Dark Series, The Color of Seven and The Color of Dusk (Books We Love Special Edition) (25 page)

“Will I live to know it?”

“Oh, yes, son.
Oh, yes.
You got a long life ‘head of you, boy.”

Paul smiled again.
He wondered
how enjoyable his long life would be. He
pressed Tamara no further.
He’d get his brother o
ut of this mess and right now,
that was good enough.

“All right,” he said, dropping his hand from her face and standing up.
“I best be getting back to town.”

“W
hen you find Joshua, you do jest like
you say.
You
hogtie him,
do you has to.”

* * *

Tamara stood in her sunny yard
and
watching them drive off.
Her heart ached
. Long ago, she’d made a choice. She
’d
refused to meet her sister’s sons—and in Sadie’s heart, Paul was as much her son as Joshua—as youngsters.
She
’d
always known, somewhere deep in her heart
. She’d known so
mething dark and evil would stalk them.
When that time came round, she’
d need a clear head. She didn’t her objectivity hampered by memories of them running into her arms with welcoming hugs or scenes of them playing in her yard cluttering her head. She’d have to be strong. For them.
For all of them.

“Lord, my God,” she breathed softly.
Tamara had no conflict with the concept of God.
He merely used many sources to work His will.
“I knows
dis
is how it gon
n
a’ be.
But why?
Why?
Did you have to pick one of our boys to be yo’ dark angel?”

* * *

Paul and Sadie rode back to town in silence, each deep within their own thoughts.
Dark thoughts, smoky clouds swirling
in gathering turmoil.

Long life ahead of you, boy…
.

Almost but not quite, he
understood. He didn’t want to understand
.
I
f he did, he might
leave everything and everyone and run.
Run
like the
demons of hell were snapping at his ankles.

He didn’t recall ever in his life
running away from anything.
H
e straightened his shoulders
.
What would happen would happen.
He
’d
survive.
Tamara said so.
And h
e
thought that might not be a good thing.
But he
’d deal with
later—later.

* * *

Sadie sat in silence and s
tole glances at
Paul’s
profile, memorizing the straight, proud nose, the curving lips, the finely drawn bones.

Something
bad
was coming
.
She felt it.
Somehow taking Paul to Tamara had—not caused it, exactly, but drawn it
closer, made
it
irrevocable.
A m
other could not, should not, choose between her children.
Sadie would
sacrifice
herself in a heartbeat to save either of her sons. D
eep in her aching heart,
she knew she didn’t have that choice.
Whatever was coming, it didn’t want her.
It wanted her boys.

“Paul?”

“Yes, Sadie?”

“I love you, son.”

Paul smiled.
Sadie wasn
’t
free with words of affection.
She
expressed
her love
in more concrete ways
. C
losets full of clean clothes, the swift mending of a favorite shirt, chocolate cake at the end of the meal, tall glasses of cool tea offered in the
heat of summer. C
hiding words of criticism and warm glances of approval.

“I know
.
I love you, too
.
”

“I know.”

Paul smiled.
And
,
having said all that was really important, they arrived back home.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Paul’s afternoon didn
’
t go as he
’d
hoped
. Several patients waited for him when they arrived home and by the time
he
’d
finished his afternoon hours, it was too late to make the trip downtown to City Hall to speak with
Bobby Ryles,
Macon’s Chief of Police
.

Paul stood in thought and walked to the front windows, glancing up and down the streets.
No sign of Joshua.
He
went in search of
Sadie
and found her
standing on a chair attacking the shelves of books in the library with a damp dust cloth
.

“You did those last week,” he said behind her.

She started in surprise and almost lost her balance
. He
moved forward, ca
ught
her waist and stead
i
ed
her.
Then he offered her his hand and she stepped down.

“I know,” she said
.
“But I got
s
to stay busy and these take a lot of time.”

“Sadie, you said you’d seen him with some of the other boys.
Who?”

“You
goan
go look?”

“Don’t know what else to do.”

“Please be careful, son.”

“Sadie, Josh is in trouble, not me.”

“I seen him
wid
Abe Ludlow t
’
other evening.
An’ Eulises Jones.
Think
dey
was with Jeremiah Andrews, too.”

“See where they were heading?”

“Just down
de
street.
Could have been goin
’
anywhere.”

“Down the street which way?
Toward town?”

