There was a big friendly guy named Gyle who came into Rusti’s for a time a few years back. He loved to talk, most especially about himself. He was from Machine City down in The Basin. And he was now up here in Oilpaugh doing some advice work on the machinery in the oil fields. He was free to come here for several months because his long-time girlfriend was back visiting in LoneStar. He didn’t think she would be away for very long at first but had not come back yet. He added that she gets very homesick for her large family back there.

Gyle would tell more about himself than anyone asked. His girlfriend worked and lived in Electric City. He would go to see her on weekends. They liked to go to the Pier or walk along the shore.  Often they would stay closer to where she lived and hike on a finished pathway that runs along the highway that goes by Electric City. You can see the pathway when you drive past on the way to the University or the Pier. And it was not unusual that people from Electric City would take a break from work during the week and go onto the pathway.

When they would walk along the pathway they would often see a close co-worker of his girlfriend. They would usually stop and talk for a while. A few times Gyle saw this coworker walking on the pathway alone as he drove by Electric City on his way to the University. After a couple of years together his girlfriend tells Gyle she is homesick and is going to move back home to LoneStar. That she had been thinking about this for some time. He is sad but understands. He knew she always missed her hometown friends. The first evening Gyle told this story it was to Werds and the Dance master.

When she was packing to move he went over to help her and saw that the movers were a local company and surprised that they were going out of the state now. He wished the movers good travels on their long drive ahead. He says they gave him a funny look. He thought they don’t get many kind words from customers. After his girlfriend left they write each other. He tells her he still goes to the coast and that sometimes he sees her coworker as he drives by. At least he thinks it is the same guy. One day he sees the coworker walking with a women who looks somewhat but not exactly like his girlfriend.

He seems to see them a few more times but is driving fast so he doesn't get a close look. The resemblance is close but this woman seems to be more elegantly dressed. He is fond of writing his former girlfriend that he sees someone who looks a little like her. By this time Werds and the Dance Master are exchanging looks. Then one morning on the news he sees that a worker at Electric City was fired and is in jail for selling secrets to a foreign country. The picture of the man slightly reminds him of the coworker but he does not sure it is him.

Not long after that he get a letter from his former girlfriend that says she is bored with her old hometown and is going to move back to the coast. She does and into a place in Electric City close to where she lived before. He even helps her move her furniture back in. It is the same company and movers, who seemed amused when they see him. Soon Gyle and his girlfriend are back into their former routine. When they walk on the inland pathway he hopes they see the other couple so she can see the girl that looks something like her.

 They never see them even though they go about the same time of day. When he says that he guesses she doesn't walk there anymore his girlfriend smiles slightly to herself. The Dance Master and Werds are looking down into their drinks. Then Gyle says just before he left for here he saw in the newspaper that the man got out of jail. He was quoted as saying he had learned his lesson and was moving out of the basin. He would go home to LoneStar and make a new start. The Dance Master has his head in his hands down facing on the bar now. Werds stood up and had to leave his seat.

Then one evening in Rusti’s after Gyle first told this story he is by himself and unusually quiet. He has just retold the story. He takes a sip and makes a sharp sound before he swallows spraying beer out over the bar. People on either side of him quickly jump away from their seats. Gyle stands up wide-eyed and shivering. He tries to scream and can’t. He turns with his face in his hands and stumbles away towards the door.  He still seemed to be trying to scream but there is no sound. We never saw him in Rusti’s after that.