by Reed, N. C.
“That's incredible,” Franklin George was in awe.
“And why she ain't on the list,” Leon nodded. “Her head if full of information we may need and can't rightly depend on getting it anywhere else. Alicia of course and her pregnant. Young Caudell's wife and her just over delivery. Everyone else, assuming they can pass a physical will have to go.”
“Well that lets you out, don't it?” Franklin asked with a chuckle.
“Don't imagine you’ll be no better,” Leon sneered and the rest laughed at the exchange.
“No, don't imagine I will,” the carpenter agreed.
“What else was there?” Gordon asked. “You said there were other things. Plural.”
“The Jessups,” Leon said and Franklin George and Gary Meecham both nodded slowly.
“What about them?” Gordon asked.
“They're useless, that's what,” Leon retorted. “Ain't hittin' a lick at a snake for nothin' and that includes taking care of their own kids!”
“Dad, that's a little harsh, even from you,” Gordon's voice was icy. “They just lost a child and to suicide at that. They need some time to-,”
“Don't presume to lecture me about losing a child,” Leon's voice was just as frosty, low and withering. “And I know they lost their son, and Harley is deep into the blame for it, too. But they have three other kids they're flat out neglecting. That's got to stop. And neither of them is doing anything to help at all. We're carrying them plus taking care of their children. It has to stop. Hell, it needs to stop for their benefit as much as ours. They can't keep just. . .listing like that. It will eat them up. I know what I'm talking about,” he ended in a near whisper.
“So, what do you want us to do?” Franklin George asked into the silence.
“I want you to start making Harley work,” Leon demanded. “Put him on something simple but labor intensive and let him burn his way through it. Do the same thing for Nadine anywhere you can. And make her start looking after her own kids. Three children that need a ma, and she's got to step up. We got too many kids around here already that ain't got no mother. She's damn sure not gonna add hers to that number. Remind her every day if you have to. Every hour, even. If she ain't doing her duties, you tell her to get moving. Shock them out of this rut they're in. It might save their lives.”
“Alright,” Franklin nodded. “I’ll see to it,” he promised.
“And finally, is that orphanage,” Leon looked around. “I was the first one to say we was keeping them kids rather than letting them go back out into the world, and it was my idea to let them women look after 'em. But we're all in agreement I think that I ain't had the best ideas along them lines, at least of late.” He managed a grin and the others chuckled, but without much humor.
“Them women can't be trusted at this point,” Leon went on. “We need to try and change that, and I got no real idea how to make that happen. If we could train them the same way we train everyone else then they could at least look after them kids was we to come under attack again. As it is, we’ll have to assign someone else to do the job. Stretching us that much thinner when there's able bodies that can do the job.”
“So, I am open to suggestions as to how we change their status,” he finished, once more looking at each person in turn.
“Why is it we can't trust them?” Beverly asked.
“They knew what that bunch they came here with was about and didn't bother to warn nobody, even when they had the chance,” Leon replied, taking care to address Beverly much more politely than he did the rest of them, his son and grandson noted. Leon was Old World all the way and he would treat a lady with respect.
“I see,” Beverly nodded. “Well, fear is a great motivator, so it's probably that out of fear, not for themselves but for their children, that they made what they believed to be the only choice they had.”
“I'd really like to believe that, too,” Leon admitted. “Because we need to be able to trust them at least enough to arm and train them to protect themselves and them children. But I don't know how to get there from where we are now.”
“Trust takes time to build,” Beverly agreed. “All I can suggest is to give them increasingly more responsibility and see how they respond. Make them aware that every chore you ask of them is an act of our trusting them.”
“That will only go so far, though, because there are four of them looking after a house full of small children,” Franklin mentioned. “They don't exactly have any free time to amount to anything.”
