Everyone was up and early when the rooster crows with his musical sound. "Cock a doodle do." It's a school day again for the boys as they all yawn. Ma and Julie are down in the kitchen, preparing breakfast with Anna down the hall, finishing with the three boys, Sam, Danny, and Ted, with their baths. Ma walked down to the boys' room to give them a nudge. "Hurry, boys, towels are in the bathroom; bathe quickly; breakfast will be ready soon," kissing each on the head before leaving the room.
Things were back to normal as it would seem, everyone was happy and where they were supposed to be, or were they? Ma had an inkling that just wouldn't quit in the back of her mind as she looked up the road and back again. With that feeling that something doesn't feel right, and what about that storm? Martha was still thinking about that day. EJ and the boys were locked in a room with someone they had never seen, someone he was supposed to know, with chills still going up her spine just thinking about it. For now, she will be on the lookout for that person coming down the road.
The aunts knocked at the door with smiles on their faces as the boys ate their breakfast with their homework all finished and in hand, tied into a bundle. They proudly took them to school. One by one, they handed the teachers their homework with a smile and proud faces as the boys took a seat in the classroom and the aunts in the back to watch the class.
The teacher passed around a test for each of the boys, nodding back at the aunts as they nodded back to them. With proud faces for their boys, knowing they have worked so hard. As the boys took the test, one by one, Will, EJ, and Mark stood up first, handing it in, and then a few minutes later, Peter, Frank, and Robert handed theirs in before the rest of the class, sitting back down into their seats to wait on the rest of the class as they struggle with theirs. After the teacher grades, their test gives a score of A or B; the aunts make sure he or she marks the roll and signs the permission slip for being absent, then sends them to the next teacher for their test with the same results.
They continued throughout the day until they reached the last teacher, Mr. Faith's class; Lizzy's heart almost skipped a beat when she heard the music in the room. "Hello, boys," he said as he stopped the class and sat them down. Then Lizzy hands him the music work with a twinkle in her eye and a smile. He had the boys line up in a single file on the little stage in the room and handed them the music he wanted them to sing for the competition. Again, the aunts find a place to sit in the room and listen. The song was like the voice of angels singing from on high, then when he added the rest of the choir, oh my.
The aunts wanted to weep for the sound, which was so joyous. Then, Robert gave a solo, and the boys joined in to top it off, with the choir surrounding the room. The aunts left the room with tears in their eyes, thanking him and bowing to Mr. Faith for a wonderful job. They also thanked the choir before leaving the classroom, dotting their eyes.
The aunts marched right into the principal's office, handing the notes from the teachers clearing their absentees for the week. Each gave him a hard, cold stare, which made him sputter a couple of times until he said he was sorry to the boys for his rude behavior as he was glad that arrangements could have been made.
Mary and Lizzy nearly lost it right then and there when he said arrangements. "If you call tripling the homework on these boys good arrangements, you are not sorry at all." They said as they gave him an icy cold stare that could freeze a polar bear in the winter. Lizzy slam the door in his face and leaves with the boys for home since they finished all their schoolwork for the day and taken all their tests. They were pleased as punch as they stopped at an ice cream parlor before going home. "I think I'll have two scoops," Mary said.
* * * * *
Martha had every right to be worried when she looked up the road every once in a while, wondering about the storm. You see, Morgan has taken up residence uptown as a doctor for Linda and Jim. Their regular Doctor, Doctor Jasper Main, is somehow out of town. Some misfortune has happened to him as Morgan laughed, watching him leave in a hurry out of town. "Too bad," he said as he laughed, unlocking the door, and replacing the nameplate with his name. Doctor Morgan shuffled through the papers, finding the misguided souls. He checks them off in his book; some are for later when he leaves his personal calling card.
Then he found the folder, Jim, and Linda Stuart. "Ah, yes, this is the one," he said, putting a big black circle on his little black book of names. I think it's time I paid them a visit." He laughed as he put on his hat and wrapped his red scarf around his neck, tucking the folder under his arms and swishing into the shadows once more.
* * * *
Wayne and Richard went to work on the house for the afternoon, loading up the stain for the wood and the paint for the windows and supplies they brought over from Stringham Hardware Store. Martha and Renee busy themselves with the cotton trade and sewing new curtains and things for the houses while watching the boys play in the house. Kollie tries to get things back to normal as the Sheriff of New Downing and buys some new clothes for himself. "That's right," he said, turning to Mr. Gibbs, a simple store merchant in New Downing. "I need new shirts and overalls and a pair of those work shoes if you don't mind, please," he said as he watched Doc Hatfield open the door. "Hello, Doc Hatfield, fine autumn day."
Doc watches him try on a pair of overalls and a shirt and smiles. "Wayne says you were thinking about becoming a country doctor and a farmer. I just wanted to see it for myself, I reckon," Doc Hatfield said.
