Story Carry On, Damaris

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter One

I remember people saying that the first battle of the war was nothing. The second battle was nothing either and lulled our people into a false sense of security. It was the third battle that really woke the world up. I hear the old folks saying that it was like what happened at this place called Shiloh. It wasn’t the bloodiest battle to come but it was the one that made folks realize that fighting a war on our own soil with modern weapons was going to be unlike any war we’d ever fought. And unlike most post-apocalyptic stories that always seemed to involve a massive conflagration from nuclear weapons where no one knew how to say stop fast enough, a few nukes and dirty bombs did not the end of the world make.

Oh, there were a few countries that have slipped into the dark and not returned but there aren’t as many of those as you would think. Most everyone on the planet is just trying to get by because this fool war continues. Sometimes on our soil, sometimes not; not near as frequently any place as when it started but no one has called a cease fire either. It is like some never ending visit to the tooth drawer … the pain just goes on and on and on, sometimes less, sometimes more, but it never goes away completely.

My folks and I were stationed in Florida when my world turned upside down the first time. I was eleven and right full of myself. Oh I wasn’t a smart aleck, my folks would have never stood for that, but I was a smart kid in a modern world with all the conveniences you could imagine right at my fingertips. My little brother was much the same except you have to add Little League in there. Dad was a Sergeant in the Air Force and Momma worked part time at a fabric store for the luxuries that Daddy’s paycheck wouldn’t cover. My brother and I went to a virtual school – meaning we schooled at home using computers hooked up the school district, which was why we were home that day.

The power flickered and the ground shook for a long time. It wasn’t a nuke or I wouldn’t be sitting here writing in this here fool journal but what it was was bad enough. They’d loaded some fast boats and aimed ‘em at MacDill USAF Base; come in under the radar like some kind of science fiction stealth covered invaders. People said that they’d shot out of the cargo hold of some container ship like someone spitting watermelon seeds but I don’t know whether that is true or not. You hear so many stories and the history books keep getting revised depending on whose winning. The bad guys also attacked by land, some as suicide bombers. Different groups still use that trick though it is going out of fashion. The truly willing ones are few and far between these days because apparently martyrdom isn’t quite as profitable as it used to be.

They had good reason to pick MacDill; it was where a lot of strategic Air Command stuff was located which was why my father was stationed there. He was an air traffic controller with lots of special training on things he wasn’t allowed to talk about. I wish he’d just been some regular guy that didn’t know nothing about nothing. Maybe that way he wouldn’t have died that day and taken most of Momma with him.

When the ground stopped shaking – we didn’t live all that far from the Base – I ran and turned on the TV. I’d heard enough even at 11 to understand most of what was going on but I didn’t know what to do with that knowledge. So I fell back on what I did know. Daddy had always told us if such and such was to happen what we were supposed to do. One of those things was to call our relatives out of state if the phone lines were still up; they weren’t. The next thing I tried was to get online and couldn’t do that either. I knew where a spare cell phone was in the house but it was for emergencies only … well it was an emergency. I couldn’t get a call out but I was able to send texts and I did it like crazy but it seemed that no one was on the other end to answer me back except a cousin in college and he said that he’d get messages to the rest of the family and for us to just stay put until Dad and Mom got home.

Dad never came home, and it took two days for them to let Mom in. She was fine until she saw us and then she and my little brother – who’d been pretty good up to that point – fell apart. They were a real mess. I just looked at the man that had come with Momma and he looked at me. He bent down and explained about Daddy and told me that I’d have to be a good girl and to help my Mom because we needed to pack up and leave the area by the next day. I almost got mad that he was talking to me like I was four years old and then I realized maybe it was just easier for him to believe I didn’t understand what was going on, that it was too sad for him to think about a kid living with what had just happened.

I led Momma and my brother inside as the man got back into the big truck that still had lots of people in it, all of ‘em looking like death warmed over. I asked Momma what she wanted to pack first because if we didn’t start pretty soon we’d run out of time and wouldn’t be able to take nothing with us. She got a little mad ‘cause I wasn’t like her and my brother but I was more like Daddy even then. I do my crying in private thank you very much. ‘Sides, I knew with Daddy gone he’d be counting on me to do the right thing … and the right thing right then was not falling apart no matter how bad I wanted to on the inside.

Momma got over her mad just as fast as she’d gotten that way. She knew I was just like Daddy too ‘cause she was the one forever telling me that. And Momma was smart in the way she needed to be smart. She might not have gone to college but she knew how to make do with what she had. I guess you’d call her a resourceful type person. We siphoned all of the fuel we had around the house into the camper Daddy had bought the summer before. Sometimes just for the heck of it we’d take a vacation in the backyard and sleep in it. It didn’t look like much but it did for us pretty well. Lucky for us that both vehicles were at home because both my parents had carpooled that day and the tanks were full because the next two days were supposed to have been their turn to carpool. There was enough to fill both tanks on the camper and a couple of gas cans.

Next thing we did was take all of the food out of the house and pack it away in the cabinets in the camper, under the seats and any other nook and cranny we could devise. The power was off so all the perishables had to be eaten as we went. The freezer had died the month before and my parents hadn’t been able to replace it and Momma said it was in a way a blessing because that meant that we had less food that was just going to spoil. Next came our camping gear which had to be put where we could get at it in case we needed it. After that it got hard. Momma started crying every time she had to leave something of Daddy’s behind. And when Momma cried so would my brother. I finally got him to lay down on the sofa and he went to sleep. That just left Momma. I got to where I didn’t mind her crying; it was when she was silent that it got scary.

Soon enough we were down to just enough space for the three of us to squeeze in. My brother wanted to sit up front and started to make a fuss but for the first time Momma really laid down the law with him. She gave me the map and told me I had to follow it like religion in case we had to get off the highway and I’d need to tell her which way to go. I was good at that sort of thing so it didn’t surprise me. Daddy used to make a game of it. He used to make a game of a lot of things and looking back I realize he was teaching me more than how to win a game … in his own way he was teaching how me to survive.

We eventually got where we were going but it took three times as long to get there as it should have and we were running on fumes that last mile down the old gravel road. It was the family farm and we weren’t the only ones that came running for refuge. Matter of fact we were just about the last ones that could be taken in. As it was one of my uncles complained that the place looked like a Red Cross camp after a tornado went through. Tents and RVs and campers all over the place, but that meant there were hands to do all of the work too. And boy did we work.

There was no fuel to run the tractors so everything had to be done “the old fashioned way.” Usually that meant handing us kids a hoe and telling us to get to work. And if I wasn’t hoeing I was feeding animals or washing or doing something useful. Play time was a thing of the past.

The work was too much for some and they left in search of a better situation. Not many found it. Store bought stuff got scarce or expensive or both. Some people did pretty well and some people didn’t. You couldn’t say it was living on the farm that made it better for us; it is what those living on the farm knew how to do that made it better for us. My brother and I were the two youngest that remained after a bunch of the rest of the family left. Any of them that were close to my age were boys so I was much in company with adults and of those adults it was mostly my great grandmother, her sister, and a couple of Momma’s aunts that I preferred to spend time with. I spent time with Momma of course but she wasn’t the same woman she was before. It’s like something had broken. She preferred being with her Daddy – her and my grandmother tended to brangle – and with them went my little brother.

This suited everyone. I saw Momma every day but didn’t have to watch over her every day. I didn’t mind it when she cried but that brokenness that came to the surface sometimes just ate me alive. Too it seemed that me being so much like Daddy and looking like him too made it hard for her to be around me, or at least I finally figured that out after I overheard my grandmother and great grandmother talking. Might not have been the most mannerly thing to do but it was about the only way a kid could find things out when the adults didn’t think they were old enough to understand it.

That’s also how I found out most folks thought I was strange. OK, not strange maybe but odd and eccentric certainly. In short order I’d gone from this scrawny city girl to whatever I’d become. I could lift a five-gallon bucket of feed corn without calling for my cousins to help. I’d learned to shoot a .22lr so well my grandfather had assigned me one of my own to use and care for and when he saw I was as reasonable with the matching pistol he cut me a holster out of an old leather tool apron and I was to wear it everywhere I went.

And I went everywhere; I had to when I was gathering all the wild things that were good to eat or needed for medicine, or just because some grown up had told me to. Granddaddy would take me out deep into the tree line and tell me to bring back so much of such and such and then leave me to get home by myself. Mamaw and Aunt Lois would hand me a leaf off of something and tell me to go to such and such a place and bring them a handful or a peck back and woe if I made an excuse for not doing just as they said or taking so long I started to worry someone.

The most obvious way I changed was how I spoke. Now even today if I concentrate and try real hard I can talk like I received some proper education but it was just easier to give up talking like a city kid on a regular basis since the people I loved best didn’t speak that way. Matter of fact I took it the other extreme entirely and started using the words and phrases of the folks two and three generations my senior. I wanted to be like them so I never saw any other point than to talk like them.

Life was hard and the war continued. We listened to the radio every night when there wasn’t a black out. Many states came to use their own currency though it was more like a form of IOU since it wasn’t backed by anything of any sort of value. Laws changed and changed again. There was a mandatory curfew, especially for kids. States had their own militias in addition to the old National Guard system. There were rationing books and then there weren’t when they found out there simply wasn’t even enough stuff to be worth the cost of the ration books. The government tried price controls and that only made things worse so they took the controls off and first there was rampant inflation and then a period of rampant deflation and then the ball would bounce again. Instead of a draft there was mandatory service in the military for every male citizen – and some illegals that were conscripted too which scared and surprised enough of them that there was a mass exodus across the borders going north and south; of course it wasn’t any better there and could be somewhat worse.

If you were over thirty years of age you could work your duty off in bits and pieces by doing things like repairing and maintaining the roads or manning local checkpoints, but if you were between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine you had to present yourself at a pick up point and boy you better or you were in some hot, hot water. Didn’t matter if you couldn’t walk, hear out of one ear, and was three-quarter blind they would find something for you to do. One of my uncles said we were going to lose a whole generation as cannon fodder. It wasn’t quite that bad, but it was bad enough.

Life went on this way for two years. Momma, Brother, and I were still living in the camper. It’d been pushed between the chicken coop and the north end of the hog lot because it was one of the few pieces of land unfit for growing anything on.

There had been bio-attacks in places, enough of them that it took something really horrific to catch people’s attention. But mostly it happened in the bigger cities. There wasn’t much reason to attack the small out of the way towns; it didn’t make logistical sense, you got more bang for your bomb in metropolises. Only that time the bug escaped quarantine. The only thing those of us that survived it could figure was that it came in from one of the trucks on a Market Day. No one can pin it down exactly and everyone has their own theory, but that is all it is.

Life had slowed down for those of us living in the country, but not that much. It was a hybridized form of e.coli that just sucked the life out of people. Wouldn’t have been as bad as it was except that a lot of medicines and medical personnel were off doing other things or were just plain unavailable to the common folk.

We were down to a little over two dozen people living on the farm but had been expecting a few more come harvest time. When it was over, only five of us remained; four male cousins and me.

Of all the fool things, I just realized I haven’t even writ my own name yet. It’s Damaris Evelyn Keehn but most people just call me Riss. My Momma was a Davidson before she married Daddy and that’s what folks hereabouts used to call us whether it was our name or not. “Them Davidson kids.” Mostly it was because my cousins were a bunch of hellions but the mistake wasn’t worth fighting over in my opinion so I let it be; not even Momma minded which kinda made me sad when I let it. The Davidson family farm had survived a powerful lot of bad things in this life going back before the War Between the States … or what most of the history books call the US Civil War. But finally some little ol’ bit of nothing that wasn’t even visible to the human eye did it in. A germ finally managed to kill what nearly two-hundred years of living, loving, and troubles hadn’t.

Two of my cousins were right of an age to have to go into service. They’d been allowed to stay through harvest time but that had been revoked after FEMA came in to clean up the mess of dead. They were packed up so fast and sent off to join the civil service patrol that I didn’t even get to say good bye though I hear from them both ever onct in a while.

The civil service patrol is basically to this day little more than a bunch of glorified riot police that put down messes in the city when they look to be getting out of hand. I reckon somebody in government figures they can smother anything if they throw enough bodies at it. My two cousins below that were too young to run the farm so they opted to get placed as farm hands a couple of counties over. They were just counting down the days ‘til they could get away from my grandfather and uncle’s sharp eyes anyway and were jealous of the older two’s escape.

No one seemed to know what to do with me. Some folks told the authorities that I was “simple” but whether they were doing it to play a prank or because they really believed it I haven’t the foggiest; it didn’t matter to me at the time and still doesn’t. No one in the area needed another mouth to feed and out of the area no one was looking for a 13-year-old female field hand, especially if they already had any teenage boy field hands around. Basically I was too young to marry off, too old and too odd to adopt out, and just the right age for the less than desirable male types to take advantage of; all in all more trouble than most folks wanted to fool with.

I continued to live in the camper and tend to the kitchen garden so I could feed myself. No one said I couldn’t and I’m not sure I would have paid any attention to them even if they had. A couple of weeks later this moving van shows up out of the blue with a minivan that had seen better days following it. Out of the moving van stepped a uniform with a clipboard, just the type I’d been avoiding when at all possible. Out of the minivan stepped a man even more worse-for-wear than the vehicle. The new owners had arrived.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Two

I watched them carry things into and out of the house for the rest of that day. I’d already cleared out what I wanted most from the house; what wouldn’t fit in the trailer was safely tucked in the back of one of the stalls of the barn hidden by a pile of hay. FEMA had cleaned out most all that I hadn’t been able to salvage and took it to the old quarry and burnt it right along with just about everything from all the other houses that had people die in them. Mattresses, box springs, bed linens, towels … just about anything like that that hadn’t been locked up in the cedar chests around the house. They’d even burnt the bed frames themselves and that did cause me some grief as I know most of them were handmade by someone or other in my family back through the generations. Most of the rugs were also hauled away as well as any clothing that had been soiled. They’d even taken most of the curtains forcing me to close the shutters to keep the sun, moon, and human eye from prying in at every window.

In turn I’d taken out most everything else that wasn’t nailed down – including the guns, ammunition, and reloading equipment that Granddaddy had made me hide when he’d heard that the government people were coming – save for the leftover so-called modern conveniences that are just pure decoration these days as none of them work worth a flip. What use did I have for a TV and a dozen lamps? None of the outlets have any juice to power them with, at least not in our town. I did take the radios but then again, without fuel for the generator – of which there was exactly none at that time – the old things are just relics of better, bygone days.

The biggest thing that I’d done was to take out all the food and hide it in the old dirt cellar. The Old Cellar was in the old chicken coop. The old chicken coop used to be the cantilever barn where some grandfather of years gone by did his blacksmithing. Before it was a cantilever barn it was the honeymoon cabin where the newly married son or daughter would live until they could get their own place and before that it had been the cabin built by the son of the original owner of the land. Nothing got wasted on the farm from one season to the next, from one generation to the next; when not in use as a cellar it sometimes saw use as a storm shelter. I kept my great grandmother’s treadle sewing machine, dress form, and quilt frames in the camper with me but the old wood stove and the ice box from the 1920’s had to stay in the kitchen … and still does today would be my guess.

I watched as the uniform with a clip board ordered two other uniforms to help the man and his family empty the moving van and put everything on the lawn. The woman tried to get them to take it all the way inside but the man just said, “My orders are to empty the moving van not help you to decorate your house. You should appreciate that I’m doing as much as I am.”

In addition to the man and his wife there were three kids. One was a boy with strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes; his name turned out to be Solomon Bly Jr. … Sol for short. The two others were twins that shared the exact same hair color; it was the rare true red you don’t see very often. On the girl it was beautiful but on the boy it was quite unfortunate. The boy also must have gotten his sister’s share of the freckles to go with his own, or maybe it was just that she never seemed to be in the sun. Matter of fact I noticed she never seemed to be anywhere except sitting on the front porch in the old swing worrying over her things.

Lunch time came and went and I noticed that the boys were starting to get puny but they didn’t worry at their momma none. The girl whined a little but that was about it. That made me notice how scrawny they looked underneath their bandy muscles and that whatever was going on had been going on for a while because in all other respects they seemed like normal enough kids if a sight more easy going that my cousins had been. Suddenly it was like my great grandmother had set her broom on my bottom. Neither the Davidsons nor the Keehns sat around while other folks did all the work and went hungry for their troubles. I got up and went to the garden and pulled a few things and brought them around to the lady of the house.

She jumped near a mile when she saw me; didn’t neither of us know what to say. She seemed afraid of me and I wasn’t sure how to take that away from her. I tried to offer her the produce but she held it in her hands like she didn’t know what to do with it and when her husband called her she just set it down after saying, “That’s nice dear.”

The girl came over and said, “Ew, what’s that?”

I looked at her and said, “Food.”

“Ew. Like what kind of food?”

I rolled my eyes and said, “Like the kind you eat to fill the holes in your belly.”

“Ew. Like who are you anyway?”

Well I’d had enough of the girl and turned to her twin and older brother who’d come as soon as they heard the word food. The older boy said, “Don’t be so dumb Hannah Banana. That’s a squash.”

“Ew,” was her reply to him as well.

The other boy whose name turned out to be Harry but whom everyone called Opie for some reason said, “I think I’m hungry enough to eat it. Do you peel it first?”

I didn’t know whether he was serious or not but I treated him like he was. “Yeah, and you cook it too.”

Opie and Sol look so crestfallen I had to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Mom … well, if you have to cook it more than likely she won’t know how.”

And that’s how I wound up making a meal for the family of strangers that were there to take my home away. I hauled out a big ol’ pot and cooked up a mess of greens, squash and sliced some tomatoes. Wheat was scarce that year and the corn from the crib hadn’t gone to the miller yet so I didn’t have any bread for the meal. Didn’t seem to matter none at all; the boys nearly licked the design off the bottom of their plates and Hannah, though a sight more mannerly about it, did her food justice as well.

The parents were just as hungry as their kids and it took a few minutes before the father even asked who I was and where had I come from. I shrugged my shoulders and told him. It was about that time that the three uniformed men made to leave and the father rushed over and asked what they planned to do with me.

“I wasn’t told anything about bringing back any orphans, call a social worker. And since she doesn’t appear on my paperwork she’s your problem, not mine.” And with that the uniforms climbed back into the cab of the big truck and left.

And that’s how I came to live with the Bly family. At first they didn’t know what to do with me any more than anyone else had but at least they didn’t pester me and Mr. and Mrs. Bly were kind in their own way. I got along well with the boys but Hannah barely tolerated me. Hannah isn’t a bad person – she even has her good points sometimes – but for the most part she resented me because I reminded her of all the things she’d been forced to give up and leave behind. I was everything she never wanted to be and was being forced into.

I was nominally a member of the family but in reality I was as much a hired hand as my cousins. It didn’t make me angry, it just was the way it was and I was satisfied for it to be that way. Truth be told that first year the Bly family would have probably starved to death many times over if I hadn’t been around and willing to show them how to do things. Mr. Bly was a good man but he’d been a desk-bound accountant and in his own words knew next to nothing about anything except numbers. The science of farming was a complete mystery to him in the beginning. The main difference between Mr. Bly and a lot of the city folk that had been dumped in our community after the deadly epidemic was his willingness to learn and to earn people’s friendship, not just expect it right off like some kind of entitlement. He bartered what skills he had or asked to learn by watching and helping before he asked for something in return. This didn’t just earn people’s friendship but their respect as well which in a little place like our county could go a long way towards making life comfortable.

The only thing Mr. Bly never seemed to learn how to do was shoot a gun with any kind of accuracy; folks around learned to duck or to offer to do it themselves. His eyeglass prescription had already been out of date when they moved to the farm and time only made the problem worse. I put the food on the table by myself until I managed to teach Opie and Sol to shoot using my old pistol. Mrs. Bly didn’t find out about that until it was too late and the deed was done; she couldn’t have forced them to give it up had she tried though she did opine about it in the beginning. It wasn’t just hunting for food and keeping varmints out of the garden that made the skill of shooting with some accuracy needed. From time to time we’d have trouble with thieves and rustlers and they could wipe out a family just as fast as war and pestilence.

Opie (as I called him then) and I were friends from the start. I never have been able to put my finger on exactly how it happened but it was like he and I were closer to being cousins than I had ever been with my own. With Sol it was different. He was just a little over a year older but sometimes it felt like more. He was a good looking young man with a good mind under his hair. And he could be kind in a way most teenage boys of my acquaintance were not; his eyes often being the thing that drew attention first. The rest of him wasn’t hard to look at neither. As strange as people found it, Sol admired me as much as I did him. I wasn’t pretty the way some of the girls in the district were but according to him being sloe-eyed and dark headed gave me a look that I’d improve with age; a strangely mature thing for a boy his age to say. I later found out he’d read it in a book someplace but it still made me blush with pleasure.

And as things go, life continued on year over year. The summer the twins and I were sixteen Sol had to leave and give his mandatory service. His uncle is an influential man in certain circles and managed to pull some strings and have him assigned to the garrison that provided security to the munitions factory he is a managing partner at. Sol could have spent all of his meager pay on himself but being a good son and since he was living in his uncle’s home – a home that was basically a secure compound – he sent nearly all of it home. However, since the pay was in the form of state currency he had to convert it to hard goods before sending it. The things unavailable in our district were much appreciated and he would even include a little something special for me when he could. His letters, of which there were many describing his life and duties, were welcome diversions from all of the hard work. But just when we were counting the days for him to return home an awful thing occurred. Towards the end of his service there was an attack on the factory and Sol was sent home in the gravest condition; sent home to die since no one expected him to recover from his injuries.

I wasn’t going to let that happen. My infatuation had grown over the years to something real and serious. I could not have abided losing someone else in such a tragic manner. I used every last bit of the knowledge and “receipts” handed down to me by the womenfolk in my family and then went and got more from those left in the community. With that and God’s Grace Sol pulled through; it took months but he did pull through with only a few interesting scars to show for it.

During this time Sol and I became closer than we ever had before … too close. We were both smart with a fair portion of commonsense, or so I thought, but that still didn’t exempt us from acting stupid on occasion. And with no one thinking anything of it we were left pretty much without a chaperone of any kind all the time. Hormones are powerful things especially when you imagine yourselves to be in love.

It was only the once, but once was all it took. Mr. and Mrs. Bly were disappointed naturally but loving nonetheless. They didn’t really interfere with how we spent time together; after all that would have been like shutting the barn door after the cows had escaped. On the other hand it did change things between us; I said no like I shoulda that other time, trying to repair my self-respect even if it was too late for anyone else to notice. Also, a wedding was scheduled for Sol’s next leave. He’d been informed upon surviving that he still owed several weeks on his tour and there wasn’t time to do much of the event planning that Mrs. Bly insisted on before he had to return to his garrison.

I grew comfortable with the plans people seemed to have for my future since I’d rarely made any for myself. Mrs. Bly seemed to be excited and I suppose that was as good a reason as any that I went along with anything and everything she seemed to want. Mr. Bly told me she’d run out of steam directly and that I needed to be prepared to deal with whatever mess was left. Even so saying he was ever ready to run an errand for her when she demanded it. A month later she sent him on one such errand.

