Chapter 7

John woke her as he came into the house at eight the next morning. He was alone. Exhaustion radiated from him. His eyes were red rimmed, his hair stood up in all directions and he needed a shave. Samantha’s heart twisted.

She threw back the covers and sat up. “Lily?” she said.

“They’re keeping her for a couple of days. Lillian stayed with her so I could come home and do the chores. I stopped by your place and got the cows milked and the eggs in and I dropped them off with Ms. Parker. Even though it is Sunday, she was in need of those items. Seems the thieves are still at work. I just finished milking the cow and getting the eggs in.”

“You never! I didn’t hear you come in,” she said. “I forgot all about the cows and chickens at my place.”

Near the door was a large over-stuffed chair. He dropped into it, put his head back, and closed his eyes. “You were sleeping the sleep of the just,” he said and released a long sigh. “I figured you’d had a long night as well. No sense in both of us being shorted. I thought you might not have thought about the animals. I still have to feed the dogs but I thought I’d come in and get a bite to eat first.”

“Oh, John, I should have had your breakfast ready. I’m sorry. I’ll get something right now. You sit and rest a bit.” She jumped up and pulled on the robe she’d borrowed from Lil and started for the kitchen.

“How’re the kids?” he asked.

She paused at his side and patted him on the shoulder, “The children are fine. What about Lily?”

Without opening his eyes, he smiled and said, “Ah, she’s a trooper, Sam. She never cried the whole trip into town. They sedated her to set the leg but even when she woke up she was so good. They let us both stay with her for the night. I am going to get the chores done and rest a bit and then I’ll go spell Lil so she can come home to rest.”

“Well, I’ll fix breakfast and get the children fed. You rest.” The words fell on deaf ears. He was asleep before she finished speaking.

Once she got the children up, dressed she herded them to the kitchen and instructed them that they must play outside so their dad could sleep. While they ate their breakfast, they were filled with questions about Lily and she told them what John said. Colin was quiet taken with Lily’s bravery in the face of great pain.

“Our Lily is a good soldier. We’ll have to see about an award for her, Cap’n Sam.”

“Yes, Colin,” she replied, smothering her smile, “I believe you’re right about that. I’ll speak with the General about it. Now, outside with all of you to play.” They scrambled off their chairs and stampeded out the back door while she began to clear up the mess.

The soldier game had been started by her own father when she was small. The island had no standing army so, for them, it had been a fantasy world. When the boys began to have children of their own, her father had continued the game with his grandchildren. Sunday dinner was a family affair, held at a different son’s home each week. After he died, the group dinners ended and no one continued the game. The children’s sadness had been exacerbated by the losses. Over Sunday dinner shortly after his grandfather’s death, Colin had made a comment that nearly broke her heart.

They were all seated at John’s table and discussing some silly antic of her father’s. He had been a great sport and loved doing things that made people laugh. Colin interrupted the laughter, saying, “The General would’ve like to see the troops laughing again.”

It was a profound statement from a eight year old boy but was so true that the entire group fell silent for several minutes. Finally, Samantha spoke up. “You’re right, Colin. I think perhaps we need to promote Captain John so that we can get the troops back in order. The General wouldn’t like us to all go AWOL.”

All heads turned his way and a collective gasp came from the children. Each sat up straighter in the chair, their eyes large and round. John looked at her with raised brows.
“With your permission, Captain John, I believe the General would find it an honor if you accept a promotion on his behalf to Commanding General of the troops. Will you accept?”
He had looked around the table at the faces of his children. It would have been a hard man to deny them and John was not a hard man. With a sigh of resignation he looked at his sister and said, “I am honored to accept the promotion, Lieutenant.”

A cheer went up from the small troops, Lillian smiled and shushed them and Sam saluted the General.

“However,” the General interrupted, “My first order of duty is to promote Lieutenant Sam to Captain Sam. You will take on the duties of that rank, Captain.”

