My Heart Can't Tell You No (4 page)

“When are ya coming out again?” Maddie peered in the car window at him.

“Oh, I don’t know. How ‘bout some time next week?” He reached out to tweak her nose, then turned around to his three oldest sons who were wrestling in the back seat, his hat coming off in a threatening manner as he swatted the air near them. “SIT DOWN!”

“No, sooner,” Maddie pleaded with a smile.

“Well, tell your mom to bring you in. You could spend the night. We can all go for a walk up to the old place.” He referred to the building standing in ruins near his home; the building where he and his sister were born.

“Okay!”

“Now, get back from the car so I don’t drive over your toes.”

Maddie, her brothers, Joe, and Bobby all watched as the car pulled away, Maddie and Tommy waving until it was out of view.

“Dad says they hit Jennings’s farm last week,” Jackie told Joe as the five boys stood in a circle on the moonlit road in front of the house.

“Said they’ll probably be at Foss’s too,” said Johnny.

“Probably, but not tonight. The way the moon’s out, they’d get caught too easy,” Joe told them.

“Wanna take a walk out that way?” Johnny asked. “We could have a look around.”

“Might as well. It’s too hot to stay in the house,” Jackie said as he started toward the small creek behind the house. “Take Maddie and your dog in the house, Tommy.”

“No. I wanna go too.” Maddie folded her arms across her chest in determination.

“You can’t go along. What happens if we have to run?” scolded Jackie.

“I’ll run with you,” she countered.

“You won’t be able to keep up,” Johnny told her.

“Joe will carry me.”

“You can’t go along,” said Tommy.

“Then I’ll tell Mom and Dad where you’re going and you’ll be in trouble!” She stomped her foot.

“I think she means it,” laughed Joe.

“I don’t care. She’s not going,” said Jackie.

“Ah, let her go along. I’ll watch over her.”

The Baker boys knew there was no arguing against both Maddie and Joe when they teamed up against them. So, after Tommy put his dog in the house and told Jack and Sarah they were going for a walk, they crossed the small creek and started on their way up the sloping cornfield. Their destination was farther than Maddie had expected and, by the time they were at the half-way point, Joe had to carry her piggyback.

The boys walked along an electric fence that separated the cow pasture from the wooded forest, glancing in different directions, but always being sure to keep a safe distance from the electric wire.

“Hey, Maddie, you know what happens to cows during a full moon?” Tommy asked from the head of the pack.

“No,” she said quietly.

“They grow fangs and catch little girls and suck out all their blood.”

“Shut up, Tommy,” Joe said as Maddie buried her face against his neck. “He’s lying.”

“No I’m not. Ya see those trees up there? That’s where the witches live and you know what happens to witches during the full moon, don’t ya?”

“Hey, Tommy. You know what happens to thirteen-year-old guys named Tom during a full moon, don’t ya?” Johnny asked.

“No, what?”

“Their two older brothers take them out in the middle of cow pastures and dangle them in front of horny bulls.”

“Quiet!” Jackie whispered harshly. “Hey, Irish, what’s that look like coming up the path over there?

“A spotlight. Everyone get back!” Joe reached out and pulled Bobby back behind some trees, then lowered Maddie to the ground next to them.

“Ya think it’s them?” Johnny asked as they knelt in the woods.

“Yep. They just cut the lock on the gate. They’re coming this way,” Jackie said, pulling Tommy back down to the ground. “Stay here. If we leave now, they’ll see us. John, isn’t that the Klinger twins?”

“Yeah. I think so. Christ. They’re stopping right there,” Johnny whispered, nodding toward the pick-up truck that came to a stop near a small herd of cows only twenty yards away.

“Jackie. What are they doing?” Maddie asked in a frightened whisper when she saw the two identical men with a large revolver move toward a cow.

“Shh, Mouse,” Jackie whispered back.

They heard the gunshot and watched in silence as the cow dropped to its front knees as if only stunned, before another shot brought it down completely. There were mixed sounds of men arguing about lousy shooting and blood spurting onto the men’s clothing from the artery that had been slit in the animal’s neck.

