I don’t think I’d let myself dwell on these incidents before, because they revealed such a colossal pitifulness on my part. I’d needed a friend so badly I’d clung to the meager scraps from Arlene’s table, though she’d taken advantage of me time after time. When her dating wind had blown the other way, she hadn’t thought twice about discarding me to win favor with her current flame.

In fact, the more I thought, the more I was inclined to turn around and head back to my house. But didn’t I owe Coby and Lisa one more try to mend my relationship with their mom? I remembered all the board games we’d played, all the times I’d put them to bed and spent the night in the trailer because Arlene had called to ask if she could spend the night away.

What the hell was I doing? Why was I trusting Arlene now?

I wasn’t, not completely. That’s why I was going to scope out the situation.

Arlene didn’t live in a trailer park but on an acre of land a little west of town that her dad had given her before he passed away. Only a quarter acre had been cleared, just enough for the trailer and a small yard. There was an old swing set in the back that one of Arlene’s former admirers had assembled for the kids, and there were two bikes pushed up against the back of the trailer.

I was looking at the trailer from the rear because I’d pulled off the road into the overgrown yard of a little house that had stood next door until its bad wiring had caused a fire a couple of months before. Since then, the frame house had stood half-charred and forlorn, and the former renters had found somewhere else to live. I was able to pull behind the house, because the cold weather had kept the weeds from taking over.

I picked a path through the fringe of high weeds and trees that separated this house from Arlene’s. Working through the thickest growth, I made my way to a vantage point where I could see part of the parking area in front of the trailer and all of the backyard. Only Arlene’s car was visible from the road, since it had been left in the front yard.

From my vantage point, I could see that behind the trailer was parked a black Ford Ranger pickup, maybe ten years old, and a red Buick Skylark of approximately the same vintage. The pickup was loaded down with pieces of wood, one long enough to protrude beyond the truck bed. They measured about four by four, I estimated.