On the seventh of June, there was a field trip for everyone in Milleson
House. The women made up a picnic lunch and took it to the train
station to support Donna as she anxiously waited for the train that was
bringing her only son back home to her.
Mavis had a moment of deja vu as she saw the smoke from the locomotive
on the horizon, though she couldn't hear the zinging of the tracks this
time due to the large crowd on hand. Most of the town was
there, because this train would have a lot of soldiers on it.
There were no less than thirty-two men who fought in the war, and came
from Hampstead, Nebraska.
Rachel was even there, embarrassed as she was about the now noticeable
swell of her belly, that had announced to the town that she had been
indiscrete. Some people thought that perhaps her rapist got much
farther with her than she had admitted. Others thought not, and
that one of the married men had dallied with her, though there was no
evidence of that. While there were no known suspects, an awful
lot of women kept an eye on their husbands that day, watching to see if
there was anything that looked like guilty communication between the
harlot and their man. Her welcome, and the warm thoughts of most
of the townspeople toward her after the attack, suffered greatly when
it became known she was with child.
But Meg and Sally had insisted that she come, and they protected her
from the snorts of the women by simply proclaiming that they were
jealous. Rachel hadn't admitted anything to anyone at all, but
knowing that Bobby went to her house twice a week, and knowing Bobby,
they had their suspicions.
Finally the train came into view, far down the tracks. The five
piece band, made up of a battered tuba, a bugle, a drummer, a
clarinet and a fiddle, struck up a cacophony that was energetic, if not
in tune, playing "Over There" to the best of their ability.
They were playing it for the fifth time when the train groaned to a
hissing halt and the doors opened.
There was a hush of the crowd, and men, blinking in the bright sunlight, began stepping out of the coaches.
Bedlam ensued.
Two hundred and thirteen mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and other
relatives, as well as neighbors, roared their approval, drowning out
the poor band, which finally gave up because they couldn't hear
themselves playing. There was a surge and the men were
surrounded, beaten half to death by well meaning slaps on the back and
hugs that crushed them. Men were hugged and kissed by women they
didn't know, or weren't related to. All the hoarded excitement of
VE day was brought back and burst from those people and saturated the
soldiers.
Donna, who had seen a man she thought might be Wally, struggled through
the crowd, using her elbows like they were weapons, until she stood
facing a tall, thin man, now almost twenty-two years old, who looked
enough like her seventeen year old little boy that she was sure it was
him, but who was a stranger as well.
"Wally?" she said, her voice high and strained.
"Hi Mama," he said with a toothy grin.
Then he couldn't move because he had his mother wrapped around him like
a boa constrictor. When she was finally pried off of him there
was a stain where her tears had wet his shoulder. Then he got
hugs from women he had known existed, but had never actually paid any
attention to, as Meg, Prudence, Sally and Mavis all took their turns
with more gentle and polite hugs, but smiles just as big as his.
Donna babbled, trying to introduce them all. Rachel stayed back
with the children, who, at the uproar, had huddled around her
instinctively, looking around in wonder and not a little fear.
Things calmed down a little bit and Wally looked around, spotting the
two men he loved more than any other in the world, possibly more than
even his own father's memory. They were both standing awkwardly,
talking to complete strangers nearby. He waved at them and they
shuffled toward him, nodding and thanking the people who had welcomed
them, even though they'd never been in this town in their lives.
"Ma" said Wally, as the two men arrived in the little group.
"This is Ralph Carter" he gripped the arm of the taller man, who had
very dark hair and a scar across one cheek, "And this poor excuse for a
human being is Jimmy Franklin." Jimmy was shorter than both Ralph
and Wally, appeared older and had blond hair. "Ralph here
saved my life when we went ashore on Omaha beach in France. All
three of us have been together ever since."
Donna looked at Ralph, who was obviously embarrassed to be the center
of attention. She moved to him, took his face in her hands and,
oblivious of the fact that he was almost the same age as her son,
kissed him firmly on the lips. When she pulled back, he had a
dazed look on his face, and licked his lips.
"Thank you," said Donna with great dignity.
Ralph swallowed visibly. "Ma'am" he drawled with a southern accent. "You are most certainly welcome."
Then it was off to the picnic. When Donna apologized for all the
children being dragged along both Ralph and the soft spoken Jimmy said
that it was one of the nicest things that had happened to them since
they got back.
The women of Milleson House had no designs on the soldiers.
They were there just as a show of support for the returning heroes and
for Donna's sake. They tended the children, feeding them and
tried to keep them out of Donna's hair so she could talk to her son and
his friends.
The men, however, were quite interested in those women. They had
been gone for almost four years and the women they had seen, as Jimmy
would later describe them, were "beaten down, starved, and would do
anything in the world for a bar of chocolate." The men had felt
sorry for them, but in most cases the women didn't speak English
either, and just didn't appeal to them in a blatantly sexual way.
Besides that, the unit they were in was on the move constantly as the
battles progressed and Germany was penetrated.
Now, though, on a warm June afternoon, back in America, the vibrancy of
these women electrified all three lonesome soldiers. It was easy
for Donna to see as she plied them with questions.
The first thing she learned was that after their 30 day leave, which
everyone in the whole company had been compelled to take, they would
ship out to the Pacific Theater of Operations. They boasted that
they would do in Japan what they had done in Germany. Donna was
shocked by the seriousness they showed when they talked about
that. During those moments they were grim men, despite their
youthful appearance.