“I’m sick,” Maddie whispered.

“No you’re not,” Joe answered.

The sight of the animal’s stomach being sliced wide open made Maddie’s stomach start churning even more. “I’m sick,” she whispered again.

“No. You’re not,” Joe insisted.

As the one man worked to remove the head and neck, Maddie looked away, but when the other man mistakenly cut into bowel and the horrendous stench flowed over to them, she couldn’t stop herself.

“I said I’m sick,” spilled from her mouth as she leaned closer to the ground and allowed the convulsive spurts to empty her stomach.

“Jesus Christ, she’s puking!” Tommy swore as he jumped up and moved away from her.

“They saw us!” Jackie jumped to his feet and reached for Maddie.

“I got her! You and John make sure Bob and Tom keep up!” Joe took Maddie by the hand and started running for the Baker house nearly a mile away.

Somehow Maddie’s short legs kept up with Joe’s much longer ones. She was positive it was some kind of magic that carried her, too young to know fright had caused her adrenaline level to skyrocket.

“Jackie! They’ve got John!” Tommy’s bellow stopped Joe and turned him around.

Maddie’s eyes picked up movement farther behind the struggling Johnny, who still had a man holding onto his ankles after being tackled. More men were heading their way. Six? Eight? She wasn’t sure. She looked for Johnny again. He had freed himself from the man’s grasp but the man was on his feet again and after her brother. Johnny seemed to have wings on his heels as he sped through the woods, but the man was no more than ten feet behind him.

“John—here!” Jackie yelled and Johnny ran between the trees where his brothers were standing.

“NOW!!” She heard Bobby shout, then watched as Jackie and Tommy swung limbs at the man still after their brother.

Jackie’s swing caught him in the stomach, Tommy’s in the groin as Johnny caught up to and passed her and Joe.

“MOVE IT!!” Jackie yelled, grabbing onto her free hand as he, Tommy and Bobby brought up the rear.

June 1984

Maddie smiled at the memory. It turned out they weren’t the only ones investigating the
cattle
poaching
that night. Those other six or eight men Maddie had noticed turned out to be state policemen waiting for the Klinger twins to strike again.

Nineteen summers ago. Had it been so long? It hardly seemed so. And yet here she was with a little Jackie of her own, nicknamed so as not to confuse him with her brother John. No need to worry about confusing him with her brother Jackie. And her other son Robby, again, no need to worry about confusion with anyone, just nicknamed that way—just
because
.

She hugged herself as she stood in the thick muggy heat of a central Pennsylvania June. For some reason she felt chilled as she glanced in the direction of Joe McNier’s house, although she couldn’t see it. Those nineteen years ago, the only houses over here were the McNier house and the house her parents lived in now. Their old house still stood across Shamokin Creek, on the other side of the small valley nearly two miles away.

Her thin satin top served as no protection against the night air as her thoughts took her back to earlier that day when she had seen Joe. He looked fine—there was no doubt about that. Since she was fourteen he had a way of looking at her that could melt her insides. But, she thought, as her hands moved over her shoulders before moving onto the tense muscles of her neck, this time she would maintain control. She had more to lose than herself this time—much more.

“Mommy, I don’t feel good,” came a sleepy voice from behind her.

“You don’t?” She picked up her three-year-old and felt his head. “What’s wrong.”

“I have a bellyache.” Robby leaned his head on her shoulder as they moved to the bathroom.

“How come?”

“I dunno.”

“It couldn’t be from that banana split you had to have up at Gramma’s, could it?” She poured out a mild medication for his stomach.

“No, that couldn’t be it. Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“I think you can, since you’ve got a bellyache.” She moved with him to her bedroom. “Get some sleep now, sailor.”

“Soldier,” he yawned as he turned and curled up on his side.

“Okay, soldier,” she said, setting her alarm, then lying on her side of the bed as she reached over and tucked the sheet around him. She had much more to lose now.

