Taking Stock (24 page)

Frank glared at Rick. “You know it was thirty feet and I’m sure
Eric
a is glad to hear the story even if you aren’t.”

Tom raised a finger. “I think she’d like to hear about the yellow jackets in the orchard.” Everyone smiled.

Eric
a waited to see who would tell the story.

Sue spoke up first. “When Gregg was a teenager, he stepped on a hornets’ nest while he was picking apples. Hornets flew out of the ground and right up his pants. I guess they got him pretty good. He stormed off to the barn and poured gasoline down the hole. Lord knows how much because he still won’t say. When he lit the nest, the ground exploded. He killed the hornets and two apple trees. It burned so bright I could see it from the house. If the grass was any longer, or the tractor was any further away, he would have burned half the orchard.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Gregg protested.

“
Eric
a Dear, I have pictures. He burned a black circle in the grass five times the size of this room,” Sue beamed.

“Can we talk about something else,” Gregg pleaded.

“That was a great story,”
Eric
a said, rubbing her hand above his knee.

Matthew and Justin
pushed their plates forward and asked if they could go see the new batch of chicks. With permission, they excused themselves and headed outside.

Frank called after them, “It’s getting cold, don’t keep those young ones away from the light too long.”

The children disappeared with another slam of the screen door.

Sue looked down the table. “
Eric
a Dear, why don’t you tell us about your family
?
”

“There’s not much to tell. It’s just my mother and me.”

“What about your father
?
” Everyone’s attention focused on
Eric
a.

“He died when I was four,” she said stiffly.

Forks clinked down with a collective gasp.

Claudia put a hand on
Eric
a’s elbow. “I’m so sorry,
Eric
a. What happened
?
”

“I don’t like to talk about it,”
Eric
a snapped.

The room went quiet. Gregg reached under the table and held
Eric
a’s hand as if that could somehow protect her from the past.

“It must have been hard growing up without a father,” Sue pressed.

No one was eating now. All eyes were on
Eric
a, not with the accusatory glares she’d seen from hundreds of kids in school, but with a budding compassion for her loss so many years ago. She wondered how the expressions would change if they knew she was better off without him. Even Gregg had no idea. After the horrors in grade school, she’d never told a soul again. “Really, I’d rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind.”

“It was a long time ago. Almost thirty years, isn’t it
?
” Sue asked.

Stomachs tightened around the table, wincing in sympathy.
Eric
a gave a slight nod and focused on her mashed potatoes. Being singled out as the only vegetarian in a house full of farmers with a turkey and a ham in the center of the table would be bad, but she’d rather have that conversation than the one Sue was driving toward.

Sue shifted in her seat. Her head buzzed with questions that needed to be answered. The others fidgeted. They knew she wasn’t going to let it go.

“Was he sick
?
” she asked.

Gregg squeezed her hand, an apology of sorts for his mother. The table fell silent.
Eric
a couldn’t answer. Memories of her father’s life and death still haunted her dreams. It was something she needed to forget. She stood up, her lips quivering as she addressed Sue. “Will you excuse me
?
I need some fresh air.”

Eric
a walked to the front porch, looked at the wicker chairs and then at her car parked on the hillside. She could be home in an hour if she didn’t get lost. Gregg could return her bags when he came back to the city. If he knew what she was hiding, he wouldn’t blame her for leaving. He had to know it was something awful. Sooner or later he’d ask the same questions and he deserved the truth. She felt her pockets and looked down at her empty hands. Her keys were inside. She had to go back in no matter how uncomfortable it was, but not yet.

She wondered what they were saying about her as she gazed into the darkness. The night sky was murkier here. There were no lights for miles. Crickets chirped and frogs peeped in the stillness. The glow from the house only extended a few dozen yards, but the moon threw a surprising amount of light around the fields and outbuildings. She could see well enough to navigate the farm, but she couldn’t imagine leaving the porch unless it was for her car. A thousand hungry creatures could be hiding in the shadows.

Gregg came outside and stood close to
Eric
a. “Sorry about that. I should have warned you about my mother. Sometimes she doesn’t know when to stop, but she doesn’t mean any harm.”

“Your whole family’s sweet.”

“Let’s take a walk.”