“Let Miss Malitha spell one of them, one who can do more physical labor,” Beverly suggested. “In fact, alternate them each day. That will give each one a break from so many kids and so much tension. As you do, give them ever increasing trust in those jobs. Slowly show them trust and allow them to earn more. If they're going to betray us, then they’ll do it at the first opportunity to get something out of it. Something valuable I mean,” she clarified. “Remember that they have it pretty good here,” she pointed out. “And they know it, too.”
“Makes as much or more sense as anything I thought of,” Leon nodded. “Any of y 'all got any better notions?” he asked the group.
“I actually like it,” Franklin nodded. “And it will help Malitha. She works all day every day but. . .it's hard on her, especially her back and leg.” Malitha George had been in a terrible car wreck some ten years prior to the CME and had suffered through five surgeries to reconstruct her right leg and a good portion of her hip and lower spine. After two years of surgery alternating with intense bouts of physical therapy, she was able to walk and work again, though she always hurt some and hurt worse 'when it comes on to rain' as she put it. While she had worked hard since the establish of their community, it was taking a toll. She had not and would not complain about it, but being given the chance to be less active, even for a short while, would not be something she would turn down.
“I don't know any better way,” Gordon chimed in.
“Me either,” Robert and Gary Meecham said in unison and then laughed.
“Well then, that's what we’ll do,” Leon told Franklin, who was now going to be the default leader of the cabin areas. “And with that done, I reckon it's time and past that we head down and talk to the Webbs.”
CHAPTER FIVE
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“Is this an invasion of some kind?” Kaitlin Caudell asked with a grin. Gordon and Robert Sanders had entered first, followed by Leon with Brick helping him. Gary Meecham, Franklin George and Beverly Jackson followed them, crowding the room somewhat.
“Not an invasion, just an interview of sorts,” Gordon assured her. “We need a word with some of your patients and their family members. We’ll try to be brief,” he promised.
“Sure,” she nodded. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Leon had asked Mitchell Nolan to gather the members of the Webb family who weren't in the clinic and have them brought there, so that all the people they needed to talk to would be present.
“What is it you want?” John Webb demanded at once, surly and disrespectful.
“Boy, you better remember where your bread is buttered,” Leon said at once. “For that matter, remember where your damn bread is coming from to start with. You talk to me like that again and I will break my foot clean off in your ass. You got that?”
John Webb had gone from surly to stunned as the Old Man had spoken and now was just standing there, mouth agape as Leon watched him.
“Hey!” Leon snapped. “I asked a question in here!”
“He hears you, Mister Sanders,” Lucas Webb slapped his younger brother casually in the groin, causing the younger Webb to double over, groaning. “He just left his manners at home, we had to leave in such a hurry,” Lucas continued, eliciting a chuckle from everyone but Jasmine, and even she smiled slightly. A good sign, Gordon thought.
“Fine then,” Leon nodded as he took the seat Kaitlin had brought him and sat down. Brick hovered behind him, an imposing presence to remind the Webb boys who the power here really was.
>
“Now, we got us a problem we need to work out, and we need to do it today,” Leon addressed the entire family.
“What to do with us,” Samuel nodded slowly and Leon raised his eyebrows at being preempted.
“Exactly,” he nodded. “You,” he pointed at John, “been running your mouth since you been here, claiming we're responsible for everything from the damn sun exploding to your shorts being too tight. I, for one, am damn tired of it and don't aim to put up with it no more, starting five minutes ago. You got that?”
“Yes sir,” John managed to groan, still slightly doubled over from the groin shot he had taken from his older brother.
“We've already had words about that,” Samuel told Leon. He was the oldest surviving sibling now and, in their view, had become the head of their family. “He was out of line and we told him so.”
“Good,” Leon said firmly. “For my part, hell for all our parts, we regret what happened with you all. I tried ever way I could manage to get Josh not to leave but he was hide bound and determined to go. I know he was hurting, I expect all of you were and still are, but. . .well, that's gone and done. We can't change it and we can't get back what's gone. We got to go on from here. All we can do in this situation.”
