It was late by the time Adam and Brian returned home, way past supper time. Pulling the truck and trailer with the horses inside.
We'd eaten without them, and the dishes had already been done by the time we heard the sound of the truck, and
the trailer's doors rattling as they backed it up to unload the horses.
Evan, who'd been watching a western on television, sat up and went to pull on his boots. "I'll go help 'em," he said, and Guthrie followed him
outside.
"I'll start a fresh pot of coffee," Daniel said, and went off toward the kitchen.
The rest of us, Hannah and Clare and I, Crane and Ford, gathered on the porch, waiting for them to come up the front steps.
"What's happening?" Hannah asked, sounding anxious, as Adam came up to stand beside her.
"Lots of traffic in and out, like I thought. Hal took some pictures, did some measuring of the tire tracks, all of that," Adam told her.
"What about the blood?" Ford asked then.
"They took a sample of the grass, they'll run some tests on it. See what sort of blood that it is," Adam said.
We were all quiet for a minute, absorbing what he'd said.
"There were tracks on our property, too," Adam said. "I just didn't catch it this mornin'."
"Oh, no," Hannah said, looking alarmed, as Brian came up and put his arm around Clare's waist.
"They knock any fence down?" Crane asked, his forehead lined in concern.
"Yeah. A small patch," Brian said. "We did a quick repair job. We'll have to head up there in the mornin' and fix it more permanent."
The screen door was pushed open, and Daniel spoke from the doorway. "Coffee's on," he said.
Everybody started filing inside, and Adam reached out to rub Daniel's hair. "Good boy," he said.
Once inside, Clare went to get out the brownies she'd made, and then brought Adam and Brian a plate of food
that had been keeping warm in the oven.
As everybody found a place to sit, and both of them began to eat, with the rest of the family firing questions at them, I
went to fetch them both a cup of hot coffee, and handed it to them.
"Thank you, peach," Brian said.
Evan and Guthrie had come back inside by now, and Adam looked around, making sure I knew, that every McFadden was
present.
"Since we're all here, this is a good time to say that we all need to be extra cautious. Until Hal figures out what's going on,
nobody should ride out far alone. So two together, every time. And take a rifle," Adam was saying.
I felt a chill at his words. He was so serious, which I knew that he should be, but it was still disconcerting to not know what
was really going on.
Brian set his empty plate on the coffee table and leaned back, putting his arm around Clare's shoulders.
"How far can we ride?" I spoke up. "Without worrying, I mean?"
Brian and Adam exchanged a look, and then Brian said, "No further than the tree house right now for you, peach."
I sighed. This was awful.
Adam turned to Guthrie then. "No camping up in the hills for awhile, Guth."
Guthrie looked as dismayed as I felt. "Okay," he said.
Ford leaned forward from where he sat on the end of one of the couches. "I heard something in town yesterday," he said. "I didn't
think too much about it at the time. But now, knowing all of this-"
"What'd you hear?" Evan asked.
"I was talking to somebody, and they said that they'd had one of their fences cut, and it looked as though a herd of horses was run thru," Ford
said.
"Hmm," Adam said, looking thoughtful.
"Who?" Brian asked.
"Valerie," Ford said, obviously expecting somebody to start teasing him.
No one did, though.
"We should give Bill a call," Crane suggested, referring to Valerie's father. "See what his take on all of it is."
"Yeah. That's a good idea," Adam agreed.
"You should just relax the rest of tonight," Clare said.
"That's right," Hannah agreed.
Adam gave Hannah a half-smile. "You don't have to twist my arm. I'm beat. I think I could fall asleep right here and now."
Shortly after that, Adam went to bed, and Hannah went with him. Evan was on the phone with Nancy, and Daniel was enchonced in
a corner chair, scribbling on a piece of paper. I went to sit outside in the porch swing, watching the stars begin to come out.
I hadn't been outside very long when Ford joined me, a glass of something in his hand.
He paused beside the side of the swing. "Permission to climb aboard?" he asked comically.
I paused the swaying of the swing with one toe. "Permission granted," I told him.
Ford sat down beside me, and we both started the swing up again.
"This whole thing is weird," I said.
"Definitely weird," Ford agreed.
"I don't want to sound like a big wimp or anything, but it was so scary last night," I told him.
