Wayne and the boys drive up to Santaquin to Stringham's Hardware and Goods on Main As quickly as possible. Pulling around back, they unload the pickup, yelling for Dave. "Sorry, Dave, no time to chat."
Ned locks his store and hangs a sign out to lunch to keep people from barging in. He shows the note from Mr. Stringham and Doc, he laughs. "I heard the news," loading the goods into the pickup.
"Smart thinking making Judge the mayor down there. His wife wanted him to retire for a long time. It was said she already had a spot for a home, too.
He doesn't even know it yet," gossiping as he goes. "Mr. Stringham was drawing plans for her just the other day. Word is you got ghosts down there, too, and I'm not talking scarecrows, even though one did seem to return right on her doorstep and left a note, too. Yes, sir, strange things happening around here, yep. Let's see now, looking at your list, overalls five pairs, don't carry this size anymore, ran out months ago, very popular," still gossiping as he goes.
"Yep, says it says you need nails, fifteen tons, thirty miles of ranching wire. I'll have that delivered by tonight. I got the word that you needed it in a hurry. Poles, too, will be on the way. Thanks, boys. Do you mind taking this back with you? It rots my teeth; all kids are down there," handing a whole box of penny candy.
Ned and Bill laugh, showing their teeth. "Docs got ours too, but we know some kids, right, Sheriff?"
Wayne laughed; Dave was out of breath, spreading the news, and waved back. "It's a shame you don't carry shoes, Dave," as Wayne waved, heading back down the road. Yells. "Because I could use lots of those too," he replied in the wind.
Dave watches them go. "I forgot to ask what's going on down there. Dang, what was that about shoes?"
* * * *
Wayne pulled back into the farm, Martha jumped out of the chair, and flew out of the door, yelling, and running into his arms. "What took you so long?" She asked with tears in her eyes, pointing towards the house, beating her fists against his chest, sobbing. Martha tells him what happened when he was gone. Wayne rushed into the house,
finding all his boys still safe and sound, including EJ, still sleeping. "I think he's all right, dear," watching the color slowly return to EJ's face. "His temperature is normal, and EJ is fine now. He looks a little bit strange, as if he has aged a little and has worked all day," she said.
Pa nodded and brushed his hair. "Has Doc seen him yet?" He asked. Ma shakes her head. "No, we didn't dare leave this room." Pa looked at the boys as they all nodded. "They say someone was here but don't know who; they never saw them, just felt them or it," she said. Ma was still shaking like a leaf. Pa looked at the door, which she had Robert remove off its hinges. Had them take it outside, and remain open until further notice.
Aunty M. was in the kitchen, putting on a second pot of Joe on the stove and adding milk to Martha's. "Here you go, dear, just a little. Doc's on the way," she said, seeing Ned leaving the stables. Ned hops on his horse with his horse's legs high in the air, and he waves his hat. "Yee-haw!" as he leaves the stables and heads towards New Downing. "Yee-haw," Ned flies back down the field. Clots of dirt flew in the air over the fields, dodging left and to the right. Jumping over the ditch banks, Ned swings his hat over his head as he leaps the ditch bank towards New Downing. He was speeding down the road across the stream bed, yelling for Doc Hatfield, seeing him coming out of one of the barracks.
Doc sees Ned coming straight for him, his eyes wide, yelling. "DOC!"
"Not again," he replied. But it was too late as Ned grabbed him by his backside, trusted him up like a Thanksgiving turkey on the back of his horse, leaping, shouting. "Yee haw," heading back towards the farm, rolling Doc onto the farmhouse's porch. Ned joins the other boys, loading up the wagons for a ride to work on the farms. Yes, sir, for sheep and cattle were coming today; Aunty M. was leading the way, leaving Wayne to deal with his family today.
Aunty M. looked back at the farmhouse. She wanted to get some fresh air and be far away from the shadows, looking at those trees that quake. "Let's ride, boys," she said, waving her hat. Whistling, she swallowed the rest of her Joe down her throat. Wayne, I got it. We'll be back by supper time. Give EJ a hug from me and tell him not to worry. Aunty M. has a few friends and a couple of IOUs."
