by N. C. Reed
“I can stay with you?”
“You bet.”
*****
“You’re making a habit of taking in strays, Billy,” Jerry told his young neighbor.
“Can’t be helped, I reckon,” Billy shrugged. “Boy ain’t got nobody else, and he’s a good kid. He’s. . .me and him got a lot in common,” he settled for saying.
“Then I’d say he’ll grow into a fine man,” Jerry Silvers said seriously. Billy might have blushed a little at that, but stayed silent.
“He gonna be okay?” Jerry asked, changing the subject.
“Amy says he’s underweight,” Billy sighed. “Sickly and poor, but otherwise okay. ‘Bout the same as Mary. Good hot bath and some new clothes, few good meals and good night’s o’ sleep’ll put’im right.”
“Maybe,” Jerry nodded. He looked at Billy.
“That’s two young’uns you got now, Billy. Both of’em been through a rough time. You’re gonna need to keep a close eye on’em for a while.”
“Girl’s doin’ okay,” Billy pointed out.
“She is,” Jerry nodded his agreement. “Only she ain’t yet had the chance to think on where she is, or how she got here. Like as not, she’s still in a bit o’ shock that her situation has improved so much overnight, after months alone and afraid. Liable to come back on’er. Might not, too,” he admitted. “I’m just sayin’ you need to be watchful, that’s all.”
“I’ll mind it,” Billy said thoughtful.
*****
“I guess they’ll keep this one, too,” Debbie Purdy snorted, as George relayed the days events. He looked at his wife quizzically.
“The boy used to work for Billy, Deb,” he said softly. “Came looking for him specifically.”
“All that talk about setting up a home for kids, and we see what?” Debbie snorted again, ignoring George’s statement. “The Todds! And they aren’t even ‘the Todds’, you know. They’re not married.”
“Debs, I’m getting tired of hearing this,” George told her. “I mean really tired. I don’t know what it is that bothers you about this.”
“Did we, or did we not, plan to use that place at the end of the road specifically to care for children we found who had been left orphaned by the plague?” she demanded. “Two children, so far, and the Todds keep them both.”
“Debs, for God’s sake, they aren’t keeping them. They’re aren’t things to be possessed. They’re kids!”
“All the more reason for them to be with a good family!” Debbie exclaimed. “There’s not one good reason to let those two keep those children! And plenty of reasons not to!” George looked at his wife, incredulity on his face.
“Deb, there isn’t a single reason I can think of for those kids not to stay with Rhonda and Billy. They’re good people. Hard working, honest, and charitable to a fault. There’s no reason, not a single one, to think that those two kids won’t have the best possible life they can in the world we’re living in today.”
“They need to be with someone who understands children!” Debbie shot back. “Someone who can teach! They need an education, they need to be taught good values! How to function in society! Who is better qualified to do that than we are?”
“I’m starting to wonder if we are,” George shook his head. “I’m trying to understand how you feel, Deb, but I can’t. You’re almost irrational about this. I’ve never seen you act this way.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t spent so many years running all over the world, you would have!” she retorted. As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. The look on George’s face was. . .heartbreaking.
“I’m sorry, George,” she said hastily, as he stood abruptly. “I didn’t mean. . . .”
“Yeah, you did,” he said sadly. “Suppose I had it coming. You knew what I was, what I did, before you married me. I never misled you in any way. And I left the service because you didn’t like it. I gave up what I was, Debs, for you. Because that’s what you wanted. I guess that wasn’t enough for you, either.” He moved toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Debbie asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
“I’m going to see if I can help unload our new neighbor’s things,” he said stiffly. “I need some air. Kinda hard to breathe in here at the moment.” With that he walked out the door, leaving his wife staring at his back.
*****
Jerry Silvers looked up at the sound of footsteps. He was in his barn, looking over his horses.
“You got a minute?” George Purdy asked the older man.
