Chapter Four
"That's the last of them," Jamison said as the wagon full of people rode away from the cabin, having paid their last respects to Evelyn McEllis. Two days now their mama had been gone and the brothers were finally able to lay her to rest.
"Guess that means it's time to finish covering the grave," Ian replied as he grabbed a shovel off of the grass and began to move the dirt. Andrew stepped forward and began to help his brother.
Jamison was next to grab a shovel and pitch in and Cavanaugh stood frozen to the ground. It was as if his boots had grown roots and planted themselves a hundred feet in the ground. He couldn't seem to move and he just kept seeing three graves in Virginia and the tiny crosses he had placed over them. Susie, Timothy and Leah. His entire world......
Suddenly the pain was fresh and he was sure he was going to break down into tears right then and there. He wanted to run away and had almost convinced his boots to do so when he felt a hand on his back and realized that Jamison had stopped digging and was standing beside him.
"Come on and help us, Cavanaugh." he said sternly
Cavanaugh glared at his older brother and jerked away from the man, "I don't need you ordering me around." he grumbled and he grabbed a shovel and got busy covering the grave.
Jamison just shook his head, "I just figured it would help you is all."
"I don't need your help, Jamison," Cavanaugh said stubbornly. "I needed it once and you let me down. You better be sure I won't ever need it again."
Andrew looked like he was about to say something but Ian's hand came out and tapped him lightly on the back of the head, "Just work and keep that mouth quiet." he warned. Andrew glared at him but nodded.
"Dammitt, Cav!" Jamison bellowed, "Are you gonna hate me forever because of that? There wasn't a damn thing I could do! Maybe if you'd gotten a better look at the man that shot you then I would have had more to go on...."
Cavanaugh threw his shovel aside, put his hands on his brother's chest and shoved him backward. Hard. "Are you honestly saying it's my fault? You're right I should have gotten a better look at the man who busted up my leg, raped my wife and then mutilated and killed my entire family! But you know what, I was a little busy being unconscious and bleeding out!"
"You won't put your hands on me again, Cavanaugh." Jamison warned, his voice like ice.
Cavanaugh snorted and shoved him again, harder this time, causing his brother to nearly fall, "What the hell are you gonna do about it? Nothing. You're gonna do nothing because that's what you're good at doing."
Jamison swung out and caught Cavanaugh hard in the jaw with his fist, causing Cavanaugh to fly backward and land on his backside in the dirt. As Cavanaugh pushed himself to his feet again, Andrew launched himself at Jamison, "Don't you hit, Cav!" he shouted, catching Jamison in the temple.
Jamison looked as if he were contemplating punching Andrew as well and Ian stepped forward with the shovel held up, "Don't even think about it," he warned.
"You did nothing!" Cav shouted, his voice breaking as emotion rose in his chest. "I told you my wife and children had been murdered and you did nothing. You shrugged your shoulders, said it was 'one of those things' and you rode away."
"Course he did. Big tough Jamison can't do something that might show he cares," Ian stated with a snort.
"I haven't arrested you yet," Jamison shot back to Ian.
Ian shrugged and held out his hands, "Arrest me, big brother. I wouldn't want to damage your sterling reputation."
"Why are we all fighting?" Andrew demanded as he rubbed his palms up and down his dirty pants legs. "Mama wouldn't want us fighting with each other like this... Not right now. We don't even have her casket covered up yet!"
All four brother's lowered their heads in shame, grabbed a shovel and got busy putting their mother to rest.
***
"Supper is ready!" The brother's had just finished burying their mother and putting the shovels away when Mary's voice called out to them. Andrew covered his chest with his hand and let out a yelp, "I'd plumb forgot about her!" he exclaimed.
"What the hell is she still doing here?" Cavanaugh demanded. He still didn't like the woman who had no doubt taken his mother's money for doing absolutely nothing.
"One of us have to take her back to town now I guess," Jamison replied.
Ian and Andrew were walking between the two older brothers to avoid more fist throwing. Ian frowned, "How about we wait until after we eat? I'm hungry."
"I don't have much of an appetite." Cavanaugh said with a shake of his head.
Jamison snorted, "Yeah, go ahead, Cav. Starve yourself so everyone knows just how miserable you are."
"Go to hell, Jamison. I hope one day you lose the woman you love and two little pieces of yourself so that you can have somewhat of an idea just what kind of pain I've known," Cavanaugh spat.
Jamison snorted, "That's real nice, Cav."
"I need a drink," Ian stated. He put his arm around Andrew's shoulders. "I brought some whiskey in my saddlebags. You want some?"
"Don't you know it. Whiskey is my second favorite thing after....." Andrew's gaze went to the grave at the edge of woods and suddenly his face sobered. "Never mind."
Ian took his arm away from Andrew and shrugged, "Suit yourself. I still want that whiskey," he said. "I hid it in mama's bottom cabinet."
"Hey wait! I still want the whiskey!" Andrew exclaimed as he ran after him.
"So is this how it's gonna be with us?" Jamison demanded of Cavanaugh once they were alone and standing in the yard.
"Nope. Just as soon as I eat I plan on getting the hell out of here and never seeing you again."
"That sounds real grown up of you." Jamison muttered.
Cavanaugh smiled maliciously, "I am a regular old adult now." he shot back.
"Quit your bickering and get in here and eat!" Mary shouted as she poked her head out the door and waved her thin arm.
