Mrs. Falls a lot's Arc

Chapter 5 of 8

The bluegrass players sat on the brewery patio. Buzz Daily picked slow at his banjo. Beside him, Big Larry rested his harmonica on his belly and watched the door. Mrs. Falls a lot ran the band. She was the drunk, heavy woman who kept a beer in each hand and never let anyone take them. She'd gone off after the waterfall and hadn't come back. "She's been gone a while," Buzz said. "Yep," said Big Larry. Buzz looked at the beer waterfall pouring down the brewery wall. "Let's take a drink from that and go find her." Big Larry stood. He didn't argue. He tucked his harmonica in his overalls and walked to the waterfall with Buzz. They cupped their hands under the golden flow and drank. Then they leaned in and gulped straight from it. The stream filled them fast. Buzz's legs buckled. Big Larry swayed once and dropped. The world went black. They woke on grass under a giant tree. Acorns hung thick in its branches. A sign nailed to the trunk read NUTS WORLD. "Who the heck is Nuts?" Buzz said, holding his head. "Don't know," Big Larry said. "But look at those women." Four women stood nearby, each with a beer, laughing loud. Buzz grinned. "Two for each of us." The women looked the old men over. They laughed harder and walked off into the trees. "Well," Buzz said. "That didn't work." They stood. The waterfall drink still had them wasted, steady on their feet the way only deep drunks get. Big Larry pointed at a narrow trail cutting into the woods. Twisted roots and broken stone marked it. A crooked sign warned of tears. "She went that way," he said. "Bet on it." They took the trail. Roots grabbed their boots. Buzz fell twice and Big Larry hauled him up each time. The drink kept the fear off. Hours passed. The path fought them the whole way. Then the trees thinned. They broke through into a clearing. A tower rose out of the rock and climbed until the top vanished in cloud. Ledges and ladders spiraled up its sides. Buzz tipped his hat back and stared. "Ain't no way she climbed that," he said. "She can barely walk." "She falls more than she stands," Big Larry said. Buzz shook his head. "Let's look around some more." They circled the tower's base. No sign of her on the ladders. But the black rock at their feet was scorched. Deep claw marks scarred the ground. Something huge had landed here and dragged itself off toward a wide pit in the earth below. Big Larry knelt by the marks. He pulled his harmonica out and held it tight, the way he did before a fight. "She didn't go up," he said. "She went down there. And she ain't alone."