“One thing, though. When Sam lost his mother, it was a difficult time. He was strong, Sam was, but that about broke him. Something in him changed and the boy we used to know was gone.”
Sam had been running from demons just like I had been. I wanted to think he’d found some peace, but all the signs pointed to a dismal ending. Most especially, the feeling I had inside. I knew deep down something had happened to Sam, something bad. I couldn’t shake it off, no matter how hard I tried.
Lynell told me one other thing. “You know,” she said. Roy and I felt it was rather, uh, unusual the way Lori took up with Sam’s family. Even after the divorce. I don’t want to be ugly, but it was as if she’d taken his family as her own. It was strange.”
I’d noticed Sam’s family members commenting on Lori’s Facebook posts and it had seemed odd to me. The same family who didn’t comment on the memorial or ever even mention Sam’s name. It was like everyone other than Mr. Hunt had erased Sam’s life. It was all the reason I needed to keep searching. One way or another, I was going to get to the bottom of this mess.
Driving back towards Beaumont, the picture from that Emmylou album popped into my head. Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. We'd worn that record out, me and Sam. Later on, I looked up the story. My favorite song that hit a personal note was "Easy From Now On." Even though Emmylou made it famous, Carlene Carter recorded it, too, and her version is the one that tears me up the most. Carlene had written it with Susanna Clark who was Guy Clark's wife and also a painter. She painted the cover picture on Emmylou's album. It's about the dark, that painting, with the light of the moon and a lambent glow out there beyond where the road ends. ."..raw as whip but clean as a bone...soft to the touch when you take me home...
...when the mornin' comes and it's time for me to leave....don't worry about me I got a wild card up my sleeve....."