“Sure,” Jerry nodded, not missing the look on the younger man’s face. Or the tone of his voice. There was only one thing that could cause that.
“I. . .I need to talk to someone, and I. . .I don’t know what to. . . .”
“Just tell me what it is, son,” Jerry said kindly. “I’ll listen.”
“Well. . . .” George started talking. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. Jerry listened without comment, nodding on occasion, but remaining silent. George talked for a long time. Suddenly he stopped, and looked embarrassed.
“Sorry for rattling,” he said, a bit shame faced.
“No need,” Jerry assured him. “Sometimes it helps just to have someone to listen. Sounds like you’ve got a lot on you.”
“It. . .it’s not so bad as it seems, I guess,” George shrugged. “Look, I know you and Billy are close. You’d know if he wasn’t able to care for them, right? I mean, I think he and Rhonda are just fine for this, but I’ve been wrong before. If you thought they weren’t up to it, you’d say so, right?”
“I would,” Jerry nodded at once. “So would Emma. And you’re right. They are up to it. Billy may have problems, but he’s a fine young man. One of the best I’ve ever known, to be honest. His parents were fine people, George. And they raised that boy well.”
“Rhonda is about the finest young woman I know, too, even before the world went plumb to hell in a handcart. He father was as honest a man as there was anywhere, and he taught that girl well. She’s smart, resourceful, and about the shrewdest young business woman you’ll ever meet. And both of them have got hearts that are a big as they are.”
“Those two kids have a connection to Billy and Rhonda. Might not seem like much, but it’s a site better than anything they’ll have with the rest of us. And that’s important for them both, right now. Those two young’uns have had it bad. Don’t know which was worse off, and there ain’t a nickel’s worth o’ difference in their two stories. They’re in good hands, so far as I’m concerned. And the rest of us can pitch in as needed, I’m thinkin’.”
“That was my thought,” George nodded. “We. . .we’ve got to get back to the old ways, if we’re going to survive. Children are going to have to be the whole community’s children, no matter who their parents are. We have to work together to get by, Jerry, or we won’t get by. I’ve seen too much of that in. . .well, in places far from here.” Jerry studied the young man closely.
“I’ve seen what happens to children in times like these,” George said softly. “I. . .one of the reasons I kept going back. Trying to help. I kept thinking if I could help save just one child, then whatever sacrifice I had made would have been worth it. Never thought to have that thrown in my face. Especially by Debbie. My own wife,” he added, his tone not bitter, but hurt.
“Try and understand, son,” Jerry told him kindly. “She ain’t seen the things you have. You can tell someone all about that kind of thing, and they’ll never understand completely. They can’t. Not until they’ve seen it.” George looked at the older man fondly.
“Thanks, Jerry. For lending me your ear. And for the advice. I. . .I don’t know what to do, exactly.”
“Have you thought about moving your family in to the Clifton place?” Jerry asked. “If you two are going to care for any other children we might find, you might as well be there, ready to go, when that happens. Might do the two of you some good to have your own place. Might go a long way toward easing s
ome of the trouble.”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” George admitted, his look thoughtful. “Might help, at that. Things have been. . .strained, I guess, between Debs and Amy since that ruckus over the girl.”
“Just an idea,” Jerry shrugged. George snorted.
“I knew there was a reason I came here.”
*****
“We’re gonna run out of room,” Rhonda joked lightly later that night, as she and Billy sat together in the kitchen.
“Could at that,” Billy nodded absently, his gaze fixed on the window overlooking the back yard.
“At this rate, we’ll need to add on to the house, come summer time,” Rhonda said, watching Billy closely.
“Might do,” Billy nodded again, his gaze never wavering.
“Your hair’s on fire,” she tried one more time.
“Uh-huh,” Billy nodded yet again. His eyes were fixed on something only he could see, it looked to Rhonda.
“Billy. Billy!”
“I heard you,” he turned his gaze toward her finally. The look in his eyes made Rhonda hesitate.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Everything’s wrong,” he told her softly. “The whole world is wrong. And I’m the worst of it.”