“Yes sir,” Lucas nodded.
“I'm sorry about your Pa, but he did that to himself,” Leon said next and John glowered slightly but remained silent, keeping one hand over his groin just in case. Samuel was nodding slowly and the rest mimicked him.
“We've talked about that too,” Samuel said. “Me and Lucas have anyway. Pa was out of line. Hell, he was out of line to take us out of here to start with and... we paid for it. Some worse than others. But what he did was flat wrong, and honestly, had any of you done the same at our place, we would have reacted just like you did. It's a hard thing, but one thing that will always be said is our Ma raised us not to be hypocrites, and so we ain't. We can't judge someone for doing what we ourselves would do was the situation reversed.”
“And I, for one, don't blame you for a damn thing,” Daisy Webb told Leon herself. “I blame Joshua, rest his soul, and I don't care who knows it. Him and the people who did this. That's who I blame, and I... I have to thank you all for taking us in as you have,” she added. “And for caring for us.”
“I'm glad we could do it,” Gordon told her with the very slightest sign of a friendly smile.
“You bunch made any plans as yet then?” Leon got the discussion back on track.
“We can't plan anything until we can get home and see what's left to us,” Lucas admitted. “We may end up in the woods camping for all we know,” he shrugged.
“Horse shit,” Leon growled. “Ever one of you has got a home right here long as you want it, provided you keep your mouth muzzled,” this with a glare at John, “and are willing to work and help keep this place going and keep it safe. I can't have you here if I can't trust you and that's what we're here for today is to see if we can do that. So far, it looks as if we can.”
“We don't hold no grudges,” Lucas declared with a warning glare at John. “Rumors to the contrary are just the work of somebody that don't know enough to make such decisions anyway.” He spared another glare for his younger brother who was red-faced by now but still silent. And still guarding his groin with one hand.
“It... these ain't regular times, Mister Leon, and I reckon they won't never be again,” Samuel said. “Where we might have been angry and resentful before, we can't be here. Pa was in the wrong. He might have had the best intentions in the world for it, but he was still in the wrong. If we looked at this in the Old Ways, we started this one. Makes it our fault. Our sin. We can't blame you for that.”
“We didn't feel like it was you all's fault that Mark got killed, neither,” Lucas chimed in. “Pa did, him and Micah, I guess,” a glance at Daisy saw her nodding in agreement, “but Ma, she was of a mind that it was the fault of the men who shot him. She did somewhat blame that Jessup boy, and by extension our Pa and the others for putting him there, but. . .not you. I was sorry to go,” he admitted sadly.
“Then you should have stayed,” Leon was blunt, though not unkind. “Look, you kids are gonna have to get out of this mindset, hear me? In the times we're in now, you can't stand all alone. None of us can. You can't keep following blindly. I assume Samuel is taking over as patriarch?”
“If you can call it that,” Samuel shrugged from his bed. “I don't, but I guess it's as good of a word as any. But you're right. We can't keep doing things the way we used to. We didn't realize that and we paid for it. Had we stood up to Pa, we'd still have been here and none of this would have come to pass.”
“I'm sorry that it did come to pass,” Franklin George spoke for the first time. “I was one of the men making those decisions that day, Samuel, so I bear some responsibility for Bryon Jessup being there. I shouldn't have given in to his father. The boy. . .he took his own life the same day you left. He couldn't live with it.”
“We heard,” Samuel looked a bit shameful. “I wish we'd not been harsh toward him but I'm ashamed to say some of us were. But like Mister Leon says, we can't take it back. We're where we're at, no matter what.”
“There are still two empty cabins at the top of the hill,” Leon said. “No reason you can't use 'em. Some of the cabins you were in before may be in use now, but I know there are two empty. Settle among yourselves how you want to bunk. I... I can't promise nothing, but I will speak to Clayton and see if he can stand to send a truck to see about getting any of your stuff we can. It won't be like last time where you can move any and everything you own, but your clothes and what-nots at least. Maybe. We’ll see.”
