The mood around the house the rest of the early evening was subdued. Evan went to town to pick Nancy up for a date, even
though Hannah didn't really want him to go. She seemed to think that danger was going to be lurking around every corner
in Murphys.
I'd had a shower by then, and put on some clean jeans and a yellow t-shirt. I didn't think there was going to be
much chance of me getting out of the house to go with Steven anywhere. Not with the way Hannah was acting. Not to mention
the various brothers that would probably put the nix on it as well. Still, I gave it a try.
I leaned over the back of the couch, in the spot between Adam and Crane, and across from Brian.
"Steven asked me to go out tonight," I said, trying to sound casual.
Immediately Hannah leaned forward, over Adam to look at me. "Oh, Harlie, I don't know," she said, sounding worried.
"To where?" Adam asked. He sounded calm enough.
"Angels Camp. To the movies. Or maybe bowling."
It seemed as though the three of them, Adam, Brian and Crane, exchanged a look that spoke without words.
"I don't think so, sugar," Adam said. "Not tonight." He turned to look at me. "Not with things all stirred up the
way they are."
I sighed, getting that whole 'prisoner' thing that Hannah had been talking about earlier.
"This whole thing sucks," I said in complaint.
"It does," Adam said, in agreement.
Brian, who'd been sitting directly across from the couch, watching, and listening, gave me a steady look. I
gave another sigh, though I understood how they felt. I did. Still, after just being ungrounded so recently, I wanted
to get out and have some summer fun.
"Okay," I said, and started to stand up from my position leaning on the couch.
"I have an idea," Hannah spoke up, still leaning forward. "You could ask Steven to come back over here tonight." She
gave me a half-smile. "I know it's not as much fun as going out, but it's better than nothing. Right?"
"Yeah. I can ask him," I said. "Thanks, Hannah."
So I went to call Steven, instead of waiting for him to call me. His mother went to call him, and he came to the
phone, breathless.
"I thought I'd catch you before you tried to call me," I said. I explained then about the phone call that had happened that
day, and how the family was in hunker-down mode.
"Sure. I understand," he said.
"You could come over here," I said. "If you want to."
"Oh." There was a pause. "Well, sure, if it's okay with your family."
"Hannah suggested it," I told him.
We made arrangements for him to come over in around an hour, and I went back to tell Hannah what he had
said. She looked happy and said, "There's some cookies, and plenty of Coke, I think."
Guthrie, who was stretched out on the floor, his elbow resting on a pillow, spoke up, "I was gonna go get Kristin and go to
Butch's or somethin'."
"Same thing goes for you, Guth," Adam said. "About staying home. At least for tonight."
"Kristin can come over here, too," Hannah told him.
"Okay," Guthrie said, not arguing.
Guthrie stretched and got to his feet, tossing the pillow back onto the other couch.
"We could go frog gigging," he told me, with a grin.
"We could," I agreed, and grinned back.
7
And so, that's what we did. I changed back into some older clothes, a pair of jeans that were pretty well worn out, and
a ragged t-shirt that used to belong to Ford.
"Way to dress to impress a boy, peach," Brian said dryly, when he got a glimpse of me.
"I don't have to impress Steven," I said, and meant it.
"Well, that's good," Brian said, and he sounded as though he meant it, too.
When I opened the door to Steven, I saw that he'd worn some of his better clothes. Jeans that were obviously new,
and a snap up western shirt.
"Hi, Harlie," he greeted me.
"Hi." I leaned against the door. "You look nice."
"Well, thanks," he said, with a smile.
"Too nice."
"Huh?" he asked, confused.
"We're going frog gigging," I told him.
"Yeah? I've never been," he admitted.
"You can borrow some old clothes from one of the boys," I said.
So, that's what he did. By the time he was done, he was wearing a pair of Ford's jeans, and one of Guthrie's frayed
t-shirts.
When we headed off to the creek, loaded down with all the supplies that a person needs to go frog gigging, the four of
us were laughing the whole way. We took our chances on the old canoe, and I had the most fun that I've had in
a really long time.
