Zeb

My name is Zebule Jay Common. People just call me Zeb. I come from Washburn, Montana. It is a town of about 1500 people on the north end of Hadley Valley, about thirty miles south of the capitol. I came to college because my momma thinks it’s what I need to do in life. I know I ain’t old and wise, but I have been alive for nigh on to twenty years now, and I can tell you that this idea about getting a college degree isn’t as great as they say. Maybe it is good for something, but it can’t give you real learning, because real learning comes from real life.

I grew up with my brother Carter Lee and our dog Tractor. We had every part of Haphazard County for our classroom and playground; from the tops of the twin Tizer Peaks in the north to Dunk’s Meadows in the south, from the Leslie Lake cabin in the east to the Basin Mine and continental divide in the west. Pavement dirt, rocks; grass, sage, trees; lakes, river, streams; valley, hills, mountains; dry, wet frozen; all were ours. I learned more useful stuff at home in the mountains by spending afternoons than I’ll ever get out of school for spending enough to buy both Carter and me new rigs.

A problem with most people here is that they got so involved in the grown-up make-believe world of money and society that they forgot everything they learned as kids. Most apparent to me is that they forgot that their end is only a slip, a drunken swerve, or even an unexplained breath away. If somebody forgets that about death, then they’ve forgotten what it’s like to be truly alive.

Carter would know how to make them remember. He could teach most of the college students, and some of the teachers, what true life is, but he only lets on to people who measure up to him. I thank all that’s good that he thinks his little brother measures up, because I’d hate to be opposite him in battle of either wit or fist. Nobody else in the world could ever teach me real life the way Carter did.

“Zeb! You get your wussy ass up here right now!”

“But what if Mom finds out?!”

“Don’t make me come down there and drag ya up here!”

I lowered my head and scrambled up the steep embankment on all fours. The black dust went up my nostrils. My sweat turned to mud. I heard the whistle echo from the tunnel.

He grabbed my arm. Glad you could make it.”

“I’m gonna stand behind you.”

“Sorry little bro, you’re taking the front, and I’ll be holding your belt.”

“But why are we doing this?” I whimpered.

“It’s part of our training for life.”

I saw the headlight glaring from the dark hole in the hillside. “Carter let me go you _____!” I punched at him and tried to run but he held me there. My body felt numb. I fought for my breath. Blood rushed hot in me. I had to pee.

“Hold still or you’ll kill us both.” His focused voice and solid grip held us in the middle of the tracks.

The ties trembled. The blaring horn shook my brain. I could not move. I had no breath. The towering locomotive exploded from the tunnel. I don’t know if I screamed, but I’m sure I heard Carter hooting and hollering above the roar of the engine as we rolled down the bank.

I could not stand up for a couple minutes. I couldn’t focus my eyes right. My insides were mulched into one queasy mess. Tractor licked my face. “My head feels separated from the rest of my body,” I said.

“That’s because you got your wits scared out of you!” He laughed. “Come on, let’s go.”

I almost started to cry. “How come you don’t get scared?”