“That's very nice of you, Mister Leon,” Lucas replied. “More than we deserve after what Pa did.”
“Ah,” Leon waved him down. “We won't hold you responsible for what your father did, so long as you don't hold us responsible for what came of it. We can't be hypocrites either, ya know,” he winked and Lucas actually laughed, which started him coughing. Kaitlin was there in an instant, ensuring that he was breathing properly and not in distress.
“Another thing we're gonna have to talk about right now,” Leon said once Lucas was over his coughing spell. “Simple fact is that this has hurt us. There's not much doubt that Holman now knows pretty much everything your Pa knew about us. I could say I don't blame him, but that'd be a damn lie and I ain't gonna lie. But that ain't no never mind. Bottom line is, where before only Clay and the others like him was doing the majority of the fighting, that won't work now. We need to get back the element of surprise and the only way to do that is to get more people fitted and able to protect this place. Know this; there ain't no back-up plan to this farm. This is it. Place feeds us, shelters us, gives us a home. We can't let it be took from us. And 'us' means all of us,” he stressed.
“Everyone sixteen or older that can pass a physical is gonna have to go through the training and be ready to defend this place. Have to. It ain't optional at this point. Man or woman makes no never mind. If they can pass a physical, they have to take the training. And before you open your mouth,” he glared at John who was doing just that, “it ain't the same now as it was when you first came here, and ain't nobody to blame for that but your Pa.”
John's face reddened at that but he stayed silent.
“I wish it wasn't so, but wishes don't spend as my Ma once said,” Leon shook his head. “We was left in a bad way by what has been done, through no fault of our own. Sam, Luke, you two obviously can't go right now, and probably not for the foreseeable future, though I'd have to let Patricia and them have the final say on that. Same for Daisy and Jasmine. But John, Seth and maybe Lila have to start now. I know you're sixteen Seth. Lila?”
“She's fifteen,” Daisy said when Lila looked terrified to speak. “Just turned fifteen not long ago, in fact. Before we left.”
“Then she don't have to do it, but she can help look after them children in the orphanage,” Leon decreed. “Let one of them
girls up there do something else once in a while. Lila you can start working there tomorrow, so head on up there after breakfast. That’ll be one of your jobs from now on. We all got to work two and three jobs anymore, so might as well get used to it. John, you and Seth will help however Franklin says until your training starts, and then half your day will be in training while the rest is somewhere else. Understand?”
“Yes sir,” Seth replied while John simply nodded.
“All right then,” Leon stood. “You kids want to get settled into them cabins go ahead. Up to you, but they're there for you. You got any questions?”
“Are we going to have to go off fighting anywhere?” John asked carefully.
“Not in the plans,” Leon shook his head. “That don't mean it won't come to that one day as I can't see the future, but the point of all this is to have everyone that can be able and ready to defend this place. Might well have to ride guard at harvest, but that ain't the same as heading off somewhere else. Anything else?”
“If we could get any of our own things that would be a blessing,” Samuel said quietly. “But we ain't really able to go and I'm sure things are a mess at home.”
“That's what I was told,” Leon agreed. “If Clayton agrees then anyone able bodied and willing can go. Just. . .bear in mind it might be hard on you. Maybe we can get others to go for you,” he shrugged. “We’ll look into it. What else?”
“I reckon that's it,” Lucas said after no one else spoke. “Thank you, Mister Leon,” he said firmly. “This is a mess of our making. We’ll help clear it up any way we can. All of us,” he glared at John again for good measure.
“I'm glad to hear it, and I appreciate it,” Leon said. “Now, I imagine you boys is tired out, and I got a good bit more to do today before my old bones give out on me,” he chuckled. “You kids need anything we can provide, you ask. We’ll do it if we can manage.”
“Thanks Mister Leon,” Samuel spoke this time. Leon looked at his small group.
“Moving on.”
-
