The Journey Home

by K'Anne Meinel

  As they drive along passing the wagons and slower moving vehicles on the left Cass explained to the amusement of both Stephanie and the men packed in the back seat about her learning to drive in the Army at Pearl Harbor. “So if we get a bit whipped around, it’s not my fault, this ain’t a horse!” she quipped and they all laughed despite the desperation of their plight.

  Cass kept up the lively chatter as they drove along first south and then east. There were fires all around them and she wondered if the farm still was there near Merrill. The smoke was choking but she kept going and then Stephanie handed handkerchiefs dipped in water for them all to breathe into. She helped Cass on with her own as she drove. The thick woods, dried out from a lack of rain, the pine trees that could explode when their sap boiled up, the rich hardwoods that took years to grow, nothing was safe as the fires swept across the woods.

  Merrill was a sight to see, they were grateful for it even being there. The fires and backfires that had been started to combat each other had been started at the rivers. Merrill had several lakes that they could draw from even though they were low from the lack of rain. The Wisconsin River and the Prairie River supplied a lot of their water needs but with the fire sucking all the moisture from the air and jumping by leaps and bounds they were all in danger, real danger. As Cass drove through town she could only look around and wonder if these beautiful homes would all be cinders soon.

  “Where are they taking the wounded?” she asked someone as she drove down Main.

  “The hospital is set up across the river,” she was told and then directed over the river on the bridge where she unloaded the three men she had kept entertained from the back seat and then with help the two stretchers.

  “Oh good, we can use these supplies,” someone noted when Stephanie directed them to the bed of the truck.

  “Aren’t you Stephanie Scheimer?” someone asked as they recognized her.

  Cass turned from where she was unloading some of the supplies handing them off to one of the eager hands.

  Stephanie nodded as she went to take out more of the things from the bed.

  “I want to thank you for the supplies and money you made available, we should be renaming this place after you!” the man said admiringly.

  Cass looked at Stephanie who was now blushing as she nodded. She smiled awkwardly as the man shook her hand enthusiastically and then let her return to emptying out the truck.

  It was only later as they parked the truck and managed to catch a bite to eat with the last of the sandwiches that Stephanie had brought that Cass could sit down and ask Stephanie what was going on.

  “I bought a few things I thought you would need and brought them.”

  Cass already knew that, Hank had told her. “But what about the man earlier…”

  Stephanie blushed again. “I thought they might need help here too so I donated some things in Scheimer Farms name.” She looked away embarrassed.

  Cass was astounded. That had taken a lot of money and generosity. “Why?”

  Stephanie looked at her in astonishment. “We have so much and I thought we could help. You were doing so much and…” she stumbled over her words.

  “Yes but that’s my duty, my job, my calling…” Cass spread her hands out to emphasize what she was saying.

  “Yes but I couldn’t sit there and do nothing…” Stephanie began but Cass interrupted her with a question that had been preying on her mind.

  “Where are the children?” she asked quietly. If Stephanie was here, who was at the farm?

  “They are across the river with Marabelle,” she astounded Cass with the news.

  “How, what, why?” Cass asked with her eyes held wide.

  “Their farm is across the river and once I wetted everything down that I could reach I packed up the children, our pictures, and drove them over there and asked her to keep them until we returned. I wanted to help, I felt useless on the farm. We have so much and they are losing everything.” She nodded to some of the recent arrivals who were turning into the makeshift hospital and were obvious refugees from the fires all around them.

  Remember something Hank had said she narrowed her eyes. “How much did you spend on those supplies?”

  Stephanie shook her head as she took a bite of a really terrible sandwich, it was getting old. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”

  Cass stared at her in surprise. Gone was the greedy penny pincher and this generous soul who hadn’t worried about spending money she would never see again was almost a stranger to her. She wondered if she would ever truly know Stephanie. She had yelled at her for being greedy and yet when tragedy had struck their neighbors, people they didn’t even know, she hadn’t hesitated to help. Where had she thought of that? Stephanie’s answer though surprised even her when she asked.