"Yep, it is true, I needed a change. I liked being out here in the open, so I said heck, why not; the boys love it as well."
"True, true. We always could use another one out here, I suppose. They keep me busy enough and, on my toes, if you know what I mean," Doc Hatfield replies.
"Is there Anything I can do for you, Doc?" Kollie asked, trying to find a pair of shoes and a couple more shirts.
"Yes, come to think of it, I was in town the other day. There's a new doctor in town. I wanted to know if you heard of him. Doctor Morgan?" He asked.
"Can't say that I have, Doc; why?" Kollie asked.
"Oh, no reason, that's all, just odd. I never heard of this Doctor either, but it must be my old age," Doc Hatfield said.
"What kind of doctor is he, Doc?" Kollie asked.
"He's supposed to be the psychologist they sent Danny and the girls' parents to. There was another, but he left town quickly, and they replaced him with this one," Doc Hatfield said.
* * * *
"Now, now there," Morgan said impersonating a Doctor, handing Linda a tissue, and sitting beside her. "It will be all right; you can trust me," Doctor Morgan said, giving Jim a hard, cold stare across from them. "Just tell me all about it," he gently puts his arm around her as she sobbed to him. How they or their grandmother took the children out of the home, and now she can't see them due to Jim and his anger and the belt and hate for his boys. Plus the other things like trying to kill the Downings and his mother, Oh God, we must not tell him that, or they would lock him up for sure, not only that digging his own personal graveyard to hide the bodies.
"It was all his fault, and those bad genes of his always got them in trouble, and all I was trying to do, Doctor, was raise good boys, and it is so difficult, and now that they're gone, so are my girls," she cried.
Again, Morgan stares at Jim into a corner like a mouse backed into a wall by a cat. Morgan tries to bond with Linda and gain her confidence before he strikes and turns the tables. Oh, what a plan—a beautiful, wonderful plan as he plots in his mind how to rupture this family further down the hill if he can. If she only knew that was him that caused her husband Jim to do all those things. Ah, the look on her face would be priceless. Then he would lose his chance to bond with her and take her very soul. No, he must stick to plan. Take the boy, find the Five Keys, and become a God. A terrible a destructive God that would force everyone and everything to kneel and cower at his feet. Yes, that is what is needed. It's house cleaning time.
* * * *
"Peggy, why don't you and Donna help me load these things into the car?" Grandma said. "Ok, Grandma."
"That's my good girls,"
Grandma said, looking down the road towards the farm and EJ's cottage. Realizing it was time to go home, she needed Richard to help take care of the girls, even though their attitude has changed since last time, and everyone needs to have some normalcy put back into their lives as she thinks of EJ and his new family. "He seems so happy now. Yes, it's time to go home; if there is a problem, Wayne and Martha are capable parents and have proven it repeatedly."
Grandma gives a hug to Granny and notes for Richard to join her in a couple of days or so for the family can truly bond. She and the girls head home, but not before stopping at the cottage to say goodbye to Martha and Renee because they would never forgive her. She walks up to the doorway and knocks on the door, and Martha answers; seeing the three in the doorway, she invites them in.
Grandma carefully gives the girls a nudge through the door, points them to the couch, and helps herself to a nice pot of tea. "Martha, Renee, we are leaving today to go home. It's time I get back, and things are going fine," Grandma said, looking over at Danny playing with his friends, coloring in some books on the floor. Martha nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. "Now, now, dear. It's not like I'm going away forever. I'll be back," she said, patting her on the back.
"You just take care of my two grandsons for now. I'll see you at Thanksgiving again, most likely in your new house," she said, then handed her a note to give Richard to follow in a few days. With a pat on the back and a few tears of her own, she gave Danny and the children a hug and kiss. They were heading for home, with everyone at the door waving to them down the road.
Ma rounds up the children and takes them over to the farm for lunch in the barn, where it's nice and warm as the aunts bring the boys home from school to join them after a long day of taking tests and turning in all their homework. After lunch, Wayne gives Ma and the girls a tour of the house as the men put up sheetrock along the walls. The girls and Ma were amazed at the size as they danced from room to room as it echoed. "Wayne, it's huge. Are you sure it will be done by Thanksgiving?" She asked.
"Yes, Martha, I believe so," he said as he walked her to the new kitchen and family room. The boys changed into their work clothes, put on their tool belts, and joined Richard in helping him hang sheetrock.
"Richard, your mother said to give you this before she left for home with the girls." Richard took the letter from Mrs. Downing, opened it, read it, and then folded it into his pocket. He returned to work as if nothing was wrong, giving a wink to Mrs. Downing. Nothing had changed because it hadn't been for him, not really. According to the note, he was going to be here for a couple more days.