7
The next morning, at breakfast, Kristin was squeezed in between Guthrie and me, since she'd stayed the night.
The day started out alright, and was made better when Nancy showed up, too, and she and Kristin, Hannah and Clare and I
started the preparations of canning peaches.
It was, of course, a long, and arduous undertaking. Hannah seemed driven to not leave one peach behind, either uncanned or
unjellied. The kitchen was like an oven. Kristin had never helped to can anything before, but Nancy seemed to be a pro at
it.
"I've helped my aunt for years and years," she told us all.
Once, when I expressed my regret at yet another bucket of peaches to process, Hannah told me that I would glad
when, in the winter, there was such an abundance of canned fruit.
When she said, "Next we start on the pears," and I gave her a look of panic, she laughed.
"I'm just teasing you," she told me.
Then, when I sighed in relief, she ruined it by adding, "We'll do the pears next week."
7
Lunch was quick, and not much to speak of, just sandwiches, since there was canning supplies laying everywhere.
When the boys complained about how hot the kitchen was, Clare told them to hush up.
"Try being in here, working," she told them.
"Why didn't you bring up some more fans?" Brian asked. "There's at least two more down in the basement."
"We didn't think of it," Hannah said.
Brian gave an exaggerated eye roll. "Come with me, Ford," he said, and started down the basement stairs. "We'll bring them up
for you all." His parting shot was, "Leave it to us menfolks to have to tend to you females."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Clare told him. "Go get the fans."
Daniel and Evan had gone to town, planning to purchase some lumber to build a project, and we started lunch without
them.
When they did come, they came in quietly enough, but it was obvious to everyone that they were both
agitated about something.
Adam, on his way back to the table after mixing some lemonade, paused midway, glass in hand.
"What's up?" he asked, tuned-in to their mood.
Evan and Daniel exchanged a glance, and then Evan burst forth with, "Two of my tires were flattened in town."
At first it seemed to be the first impression that he meant he'd had the misfortune to have two flat tires, just out of
the blue.
But his look was dark and angry, and Adam said, "What? Like sliced?"
"Yeah," Evan said.
Immediately the mood at the table changed. It seemed as though you could feel the tenseness.
"What happened?" Crane asked.
"We got the lumber loaded up, and then made a couple of other stops. We dropped that film off for Crane, and then
stopped to have a beer with Stewart Peterson," Daniel said.
"When we came out, somebody had taken a blade to two of my tires," Evan finished.
"While you were parked right there?" Nancy asked him, looking disbelieving.
"Yeah," Evan said grimly.
For a long few moments there was quiet, and then Adam went back to his seat.
"I used the spare and then had to go to Jake's to buy another tire," Evan said.
"Nobody saw anything?" Brian asked, his jaw set.
"Nope," Daniel told him.
"This puts everything in a whole different way," Adam said, as if he was thinking out loud.
"Do you think this has something to do with that phone call?" Ford spoke up.
"I'd say it's a safe bet that it does," Evan said.
"Maybe not," Hannah said, sounding as if she were trying to convince herself. "Maybe it was just a coincidence, kids
playing a joke, or something."
"Slashing tires isn't a joke, Hannah," Evan told her, and then, when Hannah's face sort of wilted, he said, more gently,
"Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."
"It's alright," Hannah said, and gave Evan a half-smile. "We're all a little bit on edge, I think."
That was putting it mildly, I thought.
"I'll call the sheriff to make a report as soon as I eat," Evan said.
I rode along when Guthrie took Kristin home later that afternoon. We were told by Hannah, and then Adam, too,
to go straight to her house, drop her off, and then come back home. No going to Butch's, or even the Dari Kurl.
A fact which irritated Guthrie immensely. He understood, as I did, that the precautions were for our protection in
whatever nutty situation we'd found ourselves suddenly involved in. Still, it was summer. And we couldn't even go to the Dari Kurl?
That was beyond irritating.
