Avenging Home (19 page)

Jess looked at me. “Are you taking her home?”

Nodding, I replied, “We are. She needs to rest.”

“Can you get someone over here so we can leave?” Fred asked.

Sarge climbed out of the truck. “You girls go on. I’ll stay here.”

“I’ll stay too,” Aric said.

Jess and Fred ran around the truck and climbed in. At the house, they helped get Jamie inside and comfortable. Doc stayed to make sure she was alright. I told Jamie to let me know if she needed anything and I’d drop in on her later. She waved at me from the sofa, where she’d been planted by the girls. Perez took up residence in a chair beside her and put his feet up.

“You staying here?” Jess asked.

Pulling his hat down over his eyes, Perez nodded. “Yep.”

Jess looked at Doc. “Should he be here since he’s sick?” She looked at Perez. “Sorry, I just don’t want her to get sick.”

Perez waved her off. “I’m alright.”

“Whatever he had isn’t contagious now, I don’t think,” Doc said.

From under his hat, Perez added, “Plus, I ain’t leaving.”

Doc shook his head. “Jamie, I’ll be back to check on you. If you should start to bleed or anything, let me know. But I think you’ll be alright. You got lucky. Real lucky.”

Placing her hand over the wound, she said, “Yeah I won the frickin’ lottery.”

With a very serious expression, “You did. You won the best prize you could, life.”

Doc walked out with me. I asked if he wanted a ride, and he said he’d walk. I told him I wanted to get home and see what was going on. See how the bear was going. We parted ways and I drove the truck down to the house. When I pulled up, I saw Dalton, Danny and Thad over at Danny’s and walked over to see what was going on. When I came around the corner of the shop, I saw another man. I was surprised to see they were butchering a hog.

“Why are you guys doing that? We just got that bear,” I said.

Dalton looked up. “Well. We didn’t kill it.” Pointing at the strange man, he said, “He did.” The young guy looked scared to death.

“What the hell did you do that for?” I asked. He didn’t reply.

“Him and his buddy was trying to poach a pig. I heard the shot and went to see what was going on,” Thad said.

I looked around. “Where’s the other one?”

Thad crossed his big arms over his chest. “You remember that boy we found hanging in the tree? The one we buried?” I nodded and he continued. “Remember the two guys that showed up?” Again, I nodded. “I knew that day they killed that kid. I wanted to kill them then. The day finally came for one of them.”

“You sure he did it?” I asked.

Thad pointed at the other man. “He said they did. And yeah, I’m sure.”

Shrugging, I said, “Sounds like it all worked out. What are we going to do with him?” I asked. He was working on the pig and glanced up at me, then at the others.

“That’s up to you,” Dalton said. “You’re the Sheriff.”

“Well, I guess we’ll take him to town and put him on the chain gang for a while.” I looked at the young man. “There’s a price to pay for stealing. And your price is working on the farm on a chain gang.”

Still working a knife on the hog, the man asked, “For how long?”

I looked at the pig. “Is that one of the sows that was carrying a litter?”

“She had ten piglets in her. They’re all dead,” Thad said.

“So, you killed eleven pigs. You better get friendly with that chain that’s going on your ankle. You’ll be there for a while.”

“What the hell are we going to do with all this meat? We’ve got the bear, the gator and now this,” Danny said.

“We’ll have to pack everything we can into the freezer I guess,” I said.

“There ain’t nearly enough room,” Danny said.

“Can it,” Dalton said.

“Now there’s a good idea. We’ll have to talk to Kay and see how many jars she has. That’d be the best way to keep it,” Thad said.

“Go check with her. Plus, we’ll take a big piece over to Gina, and maybe take some up to the armory in the morning,” I said.

Thad smiled. “They’d like that. I’ll go see what we’ve got for jars and lids.”

“What do you want to do with this guy when we’re done here?” Dalton asked.

“Secure him somewhere, I guess.” I took a pair of cuffs from my vest and tossed them to him.

“Will do,” Dalton said.

“Hey Thad, where are the piglets she was carrying?” I asked.

“They’re out back where they were butchering her. Why?”

“I want to get them and feed them to the dogs.”

Thad nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’ll get ‘em. Better than just letting the buzzards eat ‘em.”