  “From you!”

  “What, what do you mean?

  “In the time I’ve known you, anytime anyone banged on that farmhouse door for help, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day. You dropped everything to help them. Our country goes to war and you drop everything to go help. This fire comes along and you immediately start gathering the few supplies we had at the house to help them. I’ve watched you and learned and you were right, what good is the money we make if the quality isn’t there. What good is the money if we can’t help others?”

  Cass stared at her in absolute surprise. Where had all this come from?

  “I can’t do much,” she held out her hands. “But when I can I want to. Once I knew the children were safe, once I left the farm in God’s hands, all I could think of was getting to you and helping as much as I knew you were.”

  Cass felt tears welling up in her eyes. Her heart was bursting at the generosity of spirit that seemed to have inhabited her lover. She swallowed. “You didn’t have to you know…”

  Stephanie held up her hand to stop Cass from speaking. Softly she answered, “Yes, I did. If only to atone for what I’d become. For Cal. For what I couldn’t do before.”

  It had never occurred to Cass that Stephanie still felt guilt about all that, Cal yes, but the rest…no.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  “There’s fire in Merrill!” the shout went up as they were working in the wards. Cass had delved right in to help once others and patients had arrived in their makeshift hospital. She looked around for Stephanie and found her reading a book to someone and she looked up in terror at Cass.

  Cass headed for the front doors with many others and they could see how close the smoke was. It was obvious that the fires from the west had managed to make it this far. Additional smoke could be seen to the North as well to the South and except for the building they couldn’t tell if any was to the East. Cass walked with Stephanie to the end of the building to look off to the Northeast where they knew the farm was but couldn’t tell with the low hanging clouds if there was smoke over that way.

  They heard a crackle of thunder and they shared a look.

  “Do you think?” Stephanie asked hopefully.

  Cass shook her head. “It’s probably dry thunder, caused by the fires. Don’t get excited.”

  “If only it would just rain…” Stephanie said miserably.

  Cass nodded but didn’t get her hopes up. They went back into the hospital to continue working, casualties were still coming in. Horrible tales of lost hopes and dreams, walls of fire, and hopping whirlwinds of fire.

  “I swear I saw a tornado,” one man said fearfully. Cass never doubted him. She had heard of that happening in a fire. It whipped up the winds to look like a tornado as it ate at the woods it was firing.

  They all heard the loud thunder that went off above them as it shook the hospital a while later. Cass was reminded of the earthquakes from the volcano as several people called out or screamed at the loud booming noise. Several of the staff including Stephanie and Cass ran to the front of the building to look out. One drop, two drops of water fell from the clouds.

  “Come on, come ON, RAIN!” someone prayed. They
all joined in silently in the prayer.

  More drops, a spattering here and there, almost as though the clouds hesitated to give up their precious moisture. With the heat of the fires many of the drops evaporated before they hit the ground, before they could put out the roaring fires that sucked up every bit of moisture in the air.

  “I’ve got the city firemen in the back of my truck!” someone called and Cass went to help.

  Two men badly burned and one so young he superficially reminded Cass of Annette in his beauty as they offloaded them. She concentrated on removing the dead tissue and putting on soothing salves and bandages as they cleaned them up. Many would become infected. Burns were nasty and Cass was sick of the smell. She had left all of this behind her or so she thought. When she got a whiff of another more welcome smell she at first couldn’t believe it but as someone held a door open she looked like a hunting dog smelling to catch a scent. It was the smell of rain. Already the pavement in the parking lot had a spattering across it. It began to come down harder and harder. Many people went out to dance in it. A cheer went up in the wards as people realized the rain had come, the cooling odor of it swept through the building. The rain had saved them!

  “Do you think it will be enough, do you think it’s in time?” Stephanie quietly asked Cass as they stared out at it in wonder.

