My Brother’s Keeper - 18

“May I ask a question?” Tad said once Roy and Jerry had made sizable inroads into their bowls of stew.

“Ask away,” Roy told him. “Not guaranteeing we’ll answer though.”

“Understood. When I was, well eavesdropping if I’m going to be honest, you were talking about Daws. I got the impression he maybe attacked you.” Tad looked at Roy.

Roy nodded slowly. “He tried. It was soon after Jer and I hit the streets. We thought staying in shelters would be the way to go, at least until we learned the ropes so to speak.” He paused to dip a chunk of bread into the remaining stew juice, chewing it slowly before continuing. “If you ever end up on the streets avoid shelters like the plague. They’re dangerous if you don’t realize what sort of people hang out at them. The men there will steal anything they can get their hands on, well some of them. I guess I shouldn’t include everyone in that statement.”

“And that’s not the worst of it,” Jerry put in. “Some of them, like Daws, are predators. He…” Jerry glanced at his brother. “We were sleeping. We thought we’d gotten lucky. We found two beds in the far corner of the room, and the men around us were dead to the world. Drink does that. So anyway, we’re sleeping and I woke up ‘cause I needed to use the john. Now that can be an experience but it was late at night I thought it would be safe. Roy wasn’t in his bed so I figured he’d gone there, too.”

“I had.” Roy took up the story. “I was done and washing my hands when Daws came in. Of course I didn’t know who he was at that point. I’d seen him a couple of times, in the shelter and on the street, but he was just another guy. Big, well you saw him, you know that.” Roy looked at Tad. “He…well it was obvious what he intended the second he closed the door and began to unzip. He’d probably have locked it if that was an option. He said I’d better give him what he wanted or his ‘boys’ as he put it would see to it that ‘my fuck buddy’, meaning Jer, ended up in the hospital.”

“Shit,” Tad swore softly.

“I got lucky, I guess. Jer pushed the door open just then and realized what was happening.” Roy smiled at him. “My brother has more guts than brains.”

“No way was I going to let Daws fuck Roy,” Jerry cut in. “He had his hand on Roy’s neck, pushing him over the sink. I…well I kicked him where it would do the most good. He wasn’t exactly happy about that but he was doubled over, trying to recover, so we ran like hell, I grabbed our pack from under the bed, and we split.”

“That’s the last time we’ve been inside a shelter.”

“And he’s been looking for you ever since. Damn,” Tad said quietly.

Roy smiled wanly. “One of the joys of living on the streets is trying to avoid the ones who like putting hurt on people. He’s not the only one we’ve had run-ins with, but he’s by far the worst because he hasn’t given up.”

“Well for tonight at least you’re safe because the two of you are staying here.”

With a shake of his head, Roy said, “No way, Tad. You don’t have room for one thing.”

“Actually, I do.” He chuckled. “I guess you didn’t explore at all after your shower. There’s another bedroom at the far end of the hall from the bathroom.”

“I figured it was just a storage closet,” Jerry admitted before Roy could say anything.

“Nope. It’s a bedroom and it’s all yours for tonight and more if you want.”

“Maybe…” Roy said hesitantly, “for tonight. Then we’ll get out of your hair.”

“You’re choice.”