Doc watched them go, wind and dirt in his face. "Do you mind telling me what is happening here in Tarnations?" He asked. Wayne and Martha handed him a cup of Joe, putting a little of Aunty M's moonshine in it just for him.
"You are going to need it, Doc," as Martha walked down the hall, past the boys' door, sitting outside off its hinges with a note on it, removed until further notice. Doc swallowed it in one gulp, then another, and looked in the room under the beds. The boys won't move the dresser from the closet as they sit on the beds under covers as Doc sees how frightened each one is.
He exited the room with Wayne and Martha and pulled out his bag. "Wayne?" He said, swallowing hard. "Got anything stronger?" He pours A glass of milk for each boy and his two daughters, placing a mixed tonic for each. Two small drops for the little ones with lemonade and a cookie for dessert. "Thanks," and he pours a glass for Wayne and himself, a glass of sweet tea for Martha, just a drop. Walking down the hall to the children's room, Doc hands each child a glass and a cookie.
Ma and Pa tuck them into bed, kissing them goodnight and waiting for them to fall asleep before turning off the lights but leaving the doors all open and off the hinges. Then, walking into the boys' room, Doc sits in the chair with his glass, nods to the two nurses on duty, and swallows with instruction. "Wake me if and when that boy wakes up. Me, and he is going to have a long talk," stressing long talk, rubbing his sides.
"Yes, Doc," as they giggled, tucking the blankets around Doc in his chair. The house and farm are quiet, not a ghosts, shadows, or whispers; they are all down at Downing Villa playing around tonight. Having fun as people scream, things creak, and the wind blows silent whispers in their ears. The whistles are blowing up the road, and a train is headed for New Downing. Clicked, clack, clicked, clack, as the steam engine pulls into the New Downing Station. The conductor pulls as the whistle blows, and white, black steam bellows out.
"Alright, boys, let's get them unloaded," Aunty M. said, seeing Marty and a couple of his boys.
"Where's Wayne?" Marty asked.
Marty was Aunty M. and Mike's go-too-guy. He was born and raised on a farm somewhere in the Colorado Mountains when he lived in a nearby orphanage with his brother Albert, whom Mike had rescued from them because they were being transferred to a boy's home. After all, nobody wanted them with five other boys. Mike trusted both these boys to help run his and his wife Margaret's business while he was away on business, leading a different life. He was tall and slender but strong as an ox with broad shoulders, Dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a sturdy, chiseled face. He was roughly Richard's age, in his early twenties.
Aunty M. answered Marty's question. "Back at the farm, had some problems last minute but will be joining up with us later," Aunty M. said as she looked at the shadows coming from the north. "I see ya got everything," Aunty M. said, looking over at the extra lumber on the back as she laughed. "He used it all, too, every stitch, cared more for farmers than he thought. Alright, boys," Aunty M. yells as she swings her hat with a loud whistle, lowering the gate for the sheep and the cattle running everywhere, left, and right, in a regular stampede.
Marty and Aunty M. laughed as her newly elected hired boys chased them down. "That should keep them busy for a while," Marty said as he finished the unloading with a few extra surprises for them. "Albert, you better go with them. Make sure they return to New Downing with those sheep and steers," Marty said to his brother.
Albert was Marty's number two guy; Albert oversaw things on the farms and cattle ranches. Marty and Albert were orphans that Mike and Aunty M. took in when their parents died. Albert was brother to Marty and the spitting image of him and his father. He had the same brown hair cut short just above his ears and mustache and wasn't as tall as his brother Marty, reaching five feet, nine inches, while his brother Marty was nearly seven feet tall.
"Thanks, Marty," Aunty M. said.
