When I didn't answer immediately, the knocking became more forceful.
"Harlie."
I sighed, and pushed myself up off of the bed, going to the door, and turning the lock. I opened the door, and then went back to
sit on the edge of the bed, carefully avoiding his eye.
I heard him sigh, and then he came over to stand closer.
"We're all on edge over this," he said.
"Yes," I agreed, still not looking directly at him.
I felt the bed sink as he sat down next to me.
"You understand what I'm tellin' you, right?" he asked. "About not talking to her?"
"I understand."
"Will you look at me? Please?" he asked.
I sighed, and turned my face up towards his.
"We'll get thru it all, and be stronger for it," he said, sounding confident. "Right?"
"Yes, Adam," I said, and even to my own ears I sounded dubious. But if Adam heard that part of it, he chose not to comment on it.
"Okay," he said, and let out a deep breath.
After a couple of quiet moments, he said, "Have you done your shot?"
"No."
"Well, don't forget," he said.
"I won't."
"We okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, and tried to smile at him. I didn't want to fight with Adam. I didn't want him to feel bad. I knew it had shocked and hurt him today,
when the lawyer asked the questions about abuse in our house.
"I'm sorry. For the stuff today about the abuse and all of that," I said.
Adam sighed. "Yeah. That was tough."
"If I could, I'd punch her in the nose for saying that," I said.
Adam looked at me. Not smiling exactly, but at least there was a glimmer of light in his eyes.
"Yeah?" he asked me.
"Yeah," I affirmed.
"Well, then you'd be the one accused of abuse," Adam said.
"I guess that's so," I agreed.
"So let's just not plan on beatin' anybody up. Deal?" he asked, the light in his eyes going to a definite twinkle.
"Deal."
He patted my knee, and stood up.
And he went out of the room, without saying anything more, turning at the doorway to give me a small smile.
7
The rest of the week passed slowly, mostly uneventful, though it seemed to me that there was a dark cloud hanging over the
house and the mood of everybody in it. I went to school, and did my homework. I did my chores, fitting in as many rides on Petra and old Charlie as
I could manage. The best thing about the week was being able to get my cast taken off. The x-rays showed my wrist was healed and
as good as ever. Riding home from the doctor's office with Hannah on late Thursday afternoon, I was enjoying the freedom from not carrying
the heavy cast on my arm. I kept rubbing the pale, wrinkled skin that had been covered, until Hannah laughed a little, and said,
"You're going to rub your skin totally off if you don't stop doing that."
I smiled a little. "It just feels so good to have it off."
7
When we got home, I went to change to my chore clothes, and Hannah went to help Clare with the supper preparations. As I was pulling on my jacket
to head back outside, the phone began ringing.
"I'll get it," Hannah said, coming from the kitchen, and waving me on.
I fed the goats, and refilled their water. I was just about to shut Elwood P. Dowd's gate behind me when I saw Hannah come out onto the front
porch. I watched as she stood there for a few minutes, shading her eyes against the sun. Then she crossed the yard and went into the barn.
A few minutes later, after finishing with the goats and the chickens, I headed into the barn. Hannah was still there, huddled into a group
with Adam, Brian and Crane. The talking between them stopped as soon as I came in.
I went to hang up my two feed buckets onto the back wall, and then looked curiously at them all.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Get to your chores," Brian ordered, sounding brusque.
"I'm done."
"Then go in and get started on your homework," Crane said.
"Okay," I said. I wanted to ask again what was going on, and if something was wrong, but I didn't. The set of Brian's jaw kept me
from doing that, well that and also the look on Adam's face. He looked, for lack of a better word, shell-shocked. It scared me.
I went outside the barn, and shut the door behind me, going in search of Guthrie.
He wasn't far away. I found him sitting on the side of the barn, leaning against it, alternately petting Jethro Bodine and popping black
jelly beans into his mouth.