“You sure you still want to
?
”

He turned her head toward him and raised her chin until they looked directly into each other’s eyes. “Nothing could change my mind about you. Nothing. Whatever happened is in the past. Tell me, don’t tell me, that’s up to you.”

They walked away from the house and into the shadows at the edge of the farm. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, Gregg rambled through the family history she should have quizzed him about in the car. She relaxed until a pack of coyotes howled in the distance. The chilling sound had her clinging to him for the next two hours.  They walked side by side in the cool night air and Gregg rattled off stories about every building and tree they passed.

Tom and Rick drove off with their families. Gregg didn’t call out. He stood with
Eric
a in the grassy field and watched the tail lights fade into the night. When she was too cold even in his sweatshirt, they walked back to the house and settled into separate rooms for the night.

It seemed like only a few minutes later
Eric
a woke up to a burst of loud noises outside her window. It sounded like the men had gotten up early to stack metal plates, dropping them on top of each other from two feet high. At
six o’clock
the sun had already brightened the shades. She lay back, aching for sleep, but the crowing roosters and the growing light prodded her awake. The metallic noises kept booming. Soon she gave up, showered and went to the kitchen. Sue cooked French toast, scrambled eggs and bacon simultaneously on the stovetop. Frank waited at the table, his attention focused out the window. Gregg was nowhere in sight.

Sue gave a hearty smile and indicated a fresh pot of coffee.

“I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to upset you, Sweetheart.”

Eric
a found a mug and filled it. “It’s not your fault. You’d think after all these years, it would get easier, but it doesn’t.”

Frank watched a corner where the brown field met the trees. He was intent, but if there was something going on out there,
Eric
a couldn’t tell. How could Gregg sleep through all the noise
?

“If you ever need someone to listen, I’m always here.”

“Thanks,”
Eric
a muttered. “Dinner was great if I didn’t mention it.”

“You’re welcome anytime. Did you sleep well
?
”

Eric
a had dreaded facing Sue and Frank after running away from the conversation at dinner. Alone with them she should have been uneasy, but she felt as if she belonged here. She’d never been in a more accepting, affirming place. No wonder Gregg came home every weekend.

“I didn’t sleep long for a woman on vacation,”
Eric
a said. “What’s all that noise
?
”

“The boys are shooting crows.”

“Do they have to do it so early
?
” She asked, taking a seat next to Frank.

If he was watching them, she still couldn’t tell.

“Daybreak’s the best time. They lay out rotten apples and hide in the trees between fields. The crows fly in for the apples, but they’re tricky. One move and they vanish.” Frank imitated a darting bird with the outstretched fingers of both hands. “The boys make a competition of it. On a good day they’ll get three or four each.”

“They shoot them for fun
?
” She must have looked horrified because Frank snapped to attention.

“No, no,” he said. “The crows raise heck with the corn. I’d shoot them all if I could. They’re in the fields as soon as we plant – digging up seeds. Then when the corn’s grown, they go from one plant to another, eating a little here and a little there. They turn piles and piles of corn into very expensive chicken feed. Not like the deer. They pull off an ear and eat the whole thing. I’d rather they didn’t, but I can tolerate them.”

Sue smiled toward her husband. “He tolerates ‘em because I like seeing them in the fall after the corn’s been cut.”

An affectionate look passed between them. Sue had more control on the farm than
Eric
a believed possible.

“What about all the ducks out there
?
”
Eric
a asked. A hundred gray and black birds had settled into the lower part of the field away from the noisy shotguns. She hoped they weren’t next in line for target practice.

“Those are Canadian geese. They only eat what drops on the ground and they leave a lot of fertilizer behind. The boys shoot one once in a while and we eat it, but they’re a little tough. I prefer the chickens and turkeys we raise,” Frank said.

“How many chickens do you have
?
”

“We keep sixty or seventy most of the time. We don’t sell them. It’s more of a hobby and a comfort knowing where your dinner came from. I hatch quite a few chicks this time of year because I have time to tend the incubator. You ought to have Gregg take you on a proper tour. He’ll let you hold a few. They’re cute – fuzzy little buggers.”

Would she see tonight’s dinner in one of the pens around the farm
?

Before she could ask, the boys tromped in from the back porch, shotguns in hand, breeches open, the muzzles pointed constantly toward the floor. They were all decked out in green camouflage from their hats to their boots. Rick and Tom lugged the guns to Frank and Sue’s room.