“What?” Rhonda demanded. “How in the hell do you figure that?”
“All that time I spent runnin’ around, makin’ sure I had ever thing I needed,” he shook his head. “And them kids,” he nodded toward the stairs, where both Danny Tatum and Mary Jerrolds had gone to bed earlier. “Them kids runnin’ scared, doin’ without. Starvin’,” he murmured. “And I just sat here, feelin’ all safe and secure. Didn’t think a single time about anything like them. Not one time,” he repeated, his voice full of scorn and self-loathing.
“How was you supposed to know?” Rhonda asked him.
“I didn’t know,” Billy shrugged. “And that ain’t the point. Instead of lookin’, I just sat here. And did nothin’. Nothin’!”
“What were you supposed to do?” Rhonda asked him, her voice gentle.
“Ain’t got no idea, on account o’ I didn’t do it,” he replied flatly. “I should o’ looked. I knew Danny Tatum before all this. Why didn’t I go check on him? His folks? What about all the other people I knew before? I didn’t know Mary, but I knew her pa. Did I go and check to see if he was all right? No. I didn’t check on nobody.”
“You checked on your neighbors,” Rhonda pointed out.
“I sure did,” Billy told her. “And ran away from Widow George’s house so fast, I near on forgot where I was goin’. Let it scare me so bad, I ran right over here, and stayed here for how long? At the moment, I can’t even recall, ‘xactly. How’s that for manly?” He stood abruptly.
“Never really thought of myself as a brave man, Rhonda,” he told her. “But I sure never figured myself for no coward, neither. But that’s just what I am. Even when I found you,” he looked at her closely, “I wasn’t lookin’ for you. I just wanted to make sure the stuff in your daddy’s shop couldn’t be used ag’in me. Me! Worried about me, and nobody else,” he finished, his voice filled with disgust. He shook his head slowly as he went to get a glass of water. Taking it, he walked to the back door, looking out at the night. He drank from the glass, still looking at the dark.
“How many kids are out there, tonight, right here in this county, cold, hungry, alone. Hurt mebbe. And here I sit in my nice warm house, belly full, with you and them kids with me. Ain’t right,” he shook his head. “Ain’t right.”
Rhonda didn’t answer at once. She didn’t know what to say. She thought Billy Todd had done wonderfully, all things considered. It was obvious he didn’t share that opinion.
“Billy, I don’t see what you could have done any different,” she settled for saying, her voice gentle. Concerned.
“I just told you two things,” he replied, his own voice just as soft. Still full of self loathing. “And there was plenty more. I was so busy thinkin’ o’ myself, I never gave one thought to nothin’ else.” He turned finally, looking at her.
“It wasn’t deliberate,” he told her. “I. . .I didn’t mean not to. I just. . .I followed daddy’s teachin’, and his notes. Only not even my daddy never thought about somethin’ like all this,” he admitted. He’d never once in his life said anything that might amount to even a suspicion that his parents might not have thought of everything. He’d never even thought it.
They had been the rock that he built his world around. The one solid, constant presence. He’d managed after their death by following the things they had taught him. He’d done well, and he knew it. He’d managed after the plague by following the same thing. And he’d done well, once again.
But not well enough.
“Billy, I know you’re upset, but no one can think of everything.”
“I ain’t upset,” Billy shook his head. “I’m mad. Mad at myself. Mad at the people on that train. Mad at them idiots at the road block. I ain’t no better’n them. They ain’t helpin’ no one but themselves, and I ain’t done no different.”
“That is bullshit!” Rhonda’s voice cracked across the room like a whip. “You’ve helped dozens of people, Billy Todd, me among’em. There’s four families settled, or settling, here tonight, including four kids, that are here because you helped them! Because you were willing to risk exposing yourself to do the right thing! And I may not be all that, but I’m not nothing!” She walked up to him, then, embracing him.