"Hey," he greeted me. "You got your cast off, huh?"
"Yeah. Guthrie, something's going on. Everybody's in the barn, and they're talking real low. When I came in, they stopped
talking and told me to clear out."
"Maybe they just don't think it's any of your business," Guthrie said, with a grin.
"No, it's not like that," I told him. "Something's wrong. I can tell."
"Hmm," Guthrie said.
I sank down beside him on the ground, and immediately Warrior ran over to me, giving me dog kisses.
"It's something about her. I know it," I went on.
Guthrie didn't say anything, but I could tell he was concerned, too, because he stopped eating jelly beans and began his
nervous habit of popping his knuckles.
"This is all starting to really get to me, Guth," I said. "I can't take much more."
"I know."
We sat there for a few more minutes, petting and wrestling with the dogs. Evan, coming up from the pasture on the four-wheeler,
pulled to a stop not far from us, and shut it off, swinging one leg over to rest on the gas tank of the four-wheeler.
"What are you two doin'?" he asked us. "Hiding?"
"Naw," Guthrie said, while I didn't answer.
"What's goin' on?" Evan asked then.
"Something's happened," I told him. "Everybody's in the barn, talking."
"Yeah?" Evan said, and got off the four-wheeler, walking over to us.
"Try to keep calm. Don't let your imagination take over," Evan advised me.
"That's easy for you to say," I told him.
"No, it's not easy for me," Evan objected. "I'm weary of that woman's bullshit, too. I'm worried, the same as everybody."
I could tell by the look on his face that he was sincere.
"Sorry," I said.
"I love you, even if you are a giant pain most of the time," Evan finished.
I gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Ev."
When Evan had gone on his way to finish chores, Guthrie and I sat there, not saying much. I don't know how much time went by
until we heard our names being called.
"We're over here!" Guthrie called back.
Crane appeared at the side of the barn. "What are you monkeys doing?" he asked us.
"Up to no good," Guthrie joked.
"No doubt," Crane said.
Then, he said, "Supper's ready. Come inside."
Walking towards the house with Crane, Guthrie and I exchanged a look, and then I said, "Crane, what's going on?"
Crane, to his credit, didn't pretend not to understand, or say it was nothing. He put a hand on the back of my neck as we walked.
"We'll talk after supper," he said.
"How bad?" I asked him then, referring to the scale of one to ten that I'd used growing up to gauge how serious something was.
"A seven," Crane said. "But a workable seven."
What in the world was a workable seven, I thought.
7
Inside, we went directly to the kitchen, washing up at the kitchen sink, as everybody already there were putting the rest of the
food on the table.
"Hello, tootsie," Clare greeted me. "How's the wrist?" She reached out to take my arm in her hand, and look it over.
"It's good to have the cast off," I told her.
Over supper, I didn't miss the attempts by Hannah and even Brian, to draw me and Guthrie into conversation.
"What are your plans for the weekend?" Hannah was asking us.
"Kristin's off work, so probably see a movie or somethin'," Guthrie told her.
"What about you, sweetie?" Hannah asked me.
"I don't have any plans really," I said.
"You should take it easy, at least part of the time. You still need to rest up from being in the hospital," Hannah said.
I murmured an agreement, before she continued, "Why don't you have Kristen come here? She could spend the weekend, and
I'll fix up some special snacks for all you kids."
"That sounds good," Guthrie said in agreement.
"Great," I echoed.
"You kids ought to do some riding, too," Brian put in. "Kristin can handle Smoky alright, can't she?"
"She can handle him," Guthrie said.
"Maybe you should all go to the basketball game tomorrow night at school," Hannah suggested.
Guthrie and I both agreed, tentatively, to the suggestion.
After that Crane and Evan and Brian all began to talk about the score last weekend at the basketball game, and how the team was
doing this year.
I realized that Adam hadn't said anything at all during the meal, and I looked down towards him. He looked as though he was listening to
everybody's conversation, and had finished his meal, pushing back his plate, and drinking his coffee.
