“I have no desire to know about everything going on in town and elsewhere.”
“One thing I don’t know is why you’re drinking coffee from a Hello Kitty thermos.” Cletus sounded both interested and irked. “And why haven’t you bought one for me? You know I like that Hello Kitty.”
“It’s not mine.” His comment had me studying the pink and more pink travel mug in my hands. He was right. It was a Hello Kitty mug. And I didn’t much want to explain whose it was, so I quickly changed the subject. “What’re you two doing here anyway?”
“Before we get into that, don’t forget our switched schedule starts this week. I’m cooking on Thursday, and you’re cooking on Friday.” Cletus was referring to our dinner rotation.
Each of us five men—six now Roscoe was back for summer break—cooked dinner once a week. We had an assigned night. Mine was usually Thursday, but I’d switched with Cletus because he had to get to the community center early on Fridays for the Jam Session now that it was summer.
Drew unfolded from the couch, drawing my attention to his towering form. “Regarding your question, Roscoe is with me for the next three months.”
I vaguely remembered Drew telling me something about this last month. It made sense, given Roscoe had been accepted to veterinary school, for my youngest brother to shadow Drew. As the game warden for these parts, Drew was federal law enforcement. All animals—human and non-human—within the national park were within his purview.
“And Cletus is here to help you.” Drew indicated to Cletus with his hat. “He volunteered.”
“Volunteered? What’s he helping with? Daniels and I can handle the soil science folks.” I glanced over my shoulder, my attention split between Drew and my brother. Daniels was another of the wildlife rangers, and we were scheduled to meet with the MLRA soil survey leader all this week to go over topography data.
“I’m having Daniels handle that. Something else has come up.” Drew frowned at me, then at his hat. “We’ve had, uh, a request. And I think you’re best suited to the job. But you’ll need Cletus, too.”
Turning off the water, I set the rinsed mug to the side of the sink and wiped my hands on my pants. We were out of paper towels. “What’s the job?”
Drew hemmed and hawed, saying nothing, which was unlike him. Usually he was one to talk straight.
Meanwhile, Cletus slurped his offensive brew. Loudly. His eyes darted back and forth between Drew and me.
Wanting to ease my boss’s mind, I gave the room my easy grin and shrugged. “I’ll do it, whatever it is. Don’t worry about me.”
“It’s those movie people,” Drew bit out, his nose wrinkling in mild disgust.
“They want a liaison, and you’re it.” Cletus lifted his cup toward me then took another loud slurp, wagging his eyebrows.
“A liaison? But I thought someone from the Department of Agriculture had been appointed, someone from the federal office.”
At our team meeting last week, the day after my surprise birthday party, Drew had brought the rangers into the loop regarding the movie. As Sheriff James had noted at Jeanie’s Bar, the movie was being filmed at Cades Cove, within the boundaries of the national park. We’d been told the Department of Agriculture was sending down some Hollywood specialist to interact with the movie folks.
We were warned that some of us might be asked to handle crowd control on days when extras were being used. But other than that, we’d been assured it wouldn’t interfere with our regular schedule of duties.
“Yeah, well, the guy they sent doesn’t know how to handle black bears.” Drew’s tone was flat and irritated.
“Why did they send someone who doesn’t know how to handle black bears?” Roscoe asked the obvious question, still clutching his coffee. “Seems like a rookie mistake.”
“I’m guessing the USDA was more concerned about wrangling the Hollywood animals, not the park animals,” Cletus quipped.
“I got a call before sunrise about a momma bear and her two cubs. They were eating berries outside John Oliver’s cabin while the production team was trying to set up. That means it’s either you or me making sure these people don’t ruin the ecosystem in the prairie. And it isn’t going to be me.” Drew was fairly notorious for being reclusive, preferring the company of no one to the company of anyone new.
“Okay.” I nodded, mentally reorganizing my day and week. At the same time I realized there was a pretty good chance I’d be seeing Sarah before this evening. In fact, there was a pretty good chance I’d be catching glimpses of her all day, every day for the next few weeks.