  Cass shook her head, she knew Stephanie was talking about the farm and after all those around them had lost so much she couldn’t give her false hope. “I don’t know, we won’t know until we go home.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  They wouldn’t get the chance for a few days. The rainstorm that came rolling in did indeed extinguish many of the fires. Those still smoldering were soon put out by the hundreds of volunteers who had rushed to help. Many had lost homes, farmland, and even the poor crops that stood in the way of the roaring inferno. There were lives lost. Now as the rain continued to fall, the previous dry conditions meant that streams were filing, pouring into the rivers and lakes, sending cascades of dirty water into them.

  “I want to go home,” Stephanie whined. They had been here so long, she was tired of helping, she was tired of seeing Cass exhausted. She wanted to go home and sleep for a week. She wanted Cass home with her sleeping for that week. She wanted her children home, safe and sound.

  “Me too,” Cass agreed. She had seen Stephanie read to so many, help out when she could, but her overall good humor had helped enormously. She had newfound respect for her.

  As they headed home in the truck followed slowly by their wagons they could see a few spots of damaged woods but either they had been far enough east or the rain had put them out in time. Perhaps their neighbors had but the devastation west of them wasn’t visited on their own lush woods. The rain had drenched everything and while it was still coming down, it had slowed enough that they felt they could go home. Cass wasn’t needed anymore in town and Doctor Pfennig had told her to go home and sleep.

  As they pulled into the long driveway they saw a couple of the huge pines that lined the driveway had singe marks on them but someone had managed to put them out, perhaps with the garden hoses. The house though was there as they pulled into the yard. Cass stopped the truck and just looked. The barn, the garage, the well house with its new addition, the mill, all of it still stood there. She saw a burn line along the pond and wondered at that.

  “Cass, Stephanie! You’re home!” someone called and they looked up in surprise as to see one of their employees, Todd heading for the truck.

  “How is your place?” Stephanie asked in genuine concern.

  “It’s east of here and we got a few sparks but nothing that my wife couldn’t put out. I kept this place watered down. Put out those big trees along the driveway.”

  “But everything is okay at home?” she persisted.

  He nodded smiling at her concern. “Everything here too. I got my wife to come the last two days, that milk was mounting up. We have a heap of cottage cheese for you.” He laughed.

  She smiled as she thanked him and he left them to return to his chores and they went into the house. Cass looked at the familiar house and breathed a sigh of relief. It was here, it was familiar, and it was home. Looking at Stephanie she asked, “We don’t have to pick up the children until we take baths do we?”

  Stephanie shook her head but started in surprise as Cass grabbed her hand and pulled her along up the stairs. “Wait, wait, Cass, what are you doing?” she asked in surprise as she tried not to fall over her skirts.

  Cass pulled her into the bathroom letting go of her hand and bent over the tub to put the plug in and start the water. She turned to Stephanie with a mischievous look. “This may never happen again where we have the house to ourselves.” She turned and locked the bathroom door as she pulled down her suspenders from her shoulders and began to unbutton her shirt. “Let’s take a bath together?”

  Stephanie’s eyes glowed with delight as she rapidly began to unbutton her dress.

  Between the two of them they got naked as quickly as they could and got into the tub. With both of them in the small tub they didn’t need much water and Cass sat at the end with the spout as she began to wash Stephanie’s back and then reaching around she mischievously washed her front. It was slow, it was sensual and she had never done this anyone.

  Stephanie couldn’t believe how playful Cass was being. It felt naughty. It excited her and she felt her nipples, which had hurt so the past few days as her milk dried up, pucker up in anticipation of the feelings that Cass was causing in her. She sputtered when Cass cupped her hands under the spout and poured water over her head and face.

  “You are dirty, all over,” Cass purred in delight as she kissed her shoulder and laughed at her.

