Page 6 of Crazy Thing

As the deputies start ushering everyone away from the falls and back up the uneven trails into the woods, I can’t help but wonder what’s really going on here. Why is the mayor’s office getting involved in the sale of private property?I’m no real estate expert, but something about this does smell fishy.

I stumble up the rocky path behind Aunt Rainbow, looking around and taking stock of the situation.

And then my eyes lock with Darius Brighton’s through the crowd.

Darius freaking Brighton.

My tummy does an excited flip as my breath gets caught somewhere in my ribcage.

Even though I haven’t seen that man in years, I’d recognize those honey-dipped eyes anywhere. Somehow, my visceral reaction is always the same. Every time I run into him, my tummy flips in exactly the same way.

But then I lock my jaw and steel my spine, remindingmyself that Darius Brighton doesn’t deserve the butterflies in my stomach. He’s the enemy. In more ways than one.

So I look away and continue my hike among the crowd, determined to pretend that Darius doesn’t exist.

When we make it out the woods, most of the locals fork off in the direction of my aunt’s house. Rainbow invites everyone back to her place for iced tea and an impromptu town meeting.

Tired and frustrated by the time we all arrive, we gather around the front yard, trying to come up with solutions to our waterfall nightmare.

“Ziggy, what about you?” one of my old teachers calls out, prompting everyone to look my way.

“Yeah, what do you think we should do here, Ziggy?” Uncle Jimmy asks, worry crinkling his forehead as he slings his arm around Aunt Rainbow’s shoulders.

“I…well…first we should…” My words trail off when I realize I don’t have any suggestions.

I’m not sure what it is about me, but everywhere I go, people seem to turn to me for help in making difficult decisions. Those around me always expect me to have all the answers. But I have to admit that, in this moment, I’m just as clueless as everyone else.

Honestly, I just need to sneak off to my aunt’s back garden and meditate on all this for a minute. It’s hard to think when my head’s not clear.

“We should hire a lawyer, right?” someone else asks, still looking at me. “We’ll all pitch in to pay.”

“A…a lawyer…?” I hear myself stammer.

Internally, I’m freaking out. I can’t even afford my shop rent. How the hell am I supposed to help pay for a lawyer?

“I can help,” a deep baritone rumbles, carrying acrossthe distance.Instantly, my knees knock together like cymbals in a marching band and my pulse starts to thrum.

I look over my shoulder, surprised to see Darius here on Aunt Rainbow’s front lawn, cutting through the crowd.

But his offer to help isn’t met with the reaction I’m betting he’d been expecting. Instead of cheers, he’s met with scoffs and laughter and yelling. Everyone goes up in arms, shouting at him, telling him all the reasons they don’t trust him. Can’t say I blame them.

“How can we trustyouof all people to possibly help us? You bought my grandma’s house for pennies, flipped it, and made a killing off it.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t rent to my kid when he applied to live in one of your apartment buildings.”

“Your business dealings are just as shady as Edison’s,” someone adds.“Nobody believes a word you say, Brighton.”

Despite the opposition, Darius takes a confident step forward, billion dollar swagger dripping off of him. He climbs up Aunt Rainbow’s bottom step, turning it into his makeshift podium. “Look, I know that my business transactions may be…controversialat times. But that’s just business. The waterfall though, itisn’tbusiness. It’s personal. I want to save the waterfall for the sake of the town. Just like you, I want it to remain accessible to all of us.”

“Hog wash!”

“How are we supposed to believe you?”

“Yeah, you could easily betray us all and build a spa just like Edison would.”

Frustration mars Darius’s face as he takes a verbal beating. He’s not getting through to the crowd and he knows it. His gaze shifts, finding mine and our eyes connect once again.

My tummy flip returns and I look away quickly.He doesn’t exist. Darius Brighton doesn’t exist.

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