Mr. Bly was taking some notices to the family to the depot to mail. A fight broke out while he was standing in line at the station that involved a lot of pushing and shoving. Mr. Bly’s eyesight worked against him and he didn’t have near the amount of room to move away from things as he’d thought. At some point someone barreled into him and over the edge he went … right into the path of an oncoming refugee train. Several men from the surrounding area came out to tell Mrs. Bly what had happened but it still took ‘em telling her several times before she would accept they weren’t playing a cruel joke.

A telegram was immediately dispatched to Mrs. Bly’s brother Bill to inform Sol of what had happened. There was no way he could make it home for the funeral in time but he could grieve with the family long distance. Mrs. Bly also told her brother to expect us all on a certain date as without Mr. Bly they would have no choice but to leave the farm since it had been with him that the government contract had been signed. I was terrified at the prospect of leaving my home but I remember that Sol was waiting on me and I let the tide pull me where it would.

I didn’t have much time to think about what I was heading into as it was all I could do to help Mrs. Bly and Hannah pack some things to go and then to box up the rest and store it in the barn against the weather and thieves for her brother to send for. Someone else would be taking over the management of the harvest that year, what there was of it. The government penalized you for letting a field go fallow when there were soldiers and such to feed so the ground was growing tired and giving less and less.

I might have worried but Mrs. Bly was certain of her brother’s reception; he’d been trying for years to get them to move in with him. Mr. Bly had always opposed the idea saying, “I prefer to be my own man now. I may not be much of one but at least no one owns me.” For his part Opie – who now preferred to be called by his given name – wasn’t too thrilled with the move. He only had a little bit of time before he had to show up for his duty assignment and was disgruntled that he’d be cooped up in his uncle’s home rather than free “as men should be.”

A week of sorting and packing and we were on the road. Opie and I drove the hybrid wagon made from an old pickup truck and pulled by the family’s team of work horses; we moved slow but at least it was some better than walking. Another week after that and we were pulling into Uncle Bill’s compound. I was nauseous but whether from traveling, the heat, the baby, nerves, or a week of Hannah’s theatrics I couldn’t decide.

“Opie …”

“Mother.” Harry no longer appreciated his nickname and was at constant pains to remind everyone of that. “Please call me Harry.”

On the other hand Mrs. Bly was too exhausted to appreciate his feelings and said, “Oh for Heaven’s sake. Just go find your uncle. Now. He should have met us at the crossroads as I asked.”

“Oh Mom,” Hannah gushed. “Just look at this place. No more grubbing and …”

Mrs. Bly didn’t feel up to Hannah’s normal behavior either. “Shut up Hannah. If I know my brother there will be work enough for you to keep up with soon enough. For you too Damaris.”

I hadn’t expected any less and nodded while Hannah looked like an outraged cat at the very idea of anyone bursting her bubble with reality. I was just irritable enough to say something to her about jumping from the frying pan into the fire but didn’t want to upset Mrs. Bly any more than she obviously already was. I didn’t have time regardless because a cranky looking woman ushered us into the foyer of the big house and stood over us like we were imposters. The woman reminded me more of a prison matron than a matronly housekeeper.

All the noise from the house finally resolved itself into the sounds of a lively party. Hannah grew weary of being polite when she imagined fun was so close by and finally bulled past the startled woman – she obviously hadn’t been prepared for Hannah’s ways – and then pushed through the double doors where the noise was coming from.

The room was bigger that the whole farmhouse put together but it wasn’t the size of the room that mattered so much as the final realization that Hannah had opened a Pandora’s Box.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Three

Loud and noisy young men and women, many as my grandmother would have said the worse for wear, were clumped about the edges of the room. Food, a luxury unless you grew it yourself since the war began, stood on fancy serving trays on every surface large enough to hold one.

I heard Mrs. Bly gasp and Hannah utter a shocked expletive just as the rest of the party fell into focus for me. At the far side of the room a young couple stood in the middle of a passionate embrace beneath a hand painted banner that read "Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Sol Bly."

I looked at Mrs. Bly's horrified face and was trying to form a coherent question when several burly security guards roughly pushed Hannah from the room and then dragged all three of us down an unlit hall. We were unceremoniously thrown into a room where we found Harry nursing a busted lip.

He was as angry as a red head can get until he caught sight of me, then he turned so pale his freckles looked like bird shot. "Riss ... I swear I didn't know."

His words confirmed my suspicions and worst fears; it was passed April and the jokes were all done. It had indeed been Sol standing there with some girl that wasn't me. I wasn't ready to ask why but I could at least ask a numb, "Who?"

Harry shrugged angrily. "Uncle Bill had me hustled away before I could ask. He slapped me and called me a hysterical boy and told me if I didn't shut up he would have me locked up."

Before I could think of another thing to say a narrow faced, dark eyed, austere looking man walked into the room and locked the door behind him. He looked square at me and said in a deep, calm voice, "It's too late you know. There's no need to cause a scene at this point."

I looked him square in the eye and it reminded me of looking into the eyes of a puma that I'd had to shoot; cold, calculating ... a pure predator. I said nothing. Not because I was especially afraid but because that gaze told me there wasn't anything to say, at least not to him. My silence however managed to unsettle him and I think he would have had more to say but he was forced to turn to his sister who had collapsed into a chair and was weeping. "How could you Bill? How could you let this happen? You knew everything was all planned and …" She looked up and realization dawned. "You did get my telegram didn't you," she accused.

"Yes," he admitted without remorse. "Your husband always did do his best to interfere with my plans for my family. Thanks to him everything has been chaos around here for two weeks. I've been working on this for over a year and your brats, as bad as your husband, have nearly ruined things three times over."

Ignoring most of what he had said she asked, "Who is she?"

"Daughter of one of my partners and he’s lucky to have her,” he answered readily enough. “Her father is dying and taking his own sweet time doing it, though he’s been worse lately. And when he's gone the girl will inherit his full estate. I want majority control of the factory and that stock will give it to me. I had the boy convinced months ago then the fool had to play hero and nearly get killed. I expected him to come back and pick up where we left of but instead the fool boy gets piece of hillbilly trash knocked up and promised to marry her as a consequence."

Searching for any crumb I asked, "Did you tell him I had changed my mind? Or that I'd lost the baby?"

He laughed and said, "Nothing so melodramatic girl. I simply told him the truth. He didn't need to marry you to have you before and he wouldn't need to to keep having you if he made it worth your while. That he could marry Shantelle, have a good respectable life here and rise up in the company just like I did, not have to scrimp and scrap for every little thing. That he could have you on the side until he wanted to try a new flavor. The baby was just an accident and he shouldn't have to pay for an accident the rest of his life."

Feeling like a knife had been plunged into me I turned away and went to the window, pulling back the blackout curtain to let in some moonlight. My world had come crashing down on me for the third time and it hurt; maybe not bad enough to kill me but right then it felt pretty close to it.

I heard Sol's uncle telling Mrs. Bly that she didn’t need to worry about me, that he was sending me to work in the munitions factory until he decided exactly what was to be done as that wasn’t what was important right then. He kept on in that vein but little did he know that I had already decided that he could stuff his plans one way or the other.

I felt a rough pinch on my arm as he demanded, "Are you listening to me girl?"

"Not particularly," I replied as I tried to walk passed him. When he tried to grab my arm again I was ready for him and I showed him that he'd underestimated this hillbilly by slicing his arm open with the pen knife that was as much my constant companion as my pistol was; and he was lucky I didn’t use that on him.

I walked out of the room and down the hall, back towards the party. I don't know where I got the nerve; I just knew it had to be done if I was ever going to have any peace or self-respect. I opened those double doors and walked right up to Sol and taped him on the shoulder. The guards, who I could see out of the corner of my eye, were in a right panic not knowing what to without creating a worse scene than I was about to.

When Sol turned and saw who it was to say he was shocked was putting it mildly. I’d never seen him turn that exact shade of green. I said in a normal tone of voice that nevertheless carried to everyone that was within earshot and then some, "Your uncle busted your brother's lip keeping him from coming in here. Your mother is nearly in hysterics and I think you finally managed to truly embarrass your sister."

The young woman clinging to him stepped forward and said, "How dare you talk to my husband that way. How dare you try to ruin our reception. Who do you think you are?!"

Unwilling to be cowed by the person that had taken part in destroying my world I said, "Well until a few minutes ago I was his fiancé and I am still the mother of his unborn child." That shut her up real quick. It also shut up everyone else in the room, even the sloppy drunks. "Sol, your daddy was killed two weeks ago. Your momma sent a telegram to your uncle to let you know."

He said quietly, "He told me."

That Shantelle keep pulling on his arm for his attention but he ignored her as much as I did. "Yet you still went through with this?"

He didn't answer me but shame began to creep into his face replacing the bravado that had been there just the moment before. Still having trouble believing what was happening I told him, "I never would have forced you to marry me. We were both equally guilty. You didn't have to lie and do this." He reached a hand out but I stepped back. "What you've gone and done has spoiled anything that could have been between us, even if all it turned out to be was friendship. When I leave here I never want to see you or hear from you again. Never in two lifetimes would I have thought you would have done me and the baby like this. It's plain I was a fool to have ever trusted you with my heart. You're dead to me ... and to our baby too."

I didn't give him a chance to say anything in reply. I turned around and left at a fast trot. Harry caught me as I was heading for the wagon and insisted on following me. All I was thinking about was getting to my bags before I was stopped. "Where are you going?" he demanded.

"I haven't got a gosh dang clue," I said between clinched teeth.

Then he asked, "How are you gonna get there?"

"Don't know that either," I told him climbing into the wagon and sliding a box out of my way.

He stopped me and looked at me close and asked, "Want company on the way?"

I was so mad I almost said no outright but reason and commonsense had started to filter back in around my anger and hurt. "Your mom and sister need you."

"Naw," he denied. "Uncle Bill might be an old so and so but he's always doted on them. He'll see them taken care of if for no other reason than his own pride. 'Sides, I've only got a couple of months until I have to show up for duty and I don't want to spend 'em locked up in a guilded cage; he might figure out how to manage me before I can get away from him. We can use that time to find you a place to stay."

"Harry ..." He was a good friend but my life was a mess and I didn't want to drag him down with me. I couldn’t escape into the past and I had no future to speak of either.

He gave me a sidelong look as he helped me by dragging his mother and sister's belongings out of the wagon. My stuff was on the bottom. "I already have an idea."

"Uh, no offense Harry but sometimes your ideas ..."

"Yeah I know," he agreed with no resentment. "But this is a real idea."

I was desperate and knew it so I let him talk. Not only that he made it plain that part of his plan was to take the wagon by turning the tired, and still harnessed animals around and heading us back out into the streets after removing a few more things from the bed.

I asked him if he was sure one more time and after using a few choice words to explain just how sure he started telling me the rest of his plan. "There's this man ..."

"Oh no."

He sighed then said, "I wouldn't want to listen if I was in your shoes either but I'm not sure you got many options at this point so at least hear me out." After I nodded he continued. "There's this man I know. He needs a wife." Despite my groan he kept going. "But not just any wife. He farms a nice chunk of land and he has a little boy."

"So? Lot's of men have kids and more than a few of ‘em are farmers. Don’t see where that should make it hard And if he's so well off he's got a nice chunk of land he should be fairly drowning in females applying for the position."

"Well, his boy's ... different. He's sick a lot too. He's run through the bunch near where he lives and he couldn't find one he wanted that wouldn't cause more problems than she fixed."

I snorted, "And I'm knocked up and homeless. That’s going to knock the number of problems he’s got down for sure."

"Riss ..." he muttered, impatient with my attitude.

Getting serious once more I said, "Tell him to advertise in one of them newspaper flyers like gets posted on the board at the depot."

Harry shook his head. "He's already tried that. He got a lot of replies but most want a lot of money just to come out and have a face to face. They want all sorts of guarantees and have lots of requirements. Most of them want a house with running water and power, no out house, shopping they can walk to, and an allowance on top of everything else. Dino isn't broke but after paying the planters and the tax man he ain't exactly flush right now and he won't be until after his harvest."

"Dino? You don't mean ... you do! Harry!"

"Aw stop your clucking. Dino isn't a bad guy and he pays fair which is more than I can say of some folks. What do you have against him anyway?"

I sighed then admitted, "Nothing I guess, or at least nothing important. I just don't believe Dino Pappas can't find a wife. As soon as he hit the county and took over his grandpa's place for him he was swarmed and that was even before his wife run off. And you're not kidding about him not exactly being broke."

"Maybe, but it depends on what you consider valuable. The taxman don't take payments in grapes and the Feds don't take the state funny money neither. And lots of the women wanted more from him, well stuff ... he ... you know he ain't inclined to ... uh ..."

No, Dino Pappas wouldn't be inclined to romance and all of what he would consider nonsense. "I heard his wife - the one what run off - kind of soured him on the idea of marriage."

Harry nodded, "So it did ... for a while. But I guess between the boy and ... uh ... other things he's ... uh ..."

"He's what?" I asked suspiciously.

"Er ...". Even in the dark I could see his face glowing red hot with embarrassment.

"Harry ..."

"I'm not sure ... you know ... after what just happened ... and your condition and all ... um ..."

I sighed. Harry was a good 'un but he was still more boy than man and way too easy to embarrass. "Just spit it out already. It can't be any worse than the mess I'm already in ... can it?"

"Well the thing is ... guys have drives ... and needs ... and I guess that ... you know ... it gets old and expensive visiting ... certain ... places I shouldn't be mentioning in the presence of a lady. I guess Dino is reckoning on killing two birds with one stone. He'll get someone to see to his boy and all the housekeeping stuff and someone to see to his ... uh ... needs."

Upset and embarrassed despite my own predicament I snapped, "How 'bout I feel the need to stone you right about now."

"Aw Riss, you know what I mean. Ain't no other way to say that than blunt. 'Sides, if you marry Dino people won't talk."

"Are you stupid on purpose?! Even if ...," I stopped, suddenly close to tears. "Look, even if I had married Sol people were gonna talk. They were already talkin'. Heck, some people had stopped speaking to me all together and I was even asked to step aside and let someone else play piano by everyone except the amen pew sitters and that’s because them folks where my grandfather’s friends and wouldn’t hear of it. And just wait 'til folks hear what's happened. They'll say I got what was coming to me."

Harry shrugged. "Like Dad said, it takes two to tango. And as for Sol ...". I could hear the hurt and anger in his voice. "I always figured Hannah would be the one to disgrace the family first and maybe me second, but did you catch the look on her face? Even my dingy twin knows what a fool Sol has acted. She knew I was coming after you and told me to tell you to be sure and write. As for Sol, I don't feel like I ever knew him now. I mean if he’d do this what else has he lied about." He shook his head. "I just can't believe what he did. And he just stood there and didn't say sorry or nuthin'. You know I'd offer to marry you myself but I ain't got nothing to support you with, especially with a baby on the way. Besides, you've probably had enough of the Bly men."

I was afraid of laughing at the way he said the last part, and it was too sweet to spoil. The truth was marrying Harry would have been like marrying a brother. I knew he would have made the sacrifice for my sake which was sweet but it kinda had a bit of ickiness to it that I didn't much care to think on. When I didn't say anything after a while he asked, "You wanna ... uh ... talk ... or cry or something?"

I shook my head. "Maybe later. Right now my head's so stuffed with stuff nothing can find its way out."

Harry let the quiet carry us for another mile before turning practical again. "We're not gonna get much farther before the curfew kicks in. And the horses need to rest. I've still got the money Mom sewed into my belt but we're gonna need some for the toll road. You feel up to camping?"

I shrugged. "What you got in mind?"

"Remember where you and Hannah picked them berries at lunch?" I nodded. "There's an old house, all over grown, if you go down that driveway a spell. It ain't much but it'll keep us and the horses dry and outta sight of the road patrol. And a bucket of them berries will make a reasonable breakfast if you can make a little extra fry bread tonight."

For four the remaining food would just barely have been slim rations but for just two they were reasonable becoming even more so as we realized it wasn’t taking us nearly as long to travel the same miles. After we made camp and while Harry saw to the horses I fried up some of the last of the cured ham and used the grease in the skillet to wilt some summer greens I found growing between the flagstones of the old patio. With what little bit of seasoning was left in the skillet I made a double batch of fry bread. As a treat I also peeled a couple of pickled eggs and sliced them over the greens. It wasn't a feast but it was pretty good for road food and it was a heck of a lot cheaper than eating at any of the places set up to serve folks that were travelling overnight along the highway.

The next morning as we were hitching the team I said, "I made a mess last night at your uncle's party. What's the chance he's gonna send someone after me? And you're sure he won't take it out on your momma and Hannah?"

"Chances? Slim to none. Uncle Bill won't waste the money looking for us so long as we stay out of the city. And I already told you he dotes on Mom and Hannah. He'll get them wrapped up and comfortable and they won't even realize they're in nothing but a pretty jail. I'm more like Dad ... I'm one Bly he won't sink his hooks into." Looking at me he changed the subject. "I heard you crying last night."

Too tired to dissemble I said, "I guess you did. I didn't mean for you to though."

"It's all right. I just don't know what to do to make it better."

"I don't guess there's anything that can make it better. But Harry?" When he turned to look at me I told him, "I meant it. I don't want nuthin' to do with Sol ever again. Don't tell any of them about where ever I wind up or whatever I wind up doing. I might be able to forgive him one day - may have to to keep it from eating me alive - but for the rest of it he's dead to me."

"What about ... you know ... the baby?"

"Sol made his choice. He betrayed us. He likely thinks he made a lucky escape. When the baby gets old enough to ask questions I won't lie, and I'll have to accept if he or she ever go looking for their own answers, but I can't imagine I'll ever encourage it," I said trying to keep the hurt and anger I was still feeling out of my voice.

"What about me, Hannah and Mom?" he asked quietly.

"You? Sure and always … don’t ever think any other thing than that. But for the rest of it I just haven't thought that far ahead. I'm not ready to. Please don't ask me to write something in stone before I’m ready to."

"Sure, I understand I think. Just try and get around to it one of these days. Mom was starting to get excited ... at least after the shock wore off. Hannah too. It'd be a shame ..."

"Harry ... Please."

It had taken us a full week to travel from the farm to the city; it barely took four on the return trip. The wagon was lighter and we didn't have to stop early for Mrs. Bly or Hannah each night. Harry parked the wagon in a shaded grove of apple trees and then told me to wait while he walked the rest of the way to the Pappas place and put things to Dino.

I let him go but I swear I'm still not sure Harry knows what he's doing. I'm still not sure I know what I'm doing even if he does. I'm even less sure a man like Dino Pappas would look to someone like me in my situation for a wife. I know I gotta do something before I get too big to do anything but I'm just not sure this is the right something for me to do. I’m not blaming anyone for my troubles, my choices brought ‘em on. I take responsibility for that. But I could still just about do something dreadful to Sol, his uncle, and even that Shantelle girl. What am I supposed to do? For sure I've got myself into a powerful mess.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Four

I haven’t really experienced that much morning sickness, I have been lucky that way I reckon. Mrs. Bly said I have a cast iron stomach and that I should feel blessed with that fact. But still, I’d had it catch me off guard ever so often and one of those times were on me right as Harry came back, and he wasn’t alone which hurt my dignity a mite.

Dino Pappas is ten years my senior but carries himself like it is twice that. Life hasn’t been especially easy on him and it shows. Fear twisted a knot in my guts as bad as when I finally admitted to myself that I was a girl in trouble. But at least then I’d had someone to share my fear and shame with.

Harry’s face wore the cautious look he’d learned to have when taking the animals to market for auction. The spurt of anger that that thought brought reignited my pride and stiffened my spine. I turned to look Dino Pappas full in the face. With no preamble or nuthin’ he ignored my predicament and asked, “This some game to you or are you serious?”

I gave it the thought it deserved seeing as how I’d just been wondering the same thing not that long ago. “This ain’t no game, least ways not on my part. And as for serious, I got a problem in front of me that I need to deal with. Harry seems to think that you do too.”

A little belligerently he asked, “And you expect to use me to fix your problem and make an honest woman of you?”

“I’m already an honest woman Mr. Pappas. I’m just one that’s made a mistake that can’t be undone. It don’t make me look like I have any sense but I do. Sense enough to come up with a different suggestion from the one that’s been floated.” At his surprised look I explained. “You don’t really need a wife. Sure don’t sound like you especially want one either. What you do need is a housekeeper and auntie for your boy. I can do that. I can also help in the fields for a while yet. By the time I do get too big it’ll be cold weather anyway.”

“What’s it gonna cost me?” he asked even more suspicious than he had been.

“Let me move my trailer to your farm; it’s still mine to do with as I will. Let me bring over some of my family things though I don’t expect you to house them all. Give me a place to have my baby. After I’m healed of that enough not to risk childbirth fever if you can’t abide me, I ask you to still give me a month to find a new situation.”

He lifted one eyebrow like he wasn’t too sure I wasn’t spinning a yarn. “And what’s my guarantee that you won’t use me until you can find you a ‘situation’ more to your liking? I’ll have wasted money on your wages and …”

Impatiently I told him, “Mr. Pappas if you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about once was enough. I don’t have the luxury for that kind of thinkin’ no more; I got a baby comin’. And for the record I’m not talking ‘bout cash wages, just room and board. I’m desperate, not greedy.”

Harry opened his mouth to object and I tried to stop him with a wave of my hand, but he wouldn’t be stopped. “What about your reputation Riss? You’ll lose it for sure that way.”

I looked at Harry and said a thing we both know was true. “Can’t lose what I don’t have none left of. ‘Sides, it’s a little late for me to be worrying along those lines. Everybody in the county knows I was a fool; soon enough they’ll know just how big a fool.”

The pain was back and I struggled to hide it. Strangely Mr. Pappas turned kind which perforce only made it hurt worse. “There’s no hope for it?”

I shook my head and had to clear my throat twice before I could say, “None.”

“And you won’t go running if at some point he comes to his senses and tries to fix things?”

“No,” I answered quietly and despite myself my sadness and pain was there for anyone to hear. “I thought Harry explained.”

“He did,” he admitted.

“Then you know. He made his choice. He could only do what he done if what I thought we had was nuthin’ but moonspun fantasy. I was foolish to believe it, but I ain’t fool enough to answer that call twice.”

We all three fell silent then he said, “Harry give us a moment alone.”

Not sure he like that Harry still gave us what was asked for. After Harry had walked over to pull the seed tops off some tall grass Mr. Pappas looked at me and said, “You’re younger than I was looking for.”

“I expect so. I can’t recall you ever socializing with the younger crowd at the barn raisings or harvest dances.”

He grimaced at the thought and then asked, “How far along are you?”

“Nearly four months.”

“You sure?”

Not sure why he was asking I said, “To the date.”

He snorted. “You’re showing your age girl. It’s not that easy to pin down.”

I rolled my eyes. “It is if you were only foolish once,” I said with a blush despite myself.

