Chapter 17

“I was pretty tough on you about the shovel last night.”

“Sometimes you have to be tough on me. You’re the leader. Leaders can’t be pussies. They can only be cunts.”

He didn’t reply to my comment, took the Maxim exit off the interstate, and continued to drive in silence.

* * * *

Maxim could have been considered small in size with approximately three hundred residents. There wasn’t a downtown area, stoplight, or library. I didn’t see police or fire stations. Nor were there schools, a medical facility, or post office. Maxim ended up being farm country with tight-assed cowboys who liked to chew tobacco and wear John Deere ball caps. The men and women were blue collar all the way, hard workers, and liked their quiet lives away from the rest of the world. Saturday drinkers. Sunday Jesus talkers. Country all the way.