It wasn't the family that we were frustrated with. It was the unknown person or persons who was making phone
calls to threaten, or sticking a blade into Evan's tires.
"Maybe whoever it was, will stop now that they've done that to Evan's tires," I suggested, not really believing it myself.
"Not likely," Guthrie said darkly.
"Can you imagine the fight that would have happened if Daniel and Evan had seen them doing it?" I asked.
"Yeah. That would have been bad," Guthrie agreed.
After that we just drove mostly in silence, and I held my arm out my open window, letting the wind blow against it.
"I need to earn some money," Guthrie broke into that quiet.
"How come?" I asked him, leaning my head back against the seat.
"I need to save some up," he said then, still not answering my question.
"Well, me too," I agreed. "But what in particular for you?"
Guthrie hesitated, and gave me a side-long glance. "Alright. I'm gonna tell you somethin', Har. But you've gotta
promise that you won't say anything to anybody else. Not yet."
I sat up, giving him my full attention. "What?" I asked, my curiosity on high alert.
"I'm thinkin' about joining the National Guard."
Well, I just sat there. Stocked into silence. Which for me, is saying something. Usually I'm not at a loss for words.
At least not with Guthrie.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, which was, I guess, sort of a stupid question.
"The National Guard," he said. "It's where-"
"I know what the National Guard is," I interrupted him. "It's the Army. You can't join the Army, Guth."
"First of all, it's not the Army. I mean, it's like the Army, but you don't serve full-time. You go to boot camp, and
then you serve one weekend a month, and a couple of weeks in the summer," he explained.
"Why would you want to do that?" I demanded, still shocked.
"Well, because. It's a way to earn some money, and it would be interesting. And, because I'd like to serve
the country."
"You've never, not even once, mentioned that you wanted to join the Army!" I accused him.
"National Guard. Not Army," he repeated.
"It's a branch of the Armed Forces!" I insisted, feeling all wound up.
"Okay. So what?" he asked.
"So how long have you been thinking about this?" I asked.
"I don't know. Awhile now," he said vaguely.
"You might have to go to war! I don't want you to have to do that," I said.
"I might have to go to help with an emergency somewhere," he said. "Like in a flood, or a riot or somethin'. I probably
wouldn't ever have to go fight in a war."
"You don't know that. You might have to!"
"Well, then I would," Guthrie said simply.
I glared at him, and subsided in frustration, my thoughts running amuck. I stared at the window, my arms crossed.
After a few minutes of silence, we were nearing the road turning to our house, and Guthrie said, "How come you're mad?"
"I'm not," I denied, still not looking at him.
"Har. Come on," he said, in his coaxing voice.
I turned to him, and took a deep breath. "I just don't want you to get hurt," I tried to explain. "And-and I guess I'm just
sort of surprised. I mean, we talk a lot and you never said anything about it before."
"I'm telling you now," Guthrie pointed out reasonably. "And I haven't told anybody else."
"Well," I said, considering, "What about our plans? With the ranch, and raising horses and all of that?"
"I'm still on board with all of that," he said. "This is just some extra money to help that along. And I think it'd be
a good experience. I'd learn a lot."
"So your mind's made up?" I asked.
"Not a hundred percent made up. But I'm pretty sure, yeah."
"What about the boot camp? How long is that?" I asked.
"Eight weeks or so."
"Well, what about school? How would you manage that and go to school, too?"
"I don't know. The ideal thing would be if I could do the boot camp thing this summer," Guthrie said.
Now he really had succeeded in shocking me.
"Before you're eighteen? Adam would have to sign for you, right?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"He won't," I predicted.
"I'm gonna talk to him about it soon," Guthrie said.
"Tell me when you're doing it," I said, with a half-smile. "I don't want to be anywhere around when you do."
"Yeah. Okay."
"I'm just teasing," I said. "I'll stick up for you any way that I can."
"Thanks, Har," he said, and grinned at me.
I looked at his sunny face, and thought how much I'd miss him if he was gone for eight weeks.
7