I left the guys and went home. I wanted to check on Mel and the girls. The dogs were lying in the driveway when I walked up. Little Sister got up and came up to me wagging her tail. I squatted down to rub her head. She curled around as I scratched her head and back. Seeing some attention being doled out, Meathead and Drake came over as well. The three dogs jostled for position in the scratching line. I noticed all of them looked a little thin. They needed more to eat. The piglets certainly wouldn’t go to waste.

I was happy to find Mel and the girls in the living room. They were piled up on the sofa and loveseat watching a movie on the laptop. Mel looked up as I came in and smiled. Taylor quickly sat up. “You killed a bear?”

I nodded. “Yeah. He surprised me and I shot it. So, we’ll have a really good dinner tonight.”

“It’s a big bear!” Little Bit shouted as she bounced on the edge of the sofa. “Were you scared?”

Laughing, I said, “Yeah I was. He was in a house and made a noise. I went to see what it was and ran into him.”

“Ooooooohhhh. I would have been so scared!”

I walked over and rubbed her head. “I was too, kiddo.”

“You going to sit with us?” Mel asked.

I moved over to the sofa and Little Bit wormed out of the way to make room. Sitting down, I asked, “What are we watching?”

“Willey Wonka!” Little Bit shouted.

I leaned back and put my arm around Mel and Little Bit. Looking at Lee Ann, I smiled. She was curled up on the end of the loveseat, half asleep. Reaching out with my boot, I nudged her knee. She opened her eyes and smiled before quickly drifting off again.

Mel patted my shoulder. “Go take this stuff off.”

I looked down at the vest bulging with magazines and other gear. I stood up and took it off, setting in on the floor beside the carbine I’d leaned against the end of the sofa. It was good to take it off. I always felt as if I’d float away, taking all the weight off. Between the carbine, magazines, knife, pistol mags and pistol, it was heavy. But I’d become so accustomed to wearing it, I never noticed, that is until I took it off. Then, what really stood out was its absence. Its presence was now normal to me, and that was a sobering thought.

But with the hardware now off, I wrapped my arms around Mel and Little Bit once again and put my feet up on the ottoman. It was time to relax while Willey Wonka, played by Johnny Depp, carried on. As ridiculous as the movie was, it was a very nice distraction.

I half dozed and half watched the movie. After a while, Little Bit said she was hungry. Mel got up and went into the kitchen. I heard her in there puttering around but had no idea what she was doing. We didn’t keep much food at all at the house as everyone generally ate together. But after a couple of minutes, she returned with a plate. On it were five slices of Kay’s bread with a little butter and a lot of honey on them. She set the plate down on the coffee table to cries of delight from the girls.

Little Bit and Taylor were instantly on a piece each. It even woke Lee Ann up, and she quickly grabbed one. Mel handed one to me, and I started trying to fold it in a manner that would keep the honey on the bread. Far easier said than done. And since I’d pretty much given up shaving weeks ago I had quite the beard going. You just don’t realize the amount of food that ends up on your chin until you have a beard. And honey in a beard is a real pain in the ass. Mel was laughing at me as I tried to eat the piece of bread as honey would squirt out from between the folds despite my best efforts.

Licking the sticky substance from my fingers, I said, “You did this on purpose.”

She laughed as she too tried to find some control on her piece of bread. “Well, I may have put a little extra on yours. But it’s only because I love you!”

I snorted. “It’s only because you think it’s so funny!”

Little Bit finished hers in record time and was sitting sideways on the sofa watching me. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “What?”

Beaming as only a happy child can, she said, “It’s so good!”

I took another bite of my piece and held the rest out. “You want it?”

In a sad attempt at looking bashful, she said, “Yeah.” And I handed it to her. Her face lit up. “Thanks Dad!”

I spent the afternoon with Mel and the girls. We watched a couple of movies and relaxed. Having something like movies on DVD was a huge bonus. Having something familiar, something that was really frivolous and allowed everyone to escape was important. We did this sort of thing in the Before but really had taken it for granted. And back then it had to be in a theater with overpriced sodas and popcorn. Now, we’re all sitting here watching the movie on a seventeen-inch laptop and eating bread with butter and honey. And it costs nothing, yet was worth so much more.

At dinner time, we shut the computer off and headed for Danny’s. Taylor insisted in walking on her own, unassisted. She was beyond us fretting over her. So we let her go on her own, but stayed close. While slow, she was certainly getting better. It showed in the way she carried herself. She was taking the whole thing well overall.

