The morning dawned with weak sunlight. The clouds were high and rolling, but no longer heavy with rain. It was the ground that was heavy with the rain.

Rain and tree limbs. Looked like there were some big trees down around surveyed the town as he headed back to Lottie's for lunch. He'd reluctantly gone to school thaat morning, but may as well have not. The children were all restless and cranky, and Teacher was impatient. She dismissed school at noon, seeing that there would be no learning done that day.

That meant he was free for the afternoon. Should he go look for his brothers? Or should he stay and help with the clean up? Jason would probably like it better if he did that, but he was too worried about Jason and Josh to worry about Jason's likes.

In fact, if it wouldn't have worried Lottie, he wouldn't even stop for lunch. He was still pretty full from breakfast. Lottie cooked a lot more than he did, and a lot better, too. He'd more than stuffed himself. Of course, a little more wouldn't hurt, especially if he was gonna climb the mountain and have to move fallen timber while doing so.

Jason and Josh were waiting for him (and their lunch) when he entered Lottie's.

"Jason! Josh!" he shouted, running to just grab hold of them both.

They greeted him with equal fervor, and it was a few minutes of hugging (including a brief tug-of-war with Jeremy as the rope) and a lot of talking, until they were all seated and Lottie put plates in front of them.

They ate quickly and quietly, finishing before they started any meaningful conversation.

"How b-bad was it?"

"Bad enough," Josh said.

"Looks like the town got the worst of it," Jason commented. "The closer we got, the more damage there was. I was beginning to be afraid of what we'd find."

"It's a good thing we had all that rain," Josh said. "Some of those lightning strikes could have started fires."

"It's a wonder they didn't, especially here in town."

"G-good thing we have so m-many trees around, and lots of w-water, too. M-most of the b-building damage is from w-wind."

"You've been surveying the damage already?" Jason asked amusedly.

Jeremy shrugged. "B-bet there's nob-body in t-town that hasn't."

"That's probably true."

"It IS."

"How bad is the building damage?"

"Don't you know?"

"We came straight here, looking for you, and then heard school letting out, so we waited."

"The Wyrd sisters' houses all got b-big holes in the roofs. Ms. Amelia's house is just about collapsed."

"I'm glad they weren't in them, then."

"Yeah. M-me t-too. But it's still sad."

"Yes. In the end, they were our friends."

"They were our friends all along," Josh said. "We just found out late."

"So we did."

The brothers shared a few moments to grieve their unforgotten friends. The ladies had been the last of the original settlers, and their loss had been a passing of history for the still new town.

The loss of their rough, original buildings were another such, and a closing of a chapter.

Lottie set pies on plates in front of them and cleared the table otherwise.

Jason pointed his loaded fork at Jeremy. "I was afraid you'd come out looking for us. And then we'd have had to look for you. I'm glad you didn't."

"I was going to, but then I remembered. But I still wanted to."

"It was all I could do to keep him in camp," Josh told Jeremy. "I told him it was his punishment for wanting to finish just one more job before we called it a day."

"I misjudged the speed it was moving," Jason admitted. "I can't remember the last time we saw a storm like that."

Josh swallowed a mouthful of pie. "That's because you weren't here the last time. It's been seven or eight years. The first spring we were in town. You were out on a job. A river job, then, too, if I remember correctly. The one you went on after you and Da had it out."

"I remember hearing something about that. It was a long time ago. Didn't Da send you to stay with the MacKenzies or something?"

"I never did figure that out. Why did he send me out alone when anyone could see a storm was coming? Woke me up to do it, too."

"I didn't know that. Jeremy was unwell when I got back, maybe that was why."

"I was?"

Jason shook his head. "One of your fevers. Da said you got hysterical during the storm, or something. I don't really remember what he said. You were hot enough to cook on, and crying and hanging all over me, and Da was gray and old looking and kind of mumbling. Exhausted."

"That was probably it," Josh agreed. "He was always sending me off when you got sick. I could have helped him."

"And you could have got sick, too," Jason reminded him.

"I never did."

"By the time we moved into town, no, but you shared a few illnesses when you were both small."

"Itchy stuff. I remember."

"I don't."

"You were mostly too little to remember."

"Huh." Jeremy played with his pie.

"If you're not going to eat that, I will," Josh volunteered.

"Has Lottie finally managed to fill you up?" Jason teased.

Jeremy grinned. "Hey, she already fed me b-breakfast. Besides, I am eating it." He took a big bite and chewed slowly while his brothers laughed. Jason watched him curiously while he finished his meal in thoughtful silence.

After their meal, they joined the clean up crews.

"Whew! That was some hard work!" Jason said, when they finally got home that evening. After removing his boots he headed straight for the pantry.

"The ham's good. I just brought it in yesterday," Jeremy told him. He was building the fire in the stove, and Josh was at the fireplace.

"Good. What bread do we have?"

"Bread," Jeremy answered promptly, then added helpfully, "It's in the breadbox."

"I think I might have figured that out."

After they had finished eating and refilled their coffee cups, Jason sat back and added, "although from the state of your housekeeping, I might have expected the bread to be under the beds or something."

Jeremy laughed. "I knew you'd have something to say like that. Just before I went to sleep at Lottie's, I was thinking maybe I did it on purpose, trying to magic you into coming in and yelling at me."

"It didn't work. What was your real reason?"

Jeremy shook his head. "I d-did think I might as well get y-yelled at, since everything was s-stupid yesterday. Especially me."

Jason laughed lightly. "You can probably blame that on the weather. Sometimes storms like that make people clumsy or slow before they move in. I had a headache, myself, for most of the afternoon."

"That's what made him 'stupid' about quitting work and coming in," Josh explained.

"Unfortunately true."

"Huh. Maybe that's why I thought I was d-dumb instead of stupid when I was asleep."

Josh snorted. "You think when you're asleep? Try doing it awake sometime."

"I was –" Jeremy shook his head. "I wasn't s'posed to s-say that."

"Dreaming?" Jason asked.

"Uh-huh."

"What were you being dumb about? Besides not knowing how to sleep?"

"When I was five."

"Your monster?"

"Did you wake yourself up with your screaming?"

"No. I w-woke up when the l-lightning hit."

"That would have been plenty to scream about. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. But I remember it, Jason! An' it was scary, but it was a dream – I th-think – and I just woke up from it!"

"Not screaming?" Josh was skeptical.

"No, 'cause I had my hands over my mouth."

Josh again snorted, and Jason laughed.

Jeremy laughed, too.