Chapter 111
“Please don’t cry.”
“I know I shouldn’t,” I said. “If Burt sees me …”
“Maybe that boy needs to. I swun. I know he is trying to help but he’s going to give us both a heart attack at this rate. You’re just tired. We both are. At least Donnelly said he saw both our husbands and they were okay.”
“Donnelly’s words were they were mad as wet hens when they found out they were being put on another work rotation with no break to go home first.”
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“If you’re thinking that it was done on purpose for some reason then yes, we’re thinking the same thing.”
She sighed and we both sat down in the Canning Kitchen to take advantage of the warmth of the stove. Just like it had been unseasonably hot, it was now turning unseasonably cold early.
Barbara said, “Tell me what makes you think such a thing then we’ll compare notes.”
“Well I’ve started wondering why we get such extra special attention from the Chief Inspector. I thought it was like that for everyone, or most everyone. I put Tommy’s surprise at how often the man is out here down to just Tommy being Tommy. Er … you do know that …”
“Oh for … Kay-Lee there’s not a bone in your body that would be set against Tommy or Linda. Stop worrying it to pieces. I thought we’d gotten beyond that.”
I sighed. “Old habit. Bad habit. Need to break that habit.”
“You had to hide in plain sight for a long time.”
“Maybe so but it is time for a new way of doing things. The old way might be at least a good part of why I got us into the pickle with the family.”
Barbara said a rude word that surprise me enough my mouth fell open. “Oh don’t look at me like that. If anyone should understand action and consequences it is me. You didn’t get you or anyone else in a pickle with the family. The family made the pickle and some are just still looking for an excuse not to have to take responsibility for it. Let’s just move on. I know you are going back out shortly.”
I was and we both knew it. Also knew there wasn’t much choice. “The Chief Inspector is running some kind of game. I’m not sure who’s side he is on but I’m fairly certain that he isn’t above being on his own side. The fact that our men are gone so often only gives him more scope to play with.”
Barbara nodded. “I’m thinking similar. He plays at being magnanimous and all that, but there’s the gleaning rows issue … and I’m thinking he is taking what should be ours and turning a profit for himself or using it as a bribe or something. You think he has anything to do with the hobgoblins?”
“On that I am nearly positive it is a no.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m pretty sure some of them watch me while I’m out creeping around at night.”
“What?!”
“Don’t shout please. I wasn’t positive until night before last.”
She muttered, “Oh Lord, I’m going to be sorry for asking.”
“Relax. If nothing else maybe I made … not friends but certainly I think they understand now that we aren’t the enemy. As in us in this house aren’t. And some of the cousins but … I’m not speaking to that and I’m going to try and stay out of it. I want you to stay out of it too. And I may duct tape Burt down in the basement for the duration.”
“Oh I’m not going to waste the tape I’ll just plant him down there.”
I didn’t disagree with Barbara but tried not to get off track. “It was the night I brought back that big bag of hen of the woods mushrooms.”
“Uh huh,” she said suspiciously. “I wonder why you came back so quick and Donnelly showing up not long afterwards with you looking like you wanted to throw something at him.”
“You aren’t far off the mark. He refused to say what he knew about our men until we were both together.”
“Next time you hold him and I’ll take aim with the rolling pin.”
I chuckled but I also admitted that Barbara probably wasn’t completely joking. She can be as fierce an ally as she was once a troublemaker for me. “It didn’t take me long to fill the tote sack and I was about to put it down and rake up some acorns to bring back when Donnelly nearly caused me to wet myself suddenly popping up out of a stand of azalea bushes like he did.”
“Shhhh. You’ll scare it away.”
I was ready to take aim with the rake handle when he pointed up and I saw the mangiest looking ‘coon I’d seen in a while. But it was also big and fat which made me realize he must be on a hunt. I winced thinking of how far the sound of a gun was going to go when instead he draw back a bow and shot the ‘coon with an arrow. It fell at my feet and Donnelly just looked at me.
“If you think I’m going to field dress that nasty ol’ thing you can think again.”
“Good. I won’t have to share him then,” he said caught between being serious and trying to make a joke. “Heard from Sawyer and Huely.”
I stopped dead and can’t even remember what I was going to do next. “What?! When?! How are they?! Don’t just stand there like a statue!”
“Too hard to tell it twice. I’ll come to the house as soon as I take this to Cutter.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Oh I would have killed him so dead.”
“Trust me, I was giving it serious consideration but he took off too fast for me to catch him.”
“Where does the hobgoblin come into the story.”
“I’d no sooner decided to let Donnelly live than I heard someone retching in the bushes. I thought it was another one of the boys but to shorten the story when I located where the sound was coming from I found a man and a boy a little older than Burt. The boy was in distress.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Son, what’s wrong?!”