She surprised both Mel and me when she finally got in front of a mirror. She looked at herself and turned her head from side to side examining the injuries to her face and head. After a moment, a long moment that Mel and I both held our breath for, she said, “It ain’t that bad. My hair will cover most it and makeup will cover the rest.” She actually turned and smiled at us after saying that. Mel moved in and hugged her. I stayed a little more stoic however, not wanting her to think I thought it was more that she did. Instead, I just smiled.

As we walked up on the porch, the air was full of a mouthwatering aroma. It was a rich and hearty smell, and I for couldn’t wait to get inside. Opening the door, the odor wrapped around us, and Little Bit shouted. “MM mm, something smells good!”

“Yeah it does,” Taylor said.

Miss Kay was in the kitchen stirring a large kettle. Seeing us come in, she said, “Come on in and get yourself a bowl of my bear stew!”

And we did just that. Everyone filed through the kitchen and got their bowl before going out to the porch to sit and eat. Fresh baked bread was sliced and laid out on plates. The butter was there as well, waiting to be spread. We took our seats with Thad and Mary who were already there.

“How is it, Thad?” I asked as I sat down.

His head was low over the bowl with a spoon in one hand and a piece of bread in the other. He looked up, shook his head and said, “You don’t want none.”

I laughed. “That good, huh?” And I slid into my seat.

Mary smiled. “It’s really good, Morgan.”

Little Bit was already at work on hers and announced, “Miss Kay, this is super good! Can I have more?”

Mike, Ted and Dalton came through the door. They were carrying on like a bunch of kids getting out of school. Miss Kay shushed them, and after filling their bowls, ran them out to the porch. They were taking their seats as Jess came in. She went to the kitchen and said she wanted dinner for her, Fred and Jamie to go. They were going to eat with her at home.

“What is it?” Jess asked, “It smells wonderful.”

Dunking a large ladle into the steaming pot, Kay replied, “Just a little stew I threw together.”

“Don’t let her fool you,” Bobbie said. “She worked hard on it, and it’s really good.”

Kay filled a large plastic bowl with stew and put a lid on it. She then put a half a loaf of bread in a bag with the stew and handed it to Jess.

“Here you go, honey. Let me know what the girls think of it,” Kay said.

Jess smiled. “I know it’s good. Thanks, Kay.”

We sat around and talked a bit. I was happy to see Lee Ann laughing at Mike and Dalton who were carrying on. Mary was sitting with Thad and they were talking quietly. Mel and Bobbie were talking with one another and I was trying to get through my dinner so I could head to the barricade. Tonight Danny and I were on duty, and I’m sure Sarge would want to be relieved.

Danny was sitting with Jace and Edie at the table in the kitchen. Little Bit sat with them as well, and they were all laughing. Danny was feeding Edie like a baby, playing airplane with the spoon. She was giggling loudly and the other kids were as well. Each time he’d get a spoonful, all three kids would open their mouths like a nest of baby birds. They were having a good time.

As soon as I finished my meal, I returned my bowl to the sink and gave Mel a kiss, telling her I’d be back later. Danny told the kids he had to go. They complained but settled down to their dinner quickly.

“You need any help tonight?” Thad asked.

“Nah. We got it,” I replied.

“Just let me know,” he said with a smile.

After telling the girls goodbye, we left the house. As we walked the short distance to the bunker, we talked about the kids. I’d asked Danny how they were doing.

“They’re actually doing pretty good. I’m surprised how well they’re handling things.”

“Are they asking about their mom and dad?”

Danny shook his head. “No. It’s kind of weird. They know they’re dead and say they’re in heaven. They cry sometimes, but not very often. Bobbie and Edie are really close. They spend a lot of time together. And little Jace just wants to follow me around. It’s kinda cool.”

“It’s a sad thing, but I’m glad they’re dealing with it.”

Danny smiled. “I think they’re going to be fine.”

Sarge and Aric were sitting on top of the bunker when we got there. In his usual pleasant style, he let us know he was happy to see us.

Looking at his wrist where there was no watch, he shouted. “About damn time!”

“Look, old man. I’m right on time,” I replied.

Sarge snorted. “On time, huh? What the hell would you know about being on time? I bet your ass was late to your own birth.”

I laughed. “Whenever I show up, is exactly when I’m supposed to be there.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you,” Aric said as he hopped off the bunker.

“You guys better hurry before Mike and the guys eat all that bear stew Kay made,” Danny said.

“Those snot-nosed runts better save me some!” Sarge shouted.