Finally, when almost everybody was finishing up, and stacking plates by the sink, Adam said quietly, "We need to talk to
you kids for a few minutes."
"Okay," Guthrie told him, and I nodded in reply.
It was with great anxiety and apprehension that I followed Guthrie into the living room, sitting down next to him on the couch.
Adam sat in the oversized chair, and Hannah squeezed in beside him. Brian took the seat in the chair just to my other side, and Crane sat down
next to Guthrie. Evan and Clare came in, too, and Evan sat on the arm of the couch.
"We got a call that somebody from the social services office wants to talk to the two of you," Adam began, leaning forward, and
clasping his hands together, resting his arms on his knees.
I was so stunned that I didn't say anything, and neither did Guthrie.
"They'll come to school most likely," Adam went on.
"What for?" Guthrie demanded, finding his voice.
"To talk."
"About what?" Guthrie continued, his voice rising.
"I don't know, exactly," Adam said.
I felt a knot begin in my stomach.
"It won't amount to much," Brian said, sounding confident.
"But why?" Guthrie went on. "I mean, what could they want to talk about?"
"I don't know, Guth," Adam said, sounding weary.
Crane, ever the voice of reason, broke in to add, "General questions, probably. How we do things, our family life, all of that."
"Well, that's just stupid," Guthrie said.
Crane put a hand on the back of Guthrie's head. "Easy."
Guthrie got to his feet, and stood there, in the center of the room, his hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans.
"I'm not doin' it," he announced stoutly. "I'm not talkin' to any nosy bitch."
Instead of correcting Guthrie's language, Hannah's eyes filled with tears.
That's when I knew. Exactly how frightened that she was. Instead of getting on to Guthrie, she was beginning to cry. I felt
myself began to slip.
"Guthrie-" Adam began.
"No! I won't. That's it," Guthrie said firmly.
Adam stood up, too, and stepped over to Guthrie, putting a hand on Guthrie's shoulder.
"I need you to," Adam told him. "We need you to do it. We've got to find our way out of this maze we're in."
Guthrie set his jaw, looking stubborn, but he was quiet.
"You'll do it," Adam said then, sounding more like the Adam that we knew. "Tell the truth. That's all you have to do."
Guthrie heaved a huge sigh.
"Alright?" Adam asked him.
"Alright," Guthrie said, in resignation.
"Will we be together?" I asked. "Or will they separate us?"
It was Crane who answered. "Not sure about that."
"When?" Guthrie asked then.
"They didn't say for certain. Probably soon," Adam told him.
Brian reached out, snagging my wrist, and pulled me up and over to his chair, gathering me on his lap in a tight hug.
Adam wrapped an arm around Guthrie's shoulders. "Both of you, listen to me," he said. "You answer their questions. You
act respectfully. You behave like you were raised. Alright?"
"Guthrie?" he questioned, when we were both silent.
"Alright," Guthrie agreed, sounding reluctant.
"Harlie?" Adam said, turning his gaze to me.
I nodded in answer.
"Okay, then," Adam said, with a sigh. He seemed to recover some of his outer strength. "This is a hurdle to get over. That's all it is. You
got that?"
"Yes, sir," Guthrie said.
"Yes," I said.
Guthrie went to put on his jacket.
"Where are you going?" Hannah asked, looking worried.
"Just for a walk, Hannah," Guthrie said, and then he gave her one of his crooked smiles, though I saw that it was forced. "I'll be
back in a few minutes. I promise."
When the door closed behind Guthrie, I covered my face with my hands, finding that I was shaking. I made a move to get up, but
Brian pulled me back.
"Just sit here for a minute," he said. "Get your bearings back."
I twisted to rest my face in his shoulder.
I didn't want to tell him, but I thought that it would take a lot more than a hug from him for me to get my bearings back.
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