Another small cheer went up and she smiled and again saluted. “With pleasure, Sir.”
It had been a good day. Now, she carried out those duties with all her nieces and nephews. Each Sunday, after church, she had dinner with one of her brothers and greeted the troops, just as her father had done. Occasionally, there were sleepovers at her house. They played games, made popcorn or baked cookies. To end the evening she read a variety of stories to them but no mushy lovey-dovey stories, to quote Colin. No, she read adventure stories. Her father had collected such books over the years and the library had whole sets, as well. So she was able to read stories like Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and The Hardy Boys. They even liked the stories by Charles Dickens.

The washing up completed, she moved upstairs and cleaned the bedrooms, making beds and hanging up clothes. When she returned to the living room several hours later, John woke and stretched. He jumped up when he saw the clock.

“Lord, I forgot the dogs! They’ll be eating each other.”

“The dogs won’t starve missing one meal. You were tired. Go feed them and then come back and eat something for yourself. I covered some ham and biscuits for you. I’ll heat the gravy and fix some eggs.”

John leaned down and kissed her forehead. “God love you, Sam.” He dashed out to feed his dogs.

The rest of her day took on a strange quality. It was Sunday and usually she went to church but the previous day’s event has thrown every thing out of sync. She spent the day entertaining the children or reading. John went back to the hospital and Lillian came home to eat, bathe and change clothes. She spent several hours with the children before she returned to stay the night with Lily. John returned home around seven o’clock. He invited her to spend the night but she told him she wanted to go on home so she could take care of the animals, rest and go to work the next morning. She’d check at the hospital tomorrow to see if they needed her to come back.

As she drove away the children waved from the porch. The sun was just beginning to set but it would be dark by the time she reached home. She was glad she had Sergeant with her. As usual when she visited John with him in tow, he had been somewhere in the background since she arrived. John had told her once that he hung around the kennel and she wouldn’t be surprised. But once she gave a whistle to signal she was leaving, he came running. Tonight, he would be a welcome companion on the trip.

Dusk had fallen by the time she reached town. The sound of her carriage wheels and the clop of the horse’s hooves echoed along the street. As she passed, she saw that warm light glowed from the windows where families surely gathered around their supper table. She felt a terrible homesickness at the thought. On one porch a couple sat in a swing holding hands and laughing as they spent a few extra moments together. In a yard, children played hide and seek in the deepening twilight just as she and her brothers had done so long ago. The sounds of their laughter and squeals faded behind her and fresh sounds approached in a steady stream.

In one swift moment she was overwhelmed by the sense of life spiraling around her as it flowed along the avenues and streets of the town. She felt as if she was stranded on a deserted island in the middle of a raging river or swirling sea. The only thing she could do was stand on the beach and watch it all rush past.

She made the turn onto the road home and flicked the reins to urge the horse to hurry but the flow continued. A spark flew up from beneath the horse’s hooves. Somewhere in the distance she heard a dog bark and the sound of a man and woman arguing while a baby cried. And still farther along, someone was playing a piano and singing the words of a love song. Then, she was out of the cluster of buildings and stream of sounds, and on her final stretch home. The rushing sound of life fell behind her. Crickets began to sing and the air was filled with the sound of cicadas. She looked up at a sky that had finally gone black with stars that sparkled in its depths. The gentle touch on her cheek was only the night breeze taunting her, taking her breath and leaving a hollowness in her chest.

There is nothing worse than approaching your house when you are alone and it is dark. It was a completely new experience for her. Sergeant was off the seat as soon as the carriage stopped and immediately began searching for foreign smells. He was trained to do this. She stayed seated, realizing that it had been stupid not to take John’s invitation to stay another night. Always, since her parents died, she had been careful to be inside before dark.

Finally, Sergeant went to the front door and sat down facing her. This was the signal that she could go in. As she climbed down, she remembered that she would have to put the horse in the barn for the night and that meant coming out again. The front door swung open easily and she allowed Sergeant to enter ahead of her. He stopped, blocking her entrance. She knew he was just sniffing things out but it still made her nervous to stand there, her back to the darkness outside and an even greater darkness before her. It seemed an eternity before he moved to allow her to close the door behind her.
A lamp sat on a table to the right of the door and she felt for the matches to light it. Sometimes the matches worked well, sometimes not. Tonight, thankfully, they worked well. The warm glow was as welcome as a touch. She moved around the room, lighting other lamps and then, into her bedroom where she lit more. For some reason, tonight she wanted lots of light.

