in the Air Force, so you wouldn't know shit from Shinola on the subject. Fact is the Ruskies had a superior jet in the Mig, we just rarely encountered them with actual Ruskies in the cockpit."

     Three men sat around a campfire that emitted more smoke than flame. The man called Carl wore a faded orange vest dotted white with protruding feathers. He was balding and what hair he did have stuck out in all directions, oily and uncombed. The other two sat on camping coolers with their backs to the road. Devin saw that there were many tents and ad-hoc dwellings beyond the campfire scene.

     "Something I can help you with, mister?" Carl said. He pulled his vest up to reveal a revolver stuck in the front of his pants. The other two turned around without getting up.

     "Not looking for any trouble," said Devin, "my friend and I, we've been on the road for a while, hitch hiking, you know? Saw the smoke from the road, thought we'd find some ... some warmth."

     "That right?" Carl said, "I guess we did broadcast our location like some blue-head ARMY recruits." He scowled at the man to his right.

     "Don't look at me, you was cold too, Carl," the man said. He got up, walked over to Devin and Bart, and put his hand out. "The name's Pete. You two are welcome to warm yourselves here, as long as you don't cause no trouble. Oh, and alcohol or drugs ain't allowed."

     Devin smiled and shook the man's hand and said, "That's mighty kind of you, Pete, mighty kind. My name's Devin, and this here's my compatriot in arms, Bartholomew."

     Bart followed behind the Devil, shaking hands and making introductions. He didn't want to be there, didn't see the need to be there, and thought again of his stash in California. The third man called himself Selby. He was taller than Carl and Pete, and his arms bulged from within a rumpled red and black flannel shirt that had apparently been slept in.

     "You boys smoke?" Carl asked. He fumbled at his vest pockets and retrieved a box of cigarettes and a lighter.
     "No, thanks," Bart said.
     "I'll try one," said Devin.
     "Try one?" said Carl, "Shit, well this ought to be interesting." He fished out cigarettes for himself and Devin.
     Devin took one, put it to his lips, and waited for a light. When it came he drew in to burn the end evenly, exhaling from the side of his mouth. He raised his eyebrows, lowered his eyelids, and said, "Tastes nice." The tent city men looked at each other and laughed.
     "How long ya'll been out here?" Bart asked.
     "Well, let's see," Selby said. "I got laid off a year or so ago, and couldn't get work to save my life. That was around the same time as the sub-prime bubble bursting; my mortgage went underwater faster than a greased Titanic. My wife took the kids and moved into her parents' basement--" he broke off.
     "I'm sorry to hear that," Bart said, "it's tough out there, real tough."
     "We'll make it," Pete said, clapping Selby on his back, "been through worse. We just all pull together out here, been able to get by thus far."