It took me a while to figure out what I was seeing because I swear it looked like a couple of real hobgoblins or trolls or something if you want to know the truth. They were wearing some kind of camouflage get up, all covered in grasses and moss. I looked it up and it is called a ghillie suit and it is just about the craziest get up you ever want to see. Scared me worse than Donnelly did.
The smaller of the two “trolls” was retching so hard he could barely breathe. The larger “troll” turned out to really be his father and was in a borderline panic. That’s when I see in the moonlight that the boy’s hand was stained with something. When I realized what it was.
“How many did you eat?” I asked, trying to get an answer from the boy.
The “troll” that I now realized was a man tried to hold the boy up and bring his rifle up at the same time.
“Stop it. I think he ate some poke berries. We need to make him puke all of them up. Now.”
Turns out the boys had only eaten two before getting nauseous and then starting to throw up. You know I keep that first aid kit with me and it had some ipecac in it. Well when the boy stopped throwing up on his own I got him going again with that stuff. It didn’t take much and he was off and puking again and by the time he stopped his stomach was about as empty as we were going to make it with what we had.
“Don’t say anything,” I told the man. “We both know I don’t want to get involved. Just get him back to … to wherever and keep an eye on him. Those were pokeberries.”
“I thought they were grapes,” the boy muttered.
You could probably hear my eyes roll in my head I was so angry. “Don’t you ever … EVER … eat something without an adult’s say so again. And certainly don’t eat something out in the wilds that you don’t know for absolutely sure what you are handling. Poke berries are deadly poisonous. Just ten of them can take out an adult. You see what just two did to you. Don’t you ever scare your dad like that again or I’ll hunt you down and paddle your behind myself. You got that mister?”
The boy looked at me like I was way crazier than even the family thinks I am. The man popped him lightly in the head as a signal to watch his p’s and q’s. To me he opened his mouth to say something but closed it and then nodded.
I said, “I’m not sure what to tell you except to keep an eye on him. Maybe change out of your … er … clothes and take him to a doctor if he seems to be in distress. I … I honestly just don’t know. And no, don’t say anything. What I don’t know can’t hurt either one of us.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“And you just walked off? Just like that?!” Barbara asked, nearly scandalized. "And you didn't say anything to me?!"
“Yeah. I needed to get back here before Donnelly. He was going to tell us about Sawyer and Huely. That was more important.”
“Please don’t cry.”
“I know I shouldn’t,” I said. “If Burt sees me …”
“Maybe that boy needs to. I swun. I know he is trying to help but he’s going to give us both a heart attack at this rate. You’re just tired. We both are. At least Donnelly said he saw both our husbands and they were okay.”
“Donnelly’s words were they were mad as wet hens when they found out they were being put on another work rotation with no break to go home first.”
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“If you’re thinking that it was done on purpose for some reason then yes, we’re thinking the same thing.”
She sighed and we both sat down in the Canning Kitchen to take advantage of the warmth of the stove. Just like it had been unseasonably hot, it was now turning unseasonably cold early.
Barbara said, “Tell me what makes you think such a thing then we’ll compare notes.”
“Well I’ve started wondering why we get such extra special attention from the Chief Inspector. I thought it was like that for everyone, or most everyone. I put Tommy’s surprise at how often the man is out here down to just Tommy being Tommy. Er … you do know that …”
“Oh for … Kay-Lee there’s not a bone in your body that would be set against Tommy or Linda. Stop worrying it to pieces. I thought we’d gotten beyond that.”
I sighed. “Old habit. Bad habit. Need to break that habit.”
“You had to hide in plain sight for a long time.”
“Maybe so but it is time for a new way of doing things. The old way might be at least a good part of why I got us into the pickle with the family.”
Barbara said a rude word that surprise me enough my mouth fell open. “Oh don’t look at me like that. If anyone should understand action and consequences it is me. You didn’t get you or anyone else in a pickle with the family. The family made the pickle and some are just still looking for an excuse not to have to take responsibility for it. Let’s just move on. I know you are going back out shortly.”
I was and we both knew it. Also knew there wasn’t much choice. “The Chief Inspector is running some kind of game. I’m not sure who’s side he is on but I’m fairly certain that he isn’t above being on his own side. The fact that our men are gone so often only gives him more scope to play with.”
Barbara nodded. “I’m thinking similar. He plays at being magnanimous and all that, but there’s the gleaning rows issue … and I’m thinking he is taking what should be ours and turning a profit for himself or using it as a bribe or something. You think he has anything to do with the hobgoblins?”
“On that I am nearly positive it is a no.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m pretty sure some of them watch me while I’m out creeping around at night.”
“What?!”
“Don’t shout please. I wasn’t positive until night before last.”