CHAPTER III
 

June 1984

J
oe had been settled back into his father’s house for over a week. Repairs were minimal. His cousin had taken good care of it these past eight years, but new roofing was a must—a job he didn’t appreciate. The sun softened the shingles laying across the roof within easy reach as he neared the peak. He could hear sounds of children’s play coming from up the hill, at John Baker’s house, but as the time wore on their voices fell silent. The noise of his hammer banging against the roof filled his ears until a voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

“Hi. Can I help?” Robby said as he took a step onto the roof.

“Jesus Christ!” Joe’s heart jumped to his throat as he quickly moved to the edge of the roof and grabbed the boy. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m helping ya,” Robby giggled.

“You sure are. How did you get over here?” Joe asked, now holding the child on his lap.

“I walked. See, it isn’t far.” He pointed to John’s house.

“I know that. But why isn’t anyone watching you?”

“Uncle Tom is. But he went into the cellar to get something, and Jackie went to the bathroom. So I came down here. To help you.” He made an attempt to get off the man’s lap.

“Oh, no ya don’t! You’re going back with Tom. I’ll get on the ladder first, then I’ll lift you on. Do you hear?” Joe asked, and received a nod.

As the boy stood on the roof in front of the ladder, Joe swung himself onto the rungs, but when he reached for the child, the little boy turned and ran to the other end of the roof.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!” he yelled at the child.

“Nope,” he said, moving toward the roof where Joe had left his hammer. “I wanna stay here. I’m gonna help you.”

“Don’t you move!” Joe told him sternly.

“Why?”

“Because you’ll fall!”

“Are you yelling at me?” Robby’s chin began to tremble.

“No,” he said in exasperation as he climbed back onto the roof and headed toward the boy. “I’m not yelling at you.”

“Can I help you?”

“Do you promise not to move?”

“Why?” He took a step backward onto a loose shingle, his feet sliding out from beneath him and sending him on a slide down the roof.

“That’s why.” Joe caught him by one arm then picked him up, allowing the child to wrap his arms and legs around him. “Now, do you promise not to move?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. You can hand me the nails and you sit here.” Joe sat him on the roof, then knelt next to him and picked up the hammer.

“Hey,” Robby said as he shivered.

“What?” Joe asked, eying the boy suspiciously.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Somehow I had a feeling that’s what you were going to say. C’mere. You can go off the edge of the roof,” he said, picking the child up and moving toward the side of the house. He stood the child in front of him and kept a secure hold on Robby’s shoulders. “There, unzip your pants and go.”

Doing as he said, Robby pulled his shorts down then started waving his hand as he looked off into the distance. “Hey, look at that lady down there waving at me!”

“What?! Jesus, stop! Don’t go!” Joe said quickly after looking up to see an elderly neighbor woman standing on her lawn some distance away. Pulling up Robby’s pants he picked him up then gave a false nervous smile in the woman’s direction, followed by a short wave. “Great. I just move back and I probably just got labeled a child molester,” he muttered then moved toward the front edge of the house but stopped when he remembered it faced the road. “No, that’s not good either. Over here, this side faces the trees. If anyone sees ya, that’s too bad.”

“What’s a child lester?” Robby asked as he stood and urinated off the roof.

“Ask your mother.”

“Okay. I’m done. I can hand you the nails now,” Robby said, pulling up his shorts. “Why are you putting these on here?”

“To keep the rain and snow out of my house,” he answered as he took a nail.

“Oh. Can I take my shirt off too?” Robby asked, looking at the darkened skin on Joe’s shoulders.

“No.” Joe reached for another nail.

“Why not? I’m hot too.”

“You’ll burn.”

“No I won’t,” he said and started pulling his shirt up over his head.

“Don’t . . . put that back . . . .” Joe had to laugh in spite of himself when he saw frustration cover the child’s face as his shirt got stuck at the top of his head.

“It won’t come off,” Robby said irritably, wearing the shirt like a veil that covered his dark hair. “Can you help?”

“Here, pull it back down first.” Joe pulled it over Robby’s face again so he could stretch the neck opening, then slipped it back over his head. “There ya go. Now, how about some more nails?”

“ROBBY!” roared Tom Baker from the top of the hill.