“I was scared, and alone, and didn’t have a clue what I was gonna do, where I was gonna go, how I was going to go on living. Or even what for. You came and changed all that. You did that Billy Todd. You may not have been looking for me, but when you found me, you didn’t hesitate to take me in, give me a safe place to live, and even take care of me!”
“When we found Mary, you didn’t hesitate to take her in, even after she almost blowed your fool head off! And today, you didn’t hesitate to give the Tatum boy a place to live, and take care of him!”
“So this is the. Last. Time. I ever want to hear anything like that come out of your fool mouth ever again. You get me, Billy Todd?”
Billy looked at her for a long moment, until she could see the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. Finally, he grinned.
“You sure are pretty when you’re riled up, you know that? Owww!”
He was still holding his arm when Rhonda stalked off to bed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Snow came to the Farms without warning, two days later.
A lot had happened in those two days. Willing and eager hands had all pitched in to get the newly arrived people unloaded and moved in. The Blaine’s, and Peter Two Bears, were very happy with the Williamson place, agreeing that it had plenty of room for their needs, and then some. The barn was a plus, allowing for extra storage even with the rudimentary bio-fuel set-up inside.
George and Ralph had been right about Howie Rickman. He had taken one look at the set-up and started explaining how it could be better, with work. He had experimented with the process himself, in years past, but as a hobby. Until something like this, he’d never had enough need for fuel to make something like it profitable.
“‘I built something like this for the science fair, my junior year in high school,’” he told them. “‘Looks like you guys did just fine. But I learned a lot about this last few years. If we can find what all we need, I can show you how to really get it cookin’. So to speak,’” he had added, grinning. Everyone was glad to hear that.
The Kelvey’s had also been more than pleased with the Smith place. It wasn’t as large, but with both Jon and Howie still not fully recovered, it would be more than enough. Amy had checked both over, and declared them to be doing nicely. Howie, it turned out, hadn’t had a serious infection, after all, but rather a very raw wound that hadn’t been kept cushioned. He had gotten back on his feet sooner than he should have. No one could fault him for that, but clothing rubbing against the wound, protected only by
a thin bandage, had kept the area red and inflamed. Amy assured him that with proper care, he’d be ready for spring, no doubt. And he could be out and about before then so long as he took it easy.
Jon’s wound had been more fleshy than anything, and while it still gave him trouble, it was in no danger of infection. It would continue to hurt, Amy told him, for a while. But he was able to work whenever he wanted. She cautioned him to stop when the pain flared too much, since pain often interfered with healing. Favoring a wounded limb while working made it harder on the other parts of the body.
With all hands on deck, it had taken one full day to get everyone unloaded. Unpacking would take longer, but everything that everyone needed was inside. Radio communication ensured that all could stay in contact.
The second day out, George and Peter had checked the spot that George had located for an OP. Two Bears looked it over, and agreed it was a likely spot. They sketched out how they would construct it, and started planning on how it would be equipped.
Debbie Purdy was sullenly quiet, but worked as hard as anyone else helping the new arrivals get set up. Her cold glances didn’t go unnoticed, however, and Rhonda had been near boiling before the day was out. She had spent a lot of time talking to Emma, and the two women agreed that the problem was unlikely to be over. George had called that one wrong, perhaps. Time would tell.
Billy had spent the entire second day working his farm, catching up on things that had been neglected of late as they were helping the others. Danny Tatum, freshly outfitted with clothes and boots from the stores Billy and Rhonda had put away, was a constant shadow. It was almost as if the boy was afraid that if he let Billy out of his sight, then he’d lose Billy as well.
Danny and Mary got along fine, and Rhonda was glad to see it. The two teens would be good company for each other. Despite her deep accent, Mary was smart as a whip. She was very good at math, had extraordinary math skills for a girl her age, in fact. Rhonda was already allowing her to help do inventory on the food stuff’s kept in the house, and plan meals, portions, etc.