His eyebrows flew towards his hairline. “Well girl, you are paying aren’t you?”

I wasn’t real happy with his close examination but figured that since he was interviewing me to be taking care of his child I owed him all my honesty. “It is what it is,” I said by way of agreeing and taking responsibility at the same time.

He nodded and then said, “My boy’s name is Kerry … he’s a handful.”

I shrugged. “Most boys are. My brother and cousins certainly were.”

“Your brother died in the epidemic with the rest of your family?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a couple of cousins left in the military. I hear from them once or twice a year. Then there’s Harry but he ain’t a blood relation. He and I are …” I stopped. There was no way to continue without sounding pathetic.

“Sure. I’m in the same boat. A lot of people seem to be these days.” Looking me up and down he said, “Most women would have had a string of questions for me already.”

I wasn’t sure what there was that I needed to know beyond what I already did but to be polite I asked, “Will your boy’s … will Kerry’s momma have words to say about me taking care of him?”

“No,” he replied sharply like the one question I had asked hadn’t been a good one. “I told her when she left …” He stopped and I saw an anger I might one day feel myself. But then he forced himself to calm down. “Kerry knows his mother doesn’t live with us. Tammy never let it bother her that she was saying cruel and untrue things to a small child and the fact that the child was hers mattered even less. It is likely one of the reasons why he behaves like he does but I just don’t have the time to deal with it and he’s not old enough for me to explain it the way it needs to be explained.”

“How old is he?” I asked.

“Four.”

“How long has … Tammy … been gone?”

“Going on two years. And she hasn’t tried to contact me at all during that time. I don’t even know where she is these days. I can assure you there won’t be any issues from that quarter.”

“Not at all?”

Misunderstanding he sneered and asked, “Still holding out hope for your baby daddy?”

Knowing I’d probably have to suck up such statements as a daily diet no matter where I went I tried not to let it bother me. “No, just making sure I know what I’m getting into and that you’re the only one I’ll have to answer to.”

He shook himself and looked off into the orchard without really seeing the trees. “Tammy chose not to adapt to moving here after I was medically discharged.”

Giving him as close a look as he’d just finished giving me a few minutes before I asked, “You’ve got health problems?”

“One of my legs had to be screwed back together,” he admitted defensively.

Knowing that it either happened early in the war or that he’d been in a unit with special privileges to have anything screwed back together I looked at his leg and then shrugged. “It doesn’t seem to stop you from being a farmer,” stating the obvious after seeing no visible sign of the injury.

A smile of pride was preceded by a satisfied, “No.”

We fell silent again. Finally I said, “Mr. Pappas I need the job. I’ll do the best I can and you can ask Harry or anyone else … I can work and work hard. They might not give you a good view of my character but I swear to you Sol is the only fella that I’ve been stupid with in any way. I hate to rush you but I need to know if I’m wasting my time because that’s what I don’t have much of to spare.”

His lips twisted. “Go on back to the wagon and give me a moment to think.” Instead of thinking though he went to talk to Harry.

I still wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing but I didn’t have any other options. I sat wondering what I’d do next if it didn’t pan out. I considered what families were in the area that might need some help, at least through the harvest season.

My thoughts were deep and wandering and it startled me when they both climbed into the wagon seat.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 5

Mr. Pappas drove the wagon but it was Harry who climbed into the back with me and explained things. Quietly, barely audible over the creaking of the wagon and the jangling of the tack he said, “Dino doesn’t need a housekeeper Riss; it’s like I told you, he wants a wife. And he’s offering you the chance to think about it to see if the two of you will suit well enough to make a go of it.”

Startled I said the first thing that came to mind. “His boy might not like me.”

Smiling conspiratorially Harry reminded me, “That never stopped you before. Hannah didn’t want nothing to do with you at first yet you still taught her how to survive, and even better than she realizes it yet.”

His words startled me, making him laugh a little. “It’s one of the reasons Dad was always glad you stayed. He knew if you hadn’t our lives would have been a lot rougher than they were. At the same time you were also the reason he wasn’t as hard on the rest of us as he could have been. You made sure we knew what we needed to do so they wouldn’t have to always be at us, pounding away.”

“I never knew.” After a moment I added, “I thought a lot of your daddy. He could have run me off – most folks would have.”

“Riss,” Harry said getting real serious. “I know this isn’t what was planned and I know you’re gonna have to decide quick … and I know a lot of people question whether I’ve got any sense at all … but I never would have brought you here if I didn’t trust Dino to do right by you. Don’t let what Sol did sour you on people or on marriage. Look at my parents; they weren’t perfect but they managed to keep it together and make it work. Look at some of the other crazy pairings that are working; it ain’t like you and Dino would be the only marriage of convenience around. That love stuff is important, but it ain’t the first important thing like it used to be. At least think on this some.”

What I was thinking was that Harry was an odd boy; but it was also one of the reasons why we were friends, because I was odd too. Leaning back trying to take some of the pressure off of my sitter on the worst of the ruts in the road I asked, “How quick does he want an answer?”

“The quicker the better but he says that he’ll give you a couple of days to think on it.”

I’d thought we were being quiet enough that he wouldn’t overhear but there was nothing wrong with Dino Pappas’s ears. “If it makes a difference I plan on it being a legal contract and not just a spoken one.” That’s what people had started calling the different kinds of marriages people had, sort of like the difference between the old marriage licenses and civil unions. A legal contract marriage was a piece of paper that was filed with the state and recognized everywhere including by the Feds. A spoken “contract” was anything else from common law to civil union to something that was so casual it had no legal binding to it. The spoken ones were only as good as the people doing the speaking and usually even then only good in the state that they was declared in.

I looked at his back and saw that he had sweated through the shirt he was wearing so many times that it was faded in places and that there was a wore out place on the shoulder that was going to get worse real quick unless it was mended. “So you mean for this to stick? No giving yourself an out just in case you get sorry at some point?” I felt pressed to ask him.

“I was sorry that way once, I don’t intend on being sorry that way again. It will either work or it won’t but either way it won’t be because I started off expecting it to fail.”

That actually gave me more comfort than I intended it to but I was still cautious. I’d already heard the promises of one man, I didn’t intend on being made a fool of again. “Who do you want to marry us? If we go through with this I mean. I don’t think Brother Carver has kept up his license. Or at least that was what Mrs. Bly was fussing about at one point.” I was referring to the man that was acting as interim preacher at the church I had been attending with the Bly family.

He nodded. “I’ll speak with Judge Hargrove.”

“My word, you are serious about this aren’t you,” I couldn’t help but say. No one approached the Judge unless they were serious as a heart attack about what they wanted because if he put his name to it he expected it to stick and would fight tooth and nail with anybody trying to break such a contract unless there was a doggone good reason for it.

With too much understanding in his voice the man I was giving serious contemplation to marrying said, “I say what I mean and I keep my word.” And because I realized that appeared to be true, I needed to think real hard before I gave any words of my own.

We all fell silent except for some hard grunts because we’d come to a piece of road that no one maintained but once across it a neatly level, freshly graveled road took us the rest of the way into a tidy farmstead. A house, built of real stone and brickwork rose a majestic two and a half stories. It had a wide wraparound porch that looked like it could have easily sat a couple of dozen folks had there been that many chairs sat out; but there was only one rocker and a swing, neither of which were occupied.

Off away from the house was a barn and a few other outbuildings within easy walk. On the other side of the house was a large garden that needed tending in a desperate way. Beyond the garden was row upon row of grape vines infinitely better cared for than the garden. It was quite a place all right and a bit intimidating to me to think of having to help with its upkeep. For the most part what I’d seen in just that one look appeared to be in reasonable order but it wasn’t getting the attention that it needed save for the cash crop fields.

We’d stepped up onto the porch and Mr. Pappas was saying, “There is more garden behind the house including my grandmother’s rose garden. There’s also a couple of groves of fruit and nut trees but we’ll have to walk around for you to …” What he had intended to finish with was cut off when first several chickens came fleeing and behind them a pup and a little boy doing the chasing.

A sharp expletive jumped from between Mr. Pappas’ lips and he rushed down the steps and straight towards the little hellion that was laughing like he didn’t have a care in the world. Knowing it was going to take more than one person to save the chickens I grabbed the broom that happened to be leaning near the kitchen door and stomped down the steps. Taking aim as the pup rushed by chasing another brainless feather duster I swung and sent the pup snout over tail making him yip in surprise.

“Sit!” I commanded.

The little hellion wrenched out of his father’s arms and tried to set on me but I turned quick and caught him by surprise as I pushed him to where he wound up sitting with the pup. He went to start his mouth and I asked in the same tone I’d heard my grandfather use with my cousins, “You want someone to have to shoot that dog?”

That shut him up for all of about two seconds but I stopped him again by saying, “And if someone has to it will be your own fault for teaching him to be a chicken killer.”

The boy’s eyes got big and round. Most kids know that chicken killers aren’t tolerated by even the most dirt poor scratchers. As soon as an animal – whether it be dog, cat, or something else – got to be known as a chicken killer it wasn’t long for this world.

I got a mean look and then he said, “You’re stupid. He ain’t a chicken killer. He was just playing.”

I shook my head. “He’s a just a pup now but what he’s learning to be is a hunter. And what you’re doing is teaching him to hunt chickens. Pretty soon his instincts will get away from him. It may already be too late to unlearn what you’ve done taught him.”

“You can’t do nothing to my dog. He’s mine and you kill him I’ll kill you.”

Before Mr. Pappas could act on the outrage and anger that flashed on his face I got down in Kerry’s face and told him, “Them some powerful big words for such a little squirt. And unless you want your sitter to be boiling hotter than this day is you better watch your mouth with me. You may have been able to run off all the other women your daddy brung home but you’re going to have to grow a mite bigger and then some before you’re able to push me around. And forget about them crocodile tears yore thinking about using, they don’t work with me either. Now get your hind end up and help put these poor ol’ things back in their yard where they’ll be safe and can get some water and cool off. Your daddy will be lucky not to lose one or two just from the heat and scare they’ve taken.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Don’t think so? Try me. And you can forget about your dog for a while.”

“Wha .. ? Why?! Where are you taking my puppy?!!” he cried as I grabbed his now thoroughly cowed dog by its scruff and started to haul him towards a small fenced in area that had a doghouse in it.

“I’m putting him up until you can prove that you are responsible enough to have a dog. And you better pray he can be broken of any bad habits he’s learned.” I let the “or else” hang in the air and even Kerry got the message.

He tried to open his mouth but his daddy got to him first. “Boy …” One word but that’s all it took. Kerry might have been spoiled in some ways but that let me know he wasn’t ruined; he at least still respected his daddy. I just hope the dog isn’t ruined. I’ll put it down myself if I have to but there’s something wrong feeling about being forced to kill an animal just ‘cause it was taught wrong by its human master.

I didn’t like being the one to discipline the pup but I’d rather discipline it than end up having to see it killed. I tied him good and firm to a stone post inside the fenced off area and then looked around in irritation at the lack of upkeep. I turned to see Kerry being force marched over my way.

His daddy gave him a look and even though he did it around a bottom lip that just about dragged the ground he gave me a reluctant apology. Never one to pass up an opportunity I sat on a stump outside the dog pen and pulled him over to me. “Kerry, do you understand how serious it is to own something?”

He just looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I explained quiet and serious, “When we own something that means it’s been put into our care; we’re responsible for it. And that means we have to clean it, keep it where it belongs, use it properly, put it away when we’re done with it so it’ll be there next time, and stuff like that. And when what we own is something all living – like a dog, or a mule, or some other animal – that becomes even more important.”

The bottom lip was still all pooched out but I could tell he was listening. “Fer instance, I wouldn’t say your daddy owns you precisely but he is responsible for you. He keeps a roof over your head, makes sure you’ve got a place to sleep every night, keeps you safe and makes sure you have something to eat. He also tries to teach you not to make bad choices so that as you grow up you won’t get in trouble with other folks. That’s what people are supposed to do.”

“Not my mother,” he said pathetically.

Oh he was a smart little devil but I wasn’t the type to have my heart strings twanged so easy. “So I’ve heard and look where it got her. She’s missed out on all the good things she could have had because of her poor choices.”

Twanging didn’t work so he tried a frontal attack. “I don’t want you here.”

“Well I’m not precisely sure that makes any difference if you want to know the truth. You’ve proven you are ornery and can’t seem to mind no matter how much your daddy needs you to. It’s obvious as the day is long you need someone to mind you and teach you that stepping off the straight and narrow isn’t the smartest thing in the world to do. Boy, I’m not sure they’d even take you up at the new school with the way you act and that’s a shame considering how much fun school can be.” He started to open his mouth and get me off track but I talked over him. “And your daddy needs help you aren’t old enough to give him yet, somebody that will stay around and keep helping even after you grow up and go your own way.”

Next he tried insults. “You talk funny and you’re fat.”

“And bound to get fatter, at least for a while so get used to it. Reckon I’ll be as big as a barn with the way I’m already showin’.”

“Showin’ what?” he asked like I’d taken leave of my senses.

“Well I didn’t exactly eat a melon boy. I’m gonna have a baby.”

“Why?”

“’Cause I am you monkey. Why are you such a bucket of trouble?”

“You gonna leave it here when you leave?”

I snorted, “Boy, you got some imagination. Why would I leave my baby?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “My mom left. Jimmy’s mom left too.”

Mr. Pappas mouthed a silent “Teasdale” and I understood. “Well, Jimmy’s momma didn’t have any choice. She went on to heaven to be with Jimmy’s daddy when Jimmy was a baby. It happens that way sometimes. My own parents died before I had a chance to grow up too. And do me a kindness not to measure me by your momma. I don’t aim to bad mouth her but I don’t aim to repeat her choices neither.”

He was quiet and then a disgruntled whisper came out that said, “You still talk funny.”

“And you have bad manners which is some worse.” Using the fence to stand up I looked to find Harry doing his best not to smile and though I didn’t know Mr. Pappas well he looked like he might be trying to hide one as well. I sighed. “Well, if all the fuss and feathers are taken care of if you’ll show me the kitchen I’ll get a meal going.”

Mr. Pappas said in a startled voice, “I didn’t expect you to cook.”

Giving him an owl-eyed stare I asked, “Afraid I’ll burn your supper?”

Giving as good as he got he responded, “Just trying to be ‘mannerly.’ But if you are offering I’ll accept. I need to see to a few things and it’ll give you a chance to see the inside of the house.”

He showed me to the kitchen and I was very impressed despite myself with everything except its state of cleanliness. Oh, no one would get sick eating out of it but there was just lots of little things that had been let to slide. The walls, floors and other surfaces needed a good scrubbing. The fireplace needed sweeping. And the sink was stacked with dishes that had been there more than a day or two.

Not knowing the depth of the pantry I kept the meal simple but filling. It was so hot that lighting up that big wood stove would have been a misery so I lit a fire outside in what looked like the old BBQ pit and then used the coals to fix what my mother had always called a frittata; I threw in some dried tomato and diced potato to flesh it out and give the men something to chew on besides plain ol’ eggs and cheese. As a side dish I fixed a summer salad made from peas and spinach was barely big enough to fool with yet wilty at the same time. There were a couple of sad looking sweet potatoes left in one of the bins and I cut the eyes off both ends (saved them to sprout in the kitchen window out of pure habit) and then sliced the middle and fried them up with a little butter and sweetener as a glaze. I was in the process of looking for the drinking water to make some tea with when Dino Pappas came around the house with Kerry who shot off in the direction of the outhouse.

At my raised eyebrows he said, “Seems he’s been eating some little green apples.” I winced having been there myself a time or two. He went on to ask, “What are you looking for?”

“Your hand pump or cistern. I was going to make some tea.”

“Be sparing with it. There isn’t much.”

I was gonna nod but then had to ask, “The water or the tea?”

He huffed like I’d made a funny. “The tea.”

Knowing for a fact he had a garden full of different mints I asked, “You … uh … take it to market?”

This time he was the one that stopped and looked where I rather shamefacedly pointed to a bunch that I’d already clipped to use. “Oh. Uh … I thought you meant … well, obviously not.”

Getting confused I just sorta stood there trying to figure out what he was talking about. He huffed again and shook his head. “Most of the women that came out here expected store-bought goods.”

I rolled my eyes and then said, “Well, no wonder you turned your nose up at ‘em. That stuff’s as high as a kite these days not to mention you drink too much of that stuff and you start shaking like you got palsy.”

That did make him laugh which I’m not sure I understand. Rather than explain he said, “The hand pump in the kitchen is good clean drinking water. There’s a sistern at the corner of the workshed that we use for outside needs and laundry.”

Again impressed I asked, “How did you manage to get a pump indoors?”

“It’s been in since the house was built, well before my grandparents moved in. My grandmother thought it was quaint and always refused to let anyone take it out though there were regular faucets as well until I took them out.”

“Huh,” I said in wonder. My family’s farm had been set up better than most to weather the changes the war has wrought but nothing like the convenience of a hand pump at the kitchen sink. The one convenience that I did notice missing was an ice box. “You have an ice house or an ice pit?”

“You making that a requirement?” he asked quietly.

“A requirement for what?” I asked before thinking. The words were barely out of my mouth before I realized what he’d meant. “Uh, no … I mean … I was just thinking this place has more conveniences than where I grew up except for an ice box. That we did manage to have because my grandfather was too cheap to replace it until my grandmother started serving him spoiled milk for his coffee.”

He asked, unsure whether I was funning or not I guess, “And would you do that?”

“Naw, and if you’d known my grandfather you wouldn’t be surprised. My grandmother though was what you might call a pistol. She’s the only one in the family that could have gotten away with something like that.” I smiled at memories I’d had stored away for a long time. “They seemed to be constantly at one another and an outsider would have thought they’d been better off apart but actually they were like two halves of the same body.” Suddenly another memory took over. “When it came down to dying my grandfather held her in his arms and begged God to take him instead. God didn’t answer the way he wanted so the night she died he just sorta lay down beside her and gave up. He too was gone before the sun come up on the next day. They’re buried in the same grave, in the same pine box.” I turned away and got myself busy taking the food into the house.

Quietly he came over and helped me carry it but instead of going inside he put it on a table on the back porch. “The dining table isn’t fit for company and eating out here makes it easier to clean up after Kerry.”

I grinned to cover my feelings at revealing stuff I hadn’t even talked to Sol about and said, “That explains the broom.”

He grinned relieved I wasn’t gonna turn into a watering pot and said, “Yep. I’m not interested in creating any more work for myself than I have to.”

“Then maybe you should rethink this marriage business,” I said seriously.

Kerry came banging out of the outhouse cutting whatever he was going to say short. What he did say was, “Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know. I do know I’d like to talk about this some more after I put Kerry to be tonight … if you’re willing to listen.”

I nodded. I could at least listen since I was – or at least Harry was – the one to bring this whole thing up in the first place.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 6 (Part 1)

Harry found us there on the porch about the same time Kerry tore up the steps and went to grab at the food. I hauled him back by his collar before he actually made it. “Whoa boy! Seeing your daddy’s house I know you weren’t raised in a barn. Go wash up and your daddy will fill your plate for you. No one wants to eat the dirt off your fingers in their food.”

A deep sigh was followed by obedience but only after his father gave him a look that would have scorched paint. I was wiping the serving utensils before setting them on the table when Harry looked at Mr. Pappas and said, “Told you.”

I looked at Harry and asked suspiciously, “Told him what?”

“That you’d be able to handle Kerry. There wasn’t a little boy at school that wouldn’t have walked on hot coals for you, and not a few old men around town that don’t feel the same way.”

If we hadn’t been in someone else’s house I would have given serious consideration to thumping Harry right proper and he knew it ‘cause he only grinned like a Cheshire cat and took a safe step backwards. Mr. Pappas read the look and smiled.

“Harry my man, you keep that up and you are not long for this world.”

“Maybe, but I’ll die happy.” I groaned and rolled my eyes at his tomfoolery then told him to hush and get a plate filled before everything congealed.

Kerry’s plate was filled and waiting for him when he got back then we all sat and said a quick grace before they started to feed their faces. I was gratified that no one seemed to be objecting to what they’d been served; they looked like they were actually enjoying it, even Kerry which should have tickled me but didn’t. I pushed the food around on my plate trying to convince myself to fork some in. The problem was I’d lost my appetite somewhere along the way but tried not to let it show.

“My cousin’s wife Cheryl swears by wild ginger tea.” Mr. Pappas’s comment brought me back from my thoughts. He realized I was trying to catch back up and explained, “For the … er … stomach issues.”

“Oh … that … no, I’m fine. The … the last few days … I’m sorry …” It all just sorta hit me hard and I got up quick from the table and walked away. I don’t make of habit of crying and even when I do I don’t like doing it in front of other people. I knew most of it was just being pregnant and hormonal but not all of it, not all of it by a long shot.

I tried to keep it in while I looked for a hole to crawl into. I didn’t know where I could go for privacy. Nothing around me was familiar and it just reinforced how much my life was changing and how much it was bound to continue changing. Suddenly I was scared to death all over again and there wasn’t a dang thing I could do about it … but apparently someone thought alone was the last thing I should be.

“You shouldn’t go without eating. It’s not good for you or the baby.”

I jumped at his voice and sniffed back my tears as quick as I could. Trying to make it plain that I wanted to be alone I told him, “Eating isn’t normally a problem for me. You’re the one that’s been working. You better go eat before it’s rurnt.”

“It’ll keep. Come here and sit down,” he said pointing to a bench I hadn’t noticed before.

I sighed and sat. For all the kindness he’d shown me off and on that day I got the impression he was a man who was used to having his way. “I had thought to wait on this but it seems that maybe it would be better just to have it done and over with. I feel like if I don’t say this now I’ll lose my chance to say it at all.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect but it sure wasn’t what came out of his mouth. “Riss … I can call you that? OK … and you call me Dino from now on. You callin me Mr. like you would my grandfather is making me irritable. You’re age already makes me uncomfortable enough as it is. Besides you and Harry don’t act like you’re barely legal. If I didn’t know better I’d add several years to your age.”

“Harry’s not … legal I mean … but will be in two weeks. I beat him by a couple of months.”

“Oh yeah, that makes me feel soooo much better,” he said sarcastically.

I shrugged not knowing what to say to that. He sighed again before continuing. “OK, here’s the thing. I should probably have my head examined but the truth is the more I see of you the more I want you to say yes.” I gave him a surprised look and then hunched my shoulders feeling trapped. “Wait now, I said I want you to say yes that doesn’t mean I won’t stand back and abide by it if you say no.”

For some reason I believed him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said though he didn’t seem to enjoy saying it. “When I was your age I would have laughed my head off if someone had attempted to foretell my future as it’s turned out to be. All I wanted was to go to college, get married to my sweetheart, and be an officer in the Marines like my father had before me.” He was quiet for a moment. “I got half way to my goal and every dream I’d ever had died a painful death. War changes things … not just landscapes but people. Tammy was the sweetest girl when we first got married but I discovered she had a streak of weakness in her that nothing I did could change. I was half way around the world fighting a war that I didn’t understand and wasn’t sure I believed in while the people I was fighting for at home were dying from nerve gas delivered in a terrorist attack. The only reason Tammy didn’t die was because she was gone for the weekend with the first of her many “admirers” she seemed to encourage. The only reason I’m in the shape I’m in instead of dead on some battlefield is because I was used as a guinea pig by some experimental medical response team.”