She muttered, “Oh Lord, I’m going to be sorry for asking.”
“Relax. If nothing else maybe I made … not friends but certainly I think they understand now that we aren’t the enemy. As in us in this house aren’t. And some of the cousins but … I’m not speaking to that and I’m going to try and stay out of it. I want you to stay out of it too. And I may duct tape Burt down in the basement for the duration.”
“Oh I’m not going to waste the tape I’ll just plant him down there.”
I didn’t disagree with Barbara but tried not to get off track. “It was the night I brought back that big bag of hen of the woods mushrooms.”
“Uh huh,” she said suspiciously. “I wonder why you came back so quick and Donnelly showing up not long afterwards with you looking like you wanted to throw something at him.”
“You aren’t far off the mark. He refused to say what he knew about our men until we were both together.”
“Next time you hold him and I’ll take aim with the rolling pin.”
I chuckled but I also admitted that Barbara probably wasn’t completely joking. She can be as fierce an ally as she was once a troublemaker for me. “It didn’t take me long to fill the tote sack and I was about to put it down and rake up some acorns to bring back when Donnelly nearly caused me to wet myself suddenly popping up out of a stand of azalea bushes like he did.”
“Shhhh. You’ll scare it away.”
I was ready to take aim with the rake handle when he pointed up and I saw the mangiest looking ‘coon I’d seen in a while. But it was also big and fat which made me realize he must be on a hunt. I winced thinking of how far the sound of a gun was going to go when instead he draw back a bow and shot the ‘coon with an arrow. It fell at my feet and Donnelly just looked at me.
“If you think I’m going to field dress that nasty ol’ thing you can think again.”
“Good. I won’t have to share him then,” he said caught between being serious and trying to make a joke. “Heard from Sawyer and Huely.”
I stopped dead and can’t even remember what I was going to do next. “What?! When?! How are they?! Don’t just stand there like a statue!”
“Too hard to tell it twice. I’ll come to the house as soon as I take this to Cutter.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Oh I would have killed him so dead.”
“Trust me, I was giving it serious consideration but he took off too fast for me to catch him.”
“Where does the hobgoblin come into the story.”
“I’d no sooner decided to let Donnelly live than I heard someone retching in the bushes. I thought it was another one of the boys but to shorten the story when I located where the sound was coming from I found a man and a boy a little older than Burt. The boy was in distress.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Son, what’s wrong?!”
It took me a while to figure out what I was seeing because I swear it looked like a couple of real hobgoblins or trolls or something if you want to know the truth. They were wearing some kind of camouflage get up, all covered in grasses and moss. I looked it up and it is called a ghillie suit and it is just about the craziest get up you ever want to see. Scared me worse than Donnelly did.
The smaller of the two “trolls” was retching so hard he could barely breathe. The larger “troll” turned out to really be his father and was in a borderline panic. That’s when I see in the moonlight that the boy’s hand was stained with something. When I realized what it was.
“How many did you eat?” I asked, trying to get an answer from the boy.
The “troll” that I now realized was a man tried to hold the boy up and bring his rifle up at the same time.
“Stop it. I think he ate some poke berries. We need to make him puke all of them up. Now.”
Turns out the boys had only eaten two before getting nauseous and then starting to throw up. You know I keep that first aid kit with me and it had some ipecac in it. Well when the boy stopped throwing up on his own I got him going again with that stuff. It didn’t take much and he was off and puking again and by the time he stopped his stomach was about as empty as we were going to make it with what we had.
“Don’t say anything,” I told the man. “We both know I don’t want to get involved. Just get him back to … to wherever and keep an eye on him. Those were pokeberries.”
“I thought they were grapes,” the boy muttered.
You could probably hear my eyes roll in my head I was so angry. “Don’t you ever … EVER … eat something without an adult’s say so again. And certainly don’t eat something out in the wilds that you don’t know for absolutely sure what you are handling. Poke berries are deadly poisonous. Just ten of them can take out an adult. You see what just two did to you. Don’t you ever scare your dad like that again or I’ll hunt you down and paddle your behind myself. You got that mister?”
The boy looked at me like I was way crazier than even the family thinks I am. The man popped him lightly in the head as a signal to watch his p’s and q’s. To me he opened his mouth to say something but closed it and then nodded.
I said, “I’m not sure what to tell you except to keep an eye on him. Maybe change out of your … er … clothes and take him to a doctor if he seems to be in distress. I … I honestly just don’t know. And no, don’t say anything. What I don’t know can’t hurt either one of us.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“And you just walked off? Just like that?!” Barbara asked, nearly scandalized. "And you didn't say anything to me?!"
“Yeah. I needed to get back here before Donnelly. He was going to tell us about Sawyer and Huely. That was more important.”