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Chapter 1

There was the light and the sound so loud that it couldn't be heard but could only be felt. Joe knew he was thrown backwards, landed hard, and next, at least to his awareness, he was on a downy softness with his father's deep voice murmuring in the background. Joe was reminded of when he had been in school after lunch on a warm day and his eyelids would become heavy, his head would drop on his crossed arms and all he would hear is the soft murmuring of voices around him. That is until Miss Jones would poke him awake with the ruler.

But this time Joe couldn't rise to the surface. He was floating on the lake and the water was lifting him and shifting him along with the waves which he could hear lap on the distant shore or splash slightly against a boulder. It was so peaceful, so calm and then he went under the water again and the velvet darkness enveloped him—so comforting.

"I'll sit with him a while," Ben said to the doctor who was packing up his bag, folding his stethoscope.

"That's a good idea. I've fixed him up as well as I could—I believe he has a concussion. Even if he doesn't, by the size of that bruise on his temple, he took quite a blow. His skin might be tender due to the heat of the blast and, well, what I worry about the most is his hearing. When he fully comes to, check his hearing. Speak in a low voice and see if he responds."

"His hearing? Because of the blast?"

"You've seen it before, Ben I'm sure, with all the blasting that goes on around here. Too loud a sound and it can deafen a man, sometimes permanently." The doctor stood up while Ben nodded. "I'll talk to Hoss downstairs, fill him in on Joe's prognosis."

"Thank you, doctor." Ben started to rise to shake Dr. Martin's hand but the doctor told him to sit—not to worry about social courtesies. He was sure Hoss would let him out. Then he left Ben alone with his youngest son.

Ben watched Joe breathe and settled in the chair next to Joe's bed. After a few minutes, Hoss came in, his hands thrust deep in his pockets. That's how Ben knew Hoss was very worried; that action revealed Hoss' attempts to keep himself together.

"Doc said that Joe should be okay—just got some superficial burns and all. He said Joe was walloped on the head by somethin' and that he has a concussion."

"Yes. He's almost come around a few times but keeps slipping away."

Hoss wanted to comfort his worried father. "He'll be okay, Pa. After all, he survived the blast all in one piece."

"What happened, Hoss?" All Ben really knew was that Hoss came in the house carrying Joe and saying that Thad had gone for the doctor; there had been an explosion. And Hoss, after placing Joe on his bed, had paced the floor downstairs, waiting for the doctor to arrive. "Joe is usually so careful," Ben added.

Earlier, while waiting for the doctor, Hop Sing had brought up a basin of water and some cloth and he had been laving Joe's face and washing soot and other marks off his skin. Together, he and Ben had undressed Joe so that he lay only in his long underwear under the sheet. And Joe hadn't yet wakened.

"I ain't tryin' to sound smart, Pa, but Joe was so distracted 'bout goin' off to see Sally Morris that he might've been rushin'. We unloaded the buckboard and I went in to talk to Thad while Joe finished and then—boom. There was the explosion from the storage shed and all I could think of was Joe. I run out and he was just layin' there 'bout ten feet from the shed. He was out cold and I could see he was burned some but…" Hoss wiped his eyes, "Pa, he was like a rag doll. Thad went for the doctor and I brung him home and that's all I know."

Ben nodded. "When Joe wakes up, he'll tell us more."

"Yeah, Pa. When Joe wakes up. You want I should write Adam?"

Ben looked up. "Yes. Adam would want to know. He would want to know." Ben sat back, resting.

"Okay. I'll go write 'im now." And Hoss thought, as he walked down the stairs, that he'd have to tell Adam that Pa was in a bad way over Joe. Maybe Adam would be able to come home from Baltimore. Hoss knew it wasn't likely that Adam could just up and leave his firm but a man never knew. A man never knew about a lot of things.

Hoss sat down at his father's desk and pulled some paper out of a drawer.

"Dear, Adam," he wrote. He paused, not knowing how to continue; he hadn't written Adam a letter since he was a kid and Adam was away at school back east—his father had always written the letters—so Hoss didn't really know what to say. The door opened and around the corner of the office alcove came Jaime.

"Hoss, I was riding in and saw Dr. Martin on the road. He said Joe was hurt. What happened?"

"Some nitro went off and Joe got hurt. He's upstairs but he's asleep." Hoss didn't want to worry Jamie. "Pa's with 'im. I don't think you should bother them none right now."

"Is Joe okay?"

"We don't know yet." Hoss went back to the letter.

"Who you writin' to?"

"My brother, Adam." Then Hoss looked up. "I guess he's your brother too even though you two've never met. Pa wants me to let him know 'bout Joe."

Jaime was just about to ask Hoss if he needed any help writing the letter when Ben came quickly down the stairs and stood on the first landing, grasping the railing. His face was gray.

"What is it, Pa?" Hoss asked, standing up.

"Catch up with Dr. Martin and bring him back—Joe is blind."

TBC