He turned to look at me and said, “I don’t need to tell you that bad things happen and you survive them, sometimes even when you don’t expect to. The difference is whether you’re surviving them to wait on the next bad thing to happen and take you out or whether you’re surviving them and trying to go on living despite that there might be another bad thing going to happen. After Tammy left I forgot that for a while. If you think Kerry is ornery you should have seen me.”

I admitted quietly, “I did remember?”

He nodded a little and said ruefully, “Yeah I guess you did. Don’t hold it against me.” Then he shook himself before saying, “I’ve got a handle on it now but I’ll admit I still have my off days. And I’ve got days my leg hurts and I can be a real bear. But I don’t hit … I never even hit Tammy though she tried to provoke me any number of times.”

Surprised I told him, “I wasn’t worried about that. I figured if you were a hitter somebody would have spilled the beans by now. It’s not like we’ve got a ton of people living in the district, but the ones we do have love to talk.”

He nodded. “Well I’m glad that wasn’t a concern for you. I’ve had enough women ask me though that I figure it would be better to make sure. But something else might be worrying you and we need privacy to talk about it. I gather from what you said – whether you meant to give it away or not – that you don’t … you and Sol …” He blew air out of his mouth trying to figure out how to say it.

I said it for him instead. “No, I don’t have a lotta experience.”

“Ok … yeah … that’s what I meant. See, I don’t want you to worry about that. I mean eventually yes, but not worry about it even when … I mean it’s not something we have to jump right into … I mean if … it happens.” He stopped and ran his hands through his hair. “You know this was a whole lot easier when I was having this conversation in my head.”

I’ll admit that the thought of that particular issue did cross my mind more than once. I didn’t know this man. And maybe back in history or in some other cultures arranged marriages between complete strangers is normal but even in the messed up world I live in, it isn’t the way things usually happen.

He smiled and said, “You’re as red as a beet.”

Feeling more than a little on edge I said, “Better than not having any shame at all. I feel like … I feel like … like I’m … I’m trading my body for a roof over my head.” He smile went away as fast as it had appeared. “People might not think I have any morals because I forgot ‘em for a short time, but … but …”

“I’m not saying that and I don’t think it; and I won’t let anyone else say it either.” He said it like a promise.

I shook my head. “Even if you do mean it, you won’t be able to stop them. You ought to know how people are ‘cause of your wife.”

“My ex-wife.”

“Ex, not ex … does it matter? People talk. They always have and always will. Even my friends looked at me like … like …”

Gently he told me, “Yeah. I do understand. I got that too. Like I should have been able to find some way to fix it … or that Tammy was the way she was because of something I did to her. But you can’t let people run your life because most of them would like nothing better than to run it into the ground rather than take care of their own business.”

F

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 6 (Part 2)

Frustrated I said, “I know that. I was eleven when I moved to the farm. People thought I was odd and different even back then and I’ve never been able to be anything but be that way … never wanted to be anything else for the most part. But this … what we’re talking about … that seems so different I don’t even know if I can abide it.” Hunching over I tried to explain better. “You’re nice … much nicer than I expected.”

“But?”

“No but … it just is. And that’s what’s so hard. I didn’t expect to like you. And you’re offering me things that I never in a million years expected to have. Not even with Sol.”

Cautiously he said, “I’m … not sure I understand.”

“Look around … this house, this farm, being my own woman and not at the beck and call of others, maybe even … I don’t know … friendship or whatever you seem to be talking about between us.”

“And … uh … Sol wasn’t … ?” I could tell he still wasn’t understanding.

I sighed. “We … look, we were just gonna get married. Right or wrong, we were just a couple of kids who got caught doing what millions have probably done before us and not got caught doing. Getting married is what everyone told us was the right thing to do. And I thought I knew what getting married meant, but then I found out I didn’t, not really. I know what that means better now that I’m not getting married to Sol than when I was. Isn’t that a kicker?” A little sob escaped no matter how I tried to strangle it down. “It was all so simple in the beginning, now it’s a nightmare. We weren’t going to have our own place, it didn’t seem like it mattered. Sol seemed to be content to come back to live with his parents and help Mr. Bly work the government contract on the farm. He never said he wanted anything different from that. I was just happy not to have to change and leave the only home that I’d known for so long. The farm wasn’t mine, it wasn’t even theirs … it was like a life estate sort of thing from the government to Mr. Bly; when he died the farm reverted to the government and there was nothing to inherit. That’s why we had to pack up and move the way we did. The people that got the contract after Mr. Bly showed up the day before we left and … and they aren’t pleasant people. They made a real fuss about us not leaving everything in the house for them to simply assume and take over. I can’t even guarantee that my things are still there in the barn.”

I shook my head at just how big a fool I’d been. “I don’t even know if they’ve left my camper alone for me to move someplace. I just don’t know what I’m going to do and it’s like you’re holding out some pretty picture that can be all mine so long as I’m willing to give up what little bit of self-respect I have left.”

He was quiet then sighed. “Unfortunately I can see your side. But for the life of me I can’t be sorry that Sol lost his chance. He has … lost his chance?”

“Haven’t I said that already a time or two?” I asked irritably.

“In my experience young girls …”

I snapped, “And what the heck do you know about young girls?”

He drew back a little at my harsh tone but answered me anyway. “They seem to get stuck on stupid, preferring moonlight, roses, and romance to food on the table, a roof over their heads, and a man that would lay down his life trying to keep the wolves from the door. They want Romeo with his pretty words. They want to be Juliet, the object of desire that the boy would risk everything for. Well if they’d stuck around for the end of the story they would have found out that they’re both dead by their own hand and I’ve had enough tragedy and drama to last me two or three lifetimes. All I’m looking for is some comfortable company with someone that can take care of my son if something should ever happen to me, someone that will help make a better life, not someone waiting around for me to hand one to them.”

I think I laughed but it wasn’t a nice sound. Ignoring his last couple of sentences I said, “Romance? Is that what all that was supposed to be? That one stupid mistake that has changed my life forever? Is that what romance is supposed to be?! All I thought about was the guy that I thought I loved was alive when he could have been so dead … and that I had helped to keep him alive so it had to mean something special. All I thought about were the sweet words that made me feel like no one had ever made me feel before. Only now I’ve found out those words weren’t worth what’s at the bottom of the hole in the outhouse and that I near about killed myself to keep him alive just so he could turn around and betray me by going off and marrying some rich city girl. If that’s romance I hope to God I never experience it again!”

I tried to get up but he put his arm out. “Running doesn’t help,” he said quietly. “Been there done that too many times. You’re only hurting yourself and giving them power they don’t deserve to have.” That stopped me and the rest of what he said led me to sit back down. “And I won’t deny it; it is gonna hurt for a while. But I tell you it’ll hurt longer the more you dig at it.”

He took my hand and it bothered me some but I let him. “I’m not asking you to pretend it didn’t happen. You’ve got a right to be angry and offended by the way you were treated. You’ve got a right to be outraged that the man who helped you into this situation isn’t man enough to hang around and help you deal with it.”

“Then what are you asking for?” I asked almost afraid to know.

“I’m asking you to make room for something else in your life besides the anger.” I didn’t know whether to take him seriously or if he was just seriously deranged. “I want that something to be me … and my son. I can’t even adequately explain the why of it to myself much less explain it to you but that’s the long and the short of it. You’re good with Kerry. You’re strong, a survivor. You don’t go around forever expecting things. You know how to make do without someone having to stand over the top of you and make sure you do it. You have what my father would have called a good seat.”

“Excuse me?” I asked with some outrage.

“Not that kind,” he laughed ruefully. “When someone has a good seat it means they know how to stay in the saddle properly; you flow with the horse and not counter to his rhythm.”

“Oh.”

“What I want to know is the same as I asked you before? Are you serious about this or are you just stringing me along?”

I shook my head. “I already told you I’m serious or I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you. I just feel …”

“Feel?” he asked when I sputtered off.

“That’s the problem, I don’t know what I feel and even if I did I’m afraid to trust my feelings because doing that is what got me into this mess in the first place.”

The he asked, “OK, how about a compromise?”

“A … a compromise?”

“Sure. I know what I want, but you don’t … at least right now. I’ve had my heart ripped out too, I know what it feels like. I also know what it feels like to have your back up against a wall. The fact is no matter what I want if you decide now, just because I’ve pushed you to make the decision, neither one of us will ever know for sure that it was the one you would have made if left alone to do it in your own time.”

It really upset me to hear him say those words and not be able to deny them. I knew that I could say yes and stick with it right then and there … but I would never know if I said it just because I was too used to life’s current taking me where it will or if it was because for once I took a direct hand in the direction I went even if it was against the current.

“Riss, how about this? We’ll go get your things tomorrow. We’ll pick up my cousin or maybe his son to help. They live the next farm over and I know they are between plantings. Harry can come too. We’ll leave Kerry with Cheryl so he won’t be underfoot. That should knock your first worry out of the way.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said though I wanted it a lot worse than I should have.

“I want to. The sooner you can focus on figuring out what you want the sooner we both can figure out if what I want and what you want are running the same direction.” I’m not sure but my mouth must have fallen open ‘cause he put his finger under my chin and closed it before continuing. “You have my word that you have a place to stay until your baby comes but it won’t be in a camper out in the weather; there’s more than enough bedrooms for you to choose from including one right off the kitchen that you might like. It’s away from the other ones so you’ll have some privacy when you need it.”

“And what do you want in exchange?” I asked, unsure I was able to tell truth from fairy diddle at this point.

“Help with Kerry. You see how the boy is. Cheryl use to keep him but her daughter in law had a sickly baby and it is all she can do to keep up with her own responsibilities these days. I’ve been piecing him out to some of the wives of the field hands when I couldn’t take him myself but they kiss his little butt because they’re afraid if they don’t their husbands will lose their income.” I nodded my understanding and he added, “And I need help with the house and home gardens. It’s all getting away from me. Up until last year my grandmother helped but after she passed … I don’t even know what all is left in the pantry. One of the women I had to the house to see if we would suit handed me this long list …” He grimaced. “It would take all the profit from three harvests just to get what she considered the basic necessities.” He looked at me and said, “I’m not saying that I can’t afford to fix some of those holes but …”

“I understand.”

He huffed, “Somehow I think you do which is just one of the things that makes you different from all the others.”

I nodded and said, “I told you all you needed was a housekeeper and auntie for your son.”

“Maybe, but … well … I’m finding that isn’t all that I want.” And didn’t that unsettle me. “Riss, by staying here you’ll get a feel for the place and get to know Kerry … and me. I’ll … get to know you. That’s all we’ll do, get to know each other. You think you can ‘abide’ that?”

I nearly pinched him for using my own words but I have to admit that talking to him and finding out he was willing to back off and let me breathe eased my mind a lot.

“There’s just one thing,” he added seriously.

I sighed thinking it had been too good to be true. “I wondered if there was another shoe in this.”

I just shook my head at his questioning look and he continued. “I don’t want to have to fight every guy who thinks he has a chance.”

“Excuse me?”

He sighed. “I want people to know that we’re … we’re … er … testing the waters so to speak. And I want your word that you’ll … respect our bargain and not go looking for something with anyone else until after we’ve settled things between us one way or the other.”

I could have just spit right there but then I remembered how his wife had done him. I tried not to sound put out when I said, “I asked Kerry not to measure me by the things his momma done. I’d appreciate the same courtesy from you.” He blanched a little at my words but I wasn’t through. “You claim to understand how I feel, being used and left and all. Then understand this, I really don’t have any desire to go looking for whatever it is you think I’m gonna go looking for.”

“All right,” he agreed after thinking it over. “I’ll abide by that if you extend me the same courtesy and not measure me by what Sol did to you. Not all men are so weak.”

When I held out my hand to seal the bargain he shook his head and kind of chuckled but he still shook my hand on it. Maybe I shoulda gotten the agreement in writing but he didn’t ask for my John Hancock so I won’t ask it of him. I don’t know why but something is telling me his word is good.

 

[Lake Lili]

Thanks Kathy!
Lili

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 7

We walked back to find Harry looking frazzled and Kerry looking mutinous. I intended to start my duties right away but Dino said, “Sit down and finish your dinner. I’ll take Kerry and clean him up.”

“But your supper …”

“Just keep the flies off of it, I’ll be back as soon as I put him down for the night.” Kerry heard the words and started to fuss until Dino gave him a look and a bit of a growl that sounded like a bear telling a cub they were about to get swatted if they didn’t mind.

I put half my dinner on Harry’s plate for him to finish and he tried to object. “Harry, I’m gonna eat something just to keep the peace but I’m honestly just not hungry right now. Help me not to waste the food.”

Reluctantly at first Harry started eating but once he’d gotten the taste his reluctance went away. “Riss,” he mumbled around a mouthful of salad. “If you are really set against things …”

“We’ve come to an agreement of sorts.”

Getting a fatherly look that sat strangely on his freckled face Harry asked me, “What sort of agreement?”

I rolled my eyes. “The sort that suits me for now.”

“And that is?” he persisted.

“It leans more toward me being a housekeeper and auntie but leaves open the possibility for more after we’ve both had time to get to know each other.”

He shook his head, “You already know each other.”

I was just about sorry I’d given him second helpings. “Harry don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

He sighed, “OK, so maybe I do.” He blushed. “But your way people are going to talk.”

“We’ve already had this conversation.”

He shook his head. “Not this one. Letting your … uh … passions and what not escape your control is different than going to work for a man that you might start … uh … I mean …” The blush crept all the way to the tips of his ears.

Too tired to be embarrassed anymore I told him, “There won’t be any ‘uh’ until – or if – we decide to get married. I’ve got his word on that and I reckon I believe him. I’ve warned him that people will talk but he seems to think he can stand it.”

“What about you? Can you stand it?”

“I don’t see as I have any choice. I made my bed, now I’m gonna have to lie in it.” I explained the rest and though it wasn’t his first choice he did admit to how it might be better in the long haul of things.

Just as I put the last bite in my mouth and stood up to clean off the table Dino came back out onto the porch. I shook my head at how the eggs were likely to taste but he was a grown man so I let it. “I didn’t make any sweet for dessert as I didn’t know what your preferences were.”

He mumbled “As long as it don’t move I’ll eat it” while he forked the last of his dinner into his mouth like his hunger was getting the better of him.

“Kerry didn’t look like he had any trouble eating either.”

“He better not, he gives me enough trouble on all other fronts but that one will earn him some hard time. I work too hard to make ends meet to let him waste it. Between the prices and weather changes this past year there’s gangs of kids in the cities roaming the streets like wolf packs just to find food. He better appreciate what he’s got.”

I looked at Harry. “Did you hear or see anything?”

“You mean when we were going to Uncle Bill’s?” At my nod he said, “There were rumors. Had a couple of people warn me while we were on the road but I didn’t actually see anything. ‘Course we didn’t get all the way into the city either, only to his compound in the factory section.”

I looked back at Dino as I scraped the last of the food into his plate and stacked the remaining dishes and cutlery to take them to dishpans I had by the fire with the heating water. “OK, so there’s been talk, but have you actually seen any of these gangs of kids yourself?”

“Not me but Alec did … my cousin, the one married to Cheryl. You’ll meet him tomorrow. He had to go into the city to get some medicine for the baby”

“The one that is sickly? Their grandchild?”

“Yeah,” he said. “He says that most of the older kids that cause problems have been packed off to work farms or recycling centers and live under heavy guard. It is supposed to be an educational environment to teach them life skills rather than the criminal skills they were developing but rumor has it they’re little more than old-style gulags.” I had an idea what the word meant and it wasn’t pleasant. “Now the story is that the younger kids are starting to skip school, roam around, and get into all kinds of trouble.”

I turned away to start the dishes and so they wouldn’t see me touch my stomach. Right then I determined that my kid wasn’t going to wind up some street brat even if it did mean marrying before I was ready.

I heard them behind me bringing the rest of the stuff from the table. “Do me a favor and bring all that crockery from the sink in the kitchen. Might as well get to it.”

“Uh …” Dino was a little hesitant.

“Look, I’ve washed dirty stuff before. I’ve washed nasty stuff before. And you asked me to take the house in hand. Well the first place I plan on starting is the kitchen. So do me the kindness of not making me go back and forth on them steps too many times.”

Harry said in a pretend whisper, “Better just give in. It’ll go easier on you if you do.”

He just missed getting swatted by a wet dish rag, but he did put more effort into helping after that.

Dino asked, “Did you tell Harry?”

“I told him.”

“And?”

I shrugged. “And what? He isn’t my keeper. But if it matters he’s fine with it. I didn’t mention going to pick up my things though.” He nodded. I’d given him the excuse to talk to Harry ‘cause I figure he was going to do it anyway. This way they could work it out between them.

After the dishes were finished I headed towards the kitchen itself. I just hated the idea of putting clean dishes away in a dirty cabinet and one thing led to another and before I realized it I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I looked up in surprise to find that dusk had almost turned to full evening.

“I was wondering if you ever wound down.”

I jumped not realizing anyone was around. I turned to find Dino standing there holding an unlit kerosene lamp. “I tend to go to bed early … Harry has already crashed upstairs but warned me you can be a night owl.”

“Only when there is work to be done. In Summer the days are so nice and long it’s a shame to waste them.”

“He also said that for as long as he’s known you you lived in a camper rather than the house.”

I shrugged, “Long story.”

“We’ve got some time if you’ve got the inclination.”

I rinsed out and scalded the rag one more time and then hung it up for the night so it wouldn’t sour. I told Dino, “I scooped out what water I could from the sink but some still went down the drain. I’ll pour some vinegar in it tomorrow if you have any.”

“That I know we do have as I tripped over it the other day. But no need to be so careful. The plumbing works.” He laughed at the look on my face.

“Are you sure you aren’t yanking my chain about having a hard time finding a woman willing to stay with you?”

“No, I’m not ‘yanking your chain.’ I have to keep buckets of water in the bathrooms to flush with but the septic still works.”

“Then why the outhouse?”

“My grandmother hated dirty floors. Unless it was night time everyone stayed out of the house as much as possible because we didn’t want to have to keep taking our boots on and off.”

Nodding I admitted, “Well that certainly makes sense. Do you mind if I sit down?”

“I wish you would. You were going to tell me about that camper.”

I sighed. “I suppose I was.”

“Why didn’t you live in the house?”

“I don’t know, not really. It just never seemed to come about. My mother chose to live in the camper rather than ask for a place in the house; my grandfather would have made room for her. I suppose the camper … well, truth be told Momma kinda … well … she just wasn’t the same after my father was killed. She held on to things but couldn’t stand to at the same time. The camper had been the last big thing they’d bought together and I guess … I don’t know. We just lived in the camper instead of the house.”

“Your father died early in the war?”

“He died at the First Battle of MacDill.” Dino got real still when I said it, most military men did. MacDill had been the first US base that had been attacked head on and it had galvanized the country in a way nothing else had up to that point.

“I hadn’t heard that.”

“It’s not common knowledge. I’m proud of Dad and who he was but his death isn’t exactly something I would ever brag on. Anyway, after the epidemic I just stayed on in the camper. Then the Bly family came and I just kept on staying in it. It … I guess … in a way … it’s been the one constant in my life left over from before my father died.”

He was quiet for a moment then asked, “Will you be hurt if something has happened to it? Or if we don’t bring it back?”

I thought for a moment then answered, “No, I don’t think so. I said my good byes when I … when I thought I was moving to the city. I’ll be honest though and say that I hope that my other things are there.”

Suddenly remembering he told me, “Harry and I unloaded your things from the wagon; they’re in the front room. I wasn’t sure where you wanted them.”

“Oh good grief, most of that stuff is just … well, it surely doesn’t belong in a fancy room like your front room.”

I stood to get up and move it but Dino took my hand to stop me, an act I had a feeling I’d have to get used to. “Leave it for tonight, unless there is something in particular you want. I put your clothes bag in the bedroom.”

“Is that your way of sending me to bed?” I asked, only half way funning.

“It’s my way of saying politely that I don’t want you to think I expect you to work like a mule and certainly not in your condition. If you want to stay up that’s your choice, but you don’t need to stay up working. Why don’t you let me show you the room to see if you care for it.”

I surely did all right, though the thought of sleeping in a room bigger than the whole camper had been was a might strange. There was an attached bathroom … one not shared by any other room. The mattress didn’t look lumpy and there were wooden slates on the windows for blinds plus curtains on top of that. The two mirrors – one in the bathroom and then a beveled one on the wall behind the dresser – didn’t even have any cracks in them.

“Wow. Who lived in here?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Dino smiled at my reaction. “My aunt when she visited. She was my father’s sister. She lives with Alec now and you might get to meet her tomorrow though she’s a little particular about being introduced to people without notice.”

“Wait, I thought … I mean I got the impression you didn’t have much family?”

“Compared to what I used to have I don’t. My father was the baby of the family and I didn’t really get to know my grandparents or the rest of my relatives until I was in my teens and Dad took a job stateside that kept us in one place.”

“You were an only?”

He shook his head sadly, “No. I had two younger sisters.” Had said it all and even if it hadn’t the look on his face did. “There’s clean linens in that cabinet. If the mattress is too musty we can air it out tomorrow.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. No need to make more work for yourself,” I said teasing him a little with his own words to try and get the sadness out of his eyes.

Instead he turned to me and said, “There’s work and then there’s work. I want you to feel comfortable and safe here Riss. I’m a man of my word; when I give it I keep it.”

“I’m starting to see that,” I told him.

He said goodnight and then, leaving me the lamp which he’d lit for me, he headed out to his own room but not before telling me that there was a lock on the door. I turned and gave the room another look and just shook my head. I hadn’t had so much space to myself in a long, long time if ever; it was going to take some getting used to.

The mattress was a little musty but not as bad as the camper got after a long, damp winter. It certainly didn’t keep me from climbing into it and falling to sleep almost immediately.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 8 (Part 1)

The next morning I was a little sore when I woke up but after the week I had had I hadn’t expected much different. What irritated me somewhat was that I could see that dawn was already making the sky pink.

“Ding blast it,” I snarled to myself climbing out of the bed that had turned out to be too comfortable. I rarely if ever slept so late. I hated wasting daylight and like to get up and have my day laid out proper before the sun came up. Instead I heard stealthy footsteps in the kitchen like someone was trying not to wake me.

Having outgrown my childish nightgowns some years ago I usually slept in shirts that had once belonged to my grandfather. He’d been a big man and being inordinately short – I was lucky when people were generous enough to give me a full inch over five feet – the shirts came down to my knees and a little more. Still, when I jerked the door of the room open to see who was in the kitchen and to tell them I’d be out in a minute to start breakfast Dino just seemed to stand there with his mouth hanging open.

