This time, it was Jason who was wakened by disturbed and disturbing dreams. It was a confused mess of memories, thoughts, and suggestions. It included his personal nightmares – Josh getting injured; Jeremy getting sick; timber fires and mudslides. Conversations real and imagined with his Wyrd sisters. The Macks. A black shadow creeping up and covering over them all, like a bleak black dome.
Mama was there on the outside of the dome, glowing like the sun. Smiling.
Da was trying to pick up the darkest edge of the dome, or to slip (dig?) under it.
Jason was steering his brothers to where the darkness wasn't, yet. He was showing them the way away from its path, and he was between it and them. He knew it was there, and getting closer, but his attention was on the way ahead. He wasn't looking back, and they weren't either. They need never know about the shadow, and how very dark it was.
"But, Jason," Jeremy said, "if there were no shadows, that would mean there was no light. And then where would Mama be?"
The blackest darkness fell upon him, blocking out everything else, smothering him.
Jason fought.
He was sitting up in his bed, wrestling with his bedcovers, pulling them away from his head, unwrapping them from first one limb and then another, finally able to turn and put his feet on the floor. With a thump.
Jeremy was sitting up in his bed staring at Jason.
Jason stared back, then straightened his covers.
"W-was it a m-monster?"
"Not exactly. But close. Lie back down, Jeremy. It was just a dream. A bad dream, but a dream." Jason followed his own orders to his brother and pulled the cover up to his shoulders.
"I g-guess you d-don't outgrow b-bad dreams?" Jeremy followed suit.
"Not always."
"Huh."
/
"What was that about last night?" Josh asked Jason at breakfast.
"What are you talking about?
"You made a lot of noise. Something about a bad dream."
"Oh. I hoped you'd slept through that."
"That would have been a trick, with the way you were a-hollering."
"I was? Jeremy didn't say anything about that." Jason glanced at Jeremy, who was listening silently as he ate.
"Yeah, I know. It's strange, since you spent some of the time yelling at or about him."
"I did?"
"I think you were saving him from his monster."
"That was big of me. I don't really remember."
"Now you sound like Jeremy." Josh refilled coffee cups and emptied the pot.
"You know how dreams are. Flashes of images, like a magic lantern show that doesn't give you time to look at one picture before going on to the next two. I think I saw every single person I've ever met in my life. And they were all telling me what to do."
Josh grinned. "How horrendous. And here you have been giving orders for ages. Must have been rough."
Jason laughed.
Jeremy slid off his chair and went to open the door, as a few of the Bolts' men came to talk about getting back to work.
"Put on a fresh pot, Josh," Jason instructed. "Jeremy, bring me the maps book and the schedule. It's time for business."
It was time to get back to work.
/
"Jeremy. Joshua. I need to explain a few things before we get started. Sit down."
Jeremy and Joshua, confused, did as instructed.
"Now, about these logs we'll be running."
The younger two waited.
"You'll be helping get the order into the water, but I'm not wanting either of you going on the water to the boats." Jason held up a hand. "Neither of you has the experience, and , Jeremy, you're just too small.
"I worked on the water some last year," Josh protested.
"How'm I g-gonna learn if I d-don't d-do it?"
"Not during the Thaw, you didn't," Jason answered Josh. "And, Jeremy, we'll get you some experience somehow, but not in the spring. That's a dangerous time for even those of us who know what we're doing. I'm not going to be able to keep my mind on my work if I'm watching out for you. And until you get the necessary experience, I'm going to do that. I hope you can understand that."
"D-don't w-want to."
"But we don't want to drown, either. What will you have us doing instead?"
Jason closed his eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks. "Josh, I'll want you keeping track of the logs that make it to the river. Jeremy, I want you at the other end of the process, keeping an inventory of the logs that are loaded to get to the river. That should keep you both busy, and we do need an accurate account, at least until we get the timber loaded."
"It's not like somebody's gonna stick a log in their pocket, though."
"True, but – things can happen. They can break, or roll off the path and down a cliff, or get lost, or something else I can't think of."