"I'm not hungry!" Cavanaugh shouted back.
She gave him a toothless grin that had a shiver passing over his spine, "Your mother had one last thing she wished for me to tell you all before she passed on. I will not tell you what that was unless you come in this house and eat supper."
"Isn't that illegal? Can't you arrest her or something?" Cavanaugh asked Jamison through clenched teeth.
"If I say no will that give you something else to hate me over?" Jamison replied. Cavanaugh felt his hands flex tightly as he fought the urge to punch his brother right in the jaw.
Instead of responding, Cavanaugh just shoved past his brother and limped into the house.
***
As much as Ian wanted to say that his appetite was gone too, the truth was that it was still very much alive and well.
And as much as he wanted to call Mary a strange, ugly, little creature, he had to admit that these steaks, sweet potatoes and pinto beans smelled awfully good.
"Thank you for the food, ma'am," Andrew said with a grin as he took a bite of mashed potatoes and washed it down with a swig of whiskey from the bottle.
Ian made a face at his younger brother and yanked the bottle away, "You're gonna get taters all in it!" he exclaimed.
Andrew smiled broadly and Cavanaugh felt his heart lighten just a little. Of course it was probably just the alcohol but seeing Andrew smile had a way of making a man feel better. And after all the tears Andrew had cried the day their mother had died, Cavanaugh was glad to see the boy finally looking happy again.
"Would you mind telling us what it is our mother told you?" Cavanaugh asked as he picked at his potatoes with the tip of his fork.
Mary crossed her arms over her thin chest and shook her head as she gummed on her bottom lip, "You have to eat."
Ian wanted to laugh out loud at the glare that both Jamison and Cavanaugh sent to the old woman and then he did laugh when they both grudgingly stuck a bite of potatoes into their mouths.
As the men ate their dinner, Ian couldn't help but notice how tired he was feeling. He supposed it was the stress of the last few days catching up with him but then when he saw Andrew yawn he knew it was something else.
Never in the nineteen years that Ian had known Andrew had he ever once seen the boy yawn, "Ssstop e..eating." Ian warned his brothers, though his voice slurred and he could hardly keep his head from falling sideways as fatigue set in.
"What the hell,,," Jamison growled as he rubbed at his face with his hands.
"I'm tired," Andrew whined just before he fell face first into his plate of potatoes and began to snore.
"What did you do to us?" Cavanaugh demanded as he tried to stand but fell backward and hit the floor.
Ian struggled to rise as well and made it three steps before he too fell to the floor. He was faintly aware of the thud that Jamison's body made on the other side of the table just before he lost consciousness.
***
Cavanaugh groaned as he began to wake up. Instantly he knew he was somewhere other than his mama's kitchen. These weren't rough wooden floorboards beneath him.. It was feathery soft and fluffy. It felt as if he were laying on a cloud.
"Holy shit!" Cavanaugh heard Ian exclaim.
Cavanaugh opened his eyes and realized with quite a bit of shock and disbelief that he was indeed lying on a cloud. He pushed himself to his feet, absentmindedly wondering what was keeping him from sinking through, and looked around. Whatever Mary had put in those potatoes was still coursing through his blood and his body felt heavy and somehow disconnected from his fuzzy mind.
Surely this must be some sort of dream caused by the poisoned potatoes.
"Where are we?" Jamison asked slowly as he too got to his feet. Suddenly Andrew laughed and came bursting through a cloud wall beside them, "This is great!" he exclaimed as he cart wheeled past them. Cavanaugh put his hand on his gun as he looked around, "This has to be some sort of dream," he muttered.
"Then we're having the same dream," Jamison countered.
"That's it. I'm giving up whiskey," Ian added.
"I think it was the potatoes." Cavanaugh informed his brother as Andrew once again went past them, this time doing front flips.
"Then I'm giving up potatoes."
"This is no dream." All four men stopped what they were doing and snapped to attention when they recognized Mary's voice. They couldn't see her and her voice seemed to be all around them.
"What the hell did you do to us?!" Cavanaugh demanded.
"I am helping you. You boys are all on paths to destruction. You are leading lives that made your mother very sad."
"I don't see how that's any of your business," Cavanaugh said slowly as he searched his pockets for a cigarette.
"Your mother asked me to make sure I set you on the right paths. So I am sending you somewhere where you can find what you've been missing and learn what you need to learn."
"Sending us where?" Ian asked as he sat down on a bench, made of clouds of course.
"To a different time."
"Okay so let's just pretend for a minute that this isn't completely crazy and is really happening," Cavanaugh said as he gave up in his search for tobacco and held up his hand.
"It's happening," Mary's voice assured him.
He rubbed his face and sighed, "Why can't we learn what we need to learn and find what we need to find in our own time?"
"This has all been written. It is all meant to be. Perhaps what you need doesn't exist yet in your time and you have to leave to find it. And perhaps you are too set in your ways in your own time to do what needs to be done. You need to be thrown off your track and forced to open your minds to different ways to be."
"I'm shooting her when I see her face again," Ian assured everyone.
"Goodbye, boys. Good luck in your journey," Mary's voice faded away and suddenly the light began to fade as well.
"Okay this is creepy," Andrew muttered. The four brothers stood back to back, each ready to draw and shoot at any threat as darkness swallowed them.
A booming clap of thunder filled the air and suddenly they were enveloped in blackness before falling unconscious.