Once the house was well lighted she called Sergeant and went back out to unhitch the horse and put it in the barn. She carried a hurricane lantern to light her way. The stable was pretty dark and she didn’t want to go without a light. She led the horse to the barn and then unhitched her from the carriage and let her drink from the trough. Then, she put her in her stall with fresh hay and locked the barn for the night. Sergeant had stood, the entire time at the door, facing into the darkness, watchful. Now, he led the way back to the house. She bolted the door behind them.

Sergeant was on his favorite rug before the empty fireplace. She made him move so she could build a fire. Once she had that going, he dropped back onto the rug while she sat down on the sofa and pulled her mother’s crocheted spread over her. The clock over the mantel began to strike and she counted -- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight o’clock. Her trip had taken about an hour. The darkness had made it seem longer.
She listened to the fire crackle and the sounds of the house cooling off. They were comforting sounds but lonely. Her mother was not sitting nearby chatting about the ladies meeting last week while she crocheted another shawl and her father was not at the table reading his Bible and drinking the last of the coffee. Since their death, the house became a dark void at night, when she had time to think and listen.

The fire began to burn down and she realized that if she didn’t get up and go to bed, she’d be sleeping on the couch. Sergeant raised his head then got up. He knew the signs of bedtime. After she banked the fire and put up the screen, she went around the room extinguishing the lamps. A double check of the door and window locks made her feel better. Finally, she was able to dress for bed and lie down.

For a brief moment she felt a concern as to whether her prowler would be back or not. She had no doubts about her father’s workmanship. The house was difficult to break into when the shutters were closed. With that thought she closed her eyes and drifted away.
Sunrise slipped between the slats of her shuttered windows and forced her eyes open. But it was Sergeant, standing at the door growling that brought her out of bed. She pulled on her robe as she hurried to the living room. No one was knocking at the door but she peeked out the window that gave her a view of the front steps and yard. A man stood patiently waiting near the gate, hat in hand, looking around at the property surrounding the house. There was no horse or carriage that she could see but it was not unusual for local province residents to walk several miles to get somewhere. No one would walk across Outland to get to another province. They took the main roads for that or sailed around the Island since each province had beach front.

The shutter swung open easily and she pushed up the window. Until she knew who he was she wasn’t opening the door. Sergeant was now growling loudly. She leaned forward and called out, “May I help you?”

He turned toward the sound of her voice and shaded his eyes against the sun’s glare. She didn’t recognize him, but that wasn’t unusual either. There were nine provinces and people came and went along the roads between them with no hindrance. The authorities check paperwork at border crossing check points but there were miles of border unattended along the Outland areas where anyone brave enough to cross the Outland could enter any province. Outlanders tended to keep to themselves because of the alternative should they be caught violating their banishment.

“I’m looking for farm work. I am relocating and trying to pick up odd jobs here and there until I can find something stable. I’d do a day’s chores for a couple of meals, if you were willing to oblige me.”

She thought about the milking and the eggs she had to gather and the feeding of the animals. Then she still had to bring in wood to restock the bin. There were some other things that she’d been waiting until one of her brothers could get time to do for her. A whole section of fencing was down near the creek. The horses needed a good brushing and the stalls needed cleaning.

“You can start by milking the cows. There’s two of them. Everything is in the barn. Then, gather the eggs. I’ll have breakfast for you by then. I have several things I could have you do but you can decide after you eat. There’s a water bucket at the well and a ladle if you want a drink.”

He touched his hand to his forehead in salute and headed for the barn. Sergeant growled, as if to warn her she was being foolish.

She answered him, saying, “Well, until you can milk a cow and gather eggs, don’t be so picky. He’s outside, we’re inside and I’ll promise to keep you with me every second. If he misbehaves, you can have him for lunch.”

He growled again but went to the hearth and curled up on his rug. Rumblings from his throat drifted to her as she cooked.