“Uh-oh,” Robby giggled as he handed Joe a nail.

“In trouble now, huh?” Joe asked with a smile as he looked over his shoulder at his old friend walking toward them with Jackie at his side.

“Uh-huh. Don’t let him take me back up yet. I want to stay here with you.”

“How come?” Joe wiped some sweat from his brow then looked at the boy.

“‘cause I like you.”

“How’d he get up there?” Tom asked from the ground below.

“I climbed up. All by myself,” Robby spoke up.

“Ya did huh? Well how would you like a swift kick up to the moon? You know your mother would have a fit if she came home and saw you up there,” Tom said as he followed Jackie up the ladder. “Ya need some help there, Joe?”

“As you’ve noticed, I’ve already got a big helper here.” He turned to Robby again. “Move down some.”

“But you told me not to move,” Robby told him.

“C’mon. I’ll take your hand,” he said, then glanced over at Tom assisting Jackie toward them. “You better keep a hold on him. I don’t want him falling off my roof.”

“It’s okay. He’ll bounce,” Tom joked, then spoke to Jackie as he sat on the roof. “Sit down, kid.”

“Yeah, he’ll bounce all right. Just the same as Maddie will bounce down my throat when she finds out.”

“Ah, don’t worry about Maddie,” Tom said, handing him a shingle, then after a moment went on. “That’s right, you always did worry about Maddie, didn’t you? Both you and Bob.”

“Maddie’s a beautiful woman,” Joe said simply as he took another nail from Robby.

“Maddie? Beautiful?” Tom snorted but only received a glance from Joe. “Is that why you came back?”

“I came back because it was time to come back.” He noticed how both boys were listening intently to the conversation about their mother. “An opening came up, and I transferred back to this hangar.” He attached another shingle. “That’s it. Now, let’s head down for some water.”

Tom helped toss the unused shingles to the ground at the front of the house, then moved with Jackie to the edge and went down the ladder. Grasping Robby’s hand and the nails Joe also retreated down the ladder, then led them all into the house.

“John said you could have had the job of pilot supervisor, but you wouldn’t take it,” Tom told him after finishing the cool glass of water.

“Wouldn’t have been fair to the other guys. So they promoted Daily instead.”

“But Daily doesn’t have as much seniority as you.”

“Maybe not total seniority, but I only worked at this hospital a year before I was transferred north. Anyway, I’m satisfied where I am. How about you, are you still driving for them?” he asked Tom,
them
being the biggest hospital in central Pennsylvania, where all three worked; Tom as an ambulance driver, John as a flight mechanic, and Joe as helicopter pilot.

“I’ll be heading up to Wilkes-Barre this evening. During the day, I watch these jokers while Maddie’s at the store.”

“She’s working in a store? How’s she raising two kids on minimum wages?”

“Minimum wages?” Tom chuckled. “Boy, you have been away. You think she had that house of hers built on minimum wages?”

“What’s she do? Bookkeeper?” Joe asked as he watched Robby wander out of the kitchen.

“Yeah, she does the bookkeeping. She clerks when she has to, prepares the windows. Hell, I don’t know what all.”

“Manager?” Joe asked with a raised brow. “She built a house on a manager’s pay?”

“No. She built a house with some of the money she got from the insurance policy three years ago.”

“Hey—look! He’s got a real old football!” Robby re-entered the kitchen, carrying the ball. “My Uncle John has one just like it.”

“
Hmm
. The three of us got one that year,” Joe said to the boy.

“I have Jackie’s.” Tom said. “It’s in a trunk at home. Well, guys, it’s time we hit the road. Your mom should be home any minute. Rob, give Joe back his ball.”

“I don’t want to go home. I wanna stay here with him,” Robby told his uncle.

“We have to go home. Mom don’t want us down here.” Jackie took the football and handed it to Joe, then took Robby’s hand and started for the door.

“See ya, Joe.” Tom got up and followed.

“Yeah, see ya, Joe!” Robby called over his shoulder as he started outside with his brother.

“See ya.” Joe looked at the ball in his hands, his mind taking him back eighteen years.