"H-how does a l-log get l-lost?"
"This time of year, they can drown. Or catch a stray current going in a different direction. We don't have the men or the time to chase down every errant log. Understand?"
"I th-think so."
"Are you okay with this? Do we need more discussion?"
"We might have more questions after we get started, but for now, no. I don't. Jeremy?"
Jeremy shook his head.
"Then we'll set up camps tonight, and start work in the morning, weather permitting. I want to get this job done. It could make or break us, brothers."
"Or both."
"That's why we have to be careful."
"Yeah, we don' w-want you to g-get hurt worrying ab-bout us," Jeremy agreed, with a nod. He understood. Jason wasn't babying him; he was training him.
Josh laughed, messed up Jeremy's hair and said, "Let's get started. You sort, and I'll load."
"And I'll go to the store," Jason said, hand on the doorknob.
A loud knock startled all three of them and Jason opened the door as he had intended to do. "Vinson! Carlyle! What can I do for you?"
Josh and Jeremy shared a look and a shrug. They didn't know those men, although Josh thought there might be something familiar about them. With so many drifters, it wouldn't be surprising.
"Go on with your work, boys," Jason said, inviting his visitors to sit at the table.
The morning continued in that manner. Men kept coming, Jason kept hiring them, the younger brothers kept hauling crates to the wagon. Jason noted every man in his notebook.
"Who are all these people?" Josh asked in a pause.
"Th-the ones he d-dreamed ab-bout," Jeremy suggested.
"What?"
"He s-said he d-dreamed ab-bout ever'b-body he ever m-met, an' he knpows most of them."
Jason laughed. "You may be right about that. I've been hoping a few of them would come through since I put word out we'd be working on the water. They're river pigs. The first two were the ones who first taught me."
"ALL of them? Jason, how much are you paying them?"
"We, Joshua. We're paying them what they're worth."
"We don't have that kind of money."
"I'm within the budget we discussed."
"With room for error? How much error?"
"Josh."
"Aren't we going to discuss this? Or are you just going to make all the decisions, same as always?"
Jason took a deep breath and let it out slowly. No sense shouting. "We can talk about it. I kept what we agreed on in mind. I wrote down all the figures. I did everything we agreed to! Here!" Jason shoved his notebook into Josh's hands. (Well, he wasn't shouting, but he had got a little loud at the end.) "You could try trusting me for a minute."
"Yeah, and look where that got me." Josh walked over to the desk and was doing his own figuring with Jason's numbers.
"I thought we were past that."
"Seem to remember you saying something about regaining trust being harder than just having it."
"I talk too much!"
Jeremy started to laugh, turned it into a cough, and ducked out the door.
Josh's lips twitched, but he was in the middle of refiguring a page of numbers. "I can't believe you said that."
"YOU can't believe I said that? I can't believe I said that."
"I apologize."
"What are you apologizing for?"
"Not trusting you. You did everything okay." Josh handed Jason's notebook back.
"Only okay?"
"Okay, you did everything the way we'd agreed to. Except talking about it first."
"Well, I stuck to your – our guidelines. I didn't think I needed to. That's what guidelines are for. Isn't it?"
"I suppose. No, yes, you're right. That's why we set up the guidelines. Sorry."
"Apology accepted. Thank you. Now shall we get lunch before we head back to the mountain?"
"I don't think Lottie's going to like us going right back out."
"Lottie understands business, Josh."
"I hope so. We should probably wait until after she feeds us, though."
"Josh, every one of those men I hired went to Lottie's after I gave them the jobs. She knows."
"Oh, is that why we're not sneaking out without saying good-bye? So we don't look like sneaking, rotten cowards?"
"Yes."
Josh laughed and headed for the door. "Let's go. All that loading made me hungry."
"And a good argument works up an appetite as well," Jason agreed, patting Josh on the shoulder as he opened the door.
Jeremy, having covered the load in the wagon, was waiting for them, and they stepped off the porch together.