The man tumbled once feet over ass and Barrett rushed and followed him as he hit his back and struck him again in the neck with his fists. He placed his knee on his right arm and grabbed the gun from the man’s jeans. He cocked back ready for another punch.

“Fuck, f-fuck, man, I just wanted to s-shake your hand, as a man, I just wanted to shake your hand,” the man said.

Barrett punched the man as hard as he could in the stomach. The man wretched and spit. Barrett stood up as he rolled to his side and began to disassemble the pistol. He began walking toward the creek. He jogged lightly down the hill and jumped into the creek bed. He saw Edi about two dozen yards away, throwing rocks into the shallows. Barrett threw the gun and its bullets into the water and jogged toward Edi.

“We’re leaving,” Barrett said.

“Okay,” Edi said.

Barrett scooped her up and held her like bunch of firewood as he jumped out of the creek bed and headed through the woods to his car in the south. He ran, and Edi noticed, but kept quiet. Upon reaching the break in the forest and spying the parking lot where the trail started, Barrett put Edi down.

“Let’s go, honey,” Barrett said.

Edi said nothing. She walked to the truck and got in the passenger side and put on her seatbelt.

“Who was that guy, Dad?”

“Old friend.”

“What happened?”

“Do you want to go swimming?” Barrett asked.

“Don’t ignore me, okay,” Edi said.

“Ah, shit, fuck, fuck,” Barrett said.

“Dad!” Edi exclaimed.

“I’ll tell you on one condition, okay?” Barrett said.

“What?”

“Don’t tell your mom,” Barrett said.

“Okay, okay,” Edi said.

“Do you know what meth is? Okay, well, I can tell from the vacant stare that you don’t. But here it goes. Meth is a drug that people take to feel good, but the thing is, it makes them weird, scratchy, paranoid people who hate, I don’t know, dirty countertops. It feebles your brain and makes your skin cracked. It’s not good. And it’s not their fault, they just got trapped. Meth is like a big trap. And that guy was a meth guy who was making meth. You know how it smelled? That’s a meth smell. And the thing is he scared me and we got into a fight and now we’re driving away but don’t worry, because we are away, and we don’t live near here, and we’re fine, and now we are going to go to the Shut-Ins to go swimming, and after, we are going to eat burgers and get milkshakes. Do you understand?”

“I think I understand,” Edi said, frowning.

“Yeah? Are you okay then, honey?”

“Yeah. But, Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you win the fight?” Edi asked.

“What?”

“Did you win?”

“Yeah, honey, Daddy won the fight.”