"I'll give you a call in a few days. Watch out for them," whispered in Marty's ear as his face went pale. "He's been hanging around here with some of his friends," she said. Both boys, like her, knew some of the things her husband Mike was into. But not everything, until Derrick showed up at the door with Mike's body. Confirming her fears and finding out who he really was, it was starting to make sense. Well, mostly, anyway.
"I, I, I see," Marty said, looking at the shadows in the distance covering the hills. "Mike was right," he said, Aunty M. nodding her head.
"Wouldn't be surprised if old Morgan is around here stirring up trouble," she said.
"Apparently so," Marty said, rubbing his chin as he looked towards Santaquin. "You know, Aunty M. Mike said something about him long ago, about a Dark Prince he was looking for. You don't think this has anything to do with it?" He asked, rubbing his chin.
Aunty M. paused in step, nearly falling, and thinking about what Mike had said regarding this. No, it couldn't be, could it? As her mind raced for the answer as she tried to remember days past, she needed to find Derrick and sit him down and ask many questions, more so after meeting his friends, who scared the dickens out of her. The fact they were men of death made it more and more real to her. Plus, the fact Morgan was after her and right now trying to hunt her down and kill her.
"Marty, I know I've got a couple of IOU's already. One left his calling card and paid a visit before I left. I don't know who, yet I understand more are coming; one could be Morgan or not, I don't know," she said as they both looked towards Downing Villa. "I do know that two are looking for wives; I'm not sure what the other one wants yet," she replied.
"Wives, you don't say?" Marty said,
rubbing his arms. "Yes, sir, it will be a long one this fall. Thinking' me and the boys are going to stay awhile. If that's ok, I think you might need help. Besides, everything is buttoned up tight down-home, and we need to get things moving down here if you know what I mean," he said, looking at the lumber in the wagons. "Ya, say, he hasn't even started yet? We need to do something about that with winter coming," Marty said, looking towards shadows near the trees and on the hills. "Yes, sir, time to get crackin,' Aunty M.," he replied.
Marty and the boys, throwing their bedrolls in the back of the wagons, shout. "YAH! YAH! Let them ride, boys." With a hard start, horses gallop hard down the road while boys swing their hats in the air, "YAH! YAH!" Bouncing off the springs, six teams of horses, dirt flying as wheels turning around the corners; wagons lifted off the sides to the right, then the left. The boys pulled back just a little on the hand breaks. Then bring them down, then yell. "YAH! YAH!" Hats swing at the sides of their mounts. Ropes tied to the saddles, dirt flying, even with the wagons.
Wayne's boys hear shrill whistles, seeing dirt clouds of wagons behind them. Ned laughs as he joins in the fun, dodging the dirt clods. Chase the sheep and steers, running towards the farm fencing where they have planned to put the sheep and the steers.
Ned jumps the ditch bank and lands right into the creek, laughing. His horse runs to the other side, and Aunty M's boys swing him up on the back of her horse. Before he gets run over by the sheep, and the steers and misses all the fun. She puts him back on his horse with a wink from Aunty M., yells. "That's Granny's boy," tosses him a rope, and rides by his side. Closing the sheep and steers in for the night, they all head back to the New Downing to drop off the goods and stop at Cracken Villa with Ned, Bill, and Marty.
As she heads back to the farm, she makes Marty check in. "You've got to be joking," he said.
"Nope, ouch, oh my."
Welcome to Clean Zone Downing farm, where Marty noticed the sign still says quarantine swinging on the gate with Ned, Granny, and all her crooked teeth. "Hi, Granny. This is Marty. The other boys are down in New Downing," he handed her the list.
"Thanks, go in, son. Dinner will be ready in an hour. You can have these back in the morning—Oh my, maybe not," she said, tossing them on the burn pile and handing him a blanket. "Run, son, we won't look."
"But that was my best pair," he said.
"Was, dear? Was, don't sweat the small―?" Granny said.
"I know," he said. He runs as fast as he can and runs towards the farm.
"Granny, any change?" Aunty M. asked.
