CHESTER MCBADBAT's Arc

Chapter 3 of 5

Chester was halfway through measuring out a spot for the chicken coop frame when DeShawn came crashing through the palmetto scrub like something was chasing him. He wasn't running, but he moved fast, head down, shoulders tight. Chester dropped the measuring tape and stood up. DeShawn stopped at the tarp line, breathing hard. His phone was in his hand, screen lit up with a string of messages and photos he didn't bother hiding. Need to stay here a few days, he said. No details. Just that. Chester looked at the phone, then at DeShawn's face, and knew better than to ask. Whatever it was, it wasn't his business unless DeShawn made it his business. He pointed to the clearing past his dad's corner. You can set up there, he said. DeShawn nodded and walked over, dragging something heavy behind him—a workout machine with orange padding and chrome bars that looked like it cost more than Chester's entire setup. Where'd you get that, Chester asked. DeShawn didn't answer, just started bolting it into the dirt. Chester went back to the trailer and found the sign in a box of junk his dad had left behind. It was rusted metal, white background with brown letters: NO CLOTHES ALLOWED ALLOWED. He'd meant to toss it, but now it felt right. He walked it over to DeShawn's spot and hammered it into a tree with a rock. DeShawn looked up from tightening bolts and saw it. He didn't smile, but his shoulders dropped an inch. That the rule here, he asked. Chester shrugged. It's the idea, he said. You're good as long as you don't bring your problems past the property line. DeShawn went back to work without answering, but the way he moved was different—less like he was hiding, more like he was building something. Chester walked back to the coop frame and picked up the measuring tape. His dad was asleep under the tarp, DeShawn was setting up a gym in the dirt, and the land he'd marked out for himself and Timmy and AJ now had two people on it he hadn't planned for. But neither of them had asked him to explain himself, and he hadn't asked them. That was the deal, even if nobody said it out loud. The farm was starting to take shape, just not the shape he'd drawn on paper. He measured the next post hole and drove the stake in deep.