Hank's Arc

Chapter 3 of 14

Hank sat on the back step with a beer in his hand, watching the fence line. The sun was already hot and his head hurt from last night. He heard the crunch of tires on gravel from the other side of the bottle fence. A car door slammed. Then footsteps, coming his way. Queen V. appeared at the property line carrying a laptop on a wheeled cart. She set it down in front of the tulips and trilliums that marked where her land ended and his began. The screen was already playing. Hank saw himself on video, hunched and scrambling, shoving cases under the porch like a man burying evidence. She tapped the screen and the image froze on his face looking back over his shoulder. "My neighbor sent this yesterday," she said. "Said you were hiding product before the sweep." She pulled a worn tape from her pocket and set it on the cart. "This is the original. I already made copies." Hank stood and walked to the fence. His beer was still in his hand but he didn't drink from it. "What do you want?" he asked. Queen V. looked at the bottle fence between them, then at the beer in his hand. "I want to know if you're planning to sell during the sweep or after it," she said. "Because if you're selling, you're competition. If you're just hoarding, maybe we can work something out." Hank felt the weight of the tape, the copies she'd already made, the neighbor who'd sent it. He could deny it, but the video was clear. He could walk away, but she'd already won. So he told the truth. "I'm not selling," he said. "I'm trying to open a place where people can sit and drink and stay awhile. But the county won't let me." Queen V. studied him for a long moment. Then she reached down and ejected the tape from the cart. She held it out across the fence. "Then we're not competing," she said. "And I don't need this." Hank took the tape. It was lighter than he expected. "The copies?" he asked. She smiled. "There weren't any," she said. "But you didn't know that until you told me the truth." She turned the cart around and wheeled it back toward her car. Hank stood at the fence holding the tape and his beer, watching her go. He'd given up his secret to save himself from a bluff, but now someone knew what he was actually trying to build. And she hadn't turned him in.