"Doc gave them all a good rest; they should be a little drossy but be just fine. And no, dear, not a sign of you know who?" Granny said.
Marty enters the house, sees two nurses, and wraps the blanket tightly around his waist; they hand him a pair of new shorts and overalls and send him down the hall with a wink. "Thanks," looking back at Granny lighting a match, giggled as Ned followed right behind him, slapping him hard on his bare back.
"It happens every time you go past Downing Villa. They don't change it anymore," Ned said as they looked at the unhinged door. Ned swallowed. Too many things go bump in the night down there. One we especially don't like is" rubbing his arms, "as he doesn't play nice.
Plus one, we don't know who he is, and he came to visit and left without saying a word," Ned replied.
"Yes, Aunty M. is telling me something about that. It's strange," Marty said, looking at the door against the wall. "I wonder what he wanted. When the other two wanted wives, what was he looking for? And why?"
"Well, will you two stop gawking or get moving?" Doctor Hatfield looking at them through the doorway, Doc said. "These boys need their rest. You boy, Ned, I have a bone to pick with you and your horse," Doc said as he tried to get up from his chair. "Oh, ouch. I'm bruised from head to toe from that horse of yours," Ned and Marty watched the blood rise to his head. Ned and Marty take off down the hall. "Doc, is that you?" EJ opened his eyes from his long sleep, freezing him in his place.
"Well, it's about time; ooh, man, I'm getting too old for this, boy," shaking his fist at him.
EJ looked around the room. "Where's my Ma and Pa?" He asked.
"Just a minute, son," Doc said, stretching to work the kinks out. Ouch, I'll go wake them." Doc walked across gingerly the hall and gave Wayne a nudge. "He's awake now."
"Thanks, Doc," he said as he woke Martha, who is up in a shot. Drowsy or not, she is by his bedside in two shakes of a lamb's tail, checking him out from head to toe again.
"Ma, I'm fine, I think," EJ said, looking around the corner of the room. She noticed it too. "I'm starved, I feel I haven't eaten in a week, feel strange, sort of tingly," whispers in Ma's ear. "I think he's gone, not sure?" EJ said, looking around the room one more time under the bed.
"Pa, can you move the dresser and please check the closet for me?" He asked as he swallowed.
"EJ, who are you looking for?" Ma asked.
"Not sure," he said as Pa moved the dresser, Robert, Will, and Richard heard Pa moving it, waking up and seeing everyone in the room and seeing EJ awake. Pa opens the closet door so the boys can see an empty closet, except for empty hangers. They all sigh with relief as Pa closed the door. "Ma, I think he's gone for now, at least," EJ replies.
"Who, EJ? Who?" Ma asked.
"I'm not sure. It seems familiar as if I should know him, but I don't know his name. I know of him. That's all I can tell you. He said something about a warning before a storm. Something was coming, I don't know, tired," he replied.
"Alright," Ma said as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. At least you're awake, and you look a lot better," she said, feeling his head and kissing him again. "Just right. I'll bring you some supper. Would you like that?" Ma asked.
"No, Ma, not in here. Sheets and all I want out of this room. I don't care," he said as the boys jumped out of their beds down the hall into the living room. Richard and Robert grabbed EJ and a sheet wrapped around his waist and grabbed the crutch. They headed out, Leaving Pa, Ma, and Doc just standing there in the room. They were in the living room waiting for supper. They would not spend another night in that room, no, sir, no way, no how.
After Pa set up the mattress for everyone, they all slept outside under the stars on the new foundation in the back, including Doctor Hatfield. Girls on one side, boys on the other with Ma and Pa in the middle, and Granny was the only one in the house brave enough, she said. "Heck, I've seen my share of ghosts," laughed at the silly folks outside. I prefer a nice soft bed any old time than a cot, straw, or the ground." Tossing another pair of shoes and another pair of shorts into the fire, she said. "Someone I missed, hmm, oh well. Doc said to burn them all," as she warmed her hands by the fire. "Oops, those were Ned's," she grinned.