“Give me five minutes and I’ll start … well … do you drink coffee?”

“Huh?”

I shook my head. In my experience men were either grouchy or stupid before they had their first cup of coffee or tea. “Coffee? Do you drink it or do you prefer tea?”

“Uh …” He just kept standing there with his mouth hanging open. Then he shook himself and turned his back to me. “I’ve got it … uh … why don’t you get dressed?”

Suddenly realizing he was embarrassed I just had to shake my head. From my neck to my knees I was completely covered. The only thing that was showing was what was above the collar and what was below my knees; even the cuffs fell over the top of my hands. I was honestly as about as covered up as I intended to be that day since it already felt like it was going to be a hot one. I asked, “Nothing indecent is showing so is it my hair still being a rat’s nest?”

He relaxed a bit and slowly turned around chuckling. “No. You … uh … just caught me off guard.” Then his chuckling turned into a real laugh.

“What?”

Trying to control himself he said, “You look about six inches tall in that get up.”

“Ha … ha … ha. You try being short and see how you like it.” I could ignore a lot but being teased for being short didn’t seem to be one of them.

I turned around and shut the door with a snap and then hurried to get dressed. Doing my hair properly usually had to wait until after morning chores but I was so irritated I rebraided the curly mess and wound it around my head properly just to give myself time to calm down.

I came out and ignored the man sitting at the table trying to hide a smile behind the cup he had parked up at his lips. I grabbed the clean skillet I had hung on the pan rack the night before but was stumped about where to go from there. Without looking I asked Dino if he wanted eggs and if so how did he want them.

“I’ve already got porridge going outside.” I could still hear the smile in his voice but it didn’t make me feel any better. As a matter of fact I was even more embarrassed.

“I can’t believe I overslept. I never oversleep. ‘Course I’m used to sleeping right next to the chicken coop but still, there’s no excuse for it,” I grumped half to myself.

“Relax Riss, I told you …”

Getting unaccountably mad again I snapped, “I’m not the princess type like them other women you interviewed. I don’t need anyone to baby me.”

“Whoa,” he said a little startled. “Harry warned me last night you were a bear for work … and that you don’t drink coffee.” He stood up and handed me a mug of tea. The aroma told me that it was peppermint.

“Did you know or was this a lucky guess?” I asked leaning towards being mollified.

He smiled, “Neither. Harry made me take notes.”

“Oh for pity sake,” I said just about ready to die of embarrassment again … or kill Harry; both sounded good right about then.

He chuckled, “Don’t worry about it. I asked for some hints.”

“You asked …? Why on earth would you do that?!”

“I’m stacking the deck in my favor,” he said with such male confidence I couldn’t help but feel the blush heat up my face.

To put him back in his place I told him, “Harry is fairly reliable as such things go but next time ask the source, you’ll be less likely to step in it.” Instead of putting him in his place I only made him laugh again. To put things back on a more even footing and take it away from a subject I still wasn’t comfortable with I asked, “Do you prefer porridge in the morning or are the feather dusters not laying?”

“I like a good breakfast in the morning but don’t always have time to cook it. I was hoping for some scrambled or fried to be honest but the hens have been off the past week. I thought it was the heat but after yesterday I think it could be upset nerves.”

Which reminded me of the pup and I looked out the kitchen window. When I didn’t see him in the pen I turned to say something but Dino forestalled me. “I moved him to the kennel this morning. It will be cooler there as it is shaded and he’ll get reacquainted with the rest.”

“You have more dogs? I didn’t hear them.”

“They’re hunters and I train them to stay quiet unless they are working. I’ll let the boss dog and three other adult male dogs out while we’re gone and they’ll keep an eye on the house and livestock. The alpha female is in heat and she’ll be better off staying in her pen and the other female has a new litter.”

“That’s a lot of dogs,” I told him, surprised. “How do you keep them all fed?”

“I haul a load of kibble a couple of times a year from the Seed & Feed but they also get the leftover scraps from hunting and slaughter time.” When he saw the look on my face before I could hide it he said, “I know it sounds like an expense, and it is, but what I get in trade for the pups that I don’t keep more than makes up for it. I don’t like to breed the dogs often; the one in the kennel now was an accident that happened when a certain little boy that shall remain nameless left the kennel door open.”

That particular little boy came stumbling down the stairs. He was fine as a frog’s hair until he spotted me. “What is she doing here Daddy?”

Dino asked in a strained voice, “What did we talk about last night?”

“But why her? Why can’t Aunt Cheryl come be your company? She’s much nicer and prettier?”

Now it was my turn to try and hide a smile. Poor Kerry, life was simply not going his way. I also imagined that Aunt Cheryl might be part of the problem of why Kerry was turning spoiled. I looked at Dino to share what I thought was a funny but he wasn’t the least bit amused. He was in a staring contest with his son and the longer Kerry continued to ignore the warning the worse it was going to be for him when Dino got tired of it.

“Kerry Pappas, are you telling me you don’t want any breakfast? And here I thought you must be near starving to death.”

That confused him just enough to break off the eye contact. “Huh?”

“That is either yes ma’am or no ma’am so are you telling me that you don’t want any breakfast?”

“Uh …”

Arching my eyebrow and giving him the same look I’d seen my great great Aunt Lois level on us kids more than a few times I told him, “Because that’s what bad manners and a sour attitude says. If you would like some breakfast like the rest of us civilized folks then you need to moderate yore behavior a mite.”

“Huh?” he asked still confused.

Harry chose that moment to walk in and swing Kerry up in into his chair at the table and explain, “Mind your p’s and q’s Squirt or she’ll leave you hungry. Ask me how I know but I’m telling you it is a sad, sad tale.” Harry’s outrageous remark and the look on his face when he said it was just enough to tip the balance in the other direction and make Kerry laugh despite his mullygrumps.

While the menfolk sat regaining their humanity with either coffee or tea, or in Kerry’s case milk, I brought in the pot of porridge. After tasting a smidge to make sure it was ready I felt forced to doctor it up a bit with some syrup and some raisins I had found in the pantry. After giving up on finding any butter I ladled it out into bowls and carried them over to the table. There was a deep sigh of resignation from Kerry before he put the first spoonful in his mouth but when he did I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

Dino looked first at me and then at his son’s face. The boy’s eyes were as big as saucers right before he started shoveling his porridge into his mouth as fast as it could get it there. “Whoa! You’re going to have an upset stomach,” I told him, trying to get him to slow down.

Dino cautiously put a bite to his lips and then did a double take before looking inside his bowl like he’d never seen porridge before. That only made me laugh even more. Harry just smiled and held out his bowl and said, “May I have some more ma’am? Please?”

Still chuckling I stood up to get the pot and by the time I brought it back Kerry had cleaned his bowl as well. Screwing up his courage he looked at me and said, “Can I have some more … please?”

I thought Dino was going to choke and I had to pound on his back when his coffee went down the wrong way. I looked at Kerry and told him conspiratorially, “See. That’s what happens when you eat too fast.”

He looked at his father like he wasn’t too sure I was telling the truth but finished his second helping of porridge without a word. Dino for his part kept looking at his son like he had something growing out of his head. He kept doing it until I kicked him under the table. It wasn’t hard but it was enough to catch his attention. I rolled my eyes at him and he got the message.

Dishes were a quick clean up but I surely hated to have to put the fire in the grate out with water the way I did because it would mean cleaning it out before I could light another one in there. We were going to be gone too long to leave even a banked fire unattended.

I was wondering if I could risk not watering the garden so that we could go ahead and get before it turned into the scorcher that the clear blue sky promised it to be when I just about jumped out of my skin. “What on earth?!” I cried as I noticed small jets of water jump up before settling down near to the ground.

Kerry walked over to where I stood trying to figure out what I was looking at and told me, “Daddy is irritating the garden.”

I looked at the boy and then back at the garden before it clicked. “You mean he’s irrigating the garden?”

“That’s what I said. Come on, I’ll show you. Sometimes he lets me pull the handle.”

We walked over to what looked like a giant, tub up on stilts to find Dino turning a valve. “I’ll let it run until we’re ready to go … thirty minutes good for you?”

I nodded while Kerry told him, “I told her I’d show her how to irritate the garden.”

“Irrigate son,” he said with a sigh that told me it wasn’t the first time he’d corrected the word.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 8 (Part 2)

Their set up was unlike any that I’d seen though I’d heard that a few people had something similar. The big tub was like an above ground cistern or water tower. It was tall and narrow like an iced tea glass but set up on a welded frame that acted as a pedestal. There was a pipe that ran from a shed nearby and then up and into the top of the “glass.” There was another pipe that ran to the same location only from the corner of a different outbuilding. On the garden side a pipe came out of the side of the “glass” near the bottom. This pipe had a valve and then another piece of pipe after that which ended in a horizontal piece of pipe that dropped down into four other pipes that had their own levers. Those pipes went down into the ground.

Dino explained, “The height of the tank and then the change in pipe diameter, as well as the drop of the plumping from here to the garden, helps keep the water pressure adequate unless the tank is nearly empty. When the tank is completely full as it is now there’s a big push at first which is why the water jumps and then it equalizes after I adjust the switches on the outflow.”

“How do you fill the tank if it doesn’t rain?”

“Depends. If the cisterns are full I’ll pump it off from there but if I absolutely have to I’ll get the well going.”

“You’ve … you’ve got electric?” I asked in an awed whisper.

“I’ve got a generator that will run off of ethanol.” Knowing the word from my childhood but not understanding what it was he explained, “Moonshine. I have to be careful as the government is pretty strict about its use but so long as I don’t say much and grease the right palms with a few extra bottles of the good wine after harvest they don’t bother me. Alec just finished building a set up that runs off of methane and I intend to replicate it after I get some of the harvest money.”

My jaw unhinged. “Are you telling me you can make a generator that will run on poop?!”

I’d caught him off guard again and he laughed and then laughed some more only harder. “Yes, yes I can.” He tried to say something else but had to stop ‘cause he was laughing again.

I just shook my head. “Well why hasn’t everyone been doing this all along? There must be enough poop around here to run a million of ‘em.”

That only made him laugh harder. Kerry looked at his daddy like he’d taken leave of his senses and I was beginning to wonder the same thing. He finally wound down and admitted, “I don’t know to be honest. You’re right there is enough …” He sputtered again and I had to sigh as he fought not to laugh again. “… enough biomatter to make it worth the trouble but most people seem only able to focus resources on one solution at a time.” At my puzzled look he said, “At the beginning of the war when people still had the money they were trying to acquire food and diesel to keep their family and tractors going. Then the money ran out to do more than barely get by, there wasn’t any for extra projects. That also meant that by the time it was too late there wasn’t money to try anything new. Then someone found out that many of the tractors could be made to run on ethanol which was a product most of them knew about for generations, just in the form of moonshine. That wasn’t too hard because they had the parts on hand to build their own distillery set up. The problem is the corn crop is closely monitored by the government because it is needed to feed the cities and the troops to keep them going off like a bottle rocket in the middle of an oil refinery. The government will look the other way as long as you keep feeding them but you make waves you better duck.”

I nodded. I’d had more than enough experience with government inspectors to last me a life time.

“Creating a methane digester … a piece of equipment that takes the biomatter and collects the resulting gas … the CH4 or methane … is not a big deal; pretty simple really. But converting an engine to run on the methane is a little more complicated and includes modifying the carburetor so that it will deliver the gas to the combustion chamber. And …” He looked at my glazed look. “Am I boring you?”

“No,” I told him. “I just do a lot better with pictures and I’m having a hard time turning your words into a picture I can understand.”

His face cleared and he told me, “I’ll show you Alec’s set up one of these days. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, he’s that proud of it. But not today. In fact, if we don’t get a move on we’re going to run into trouble.”

“Um …”

He shook his head, “If that is the start of telling me that I don’t have to fetch your belongings you can save your breath. I told you I would and that is the job that I’ve set for us today.”

There wasn’t anything to say to that but thank you. I watched him turn off the valves to the garden and then lock them with a chain. Afterwards he set off to help Harry hitch the team to his wagon which was bigger and had better springs while Kerry followed me back to the house and showed me how to lock everything up.

As we sat on the porch waiting for the men Kerry asked me, “How come you don’t dress like a girl?”

Since he wasn’t the first little boy to ask me that question I didn’t get upset. “Because I don’t have many girl clothes and I don’t want to ruin the ones I have by working in them. These overalls work just fine and have growing room in them yet.”

“Oh.” After a half beat he asked, “Are you going to ask Daddy to buy you some girl clothes?”

Now that did get a rise out of me. “I most certainly will not Squirt. My clothes are my business and I better not hear you saying otherwise.” He gave me a look like he was considering my “request” but didn’t say anything else about it. I thought for a not-quite-five year old he sure did have a brain that worked overtime figuring out ways to get him into trouble.

The wagon ride over to see Dino’s cousin was a short one as the two farms adjoined. When we pulled into the yard we found we weren’t the only ones to stop by. There were several wagons parked here and there and knots of people standing about as well. Dino said, “He must be studding the bull again.”

Of course Harry had to see what Dino was talking about and before Dino could stop him Kerry had jumped out of the wagon and run over to a crowd of little boys. Dino growled but not in a serious way since he’d had the brake on. “We might as well get down. If Alec can’t go I’ll see if one of his boys will come with us.”

I knew most of the people there but that isn’t what kept me hanging back as Dino headed toward the front porch of the main house. Before I could decide what to do so there wouldn’t be a fuss I caught sight of a figure flying straight at me and just had time to dodge, but he whipped around and grabbed me around the waist from my backside and squeezed hard enough to cause me to grunt. Two more came at me but they had more sense and went at me from the sides.

“Miss Riss! Miss Riss! You said you were moving away forever and that we might not ever see you again!”

Trying to peel the little boys off of me I said, “Do I look like a jungle gym to you monkeys?”

They all laughed and turned loose but not without one more squeeze that caused me to squeak. “Goodness gracious land sakes alive, you’d think it’d been a million years since you’ve seen me.”

“It has! Nobody plays with us anymore on Sundays.”

I shook my head, “I’m sure that’s not true Riley.”

One of the others said, “They don’t play like you do. When are you coming back?”

Before I knew it I had a bunch of little boys all chirping at me like baby birds in a nest. Unfortunately, that brought the kind of attention that I’d been trying to avoid. A woman not much older than me, one that not too long ago I’d thought a friend, demanded, “JR, come … here … now.”

“Aw leave off Cindy I’m just …”

“JR, you want me to slap you?”

I had to intervene, “Cindy, don’t. He doesn’t understand.”

“I don’t care if he does or not. You’re … you’re not fit company …,” she nearly snarled.

What I hadn’t realized until it was too late was that Cindy had nursed secret feelings for Sol for a long time. He never returned her feelings as far as I knew and when what happened became common knowledge she seemed to think it was my fault that she’d never been able to catch his attention. Of course, she wasn’t the only one that set themselves against me for one reason or another. What happened to me might be common in the cities but folks around here figured I was common all right … a common tramp that had somehow been pulling the wool over their eyes up to that point. On the other hand, there were some that said they’d “known what I was all along.”

A few more women had come over to see what the fuss was about and several of them looked like they’d just bit into an unripe persimmon. They were pulling the boys away and the boys being boys were making a fuss at being yanked away from a favorite toy, namely me. Kerry being Kerry blurted out in a voice loud enough to be heard clear across the yard, “How come those women don’t like you touching their kids?”

I glanced around to see who’d heard him just in time to see Dino’s head go up and his face take on a dark look. I bent down to Kerry and said, “Hush! That’s their mommas and they can tell ‘em what to do ‘til the Rapture and it’d be none of my business. Now scoot, it looks like it’s your turn on the swing.”

As quarrelsome as Kerry could be he was still just a four-year-old boy and swings beat adult foolery every time. As soon as he run off I quietly went around to the other side of the wagon and didn’t look at anyone. I had just decided to climb in when there was that hand stopping me again. I was thinking that the next time he tried it I was gonna slap it.

“What’s going on?”

I sighed. “What do you thinks going on?”

“I know what you said but …” He shook his head. “I thought you were exaggerating.”

“Well I wasn’t so there. Now just forget about it and tend to your business. I’m gonna sit in the wagon.”

“You are not ‘gonna sit in the wagon’. You’re going to come up to the porch and meet my family.”

Outraged I said, “I am not going to do any such thing. I saw the way that woman up there was pinching up. I reckon that is one of your relations and I’m not going to have a hand in causing problems.”

“I intend to make my point,” he said angrily.

“Well you can make it without me.” I put my hands on my hips and gave him look for look. “Dealing with people talking is one thing but I will not … will NOT … be the cause of any trouble with your family.”

“I told you I wouldn’t let people talk about you.”

I shook my head. “And I never intended on holding you to a promise you couldn’t keep. People talk Dino. You know it too. Even if you could stop ‘em in your presence they’d just pick it up again when you weren’t around.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Yes, it is,” I contradicted. “I’m not going to back out of my promise. I’ll stay and help with Kerry and your house. But this should show you the way my words apparently didn’t that any other idea you might have is …”

I’d managed to irritate him. “I don’t go back on my word.”

And he was beginning to irritate me. “I didn’t say you would. For Pete’s Sake you’ve been nicer to me in just one day than most folks have been to me … well … for a long, long time. I’m thankful you aren’t asking anything for it either like most men probably would and you know what I mean so I ain’t gonna say it. I’m just that grateful for your kindness.”

“I don’t want your gratitude,” he snarled.

“Well tough, you’ve got it,” I snapped right back.

Somebody coulda struck a match just by putting it near us we were just that hot. He was glaring at me and I was glaring at him. Then a voice full of laughter said, “Children, children this simply won’t do.”

We both jumped like we’d been electrocuted old style. We both turned to find a slim older woman with silver hair cut to her chin in a modern bob standing there shaking her head at us. “Dionysius, introduce me if you please.”

I looked at Dino who was absolutely not happy to be called by his given name and couldn’t help it. “And I thought Damaris was bad when my aunt said it that way.”

Dino’s nose flared and then the lines around his eyes started to soften. Soon his lips started to twitch unwillingly before saying, “Then I’m never telling you my middle name.”

Thinking of my own middle name I refused to even let him know I had one. Suddenly remembering we were being watched I closed down and took a step back before saying, “I beg your pardon.” I was looking for a way to make a quick escape but apparently we’d drawn a crowd. Dino gave them all a glare that seem to say, “What are you looking at?” before pulling me forward.

“Aunt Adona, this is Damaris Keehn. This is the woman I told you about that has agreed to help me with Kerry.”

I mumbled a polite “How do you do?” then tried to escape again.

The silver hair lady stopped me by saying, “I don’t bite you know.”

“No ma’am, but I don’t want to be the cause of any fuss in the family. I’ll just go over to that tree and …”

Before I could finish she was shaking her head, “Actually now that Dionysius has introduced us I’d like to introduce you to my daughter-in-law.” She might have been silver haired but the look on her face said steel is what run through her veins. She grabbed a hold of my arm – that grabbing thing must be a family trait – and drew me with her right smack dab through the middle of the crowd. By the looks on people’s I wasn’t the only one wondering what she was up to.

 

[IVYINFLA]

Very good story. Easier to read here than the other site. Thank you, Kathy.

 

[Griz3752]

Very good story. Easier to read here than the other site. Thank you, Kathy.

I'll second both those thoughts.

Thank you again, Ma'am.

 

[Lake Lili]

Thanks Kathy!
Lili

 

[wab54]

I sure hope there is more to come?????? Great story!!

WAB

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 9

I was feeling like I thought a prisoner on death row might as the dainty woman beside me power-pulled me along like a Roman centurion. She kept the pleasant look on her face like she was laughing at some secret joke but her hand on my arm might has well have been a steel bracelet. We were half way up the steps to the porch when we were all startled by Kerry pelting over and pulling at me.

“Riss! Tie my shoes!”

I looked at him and said, “Excuse me?”

“Jonah says you know how to tie ‘em so they don’t come undone.” I gave him quite a look before he begged, “Please?”

“Oh for Heaven’s sake, what a fuss.” I bent down and sat on the step and picked up his booted foot. “Look here, see the rabbit ears? You do ‘em like this and … what on earth? You must have five pounds of dirt in these shoes already. I woulda thought such a load would have slowed you down for sure.” He laughed then took off proving the dirt held no power over him.

I brushed my overalls off and levered myself up with a gentle hand from Dino then looked around to find everyone standing there staring at me. “Whut?” I asked thinking I must have something nasty on my face.

A blonde girl standing on the porch whispered, in awe, “Like, oh my gosh … he said please.”

I looked at Dino and said, “Is that why you almost choked on your coffee this morning?”

He grinned bashfully. “Well, you know he’s a handful.”

“Of course he is,” I said indignantly. “I’ve never met a healthy little boy that isn’t. You still don’t have to look at him like his nose has fallen off just ‘cause he says please.”

“It’s not his nose they’re looking for but his horns and tail,” laughed a familiar voice behind me.

I turned sharply to find Jace Aberdeen, one of Harry’s best mates standing there and Harry with him. I didn’t much care for Jace and he knew it yet there they both stood grinning like idiots. Knowing them both I told them, “You two better not mess with my boys or I’ll knock you tip over tail.”

Harry and Jace sing-songed “Yes Miss Riss” before sauntering off like they owned the world.

Dino said in an odd voice, “You know Jace?”

“Know him?” I asked still irritated. “I dumped him in Little River three times before he learned to stop messing with my boys out on the playground. Harry finally took him under his wing and taught him caution or I swear I would have tossed him off Lover’s Leap next.”

“Oh? Really?” he asked in a different sort of voice.

“Yes really. I swear that boy has more hair than wit. If someone gave him a haircut all his brains would be gone til it grew back.” Jace had managed to irritate my pride back in place and I looked up to see the older version of the young blonde girl and told her, “You must be Cheryl.” At her hesitant nod I said, “How do you do? I’m Riss and I beg your pardon for the noise but my mouth sometimes runs on a bit.”

A strangled sound from Dino had me turning to look at him but he was all innocence. Cheryl wasn’t sure what to make of me but the man that came over to her side seemed to have no such problem. He stuck out his hand to shake mine and asked, “You wouldn’t happen to be the Riss that taught the boys how to make whistles out of crookneck squash stems would you?”

“Uh … I might be?” But then added quickly, “But only if they minded me and took the ones that didn’t actually have squash growing on them.”

He laughed and it was an older version of Dino’s laugh. “It’s all right, they minded you.”

Relieved I said, “Then sure, that’s me.”

I was introduced around to Alec and Cheryl’s children and then waved in at a frazzled looking girl holding a howling baby. “Wow, now that’s a pair of lungs,” I said to no one in particular. Suddenly the young woman started bawling as much as the baby was and I felt bad thinking maybe what I had said had done it.

“Oh wow, don’t cry please. I didn’t mean anything bad by it.” I walked into the house uninvited and went to the girl and just sort of stood there. The girl was crying and the baby was crying and I noticed it was drawing up its knees.