"I believe it. I would have been scared, too," Ford said.
"Adam was great, though. He was so calm."
"Yeah," Ford said, in agreement. "He's good in situations like that."
I hooked my arm thru Ford's. "Have you ever noticed," I asked him, "how he's good in scary situations like that, but when one of us
is hurt or something, he's not calm at all?"
Ford chuckled a little. "Yeah. I've noticed."
We were quiet for a few moments, and then I asked, "What do you think is going on up there?"
"I don't know," Ford said, sounding worried. "I hope they figure it out pretty quick, though."
After another moment's quiet, he asked me, "So, are you tired from camping? Or are you stayin' up for awhile?"
"I snuck in a nap earlier," I said. "Why?"
"Let's go play some piano," he said.
"Oh, Ford, no," I groaned.
"Come on."
"Why?"
"I want you to play some stuff for me. Sort of test out my theory of you playin' by ear," he said.
"Oh, for Pete's sake," I complained, but he stood up and tugged me to my feet.
So for the next hour or so, we played the piano. First me, and then him. And then eventually Daniel joined in. We ended up getting silly, at least
I did, and laughing more than we played. Finally, at one point, I left them to it, both of them sitting on the piano bench, playing the keys
at each end. I laid on the couch, watching them, and listening, as they went from bouncy tunes to playing a duet of something I couldn't
remember hearing before. Something sort of slow, and haunting, yet beautiful. I plumped up a pillow under my head, and closed my eyes. I didn't remember
anything else until Daniel poked me awake sometime later, telling me to go upstairs to bed.
7
I woke up the next morning, stretching, and feeling happy as I remembered that I wasn't grounded any longer. I thought about calling Lori,
and asking for permission to go over to her house for awhile.
I got dressed and went downstairs, helping Hannah finish getting breakfast ready. Clare was sitting at the table already, a cup of tea in
front of her, and looking tired.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, as I set a plate of biscuits on the table.
"Fine," she said, and gave me a wan sort of smile.
As everybody came into the kitchen, finding their seats, and intent on breakfast, my brothers all started talking about what
work they were going to do that day. I was only half-listening to what they were saying, when Guthrie gave me a nudge in the ribs.
"Adam's talkin' to ya," he told me.
I leaned up a little, and looked Adam's way. "Sorry. What'd you say?" I asked him.
"I was sayin'," he said deliberately, raising his eyebrow at me, "that you can go with Guthrie and Evan, and help count the
cattle up in the west pasture."
"Okay," I said.
As everybody got to their feet, scooting in their chairs, Brian stopped me, "Where's the notebook?" he asked. "The one you used while we were doing
the inoculations?"
"On the desk, I think," I told him.
"Well, take that," he said. "Write stuff down. These two ya-hoos won't remember anything," he said, and gave a wide gesture towards
Evan and Guthrie.
Evan just shook his head, and went off towards the living room. Guthrie, however, finished his orange juice, sizing Brian up over the
top of his glass.
"I take offense at that," he said. "I think you might have me confused with somebody else-"
"Do you, now?" Brian asked, with a grin.
"I do," Guthrie affirmed. "I realize when a fella reaches a certain age, he begins to lose brain cells. He knows he's past his
prime in life. So he begins to strike out at others, those that are still young and-" here Guthrie paused, and stood up. "Those that
still have all their brain cells. They're jealous, those guys, and realize they're beginning to lose other things."
"Yeah?" Brian asked, joining in on the razing that Guthrie was doling out. He took a couple of steps closer to Guthrie. "Tell me more,
little brother."
"Well," Guthrie went on, with a wide grin, "These guys start to lose other things besides their memory-like their good looks, or their
truck in a parking lot-or," Guthrie paused dramatically, "their hair."
"I defy you, or anybody, to find one spot on my head that isn't covered with hair," Brian said, and then, with a quickness that
belied his nearly thirty years, he grabbed Guthrie, and began to tussle with him, rubbing his knuckles across Guthrie's head.
Guthrie began the scuffle by laughing, but by the time Brian had his arms wrapped around Guthrie, hoisting him up, Guthrie began
to struggle in earnest.
Hannah caught at a plate that nearly came off of the table as they knocked against it.
"Kindergarten is in session," she said, and stepped around Brian and Guthrie.
7