While he worked, the boys pestered him about the letter until he gave in and grabbed their heads. He locked Will and Robert under his arms until they cried, uncle. "All it said was that she needs me to return home to help with EJ's sisters at the end of the week, that's all," he replied. Robert, Will, and EJ were unhappy by the news of him leaving, and so was Richard; he wasn't ready to go home yet. Plus, he didn't want to go home to that. He despised those girls, and they despised him as well, and knowing this made it harder to go back.
Martha was spending time with the girls, exploring their new house and the large empty rooms with large windows in each. Ma handed them each a notepad, a pencil, and measuring tape. They began measuring the windows for curtains for the house while Ma was still working on the colors of paint she wanted and doing some measuring herself.
Wayne smiles as he watches her go from one room to the next as if she were in a daze with her little measuring tape and pad in her hand and color swatches. Seeing Martha on a ladder, he asks. "Martha, dear, needs some help with that?" as he watches her try to reach on her tiptoes to the top of the windowpane.
"What did you say, dear?" She said, turning to her husband as he grabbed the other end of the tape.
"Would you like some help with that, Martha?" Wayne asked. Martha turned and looked at him, threw her arms around him, and reached up to kiss him.
"No, dear, I'm just fine," she said, giving him another kiss before going on about her work. This also gave Martha time to think about poor Richard and how she was going to get him to stay a bit longer so he could help Wayne and the boys finish the house. Plus, she needed him as well and could clearly see he was not ready yet to go home as he played and worked with the boys. He has changed so much over the past few months.
With all the excitement of the new house, the three boys, Sam, Danny, and Ted, were left alone unsupervised, playing outside on the farm. Martha was in the house with the girls, and the boys wandered off towards the barn to play. Martha felt something was wrong when a shadow crossed the path toward the barn, and a cold wind started to blow, leaving a chill down her spine.
She immediately called out for the boys, but nothing was heard. She panicked, racing through the house, yelling their names over and over again. Julie and Anna raced through the house, shouting for the boys as Pa and the boys ran outside. They looked all over the farm for them, shouting their names and desperately trying to find them.
The strange wind closed the barn door as the shadows leaped across the walls with the three boys playing inside. One of the boys gave a blood-curdling scream as he dashed outside the door, rushing towards the house. "It's Ted," Martha said, running out white as a ghost seeing the boy cry. She rushed towards the barn with Wayne and the boys right behind her.
Julie took Ted back to the house and tried to comfort him while Ma and the boys found the other two boys. Ma and the boys rushed into the barn, finding the two boys with two ladies bouncing them on their knees, comforting them as Martha and Wayne walked into the barn.
The two ladies gave the two boys a nudge, returning them to Martha. Introducing themselves as one of them backs the shadow away from them. "My name is," turning to face Martha and Wayne. "Mrs. Destiny Morning, and this is Mrs. Jasmine Hunts, friends of Margaret's, and we promised her and Derrick," looking at the shadow now dissipating. "That no harm would come to you or your family," as they disappeared into nothingness. Leaving nothing but an echo and sweet scent of a soft, warm breeze, which was something they felt at the cotton field—a small whisper gently in her ears. "Please, dear, remind Margaret of her promise, dear," with that, they were gone, and so was the shadow.
As they were leaving the barn, a haystack had fallen to the ground in the corner. Martha could see the boys' footprints where they were playing in the dirt. She took the three boys in her arms, kissed their little cheeks, and then checked them over with a mother's care until she was satisfied. "They were alright this time," she whispered as the boys told her what had happened.
Martha gave each one more hugs and a kiss on the head. They all headed back to the cottage, where they knew they would all be safe. Martha did not let them out of her sight for another moment. Martha took a deep breath, knowing this time they were safe, but the question in her mind was. "Safe from whom and for how long?"
Wayne and the boys continued to work on the house with the group of men, hanging sheetrock, then headed out to the barn to work on their own projects. As Wayne looks back at the nearly completed house, he laughs and puts his arm around Richard. "Steve was right, son. We will be in this house before spring, and your mother thinks Thanksgiving," he said, patting him on the back. Taking out the list of things they need for the house to build, he rubs his chin. "Alright, boys," rubbing his hands together, "let's get to work."
"Yes, Pa, yes, sir," they replied as they eagerly waited for his instructions.
"Robert, you work on the chairs. EJ will sand them down. Then, hand them off to Richard to stain and dry. Will, you can help me with the table for Ma?"
As they started, EJ looked confused and waited a moment before asking, "Pa?"
"Yes, EJ?"
"Can you show me how? All I know how to do is sand blocks of wood," he said, shrugging his shoulders in dismay.
Pa laughed, realizing EJ was right. He took his little hands, some sandpaper, and a stick of wood. "Remember when sanding the blocks of wood with the sandpaper, you were sanding them with the grain? He asked.