Cheryl came into the house right as I was taking the baby from the young mother and it stopped crying for all of two seconds before it started up again. “Is it colic?” I asked.

“My baby’s dying, I just know she is. I can’t bear it,” the girl cried and then broke down even more before running from the room.

In alarm I looked at Cheryl who said, “She’s still going through a hard time.”

“Oh,” I said as understanding took hold. I knew some women had the baby blues worse than others and that stress could add trouble on top of trouble for some women. “But the baby …?”

“Getting better now that we found out she was allergic to just about any kind of milk but mother’s milk.”

I asked, “Have you tried goat’s milk? That’s what they had to use with me.” And it was true. It just about drained my parents’ bank account dry trying to pay for the expensive formula that the doctor recommended because I was born early and puny until my grandmother came to help and started me on a homemade goat’s milk formula recipe she’d gotten somewhere.

Cheryl nodded, “But she can only have it in small doses. That’s what is causing the colic.”

“Can’t little momma … uh … wet nurse?” I asked in a whisper.

Cheryl looked troubled but answered me. “It seems to upset her that the baby just cries and cries and doesn’t seem to get enough. But she keeps at it.”

I nodded my understanding. Doctors were expensive and few and far between. Canned formula was hard to come by even at the best of times and expensive when you could get it. Wet nurses weren’t cheap either which was why sisters and cousins, even mothers and daughters lately, would sometimes spell each other if they were nursing at the same time. It must have taken a pretty penny for them to take the baby and then get whatever medicine they needed from the city. But all the medical intervention in the world wouldn’t help if the little momma couldn’t provide enough output. Racking my brains for something to help as the baby cried and squirmed in my arms I said, “Look, this might help and it might not but … do you know old Mrs. Chamberlin? The one that’s frail and sits in a wheelchair?”

Cheryl hesitantly nodded, “Not well, but I know who you are speaking of.”

“She was a friend of my grandmother’s. Her body may be crippled and her memory for what she had for breakfast may be shot but if you ask her questions about birthing and babies and fixing people without a doctor’s help and she’s probably the wisest woman I’ve ever met. I went to her when … when … I needed some help taking care of someone.” I was going to have to get over the hurt if I wanted to go on but I kept tripping over it. “She didn’t have any girl children or any that married into the family inclined so she was happy to pass along to me her receipt books and notes and recipes and formulas and such. She didn’t need them anymore ‘cause they are all in her head anyway. When I figured out I was … you know … in trouble, I started reading along those lines and found out that some herbs can help a woman what’s got trouble making milk. They are called this plum awful word galactagogues. There are also some herbs that will stop a woman up what is making too much milk.”

At Cheryl’s suspicious look I admitted, “I know it sounds passing strange but a lot of the older folks around here swear by homemade remedies. And even if the little momma only thinks something is going to help her maybe that will relax her just enough for her body and brain to do what really needs to be done.”

At the end of her rope looking for ways to make things better for her family she asked, “What are they?”

Closing my eyes to picture the pages of the book I’d read it all in I told her, “The ones that help make milk are blessed thistle, fenugreek, fennel, anise seed, cumin, borage, and caraway. A good raspberry leaf tea will boost those herbs and so will alfalfa and nettle. The ones that are supposed to help stop the milk from flowing are parsley, cabbage soup, chickweed, black walnut, yarrow, sorrel, and oregano.”

Cheryl looked stunned and then slapped her forehead, “Oh no … we’ve been eating cabbage soup two or three times a week and Tina has been eating black walnuts like they’re the only thing left on the planet that tastes good.”

She took off leaving me standing there with the squalling baby that just my luck would choose that moment to blatt a stinky mess in her diaper. I was looking for a nappie to change her into when I heard Cheryl say, “Oh Lord, I’ve left her holding the baby.”

A young man walked into the room right after her words. I knew he couldn’t be much older than me but he walked like a tired old man. He straightened up when he saw me and said, “I’ll take her.”

“Only after I know who you are,” I told him back.

His eyebrows went up, screwed down, and then leveled out as the thoughts flitted through his mind about who I was to talk to him like that. Then a tired smile tried to reach his lips but could quite make it. “I’m Ajax and if that doesn’t mean anything to you that’s my baby you’re holding.”

“Oh! Well, now that you mention it you two do bare a resemblance … I don’t mean you’re crying or nothing I …” A laugh behind me and I turned to see Dino there. He looked to be ready to start off on some smart aleck comment but I forestalled him by asking, “You wanna change this diaper?”

That got Ajax to really smile but then Tina … the little momma … showed back up and took the baby and scooted out of the room. Dino asked me, “You ready to ride?”

“I’m just waiting on you to finish your business and … What?” The question was because Dino’s face had taken on a cautious look.

“Harry ‘explained things’ to Jace and apparently it was overheard by some others. I’ve seen quite a few putting their heads together and looking this way.”

All the old hurt tried to boil to the surface but I refused to let it. Unclinching my fists and taking a breath I said, “Well it was bound to happen so let ‘em get a good look. It’s not like I expected any different.”

I was two steps ahead of him and on the porch when a steel toned voice stopped me. “Is it true? Did Sol Bly abandon you at the alter?”

I sighed and told Dino’s Aunt Adona, “Sol and I never got the chance to make it to the alter ma’am. I arrived with Mrs. Bly and her kids to find out he’d already let his uncle arrange for him to be there with someone else ahead of me. And if you don’t mind that is really all I care to say on the subject.” My hands were clinched again and it was all I could do to maintain my composure as I walked to the wagon. I know someone gave me a hand climbing up but for the life of me I don’t know who it was.

I do know that I was settling myself when Kerry ran over making a fuss about being left behind. I leaned over the side and told him, “If you keep making all that noise it is going to sour me on the idea of making a peach tart for supper tonight.”

He stopped in mid-squawk and said, “You ain’t gonna make no peach tarp … you’re just telling me that to make me go away.”

“It’s peach tart not peach tarp and what I’m telling you is I won’t if you don’t stop making a fuss. On the other hand if you mind your Aunt Adona I’ll give it serious consideration barring any complications like the house falling down or the creek rising and carrying me off.”

Harry went down on bended knee acting the fool and said, “Aw Kerry, come on … my stomach is already hollow and I’m just dying for peach tart. Mind your manners so I can have some.”

Kerry wasn’t convinced however until Dino growled, “Boy, you make me miss a peach tart because you can’t behave yourself and you and I are going to have something more than words.” Yep, that did it.

Kerry was soon off with the other boys and playing like he’d never made any noise to begin with and I was back to ignoring everything going on around me as the wagon left the yard and turned on to the main road. I was in a dark mood and just sat there trying not to think too hard about anything … about whether or not my stuff would still be there, if it was what kind of shape would it be in, but most of all not about all the feelings that were running through me what had caused them.

I did take notice that it was only Dino and Harry. Part of me wanted to comment on it and part of me didn’t. I’d tried to warn him but he, being a nice man, hadn’t wanted to listen. We were all being quiet in our thoughts when two horses came lickety-split up the road. “Hey! Dino!”

I come out of my funk enough to note two dark headed boys a few years younger than Harry and I were sitting on spirited animals that looked like they wanted to run some more despite the heat. “Dad said it’d be all right if we came with you if you don’t mind. Ajax is kinda tied up with Tina and the baby.” I recognized them from the school yard but didn’t really know them since they had been several grades behind even before Harry, Hannah, and I graduated out.

As we road along I still didn’t feel much like talking so I mostly listened. The younger, darker of the two was named Steven and the older was named Chris (short for Christof). They were twelve and thirteen. Their words just kind of ebbed and flowed around me but they didn’t really mean anything to me.

I must have dozed without realizing it because it was hitting an old familiar rut in the road that woke me with a bang to the back of my head against the wagon seat.

Dino stopped the wagon and asked, “Are you OK?”

“Yeah, it’s my own stupid fault for not paying attention,” I told him quietly, embarrassed to have drawn that kind of attention. I noted Harry looking around in disgust and then woke up to the mess around me.

 

[sssarawolf]

Waiting until more is put up to read again

 

[Sammy55]

Same here, sara! Same here.

Thanks, Kathy, for the stories. I read this one before but a long while back. Looking forward to reading the rest again. I learn so much from your stories and really enjoy reading about strong, independent, down-to-earth, and outspoken women.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 10

“What happened? The fields have never looked like this, not even the year of the epidemic,” I whispered horrified at the way things looked.

Harry said darkly, “I told you I had a bad feeling about those people.”

“You said you had a bad feeling about how they would fit into the community, not that they were plumb crazy and would break the harvest contract.”

Dino broke in, “Let’s run up to the house just on the off chance something bad has happened and they need help.”

We drove on. The potato field was ready for harvest … past ready. It was the only field that lay outside the life estate – not including the kitchen garden that was too small to count – and the only one where the entire harvest that came out of it belonged to the farmer instead of the government. Nearer the house there was so much dropped fruit under the peach and nectarine trees you couldn’t have walked near it without squishing a bushel full. Some of the greens that I had helped to plant as well as the broccoli were starting to bolt and needed harvesting but there didn’t seem to be anyone about. No watering or hoeing had been done since we’d left, at least not as far as I could tell.

“Stay in the wagon,” Dino ordered. I didn’t like the way he said it but I didn’t have any problem with obeying him. There was something just creepy about leaving a thriving farm only to come back two weeks later to have it look like the place had been abandoned two months or better. Steven and Chris waited with me.

While Harry and Dino were in the house and barn the creek of a saddle behind me was the introductory hello from Mr. Cherry. “I missed talking to Pappas before he took off.”

I sent the boys to get Dino and Harry who had gone in opposite directions. I didn’t know what to say. Mr. Cherry had been one of my grandfather’s good friends. Instead it was him talking to me when he said, “I heard what happened.”

Trying to maintain my politeness and composure I nodded and said, “Yes sir.”

That’s all that was said but the way he nodded and then patted my hands where they lay in my lap let me know that somehow, for some folks, my position had changed from a Salome to a maiden wronged. I was cynically thinking wasn’t that rich when Dino and Harry came up.

“Mr. Cherry where did the people go?” Harry asked still looking around like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“It’s a mess that the local inspector is keeping quiet seeing as how he handpicked the family himself and were some kind of relation to him. From what I overheard they were saying the oldest kid had some kind of drug problem and went crazy and killed the rest of his family before running off. None of us knew it until day before yesterday when yore uncle sent them men out to collect your mother’s things and the bodies were discovered.”

I winced thinking all my things were probably gone and then could have slapped myself. Here I had just heard that a whole family had been murdered and all I could think of was my stupid belongings. My discomfort must have shown on my face though they mistook what it was for. “Don’t go in the house Riss,” Dino said by way of another order. “They didn’t do a very good job of cleaning anything up. There are flies everywhere.”

I climbed down from the wagon while the menfolk continued their discussion of recent events. I walked over to the barn and peeked inside and then didn’t know whether to groan or clap in glee. My things appeared to be there but they were dumped all over the place on the dirt floor and in the loose hay. I didn’t know if it had been done out of meanness or just what but I decided not to care. Harry found me trying to shake things clean and sort them back into the boxes and bags it had come out of.

“There was no need for this,” he muttered in anger.

“It could have been worse,” I said determined to see the bright side.

He snorted and then started to help. “Just look at this,” he said pointing to a broken plate. “I helped pack this stuff the first time around and now we’re doing double work. You still want me to pack this even though it’s broke?”

“Yes. I might be able to glue it back together and use it for decoration on something if I ever get a place of my own.”

Harry shook his head at my stubbornness but then went back to grumbling. I still wouldn’t be brought down, “Lucky they didn’t consider anything valuable enough to be worth taking. And luckier still they didn’t bust up the chests; they could have without a doubt.”

He wouldn’t be mollified but continued to help me put the boxes and bags back into the three large cedar chests that I had packed everything down in. Dino came in to see what we were doing and asked, “Is it all there?”

“We’ll see in just a minute. Harry, give me a hand?” We pulled out the last of the canvas tarps and found a few other things but my heart finally fell. “At least they left the dress form and quilt frames,” I muttered.

Dino must have asked Harry what I was talking about because I heard him say, “The treadle sewing machine is gone. We found the box of parts for it but the machine itself isn’t here.”

Mr. Cherry asked, “Did they get your granddaddy’s things?”

“No sir, that they didn’t get. I had that packed up and took it with me; it is at Mr. Pappas’s … ouch, not so hard,” I said finally slapping what that had irritated me more than once.

Dino turned loose the hand that he had just a moment before been using to help me up out of the hay where I’d been digging one last time. He’d gotten irritated and squeezed a little too hard for my liking. “I thought we agreed that you’d call me Dino.”

I told him calmly, “And I have been calling you that … but we are currently out in public and as you are my employer …”

“I am not your employer I am …” he stopped at a loss for words.

“You’re what?” I asked daring him to find a better word for it.

“Getting mad,” he said rather than rise to the bait. “Now look, I agreed to this to give you time to think but I’ll be durned if … if …”

I just shook my head at him and decided to ignore his attitude. In my observation men weren’t really all that different from little boys except in that their toys tended to be louder and their messes bigger. Of course, what did I really know? Look at the mess I’d gotten my own self into with what I thought I knew. I did however say under my breath, “Peach tart.”

I looked at him out of the corner my eye and his mouth was twitching, fighting to hold on to his bad temper. He shook his head finally giving up and snorted before saying, “We’ll leave this for another time. The sun is moving across the sky and it is too darn hot in this barn to discuss this. Let’s get these things loaded.”

I was summarily told that my help was not needed with Mr. Cherry adding, “Don’t be a hard head girl. You’re working on a baby not a ten-pound hammer.”

Well I decided to let them huff and puff and I took a couple of bushel baskets hanging on the barn wall and went to the orchard. The trees were about done for as they had been planted even before my mother was born and that was long lived for peaches and nectarines but they could have had maybe another year or two – enough time to replace them anyway – had anyone continued to take care of them properly. Used to be the trees would give a good three bushels a piece but this year between age and weather it looked like I would be lucky to get a bushel a piece.

“What are you doing? I thought I told you no lifting?”

I looked at Dino and thought long and hard about how bad I wanted a peach tart and whether I was willing to overlook his bossiness to have one. “I … am not … doing … any … lifting. I am just picking peaches.” Looking around only made me grumpier. “I hate for all this food to go to waste. Speaking of which … Mr. Cherry?!”

“Uh?” he grunted in response like old men will.

“If I send Steve and Chris for Davis do you think he’d like to split some of these potatoes?”

“Honey,” he said. “They’re part of the gov’mint contract.”

“Not this field they’re not,” I told him with a wink. “Their surveyor kinda missed it on the plat book.”

A slow, wicked grin spread across his face. “Is that a fact? And just how much did this blind surveyor miss?”

“Between here and the rise behind the barn.”

“Well, don’t that just beat all. Guess that fancy degree had a few holes in it.” We all got a laugh. I know it is probably wrong but the way some of those government people from the city act you’d think we walked around with manure coming out of our pockets. Getting something over on them made us folks in the country feel good … and proved we weren’t quite as dumb as they thought us.

Mr. Cherry turned to Harry and Dino and told them, “You move them chests around a bit and leave the middle of the wagon free and we’ll pop some of them taters in there too.”

In no time we had several families from that corner of the district over and helping. That meant it got split into smaller shares but the work went quicker too and you can never have too many pitch forks and children to pick up the fresh dug taters. By the time things were done it looked like locusts had been at anything that wasn’t contracted by the “guv’mint.”

Harry enjoyed the joke despite the hot, thirsty work. He enjoyed it even more thinking how, had his uncle realized it, he’d be “chewing horseshoes and spitting nails” at the missed opportunity of taking the fruit, potatoes, and greens into the city and making a healthy profit on them.

I found a surprise waiting on me when I got back from the garden and cutting snips and digging sprouts from my great grandmother’s beds of annuals. There was a canvas covered lump tied firmly right behind the wagon seat. I thought at first it was one of the cedar chests stood on end until I saw all three lined up the way Mr. Cherry had directed. I lifted up the canvas and then jerked it down again and stepped back in shock.

“Close your mouth girl before the bugs get in,” said a tart old woman coming around the end of the wagon. It was Mr. Cherry’s sister Mrs. Heflin.

“Ma’am … I … I didn’t … I mean …”

“Stop yore stuttering child and come here and let me give you a hug.” Mrs. Heflin had been awful hard on me when it came out but had eased back up when she found out Sol and I were going to get married. Now she gave me a squeeze and a kiss and said, “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. None of us can.” I was not ready to talk about it and apparently I didn’t need to. My face must have said enough. “Don’t let it sour you child. It’s almost like the lottery, you have to play to win. There’s bad ‘uns and there’s good ‘uns; you gots to believe next time you’ll pull a good ‘un.”

Pointing to what was in the wagon I said, “But … somebody’s gonna get in awful trouble for that.”

“How? You gonna tell ‘em? Ain’t like them guv’mint men care about some ol’ antique that they don’t think works. And I know fer a fact that were in this house many, many a year and if anything qualifies for antique that there thing does. Just ‘cause you gotta leave yore house doesn’t mean you have to leave all yore memories. Now not another word. And mind Mr. Pappas, he intends to look after you.”

As she walked away I muttered in my head, “Now mind Mr. Pappas … oh I’ll mind Mr. Pappas all right … I’ll mind him into an early grave if he don’t stop trying to arrange my life like he owns it already.”

But saying it in my head was some different than letting it come out of my mouth. Yes, I was irritated that I was being managed … usually I was the one managing other people … but at the same time a good part of me was as grateful as he didn’t want me to be. Then I grinned and thought that maybe I’d just irritate him with my gratitude, or at least enough to make him leave off deserving it all the time.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 11

We were one of the first wagons to leave as we had the furthest to go and I was surprised to get a more than fair share of waves and not a few folks saying that they hoped they’d see me up to the church meetings when I got settled in at the Pappas place. Not ready to face that particular crowd of people I put it from my mind and instead started considering everything in the wagon and what needed to be done with it.

I was in the middle of making a list of questions when the man I intended to ask them to instead asked me, “Do you want to go this Sunday?”

It took me a moment to change gears and realize that he was actually asking me about going to the church. So much for being able to put it off. “I don’t recall you all going all that often.”

“We did when my grandparents were alive but you were always off keeping the little boys busy and out of trouble. During some of those long, hot summer sermons I bet I wasn’t the only one that itched to be out there with you.”

I must have blushed a bit but admitted, “I just liked the little boys. They’ve always been a fun bunch. Round about ten or so they turn into stinkers but younger than that and they can be fine company and accept learning without giving me any grief over it. Besides ten is when the grownups expect the boys to be able to sit still in service without jiggering and jollying around.”

He chuckled and I thought that I better get to my own asking. “Dino …”

“You finally ready to lay off the Mr. Pappas?”

I sighed. It was going to be that way was it? “I told you when we’re out in public I prefer to act like I got manners.”

“And I like it better when you act like you don’t.” He was smiling which told me he was just funning and we were too precarious since we were sharing the wagon seat for me to give him the elbow in the ribs he deserved for that comment.

Instead I told him, “Well your stomach wants sweets but it isn’t always a good idea to eat ‘em. Now stop fooling I’ve got some questions.” He chuckled again but then settled so that we could talk. “I haven’t done a lot of looking around so I hope I haven’t gone and created problems by asking to bring home all this fruit and produce. I don’t even know if you have a root cellar or a fruit closet or anything.”

“We have both … and a large wine cellar and even an ice room off to the side of the basement.” At my blank look that hid how surprised I was he said, “I told you the house was an old one and it’s been tinkered with a few times over the years. Before my grandparents owned it, it belonged to my grandfather’s great uncle who came over from Greece and put in the original vineyards back before 1900. He married a local girl but they lost one son to the Spanish Flu and another one to mustard gas during World War One. My grandfather was the baby of his family like my father was in his. It was my grandfather’s brothers that helped in the vineyard but none of them stuck with it until my grandfather became old enough to fall in love with it and another local girl and that’s how he was the one in the family that eventually inherited it.”

I thought for a moment before saying hesitantly, “I don’t want you to think I’m greedy or needy but do you think maybe in the next day or two you could show me around the house and outbuildings more? I don’t want to duplicate if I don’t have to.”

“Duplicate in what way?”

“Well … for instance, I need to have some idea of your storage capacity. It won’t do any good to plant a bigger garden if you don’t have any place to put it. I need to see what you’ve got to see which holes I need to work on first and what kind of supplies I need to make do with. I’ve got some equipment for canning but the only jars are the ones that we managed to salvage today and those won’t go far. Going over everything will tell me if I can can or if I have to do a lot of salting, fermenting, and drying. And I also need some idea of when stuff was planted and what kind of harvest schedule you keep with your cash crops so I don’t get underfoot needing help.”

He cocked an eyebrow and said, “So you admit you might need help?”

My elbow wanted a work out but I kept it firmly held to my side. “I thought I asked you to stop your fooling. ‘Sides I never claimed that I wouldn’t need help. I’m getting bigger than I thought I would at this stage.”

Getting a concerned look on his face Dino asked, “It could be twins.”

“You mean because of Harry and Hannah?” At his nod I said, “Not likely because they aren’t natural twins. Mrs. Bly got them by in vitro.”

Harry chose that moment to ride up where he was sharing a horse with one of the boys and said, “That’s right, we’re unnatural twins and if you knew Hannah you wouldn’t have trouble believing it.”

“Oh for pity sake,” I grumped. There was no more making sense with either of them once they started their silliness and they drew the younger two boys into it as well. While they went back to passing the time, I went back to my planning.

We continued on that way, driving slow due to the load we pulled, until we got back to drop off Steven and Chris and pick up Kerry. The first thing out of the boy’s mouth was, “You were gone foooorrrrrrever.” The second thing was, “You did get peaches!”

“I told you I would Squirt. Now the question is did you mind your Aunt Adona like we bargained over?”

Cheryl broke in and said, “He was as good as gold, just like always … my sweet boy.”

I turned to look at Kerry whose chest was all puffed up but when he would finally meet my eyes he sorta wilted. “I … I knocked over the big fern on the porch and made a mess and the noise made the baby cry.” He looked ready to cry himself. “But I picked it up and swept up all the dirt and even Aunt Adona said I got it all.” He was so hopeful I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

I gave him my best serious face despite it and then said, “You really helped to clean up the mess you made?”

“Yes.” A cocked eyebrow and it got changed to, “Yes ma’am.”

“And you’re sure if I ask your Aunt Adona that she’ll confirm it?”

“I’ll go get her and you can …”

“Whoa Squirt … I’ll take your word for it. You don’t need to go thundering into the house with those boots. You’ll make work for whoever has to sweep up behind you.”

His face split with a grin and said, “So you’ll make a peach tarp?”

“I’ll make a peach tart,” I told him emphasizing the t. “But if you want it to get made before next Juvember you’ll need to help your daddy with the stuff in the wagon.”

“Aw … I’m not big enough.”

“Hah, that’s what you think. Even squirts can help with potatoes.”