“No, son.
Toward
the river.”

“Good a place as any, I guess,” said Paul, and headed out the door.

She closed her eyes and sank down into the chair.

“
S
adie
!
”
Paul’s roar echoed back down the hall.
Heart in her throat,
she raced down the short corridor. In the front
door,
Paul bent
over Joshua, slumped against the door frame
with his
back against the wall of the house.
His legs were drawn tightly against his chest, his head bent against his knees.
H
e was hugging himself and moaning.

“Josh?”
Paul spoke in a low voice, shaking his brother’s shoulders gently.
“Josh, it’s me, it’s Paul.
C
’mo
n, let go,” he urged. He tried
to push the boy’s arms down and coax him to stand up.

“
Unnnnn
.”
The moans continued
.
Josh’s arms
stayed wrapped tightly around himself.

“Josh, please, it’s Paul, now let go!”

Josh threw back his head.
His eyes widened
. A
scream of pure terror gushed from his mouth.

“Oh, hell
!”
Paul exclaimed.
“Sadie, I got to get him inside!”

“
Nooooooo
!
Can’t touch it!
It burns!
It burns
!
Get away from me!
G
et away
!
I want Paul, but I can’t go home!
I can’t go home
!
Get awayyyy
!”

Josh finally loosened his arms and kicked his legs out, flailing wildly at some vision
dancing
in his sight alone
.
Paul
got
one arm under Josh’s shoulders, the other under his legs, and
scooped his brother, still flail
ing and kicking, up in his arms. He strode
rapidly
t
owards Josh’s room.

He realized in only a few moments there was no way he could keep
Johusa on the bed
short of tying or drugging him.

“Sadie!
Get me something, a sheet, maybe.
Tear it in strips!
Hurry!”

Sadie ran to the kitchen
and
pull
ed
open a cabinet where she kept cleaning supplies
. She grabbed a
sheet she
’d
culled from the laundry
as future cleaning cloths.
N
ot taking the time to locate the scissors, she ran back towards Joshua’s room, tearing at the hem with her teeth.
Her lean hands, strong from years of household service, finally won the battle with the cloth and it shredded with a noisy rip.

“I can’t let go of him!
You have to do it!
Loop it over his hands first and tie it to the bedpost!”

Sadie
barely managed
.
Joshua’s
wildly thrashing arms
almost defeated both her and Paul.
Josh
moaned, the moans interspersed with
screams.
“It’s coming!
Oh God, it’s coming
!
Jesus, it
’
s so
big
!”

When she had one arm secured, Paul turn
ed
loose with one of his hands and grabbed for the next strip, slipping the cloth over Josh’s wrist and securing the other end to the bedpost.
Working together, they finished the job and stood back, breathing in short gasps.
Joshua’s strength
was astonishing and it had taken both of them to
manage.

“Go get me the laudanum, Sadie!”

“On top of
this?
Paul, you don’t know what that’ll do!”

“I know he’s going into convulsions in about two more seconds if I don’t!
Now get it!”

Sadie got it.

“Hold his head still!”
Paul commanded, and Sadie managed, barely, to keep Josh’s head still and his mouth open as Paul slipped the spoon home.
He threw
the liquid
down quickly and shoved Josh’s mouth shut before he spewed the narcotic out, holding it shut with one hand while he gently rubbed
Josh’s
throat with the other
until the throat muscles worked.
He waited for the drug to take effect
, wondering
if it would work at all.
He knew he dared give
the boy
no more.
Finally,
the
moans
slowed.
Josh shuddered.
His head fell to one side and his eyes closed.
Quiet.

“Thank God!” Paul
sat heavily on the bed.

“Amen!” Sadie
s
ank down into the armchair that stood by the bed.

“Well, son?
What now?”

“The boys you’ve seen him with.
Do you see them regularly?
A
ny certain time?
Any certain day?”

“I’ve only noticed ‘em occasionally but
d
en I ain’t really been lookin
’
.
Sometimes Josh head out on his own, but the t
imes I seen ‘em, look to me like
dey
was coming by to get him.
Seems like it was about 7:00.”

“Go stay in the parlor and watch.
And if you see ‘em, come get me.”

“Why?”

“’Cause if Josh don’t come out, they ain’t goin’ to walk up and knock for him.
Not if they’re all in this.
And I want to see where they go.”