  “Oh yeah?” Stephanie asked as she tried to turn to return the favor but the tub was small and Cass wasn’t letting her turn as she held her in one arm and poured water all over her. Stephanie tried to protest but she was laughing too hard and Cass got her completely wet and then began to soap her head. It felt heavenly as her fingers dug in, her short nails managing to scratch at her scalp. “Oh yesssss,” she breathed as she leaned back against her feeling her breasts press against her back.

  Cass was getting incredibly aroused by the bath she was giving Stephanie. The water was getting rather too high and she shut off the spout. She had thought of installing a shower and wished they had one now as she rinsed off the soapy suds into the now dirty water. She pulled the plug.

  “Oh no, not yet!” Stephanie protested. It had been so incredibly sensual and she wanted it to continue.

  “We’ve got to get this dirty water gone, we can refill it,” Cass assured her as she dipped some water to wash her own hair.

  “Here, let me,” Stephanie offered and Cass was treated to her own scalp massage as they turned to face each other. Closing her eyes she found her nipple puckering at how wonderful Stephanie was making her feel. Stephanie couldn’t help herself and leaned down to take a nipple in her mouth and found that the soap hadn’t completely washed off. She spit out the flavor of the soap.

  “Oh gee, thanx. You’re spitting on me now?” Cass teased as she grinned at what Stephanie had tried to do. She realized exactly what had happened.

  “No no, bleh, that stuff tastes horrible!” she complained as she wiped her tongue out on her arm and got more soap on it. “Oh no!” she said as she spat some more.

  Cass started laughing harder. “Now you know how the boys feel when you threaten to wash their mouths out with soap!” she said.

  They shared a laugh and Stephanie kept spitting until all the water was gone and the taste almost gone from her mouth. They both stood up so that the water could drain completely, it was full of dust and grime from the fires and the sweat they had accumulated. Cass rinsed out the tub with cold water before re-plugging the tub and starting it again.

  “Let’s get you all squeaky clean,” she offered as she grabbed the soap again and began to smear it all over Stephanie’s body.

  “O
h yessss,” Stephanie agreed as she enjoyed the feel of Cass’s soapy caresses over every inch she could reach. Cass managed to wiggle her fingers between Stephanie’s legs but when Stephanie moved to give her more access and she nearly slipped in the tub Cass ceased her love play and moved on to her legs soaping them. “Here, let me do that for you,” Stephanie held out her hand for the soap.

  Cass enjoyed each and every caress and the smell of lavender from the soap helped take away the smell of sweat and burns she had endured for the past week. The memories of it began to fade as her beautiful lover turned her and brushed down her long back with the soap. Stephanie put the soap aside and began to caress everywhere she could reach, using her nails a little too. It helped exfoliate a bit of the dirt which seemed ground in and Cass exhaled in delight at the delicious feel of it all.

  “You have to lie down in the tub to rinse off,” Cass generously offered looking at Stephanie’s soapy body, it was drying on her skin and her hair was a mess.

  “I want you to lay down on me,” Stephanie murmured.

  “We need a bigger tub for that,” Cass grinned as she stepped out of the tub for Stephanie to rinse off. She stood there dripping on the bathroom rug as she watched Stephanie scrunch down in the tub, her legs bent so she could get the soap out of hair and rub off the suds from her body. “Here, you missed some,” Cass offered and began running her hands along her legs and up to her hips and across.

  Stephanie caught her breath as she longed for the feel of Cass’s fingers between her legs again. She quickly finished her rinsing and turned off the water before it overflowed. “Your turn,” she told her sudsy partner and she got up out of the tub as Cass handed her a fluffy towel and got into the sudsy tub herself.

  Cass was taller and wider and the water got dangerously high before she grabbed the plug and pulled. She lay back in the tub to rinse herself off as the tub drained. “I’m going to need more water,” she complained good naturedly. She felt marvelous and clean for the first time in days.

  “I’ll help you,” Stephanie offered generously.