“Speaking of,” Dino said. “Run and get Cousin Alec from over at the pump.”

Kerry shot off to do as his father directed and shortly Dino was explaining about the potatoes and greens while Cheryl’s younger children took them over to their porch.

Alec said to Harry, “You sure you aren’t going to need this to support you?”

Harry shook his head, “Naw sir. I’ve got to head out in a week’s time to get to my duty station for basic training before I turn eighteen. Who knows where I’ll be going from there since with my scores I qualified for the military over the civil patrol. Better for Riss to get the use out of it since she helped to plant them as much as I did. And since it was her idea to piece out shares I’m not going to quarrel with it.”

Alec persisted by then asking me, “You sure?”

“Yes sir,” I said shyly since I wasn’t used to being asked so directly about things like that. “You’re Dino’s cousin.” I shrugged not knowing how to explain it any better.

His serious look turned into a grin and even if it hadn’t Aunt Adona came down the stairs and said, “Of course she is sure Alec, that’s what family does.” To me she said, “Cheryl told me the ideas you gave her for Tina. Those potatoes will go a long way towards making up for having to remove cabbage from the menu for a while. In fact I’m making pierogies for dinner if you would care to stay.”

Dino shook his head, “I’m sorry Aunt Adona, maybe another time. We need to unload this wagon and I need to see to the livestock and everything else.”

“Of course Dear,” she said while holding her cheek out for a kiss. “Another time perhaps.”

It was a slow but short drive to Dino’s home and then they started the debate about what to do with everything. “Just put it in the barn if there’s room,” I told Dino.”

“No. These are your things and I told you there was room for them,” Dino insisted on arguing.

“Maybe so but just put them in the barn. I want to get things cleaned up and organized before I take on any more.”

The potatoes and the rest of it on the other hand was another problem completely. I told them, “Bring the fruit into the kitchen, if nothing else I might be able to start a batch of peach butter tonight. I guess just put the potatoes wherever you normally do and I’ll have to figure it out from there.”

They did as I asked under the watchful eye of the boss dog who was still deciding whether he was going to notice me or not and then they moved on to tend to the multitude of other chores that are the farmer’s lot in life. For myself I decided that it was unlikely to kill anyone if I stuck to something simple two nights in a row.

Looking in the dark recesses of the pantry I had found a pint jar of chunk chicken and a quart of mixed vegetables. While I peeled and sliced peaches for the peach tart I made a quick potato soup from a couple that I’d squirreled away in my pocket. I doubled the crust that I would need for the tart and used the other half to line a baking dish. I mixed the chunked chicken, the mixed veggies, and the potato soup together. I then ladled that into the crust in the baking dish and then made a half way decent lattice top cover with the little bit of dough I had left. I was able to bake the chicken pot pie and the peach tart at the same time, the only difference being that when the pot pie came out I sprinkled shredded cheese on top and let it melt into the already gooey mess.

At the end of the meal when the last drop of peach tart had been licked from everyone’s spoon Kerry said seriously, “I reckon you can stay.” We all managed to keep a straight face until after he had headed off to get his nightclothes on and then we started laughing so hard there were tears in our eyes.

“High praise indeed Ms. Keehn,” Dino said in the voice used by one of the circuit riding preachers that came through every couple of months. Well that set me off again.

Or at least it did until the thought of facing the man in my current condition started running through my head. I played it off by getting up and taking the dishes to be washed but I don’t guess Dino was fooled. I was sitting at the window trying to take advantage of the last bit of light to make some notes to myself on an old chalk tablet I used for such things when he came in carrying the lamp that I had returned to him that morning.

“You’re going to ruin your eyes that way.”

“There’s no sense in wasting kerosene. I’m almost finished.”

“And there’s no since in sitting in the dark when I have the kerosene to use.”

“It’s too hot to light it,” I told him.

He opened his mouth but then conceded the point. “It is hot, I’ll give you that. It’s so warm for June I hate to see what July and August are going to be like.”

I involuntarily looked to the sky and still didn’t see a single cloud. Between the moonlight and star light it was resisting being full dark. “If we don’t get some rain soon we’re going to be in trouble. It was a cold, dry winter and now it’s looking to be a hot, dry summer.”

“Got news when we were at Alec’s that a storm front might be heading our way. We’ll know in a couple of days.”

I turned to look at him through the dark, “What kind of storm front?”

“Could be a rough one. I’m going to show you the storm shelter tomorrow. It’s down in the basement with just about everything else.”

I sighed and added “Pick all the peaches and nectarines that are ripe” to my list. Dino looked at the tablet when I finally sat down at the table and he said, “There’s no way you’ll be able to finish all of that tomorrow.”

“Maybe, maybe not … but I’ll make a good start on it at the very least if the Lord tarries and the creek don’t rise.”

That got a chuckle out of him, “You … you have a … um … way with words.”

I shrugged. It’s not like it hasn’t been pointed out by plenty of people before him. “To get a heads up, what would you like for breakfast tomorrow?”

He thought for a moment before asking hesitantly, “Can you make biscuits?”

I rolled my eyes, “Can your dogs hunt? I made my first batch when I was still so small I had to stand on a chair to mix the dough. Why?”

“Well, I saw there are some sausages in the smoke house that are drying out and thought … maybe … if …”

“OK, how about biscuits with busted down gravy and maybe some fried eggs if the feather dusters will cooperate?”

A grin split his face, “I collected six tonight. There might be more in the morning, I’m not sure. They seem to be settling back down now that Kerry isn’t teasing them.”

“Good enough.” I sighed leaned back in my chair.

“Is this too much for you?” he asked, concern clear in his voice.

“Is what too much for me?”

“Everything. Tammy … well …”

I gave him the eye and reminded him, “I asked you not to measure me by her.”

“I’m not but she’s the only one I have to go by at this stage.”

Realizing what he meant I said, “Oh, you mean the baby. I guess I’m still not used to the idea of him. It keeps sneaking up on me that I’m changing and have to take it into account.”

“You think it is going to be a boy?”

I shrugged, “I just want a healthy one which ever flavor it turns out to be. I’m just more used to little boys. I’m not sure I’ll know what to do with it if it’s a little girl.”

“You’ll raise her the same way you were raised.”

Without meaning to I said, “I wasn’t raised, I survived.” I knew as soon as it fell out of my mouth that I’d let him see some pain I hadn’t meant for him to see.

He leaned back in his chair as well and said, “It must have been tough.”

I snorted, “It sounds like I’m complaining and I didn’t mean for it to.”

“No, not complaining … but I’d … I’d like to understand if you’d explain.”

I looked at him and realized in the gloom I could barely see him. That’s probably what made it easier. I also realized that I might be better off getting stuff out in the open now rather than later if we really were going to be working on something between us. After I’d finished explaining about Dad, and Mom and my little brother along with the rest of my family, how I decided to change, the epidemic, the Bly family, how in a weird way they had given me some reason to go on when I didn’t know what to do next … even about Sol and how I’d come to make such a fool of myself … I said, “And that’s the whole sordid tale. I reckon after all of that you know as much about me as I do.”

“I doubt it,” he said as he leaned forward and placed one of his hands over mine. “You’re full of surprises every time I turn around.”

“That can get tiring for some folks.”

“Not for me, not at this point in my life. I’m tired of nothing but doom and gloom. Laughter and surprises is exactly what I need.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of his hand over mine but it didn’t bother me like I thought it should. Made me wonder if I wasn’t fickle, being able to turn my back on Sol and so quickly consider someone new.

He was about to say something more when we heard one of the dogs bay followed by the others. We both stood up and hurried to the window. With no light behind us we weren’t visible but the moonlight showed the stealthy movement of something waddling with a strange gate across the yard heading in the direction that I knew Dino had his hogs penned up. Dino grabbed the bigger of the two rifles hanging near the kitchen door and then eased open the door.

The creature stopped at the sound and then sniffed the air. There was a grunt, it stood up briefly on its hind legs to sniff the wind and then went down again with an odd oomph and stood still. Neither one of us moved as we watched to see what it would do next. The creature knew it was being watched but finally decided it was too hungry to be bothered by it and slowly turned to lumber away, back on its original heading. In that moment I ducked down on my knees as I felt Dino raise the rifle, aim it, and then pull the trigger causing a roar that must have echoed up the stairs. Kerry screamed and I took off up the stairs meeting Harry on his way down. “Some shot huh?” he asked excitedly.

I told Harry, “Don’t let him go after that thing in the dark by himself.”

Kerry was nearly shrieking by the time I got to him. “Daddy!! I want Daddy!!!”

“Easy Squirt. It’s all right. You’re daddy was just takin’ care of business. Something was after the hogs is all.” I finally got him calmed down but he was shaking like a leaf and still asking for his father. I needed to go downstairs and find out what was going on myself so I said, “You’re too big for me to carry you but if you come downstairs with me you can hop up on the bed and wait for him there. How’s that?”

He scrambled so fast he nearly fell out of bed onto his head but I still managed to get him tucked up and he wasn’t shaking near so much. It was an hour before they came back and both stank from sour sweat.

I told Dino he’d better see his boy and then had to point him in the direction of the room I’d come to think as my bedroom. I got a couple of drinking glasses filled with cool water from the hand pump.

“He’s basically asleep. I’ll move him in a minute,” Dino said coming back into the room to take one of the glasses from my hand.

“You can leave him there. I reckon we’ll be up dealing with bear meat.”

Dino shook his head, “Unfortunately not. My shot was a clean one but someone has taken a shot at that bear before and only winged him. It went septic and there was a pocket of infection on his hindquarters. The infection would have eventually given him a bad ending if my bullet hadn’t done it first.”

Disappointed I nevertheless as was my habit looked for the bright side. “Well, at least you put the poor thing out of its misery. What did you do with the corpse?”

He said, “That’s what took us so long. As hurt as it was it still managed to get nearly a hundred yards away before collapsing. Luckily that’s near the drainage gulley. We rolled it so that the blood would drain down into a gulley away from the house area and I’ll burn the corpse first thing in the morning. I hate to waste meat but with that infection it is too big a risk.”

They finally cooled off and Harry went back up to bed. Dino asked, “You sure you don’t want me to move him?”

“No. There’s no sense in waking him. And this way if he wakes up scared again I can calm him back down without having to climb them stairs.”

Dino didn’t try to change my mind again which told me just how tired he likely was. If that hadn’t the slow tread of his feet up the stairs did. I climbed in bed after winding up and setting my old alarm clock that hadn’t seen use in years and went to sleep.

I rolled over when it went off and groaned. I shut it off and then rolled the other way only to open my eyes to find a face staring back at me grinning. The little devil laughed and said, “You snore. Wait ‘til I tell Daddy” before scampering away. I groaned again but this time for a different reason.

 

[ydderf]

Thanks Kathy

 

[sssarawolf]

Thank you .

 

[wab54]

This is a great one too!!

WAB

 

[Landcruiser]

Just went over to FP and read all the available chapters for this one.... I can't wait to find out where this story goes ...

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 12 - 1​

I was baking the biscuits in a reflector oven out by the BBQ pit when I heard a howl of laughter through one of the upstairs windows. Ooooo I could have toasted the tail of a particular four-year-old; but the shoe was to be on the other foot shortly.

I was ignoring the muffled laughter that kept escaping from Dino all during breakfast but then he had to go and ask “How did you sleep son?” and doubled over laughing so hard he was pert near crying and gasping for breath. Harry was laughing too though not so hard since it was obvious he was laughing at Dino’s antics and didn’t really know what the joke was.

I’d had enough of being the butt end of that particular funny. I sat the pitcher of milk on the table a little harder than was strictly necessary and turned to go inside. That was when the little dickens that had started this said, “Better than when I have to sleep in your room.” He turned to look at me and said, “Daddy snores just like Wheezer our old boss dog used to that time he caught a cold and died.”

That set Harry off so hard he fell out of his chair and with no small amount of satisfaction I walked into the kitchen to wash a few dishes to get ahead of the stack that was coming. A minute later Dino came in and in a voice all the teasing was gone from said, “You didn’t eat.”

I told him, “I ate while I was cooking like I always do. It wastes less of my time that way.”

He came up beside me at the sink and used a finger to turn my face in his direction. “You aren’t just telling a story because … because I hurt your feelings are you?”

I grinned a little and said, “No. But it sure was nice to learn that I’m not the only one that keeps Kerry awake.”

He chuckled and admitted, “You’re too easy to tease. Next time chuck something at my head so I’ll stop before I go too far.”

I smiled and shook my head. “Nope, I want you to get that rope nice and long to hang yourself with.”

We decided reluctantly we’d had our fill of play and got down to the work of the day. He gave me a quick tour of the places I hadn’t already gone in the house and told me, “Be sure and snoop in all the closets and cabinets, no telling what is stuffed where. Yaya and Papooh could be sensitive about moving their things about and they were the worst packrats; I never have gotten around to going through everything. And speaking of … there’s a fat ol’ gray Tom cat that wanders about like a ghost so if you see him don’t worry, he keeps the mice firmly in check; but he’s not much for people so I wouldn’t recommend trying to pet him or pick him up. Not even Kerry will mess with that cat so that should tell you something. If you still have questions we’ll do a better tour later but I’ve put off …”

He stopped worrying maybe that he’d said the wrong thing, but I finished it for him. “… what needed doing to tend to me.”

“I didn’t mean it that way … and I don’t regret it, it was time well spent.”

I eyed him a bit then said, “Are you going to bite my head off if I say I’m grateful?”

He just snorted and he and Harry headed out the door to start their day. As he went I heard him tell Kerry to “Mind Miss Riss … or else.” I also got an admonition to stay away from the milk cow as she was acting ornery and had been kicking the last two mornings running. Last thing I need right now is to be kicked by anything, much less a cow, so I’ll happily leave the milking to Dino.

As hot as it was the milk wasn’t going to keep for long so I set some to cream down in the basement where it was cool and then fixed the rest up in a quick farmer’s cheese. That done and put away, I was tying on my work boots when Kerry walked into the kitchen and said, “I’m bored.”

I looked at him and said, “Mm mmm mmmm boy, them’s some dangerous words.”

“Why?” he asked the way a kid will when they’re suspicious their leg is being pulled.

I just laughed and told him, “’Cause when children claim they’re bored it is the solemn obligation of any grownup nearby to give them chores to fill the time they can’t seem to fill on their own.”

Little devil said, “Aunt Cheryl says I’m too young and small for chores.”

“Huh! Is that so?” At his solemn nod I said, “Well, you might be at her house but this is your daddy’s house and since I saw what a big helper you were with them potatoes I … well … between you and me … I’m thinking you aren’t being given enough credit.” He didn’t know what to make of that but boys being boys he was pretty easy to lead when I started plucking up his pride a bit.

After the dew dried off we spent the coolest part of the morning – which wasn’t saying much – trying to make heads or tells of the vegetable and herb gardens. Oh Lord what a mess I have before me. I’m gonna be hoeing from now ‘til the other side of Christmas just trying to catch up. The first thing I aim to look for is a cultivator and if Dino doesn’t have one I think I’m gonna have to figure on how to make one myself even if I have to hook one of the dogs up to act like a mule to pull it. ‘Course once I get the weeds down I hope I can come up with some kind of mulch to put around the ones most difficult to hoe around.

And the compost piles are in terrible sad shape … well to be flat out honest they aren’t in any shape at all because apparently all the waste either goes to the hogs or the dogs and the manure piles haven’t been turned in forever. The weeds growing up around the manure piles where it’s leached into the soil look so fierce they’d give a billy goat pause. I hope Dino has a scythe or swing blade short enough for me to handle or I’m gonna have to get some help ‘cause I surely am not going to kill myself pulling those things by hand.

Kerry is too small for hoeing yet though next season if I cut him one down to size I can put him to work between the rows. Right now he doesn’t know the difference between a pea and pigweed and he’d likely mow down half that needed keeping and only half that didn’t. I had him follow me around with a bucket with a lid and when I pulled a hornworm, grasshopper, or other nasty off a plant I’d put it in there. After remembering something one of my uncles did I also let him grub some worms up so I could set up a worm farm for him to tend to teach him useful responsibility.

When I had walked the rows and gathered as many of those pest types of insects as I could find we walked over to the feather dusters and I let him toss a couple in there and it became a game to him. That kept him and the hens busy while I checked for eggs. There was one ol’ mean biddy in there that was too broody to move so I let her have her clutch. The flock has been picked over and not replaced for a while; if the chicks turn out healthy I might try trading some cockerels for some pullets as heat and nerves as an excuse or not I am not too impressed with the number of eggs these birds seem to be giving. I also saw that there were two more sections of fenced off area; one held a few geese and the other held a couple of turkeys.

“Honey?” I asked Kerry. “Are these your daddy’s birds or is he housing them for someone else?”

“They were Yaya’s. Aunt Adona took most of them with her but Daddy kept some because they reminded him of her.”

Since I’d never heard the name but had a good imagination I asked, “Was Yaya your daddy’s grandmother?”

“Uh huh. It’s hot. I want a drink,” he answered a little on the cranky side.

I snorted, “It depends. Do you have any manners in that mouth or just demands?”

He finally figured out that a please, yes ma’am, and no ma’am would go a long way towards getting him his way and as the day wore on I had to remind him less and less. Good manners are a habit just like bad ones are and the sooner you start a good habit the longer it will hang around and help you out.

From mid-morning on my main focus became the peaches and nectarines. A bushel of peaches runs about fifty pounds and since I remembered my commonsense I didn’t try and move the bushel baskets that Dino and Harry had brought into the kitchen for me … at least not until I emptied them at least half way. And it is a good thing I am so close to the ground because I tell you that bending over a bunch a times to deal with five bushels of fruit gets tiring.

So did standing at the sink washing jars till I was sick of seeing ‘em. On the other hand I was grateful too. There were a ton of empty jars down in the basement stacked in what seemed like endless rows on long shelves. What I was most grateful for however was that I’d managed to save all of my grandmother’s reusable tattler lids for canning. The companies that make the lids for jars want a precious lot for their wares these days and I hate spending money on something that can only be used once. The tattlers are reusable and my grandparents had a fine collection that I’ve salvaged over the years. A few have snapped and chipped and had to be thrown away – always a grieving process – but for the most part the ones that Granddaddy bulk ordered before the beginning of the war are still going strong.

I gave serious consideration before using my lids. By doing what I did I seemed to be making a commitment and I suppose I am. I know I already love the Little Hellion ‘cause despite it all he is an easy child to love and get attached to. Although I only promised to look after him, I am starting to like his daddy too. Again it makes me wonder if I’m not fickle somehow. I was all prepared to spend the rest of my life as Sol Bly’s wife and yet here I am, not two weeks later thinking about another man. Makes me wonder if there ain’t something inherently wrong with me. Maybe there is something to all them abandonment issues Mrs. Bly used to claim I have. It gives me pause; I don’t want to make another mistake … especially not seeing as how there is a little boy and a kind man involved.

As a matter of fact, I gave it a lot of thought as I dealt with the fruit that had the kitchen smelling a little overripe; I certainly had the time. I pickled about ten pints each of peaches and nectarines. I canned a healthy number plain and spiced as well. Peach and then nectarine preserves came next. Peach butter both plain and spiced was another easy fix and didn’t cost me any pectin either. I had some left over from last year’s canning season but I would need to make more from this year’s apple thinnings or there wouldn’t be near as much jam and jelly as I would like.

About then I had to get some dinner on. It was so hot I couldn’t imagine that the men would want anything to make them hotter so I fixed another garden salad, a cold ham pie, and then sumac lemonade with water as cold as I could get it to come up. And when they hurried to get back out to their work I made them take a jug of switchel with them to keep from drying out too much.

I had worried a bit during the meal asking Dino about using all the sugar and he gave me a nice surprise. Apparently one of his field hand’s father gives Dino shares for letting him keep some of his beehives in the orchard and out in the vineyard. “My grandfather had the same deal with him Riss, there’s honey down in the basement that is at least five years old and probably some quite a bit older than that, maybe even from before the war. Use it … use it all if you need to. In a few months we’ll only be looking for space to put the new stuff.”

“Then why do you take it in if you can’t use it all?” I asked thinking that it was a waste.

“Some of it is for my grandparents’ memory and to help their old friend out but I’ll be honest … I need those bees; and honey doesn’t go bad. Most of the vineyard is pollinated by wind but I’ve always noticed that the areas the bees tend to favor do a little better and these days a little better can make a big difference. And we’ve never had the orchards fail with the bees at work either … of course my grandparents were organic growers before it became fashionable or as is the case these days, typical. That is also how Mr. Blanton gets top dollar for his honey because it can still be certified organic. My grandfather swears he could smell the difference between a wine that was grown organically and one that had chemicals sprayed on it.”

“Could he really?” Harry asked surprised.

“I don’t know, he claimed he could. My nose isn’t that sensitive but Alec swears up and down that he got to where he could tell the difference too.”

That brought up a question that had been nagging at me. “If you don’t mind me asking how did you wind up inheriting your grandparents’ place if Alec worked at it longer?”

Dino nodded, “Yeah, Alec has been at this since he was little but his father hated it … Aunt Adona’s husband. My grandfather and him were always at loggerheads. He wanted his son to grow up and be an engineer like he was but Papooh … that’s what we called my grandfather … wanted someone to take over the vineyards. Aunt Adona and Uncle Pierce separated when Alec was in college but Alec is a peacekeeper and tried to please his father and Papooh too … and wound up running away from both of them for a time to find himself before coming back with Cheryl and Ajax in tow. Uncle Pierce remarried and had another kid with a new wife which kind of took the pressure off of Alec … but Papooh kept wondering if Alec wouldn’t just run off again so he started grooming me. I liked farming but I also wanted to see the world a bit first. Luckily Alec and I always got along and mostly, because with him being older, he understood what I was going through. In the end Alec and I inherited equally. He’d already been living in and making improvements to the old overseers house and didn’t want to pick up and have to do the same thing to this place … it just worked out. Technically he owns half and I own the other half but come grape harvest time we work the vineyard like it is still whole.”

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 12 - 2

I sighed, “I wish it was that easy with all families. I’ve seen inheritance stuff tear families apart.”

“Yep,” he agreed. “Like I said it was Alec that really made things easy for both of us. It could have turned out a lot different.” He gave Kerry a look where he was dozing by his plate and added quietly, “You’ll get used to Cheryl. She’s been a lifesaver for me but I know she can be … uh …”

Smiling I told him, “You don’t need to justify your family to me. I can see they are all well-meaning. I won’t create problems for you so don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried about that. I just want you to know that I realize that Cheryl is some of the reason that Kerry got so spoiled. Just by way of explanation, Cheryl lost her last pregnancy about the time that Kerry was born and can’t have anymore … she kind of transferred some of those feelings to him and Tammy never put a stop to it since it was so convenient for her. But now with Ajax and Tina giving her a grandchild it isn’t quite so intense as it was.” That did explain some of it and I knew I’d need to be careful not to set a bad precedent with the woman as she could make my life difficult if she took it into her head to do so.

