Dirty Faces- Book 1

Chapter 30: Good Neighbors

Chapter 30: Good Neighbors

"If you wasn't my brother, I'd have done shot you, showing up like this, at this hour!" Bill spat through the crack in the door, lowering his rifle.

"If I wasn't your brother, I wouldn't be here at this hour," David replied, pulling Susan closer to him, the wind threatening to cut straight through them.

"She just got the other one to sleep. We was just about to do likewise but then here you show up, banging on the damn door in the dead of night."

David pursed his lips, then said, "You do realize it's cold here?", gesturing at Susan.

Bill frowned as he stepped back and pulled the door open. "You oughtta know better than to have your wife and baby out in this."

The old farm house's  floorboards creaked as they crossed the threshold and hurried to shut the door behind them. "Bill?" Betty whispered from down the hall. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's just David and Susan."

"What on earth are you kids doing out at this hour?" she asked as she padded into the front room, pulling her housecoat tighter around her.

"Half shift," said David.

Susan looked nervously at her brother-in-law, still standing there in his long underwear, holding his gun at his side, and at his very tired wife beside him. Long months of sleep deprivation had earned them both a look of madness that showed through most strongly when the hope of rest was so close at hand. Now that hope was lost and it was her fault. She quickly busied herself with unwrapping herself and Kody from the quilt before she had to make eye contact with either of them.

Bill shook his head. "Boy, I oughtta wear you out for having them out on a night like this."

David stared at his feet, arms crossed. "I didn't come for a lecture. I came because I need your help," he said, raising his eyes to meet his older brother's.

"Is there somewhere I can put Kody to sleep?" Susan interjected, eager to do anything to avoid hearing the details of the night's events retold.

"Of course," said Betty. "Just put him in bed with the twins."

Susan nodded and walked slowly down the hall. She could hear them whispering behind her and she tried hard not to hear, but occasionally she still made out words: "sister" and "traveler" and "gun", to name a few. When she reached the little bedroom at the end of the hall, she tiptoed in and lingered by the door for a few minutes to give David time to explain. She walked over to the window and looked outside at Ralph, still sitting in the wagon. He'd mumbled something about having rather battle the cold than fight to tie George Washington up again. The man was more stubborn than his mule.

Susan crept toward the rough, hand-built wooden crib in which David, Bill, and an unknown number of their relatives had slumbered. After standing over the old bed a few minutes watching the little girl and boy sleep, she gingerly placed her little angel in it with his cousins. As she drew her arm back, she was startled by the sound of the front door shutting and whacked her elbow on the rail. A sharp pain shot up her arm as she gritted her teeth to keep from speaking the words that came to mind.

To her horror, one of the babies started babbling. Please no, she thought, holding her breath. Please just go back to sleep. Not one more thing. The next thing she knew, a pair of brown eyes popped open and gazed up at her. Susan hung he her head. Of course. One more thing. His little face contorted into a grimace and he shoved a hand in his mouth, and she scooped him up before he could start crying and wake the other two. "Come on, Jack, you little devil. Let's get you to your mama."