Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 35: Sugar Rush

Burke family cabin, Catskills. Thursday morning. March 4, 2004.

Peter took a long walk through the woods, during which he considered everything Neal had shared last night about his childhood trauma. He'd known it would be bad. You didn't end up with repressed memories and flashbacks unless things were bad. As Neal was jumping between present day and sixteen years ago, he'd asked why Peter hadn't stopped Vance. It was hard, as a law enforcement officer, to admit he was helpless to do anything. The violence had occurred long ago and the perpetrator was dead.

It was also hard to admit that he didn't know what to say to Neal. Should he bring it up, or avoid the subject? It didn't help that on his way back to the cabin he'd heard Noelle crying. If she was that shaken, what hope did he have?

Pausing on the front porch to brush the snow off his boots, Peter looked in the cabin windows to see the cousins were in the kitchen. They were eating cinnamon rolls, frosted cereal, and chocolate milk. They were like kids on a Saturday morning, heading into a serious sugar rush. For a moment he was surprised Henry was letting Neal do this, and almost barged in to tell them to eat something healthy. But as he studied Neal's expression, he changed his mind. The kid deserved a break, a chance to take time for some innocent fun.

A few minutes later, Peter opened the door. "Come on, you guys." He held a snow shovel in each hand. "There's work to do. We got a couple inches of snow last night, on top of what was already here."

They complained as he told them to shovel in front of a storage shed. He told them they had to move enough snow that the double doors could swing open. But they worked together well and made quick progress, even with Satchmo getting in their way. Peter kept his expression stern whenever they looked in his direction. He'd learned this routine from his oldest brother Joe, who had a couple of daughters in college now. The girls had complained bitterly the first time Joe put them through this, but eventually it had become a favorite part of winter stays in the cabin.

"Okay," said Neal, standing up straight. "The path's clear. Can we go back inside now?"

"Not so fast," Peter said. He tossed a set of keys to Neal. "Show me the doors will open."

The cousins had to put their backs into it, because the old door frame had warped over the years, but finally the doors swung open. Henry was the first to make sense of what they were seeing in the shed. "Wow."

"Thanks for the help," said Peter. "That's all I needed. You can go back to the cabin now." He walked inside and picked up a sled.

"Not a chance." Henry laughed and grabbed another sled. "C'mon, Neal. You're going to love this."

Peter gave directions to the best sledding hill. Seeing they were about to run ahead he warned, "Don't do anything stupid."

"What does that mean?" Henry asked.

Neal shrugged. "He always says that."

"Well now I want to do something stupid," Henry grumbled. "Let me know if you have any ideas." With that, the cousins flashed matching grins in Peter's direction and ran ahead. The Labrador bounded behind them.

Peter joined them for a few runs down the hill, pleased to hear Neal laughing. Back at the top of the hill, he looked down to see Henry had initiated a snowball fight, and Neal was ducking for cover to make his own snowballs.

"He's happy," said Noelle.

Peter looked over to see Noelle and El walking in his direction.

"It's surprising sometimes," Noelle continued, "what people can endure. After what we heard last night it's hard to imagine Neal laughing, but he needs this. I'm glad you thought of it."