After lunch, and with the understanding that sweetening wasn’t going to be a problem, I went back to canning with a clear conscience. I brushed out and cleaned the solar dehydrator … I discovered from the staining on some of the screens it was used primarily for making raisins … and set some fruit leathers and fruit slices to dry. The contraption was taller than I was which meant I had to get Kerry to help me find a step stool.

Fresh and full of vinegar from his short nap I had to finally tell him to go outside and play but to leave the animals alone and to stay where I could keep an eye on him. He still managed to slam in and out of the screen door so often I had a couple dozen flies worrying at me while I tried to work.

I started a batch of glace’ peaches and nectarines and then made a couple of liters of peach liqueur and peach cordial which I set on a set of shelves down in the basement next to the door to the wine cellar. After knocking my ankles and other parts of me even more sensitive into things down there I’ve determined that I will have to organize it sooner rather than later. I’m not sure when I am going to have the time but it needs doing or someone is going to break their ever-loving neck … and that someone is likely to be me.

I still had two bushels of peaches left but I was getting some tired by that time so I used the few I had left that I’d already skinned to make Peach Bread Pones. It’s just about the easiest thing in the world to make. You take soft fruit and mash it up juice and all. Then you mix that about half and half with self-rising cornmeal and add a little sweetening to that. If the peaches aren’t juicy enough to make a soft-hard dough you can add a little boiling water at a time until you get it the way you want it. Then you put the pone dough to bake or fry as you prefer and wham, bam, thank you man you have some good eatin’.

I gave one of the pones to Kerry to gnaw on and then asked him to show me to the orchard. When we got there I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; somebody had forgot to mention that the orchard here had peach and nectarine trees in it too … and it also had a couple of huge cherry trees that had been netted over to keep the birds out of them and a pretty good-sized strawberry tower that needed picking as well.

I know what I’m doing when it comes to the how but I’ve never had to do all the work by myself. Before the epidemic I was following the womenfolk in my family around and doing for them and then afterwards with the Bly family while I was the one directing the doing there were hands to help with the work itself. I shook my head and tried real hard to not be overwhelmed and believe that I’d be able to do it all … but I knew in my heart that I was getting a late start and was already behind and unlikely to get caught up before some things were rurnt. That just don’t set well with me; I hate to waste food of any type.

But a body can only do what a body can do. I knew I’d brought the buckets with me for a reason so I set to it. First I pulled all the ripe cherries I could reach which, though quite a bunch, still left what looked like bushels on each tree. I set those in the shade to ask Harry to bring to the house for me. Then I went to the shed to look for a tub. I got lucky and brought back a few plastic dish pans and a wheelbarrow to push them in.

“Kerry Pappas! Do I look like a push mule to you?!” I told the boy when he hopped into the wheelbarrow like he expected me to cart him around in it.

“I just wanted a ride. My feets are tired.”

“Well my ‘feets’ are tired too, and so is my back and just about everything else that is attached to me. Now stop pouting. You help me pick these strawberries and get them back to the house and I’ll give you a choice between peach or strawberry shortcake for dessert for supper tonight.”

On the way back I also cut some rhubarb and knew if I didn’t get the rest of it in the next day or two I wouldn’t get any more at all since it was hot and late in the season for it.

Supper was as easy as I could make it as I was so tired I could barely stand to be around anyone. I fixed Greens Italiano. The first step is to take a good clove of garlic and about a quarter cup of chives and chop them up real good before sautéing them in three tablespoons of oil. Then into that mess you toss about four cups of cooked greens – some came out of the garden and some were wild ones that I had harvested along with the rhubarb – and on top of that you pour in eight ounces of tomato sauce. Heat it all together and season with a little salt and pepper if it needs it and you’re done. I made up and easy pie crust dough but instead of putting it in a pie plate I cut circles out of it to hold some stuffing and made sausage pockets with it for the meat. Kerry voted for the strawberry shortcake and that was the most work, but I didn’t shirk it; a promise is a promise and you don’t break a promise to a little kid. I didn’t have the strength left to whip up any fluff for the top of the shortcake but no one seemed to notice.

After dinner I pitted cherries like a crazy woman and set them down in the ice room to stay cool so I could start on them first thing – Harry and Dino had indeed brought the buckets in for me and they even did it without asking; they found them when they went to see what all I’d accomplished in the garden.

The house had long grown quiet but I was still trying to get the last few things done so that I could go to bed with a clear conscience when Dino walked downstairs one last time.

“There’s no convincing you not to work like a mule is there?” he said shaking his head.

I shrugged, “I like to make hay while the sun shines. I’ve been told I won’t have any choice but to slow down at some point and I don’t want to leave so many things undone by the time it’s forced on me.”

He grunted his understanding if not his happiness with that fact. “Can you at least sit a minute and talk?”

I took the pitter off the counter by the sink and attached it to the table top and continued pitting cherries while we talked. “First off, save me those cherry pits.”

“You don’t feed ‘em to the animals do you? I thought they were poisonous?”

“They are, or so I’m told. But that’s not what I use ‘em for. I wash ‘em and then dry them and store them for the winter and then when it’s cold I use them in the pellet stove out in the workshop.”

“You’re joshing me,” I said, never having heard such a thing.

“Nope, Alec does the same thing,” he said while smiling tiredly.

“Well don’t that beat all.”

“Second thing,” he said. “I hate to add to your chores but some of my best field hands need work bad and came to me today to see if I could give them any off season work.”

“How does you giving them work make work for me?”

“I usually give ‘em a noonday meal as part of their pay. Cheryl or Tina helped last summer but …” He shrugged leaving me to fill in the obvious. “And two of ‘em have boys they bring with them about Steven and Chris’s ages. Actually I thought I’d ask Harry to get those boys and clear those trees off for you and anything else you need help doing. I’ve got about a week’s worth of work I can afford to pay the men and then they’ll have to find work someplace else but that also mean you’ll have those boys to help for a week so make use of them.”

Something began to nag at me and finally I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “Dino … don’t get all pinched up and start hollering.”

His face told me he didn’t know whether to shutter it or not. “When a woman starts out saying something like that it’s never a good sign,” he said half joking, half worried.

“Well it isn’t anything bad but some men get all bent out of shape over nothing. Mr. Bly did that summer.”

“What summer?”

“The summer that the government inspectors cut the income because he had to spray with an insecticide that got taken off the approved list after he had already done the spraying.”

My mouthful paused him for a minute. “I’m still not getting it,” he said more than a little confused.

“My father and grandfather and uncles were all the type to put back for a rainy day. And even though Daddy was a military man he didn’t trust the government any further than he could throw ‘em on some things.”

“And?”

I sighed, “Look, Harry don’t know and I’d appreciate you not saying anything to him; I don’t want nothing slipping out to his mother or sister and for good reason. I never got around to telling Sol either though I don’t know why. Only Mr. Bly knew and after he finally accepted my help he acted like I’d never told him and never said another word about it.”

Dino ran his hand through his already messy hair and muttered, “Riss if this is supposed to make sense …”

“I’ve got a little metal put back, mostly silver.”

My words fell flat and hard. See people that have metal don’t generally advertise it. There’s a pretty good tax on the exchange and the amount of tax depends on whether you are changing it to federal notes or state notes. And sure enough Dino started getting all pinched up.

Well I didn’t want that. “Don’t Dino, I mean it. I trusted you enough to say something to you so trust me enough not to be telling you to hurt your manly pride or whatever you want to call it.”

I could see him fighting it but he finally relaxed into the knowledge a bit. “I still don’t see what you having a bit of savings has to do with me.”

I hadn’t given it much thought up to now but when the thoughts started coming they were fast and furious. “Well first off, I don’t want to seem like I’m a leech. I … I’ve had to deal with the idea that I can’t do it all, can’t do it alone. If I tried the metal wouldn’t last very long at all. But you’ve offered me a place and whether you want my gratitude or not you have it. Second, I’m not stupid. Any number of things could happen to me and leave my baby motherless. I don’t want to think about it but I reckon I have to. Some of that metal could keep him or her from turning into one of them street rats that you said runs around in the city. I don’t want that for my baby Dino.”

He could see I was just that upset at the very idea and he put his hand over mine and said forcefully, “That isn’t going to happen Riss. You won’t let it … and neither will I.”

I shook my head. “I know firsthand that you can plan and plan and plan some more but that the fastest way to make God laugh is to tell him you have plans. I’m sure my Daddy didn’t plan to die that day but he did. I’m sure none of my family set out to die in that epidemic, but they did. I didn’t plan on Sol doing what he did to me, but he did … and now here I am trying to figure out how to plan so if something … something I’d rather not think about happens, my baby has some way to be something besides a street rat.”

I swallowed, both my mouth and my eyes dry even though they burned. Dino said, “I’ll keep your secret Riss. You can count on me.”

I looked at him and said, “I … I think I can. And that’s kinda scary. I already thought I could count on someone else and it blew up in my face. And before you say something I know that you’re different from Sol. Sol was a boy and … and I’ve found out that there are differences between boys and men. You’re showing me that. But … but I … I want you to know … Now look here, I don’t want to mess up but I want you to know that … that … I set more store … by … by your friendship than I do by that metal. There’s enough to set some aside for the baby and have some to do other things with and if it just so happens that it gets to the point … I mean …”

“No.”

Now it was my turn to reach out and put my hand on his arm and I tell you it felt some strange to be doing it. I didn’t think I’d ever reach out that way again and that was a thought big enough and scary enough that it almost put me off from saying what I meant to. I guess I must have startled him some too because he stopped being all bowed up and put his hand over the top of the one I had on him.

“Dino, don’t say no out of hand. I’m not saying you will need to know about that little bit of savings I have but I’d rather you know than not … just in case. That’s all … for just in case.”

He sighed. “Riss, you don’t understand. I’m not hurting, not the way you think. I’m just … well if you ask my ex she’ll say I’m as stingy as Scrooge before the ghostly visits.”

“I ain’t asking that woman. She don’t sound like she knew you none anyway,” I huffed.

That made him smile before saying quietly. “Maybe, but I do know how to pinch a penny … hard enough to make Ol’ Abe cry, or so Alec complains. I have regular funds and I have emergency funds. I’m fine in both areas, I just have to be careful this time of year right before the harvest as expenses can get away from you real easy. The field hands work on shares from the harvest, some in cash and some in product, so they know they aren’t going to get paid until we get a batch to market, but during my off season they usually work on shares at other farms and some of the men they used to get work from are having to put them off. Plus Chester’s oldest son is getting married and won’t be sending his paycheck home anymore which is pinching him due to it being unexpected. But these men are experienced and they’re fast and that’s what we have to have with the grape harvest and I don’t want them leaving the area … and if that means a sacrifice during the off season then so be it.”

“You wouldn’t just tell me a story would you?” I asked, practically begging him not to be lying to me.

He moved his hand from mine and pushed a curl behind my ear and said, “No, I wouldn’t just tell you a story.”

I started to feel things that were making me nervous and had to get up and put some distance between us. I looked at him with my eyes and asked him silently to understand and he smiled. “I’m proud that you trust me Damaris. I won’t let you down.”

Funny thing is I want to believe him … not so funny is the fact I’m fast finding that I need to be able to believe in him.

 

[ydderf]

Thank you Kathy

 

[wab54]

I enjoy this story. I hope it continues.

WAB

 

[9idrr]

Just what I needed this morning. Many thanks.

 

[Sammy55]

Thanks again! Another one caught up and it's time for bed. So I'll plug away at catching up again tomorrow. Your new chapters are good snack breaks. Always appreciate good reading, Kathy!!

 

[sssarawolf]

Thank you very much.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter 13​

Not too long ago Dino got irritated by me working like a mule and now he goes and gives me a treat for doing just that. I swun, men are just so strange.

The last few days has been nonstop work but I’m so happy about how it has turned out I could just about cry in public. For three days them boys climbed the trees in the orchard like monkeys I remember seeing in the zoo as a child and all I had to do was stay at the house and wait for them to bring it to me. And when they finished in the orchard they headed out to the garden and helped me to weed and mulch until it actually looked like a real garden should. Not only that, but there were a couple of little boys I knew that came along with the group and they would stay on the porch and pit the cherries for me with the cherry pitters with nary a complaint. They’d play for a little while with Kerry then the four of them would come pit cherries for me, then I’d give ‘em a snack and they’d go back to playing and stay out from under my feet. It was a wonder and make no mistake.

So many of the peaches and nectarines were overripe by the time I got to them that I made a lot of butter and leather since the fruit just fell apart. The soft fruit also had a lot of places that I had to cut out but that went into the bucket for the new compost pile I’ve started. Oh, the hogs and chickens got some but not near as much as they have in the past.

The other thing I did with the softest fruit was to make up bottles of nectar and syrups. Nectar is basically the thick juice of a fruit that don’t strain off like say a grape, apple, or blackberry does. And the syrups will be plumb nice when the weather is cold outside and spring and summer are nothing but memories.

And I’m telling you I survived all them cherries but just barely. We only had the one tree on the Davidson Farm and it didn’t produce regular and even when it did it didn’t give but maybe a bushel … maybe, and even then it had to be a doggone good year. These here trees look like they wanna drown you in their fruit and pitting and stemming all of them things was a chore. Thank goodness I didn’t have to do it all by myself or my hands would be just about wore off to the elbow.

I did all sorts of good eatin’ stuff with those cherries and there’s some still coming in on the trees but we’ll just eat them fresh if the birds don’t get ‘em. Let’s see here, I made cherry leather – over dried a couple of sheets not paying attention so the boys got cherry leather chips as a treat, and plain dried cherries (they look like raisins a bit), glace’ cherries, cherry juice, cherry almond jam, cherry pie filling, cherry conserve, cherry preserves (no pectin needed), cherry liqueur and cherry mint liqueur (made with high grade ‘shine rather than vodka), sweet spiced cherries, and pickled cherries.

Also made me a great big ol’ bunch of maraschino cherries as them things are dear in the store but handy during the holidays. First, I made a brine of two quarts of water, two tablespoons of salt, and one teaspoon of alum. I used this brine to soak four and half pounds of pitted red cherries overnight. Next day I rinsed the cherries in cold water and set ‘em aside for a sec. In a pot I put four and a half pounds of white sugar, three cups of water, and an ounce of red food coloring. Lucky for me Dino keeps some more of the costly things on hand cause of the family wine making business so I was also able to add the juice of one lemon. I heated what was in the pot to boiling then took it off, put in the cherries, and covered it with a dish towel and let him perk for twenty-four hours. After the twenty-four hours was up I drained the cherries and then re-boiled the liquid. This time when I took it off the heat I added an ounce of almond extract. I put the cherries in different sized, prepared jars and then covered them with the boiling hot liquid then sealed ‘em the same way I do everything else. I tell you those cherries are just the prettiest things all lined up I could just about use them for decorating.

Found out Dino has his talents like any man and one of them talents is messing around in the kitchen a bit. I didn’t know it but Alec keeps goats – he does it off away from the vineyards in case they get out – and one of ‘em did something tragically stupid as animals are want to do ever so often and broke its leg bad enough that it had to be put down. Well Alec and Ajax brung the dressed carcass over to the big BBQ pit and Dino cooked it up and made up a BBQ sauce with the cherries that smelled good even before it got dobbed on some of the meat. Man alive, that was some kinda good. I managed to can some of the meat too which just tickled me to no end.

I haven’t just been canning and drying the fruit either. I need to get me a baking schedule but haven’t had the chance to find a whole day to set aside to do it so instead of light bread we’ve been eating a lot of quick breaks and such. And into these I’ve been hiding whole or pulped pieces of the fruit that I have left over at the tail end of the canning batches. The men and boys seem to be especially partial to the fruited pone, doughnuts, and muffins that I kept ready for them in case they came by the house and felt all hollow. The way some of them eat you’d think they’d be so big they’d have to roll from job to job but they work it off sure enough. Some of those field hands are as lean as overdried jerky and tough as whang leather.

The noonday meal has become our big one but I don’t mind so much since that is always the way it is when it is harvest time too. It also means less dishes for me at the end of the day though the middle means enough of them. And I need to get some lotion on my hands or they are going to start cracking from spending so much time wet for one reason or another; they already itch like I’ve put my hands into something I shouldn’t have. The tip ends of my fingers are already so rough they catch on the dish rag.

I haven’t liked to use all of Dino’s store-bought goods so I’ve been mixing them with stuff out of the garden and wild foragibles that I’ve gathered to piece things out. Had cattail pie as part of the meal one day (there are some growing on one end of the fish pond). The men don’t seem to notice when there are wild greens mixed up with the tame ones whether it is in a salad or cooked – they are too busy shoveling it into their mouths I guess. Had some burdock growing near the chicken lot that was already big enough to do something with so for another meal I fixed glazed burdock root slices.

Burdock root sorta reminds you of a carrot but it is uglier than the ugliest carrot you’ve ever seen; the leaves are different too. The edible roots are tough and fibrous too so unlike the carrot – some sort of cousin in the plant kingdom I reckon – you can’t eat ‘em raw. But cooked up they have a kinda nutty sweetness to them that some of the winter squash does.

One morning Chris and Steven – the two seem to be inseparable, almost like twins – brought a couple of ducks when they came over to help their daddy who had arrived round about first light. They also brought a small crock that Cheryl sent with a note. “Our trees are going crazy this year too. Put this on the table with the duck and next time you get a chance to come over I’ll give you the recipe for it if you want it.”

“It”was a Black Bean Cherry Relish. I love black beans but Mr. Bly didn’t cotton to them at all – he was colored challenged in the food department – so I only grew a few bushes each year for my own pleasure and to keep some seed stock. I had to have a spoonful right there before the men got to it and oh my lands I will most definitely be getting that recipe. That relish is certainly worth eating more than once. Good thing I have willpower or I would have secreted that whole crock for my personal consumption.

The man named Chester also did me the kindness of showing me how to make cherry-flavored and peach-flavored vinegars and I’ve got some jars steeping waiting to be strained and sealed in a little over a week. You wouldn’t think with all the work I’d have time to learn something new but it has been a pleasure to almost every day.

Seems grapes aren’t the only things that Dino and Alec turn into wine. The men were talking too fast for me to keep up but basically you start out with all the ingredients in one container where it ferments and then you decant it into another container. Sometimes you leave certain types of wines in barrels to age before you bottle it and some of the wines you bottle and let it age from there. It is some confusing but Dino told me not to worry about it because I’d likely hear more about it than I want to once the grapes start coming in about mid-July which ain’t that far off.

Let’s see, what got put down in the wine cellar … cherry wine, black cherry wine (when the boys reported that the wild cherries were going just as crazy as the tame cherries were), nectarine wine, peach and raisin wine, strawberry wine and then they got just plain silly in my opinion. They made up small batches of things I’ve never even heard of and can’t imagine too many people wanting to drink but Alec told me not to be fooled, certain people will still pay good money for items they don’t think anyone else has. Get this, they set up batches of wine out of flower petals – like honeysuckle, clover, and sunflower wines. They got into the herb patch and got silly there too – mint, wintergreen, and ginger wines. They got into the pantry where all the spices are kept – cinnamon, ginger, and all spice wines. I mean to tell you those men told me that come next month as more of the garden comes in they’ll even be making wine out of the vegetables. If that don’t beat all I don’t know what does.

I also finished up the last of the strawberries. I was a little upset to see how many had been missed or were gotten by the birds before I came along but sometimes you’ve gotta live with missed timing. I still managed to make some things … and happy I got any at all since quite a few of the berries went into Dino and Alec’s wine making business. There are bottles and jars of strawberry syrup, strawberry jam, strawberry-grape jam, and strawberry jelly on the shelves in the basement. Next year – and I guess I am thinking about next year sure enough – I want to do more with the strawberries but I think we did enough this one to at least have a taste in the middle of winter if that is what we want. I do hope the wild strawberries make because I didn’t get to have many fresh tame ones and wouldn’t you know it, the one thing I can’t have is the one thing I’m craving all of a sudden. Might wind up having to make a strawberry jam cake just to shut the craving off so I can think about something else.

It went on like that for about a week – working from before sunrise and then until after nightfall – but a day finally came that I knew would have to whether I wanted it to or not. The night after the last field hand had left until the grape harvest we were sitting down to a late supper of leftovers when Harry said, “I gotta go Riss.”

I was wondering why he was telling me he had to go when one look at his face told me that he wasn’t talking about the outhouse. “I’ve already put it off and I’m cutting it pretty close. I’ll be eighteen in less than a week and I gotta get or get in trouble.”

I sighed. “I know. I guess …” I stopped cause my eyes were watering up and none of us needed that.

“Don’t worry Miss Riss,” he teased. “Dino has given me lots of pointers about how to not make enemies or make a fool of myself in basic.”

I shook my head. “I’m not worried about either one of those things Harry Bly. You always show your Daddy proud when you put your mind to it. I’m just gonna miss you.”

And I was. By turn Harry has acted as both a younger and older brother and a best friend. It felt there for a time that he was my only friend in this life and he certainly was the only one that tried to see to my future when his own brother all but tossed me and my baby out into the cruel world. I, better than many, know just how uncertain life can be and the idea of fun loving care free Harry facing the ravages of war on some foreign soil dried all the spit in my mouth every time I thought of it. But if he was a man then he had the right to make a man’s decision and the military was what he picked for his future. It is hard for me to bear but I don’t have any choice but to support him.

 

[Lake Lili]

Thanks Kathy!
Lili

 

[Jeepcats27]

Thanks for the latest chapter!

 

[ydderf]

Thanks Kathy

 

[sssarawolf]

Thank you,

 

[Sammy55]

Thank you, Kathy!

I've had to make a "cheat sheet" so I can keep the stories separate and keep myself updated as to what the last chapter was that I read. I know that when all are finished and posted, I'll have to - gladly! - take the time to read each one from beginning to end (some of them for the 3rd, 4th, or 5th time) so that I know what happened in each story from beginning to end without inadvertently mixing in some fact(s) from the other stories...if that makes sense. But it'll be a pleasure to re-read all of them over again.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Thank you, Kathy!

I've had to make a "cheat sheet" so I can keep the stories separate and keep myself updated as to what the last chapter was that I read. I know that when all are finished and posted, I'll have to - gladly! - take the time to read each one from beginning to end (some of them for the 3rd, 4th, or 5th time) so that I know what happened in each story from beginning to end without inadvertently mixing in some fact(s) from the other stories...if that makes sense. But it'll be a pleasure to re-read all of them over again.

I put an updated and alphabetical list in the “404” thread. The ones that are complete are marked that way. Millwright added them to the master index that he is rebuilding.

 

[sssarawolf]

I was wondering and this may not be how you want to do this lol, take one of your stories and complete it and then move unto the next? I know with just working on one or 2 of mine I have to re-read to go on most of the time. What you do is mind boggling.

 

[Kathy in FL]

I was wondering and this may not be how you want to do this lol, take one of your stories and complete it and then move unto the next? I know with just working on one or 2 of mine I have to re-read to go on most of the time. What you do is mind boggling.

I go back and forth. Depends on which story is messing with my head the most.