"Yes, Pa, I remember," he replied.
"Well, the only difference is," taking a piece of sandpaper. "The block of wood is a chair, and the grain is much bigger," as he shows him with a father's love. EJ understood, and his Pa smiled as he worked his little hands with the sandpaper on the chair. With Pa watching him closely, he began to feel more confident in his task.
Pa placed a hand on his shoulder with a smile and a nod before leaving him to work on the table with Will. As they worked, Pa turned to his boys. "Boys, I was thinking we should go to Salt Lake City this weekend since you have no school on Friday and get the appliances we need for the house. Before Richard returns home," he said. Who was not exactly thrilled about the idea of going home at all? Richard slowly nods and sighs, hating the idea of going home.
Pa pats him on the back, telling him things will work out. "But first, we need to finish what we started before we went to the cotton field to raise some funds for the appliances," he replied. Pa looks at his little timepiece hanging from his pocket, noting the time. Calls it quits for the day, or their Ma will kill them all. After all, it was still a school night, laughing. "And I know Ma, she will have supper ready," he said.
They all returned to the cottage in dirty, stain-covered clothes and hands. Trying to sneak into the house down the hall, but they didn't make it too far, not even to the door. She was waiting for them, alright, sitting in a chair with arms crossed over her chest and box sitting right beside her. Giving them each a hard, cold stare, trying very hard not to laugh at the sight of them as she points to the box, then gives them a swift kick down the hall. "Dinner will be ready in one hour, boys," picking up the box of filthy clothes, shaking her head, smiled, watching them go.
Pa laughed, watching the boys go down the hall as Ma handed him the box and pointed him down the hall with a kiss on the cheek and a swift kick for him. "And you, too, mister. Now scoot," she said, handing him a towel as he put it over his shoulder, and down the hall he went.
After dinner and some light conversation before bed, Pa hands the girls a pad and pencil with a catalog. "As you ladies know, the house is nearly finished, so the boys and I are planning to go to Salt Lake City this weekend before Richard leaves for home to help pick things out for the house." Richard again sighed as Julie and Anna were shocked and saddened to see him go, and Martha still thought and still needed to find a way for him to stay here just a bit longer as she looked at Richard's disappointed face.
Martha could not help but feel sorry for him and, at the same time, stop worrying about that feeling that something was wrong, and something was coming when she looked down the road. Now Richard was leaving. There must be something she can do to prevent this from happening—not just for Wayne but for her, Danny, and possibly EJ. Could he help? Would he help? If he stayed, she asked herself.
"Wayne, dear," Ma asked, thumbing through the catalog. Would it be all right if we all went to Salt Lake City with you boys and helped pick out some of the appliances, and we could all shop for the house?" As she batted her eyes and turned on her womanly charms, curling up into his arms, the girls also begged.
Wayne could never resist his wife or daughters as he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, then rolled his eyes and laughed. "Alright, you can come." The girls hugged Pa and kiss on the cheek as Ma ran to the room, grabbing more catalogs for all of them to look at, even for the boys, as they rummaged through pages of wish books they would like to see in their new house. After a while, the little ones became tired and could barely keep their eyes open, and so were they, as it was a school night.
Pa and Ma send the kids to bed. Once again, they are alone as they walk down the road towards the farm to their favorite spot. They were taking each other by the hand, walking outside between their cottage and the farm. Wayne placed a shawl over Martha's shoulders, holding her tight against him as they looked at the moon. Talking of this and that as lovers do, Wayne takes Martha's hand in his lap and has his arm around her, leaning against her. They watched the stars and bright light autumn moon dance against the sky.
After a while, they returned to their cottage to tuck the children in before turning in themselves. The children were fast asleep, dreaming of their wishes and the farm as Robert mumbled in his sleep as he put Richard's hand back into bed again. Ma puts a blanket over the three boys with a kiss on their heads. Ma and Pa, close the door to each of the children's rooms, wishing them all goodnight with a kiss on the cheek before turning themselves in and thanking each other like they do every night before they fall asleep in each other's arms.
* * * *
Not far from up the road is another couple, one sleeping on a couch and the other sleeping in a bed down the hall. Doctor Morgan peers through the window, rubbing his little crooked chin. "Yes, my plan is working splendidly," he said, seeing Jim on the couch punching his pillow. I think it's about time I turned up the heat a bit," he replied, dissipating back into the shadows. "What I need now is a little diversion."
Taking his staff and whispered a silent spell around the house as the wind began to blow cold around the house; it shivered the very bones of any who dared pass by. "Let's see who else is in town," he said as the spell completed itself, and he glid along in shadow form. "Well, isn't that my old friend―Hmmm, that should work?"
Rubbing his crooked chin and laughing, he made a bird fall off his perch. He required the price and paid in full for his fellow friend, transferring an acclaimed soul as they screamed.