Chapter 2
It had been several days before Jeremy was allowed to get up and out of bed. Candy had been making him chicken soup and taking care of him every day. Jason and Joshua usually spent their days and nights up at the camp, Candy had moved in with Biddie to take care of Jeremy.
"Candy, the doctor said…" Jeremy wasn't able to finish because Candy insisted he stay seated on the chair while she made the bed.
"I could get up and walk around, even go outside!" Jeremy blurted out before Candy could say another word. He stood up and walked over to the dresser to get a clean shirt. He got close to Candy and reached out to touch her hair. It was so gentle and soft, he stood there a moment and then turned her around and gave her a kiss. Biddie walked in just at that moment and said:
"Oh, My, I think I will go out of the room!" Biddie then left and closed the door. Candy and Jeremy both looked at each other and laughed.
"Okay, Jeremy, you can get up, I am going to talk to Biddie, I think you might be well enough to stay here by yourself now!" Candy said as she walked out the door to talk to Biddie. Jeremy smiled. He had enjoyed the short encounter with Candy and really wanted to get closer to her again,
"I wonder what she would do if I had a 'relapse'?" He thought silently to himself and smiled. Then he too went out the bedroom door and said:
"I think I will take a walk up to the camp." Just then Jason and Joshua walked into the cabin, Candy and Biddie had just finished the dishes and were ready to leave to go to the dormitory.
"I see that you are up now. The doctor says you are well now, but not to give you too much heavy work for a week, so you will be doing camp maintenance for the next week. Jeremy made a face, Camp maintenance meant cooking, and cleaning the camp area. Joshua saw and said:
"Well, little brother, you were the best cook we had since Barney, who was here a couple of seasons ago!"
"Yeah, well, I would rather not do that!" He said with a grimace. But Jason said:
"For the week, only one week!" Jeremy smiled and was thankful that he was alive. He did not know what had happened only that he had been pushed into what they were calling a 'trap'. He was grateful that Banks had told them of the compressions, combined with the blowing air into his lungs that brought him back.
"Joshua take Jeremy to Bens and get the supplies and he can start up at camp tomorrow making the dinner for the guys. I have some business to take care of with Mr. Stemple." Jason said this as he changed into his business suit. He had already apologized to Aaron but he still felt that he should be a little more respectful to him for a while longer. He walked out of the cabin and over to Aaron's Mill. He knocked on the door and Aaron said to come in.
"Well, Jason, I have healed considerably since we last saw each other, and your brother has healed as well!" Aaron said as he placed a letter for Jason to look at on the front of his desk.
"I would like you to read that. It is the information on what happened to the horse that Jeremy was using when he was knocked into the trap!" Jason took the letter; it had a federal stamp on it and came from the governor's office. He read it a couple of times and then said to Aaron:
"Aaron, am I to assume that they will not reimburse me for the horse? Or even the medical expenses for Jeremy?" asked Jason.
"You are correct in that assumption. Seems that the horse was found a few days after wandering in the field, when they found it anything that had been on it had been taken off, and there was no way to identify the horse without you. So, the officials said that unless you can produce evidence that that horse was your horse and you used it specifically for work then they, the insurance cannot pay you for that horse or for Jeremy's medical expenses!" Aaron said to Jason. Jason looked at Aaron and decided to not pursue the problem any further. What he wanted to know was why Jeremy had fallen into the trap, who had done that, and who else would be attacked.
Suddenly there was an outburst in the mill, and it sounded like two men fighting. Aaron jumped up from his seat and went to the window, he looked and saw Harve and another worker holding down a man who had shown up looking for work that morning. Another man was lying on the floor in pain. Aaron went out to the shop and went down the steps. He walked over to Harve and asked what happened.
"Mr. Stemple, this man, O'Toole, says he was doing his job when that man, Frost, who is lying on the floor began to bother him, by pushing and grabbing things in front of him and trying to maneuver him over to the cutting machine. O'Toole hit him with a piece of log that was just right and knocked him out!" Harve explained to Aaron. Jason was listening and he asked O'Toole just how he had maneuvered him to the cutting machine. When O'Toole described the incident, Jason saw a pattern, to him it seemed as if someone wanted to cause problems not just for the Bolt company, but Stemple's mill as well.
"Okay, when you get Frost bandaged up, I want to see him in my office, O'Toole come with me. Jason, I will talk with you later!" Aaron said dismissively to Jason and went back up to his office with O'Toole following closely behind.