Ralph was only a year older than Wally and from Texas. He
had been notified that his parents had died of tuberculosis while he
was overseas. His sister and her husband were holding down the
fort in Brownsville and he wanted to get home for a few days before
they got shipped out again if he could figure out a way to get there.
Jimmy was twenty three and an orphan. When Donna heard that her
eyes got round and she excitedly explained about Milleson House.
She pointed out Bobby as their oldest and newest charge and described
how he had showed up. Without another word Jimmy got up and
went to talk to Bobby, even before Donna could explain that Bobby
couldn't talk.
Meg and Bobby were feeding children sandwiches and cole slaw when Meg
saw the shortest of the three men who had gotten off the train together
walking towards her. His eyes were on Bobby, and she wondered
what was happening. When he arrived he stood, casting his shadow
on Bobby, who looked up, his head turned.
"Miz Pratt says you ain’t got parents," he said abruptly.
Then he smiled, his teeth white against his face. "Me
neither. Joined the Army when I turned seventeen just to get out
of the place they had me in." He stuck out his hand.
Bobby almost spoke. He took in the breath, and his unused
vocal chords vibrated as he tried to introduce himself. He
clamped it off in a panic, and all that came out was a guttural
rasp. His hand, which had been rising to meet Jimmy's faltered
and fell back in his lap as he darted a glance at Meg to see what she
would do at the sound he had made.
Meg looked up. "Bobby can't talk. There's something wrong, and we don't know what it is," she said.
Jimmy looked startled, and sat down. "'S Okay" he said, holding
out his hand again. "We're still brothers, you 'n me, far's I'm
concerned."
Bobby grinned and shook the offered hand vigorously.
"Bobby's doing fine," said Meg, smiling at him. "He's even
employed. He carves wood. He's doing very well
indeed. We try to take good care of him." She pinked up
just a little at that last statement as she thought about just HOW they
took such good care of him.
Jimmy scratched his head. "I imagine I'd be doing just fine too
if I had a bunch of beautiful women taking care of me." He
grinned to show he had no salacious thoughts. He was pretty good
at covering for the fact that his thoughts were all salacious at that
point in the conversation. Meg was a good looking woman, with
fine thrusting breasts, and no ring on her hand to show she was
taken. She was, perhaps, an inch taller than Jimmy, but that
didn't matter to him in the least. "I never would have tried to
run away if there had been ladies like you around," he added.
Meg responded the way any other woman would have responded in that
situation. She was pleased. But, like any other
woman, she didn't want to APPEAR pleased. Not blatantly anyway.
"Why mister ... why I don't even know your name!" she said, with a little giggle.
"Jimmy Franklin, ma'am, at your service," he said, extending his hand
to her too. He looked over at Bobby. "You ain't claimed her
yet have you?" he joked. "Wouldn't want to horn in on a brother."
Bobby blinked. While he was adept at some adult actions, at least
in the bedroom and with tools in his hands, he had no social basis on
which to draw in this situation. Had he had time to think
about things, he might have figured it out, but Meg's outburst
shattered his concentration.
"Why Mister Franklin, you are embarrassing me! I don't
believe I've met such a forward man in my entire life!" Her
response was based on mixed emotions. Her first thought was to
protect Bobby. She was quite sure that no one outside Milleson
House would understand or appreciate her relationship with him.
By now she knew she was pregnant as well ... had lost the flat plane
that used to be her abdomen in fact. When she was dressed that
slight bulge wasn't noticeable yet, and she'd let out her dresses to
camouflage that rounded belly, trying to delay the inevitable scorn
that would be sent her way as soon as the townspeople knew her
condition. At the same time she was flattered at attention from a
grown man, and she wasn't prepared to deal with that eventuality.
She hadn't spent much time thinking about normal relationships, because
they had seemed so far away. She can't be blamed for the fact
that the men, like Jimmy, who would normally have pursued her, were all
off at war. What complicated things was her urge to dismiss him
forthwith, avoiding the inevitable disgust he'd reveal when he found
out she was with child ... while at the same time craving his attention.
Jimmy looked back at her with a very frank ... and very adult
appraisal. "Ma'am, it would hurt me to my very bones to
cause you pain. I shall withdraw if that would ease your concern."
His sudden change to dignified ... and surprisingly educated speech,
threw Meg another curve ball. It so startled her that, instead of
accepting his offer to withdraw, she blurted: "You needn't withdraw,
sir ... merely behave." It came out as a mild admonishment,
rather than the dismissal she knew was for the best.
Jimmy, unable to behave on the instant, grinned and said "I'll behave
if it will let me stay near to you, that's for sure." Then he
blinked. "I don't imagine it would be too forward to ask your
name ... would it?"
Now Meg blushed again. "I'm sorry. Where are my
manners? Meg. Meg Johnson. Happy to meet you mister
Franklin," she said.
"I'd be tickled if you'd just call me Jimmy," he said. Then,
throwing her yet another loop, he turned back to Bobby. "So,
iff'n you can't talk, how the heck do you get by?"
Bobby whipped out a sheet of paper from his pocket, along with his
pencil stub, and scribbled quickly. Meg heard squabbling
and saw that Patrick and Jerry were arguing over the last
sandwich. She went to resolve the matter. When she looked
back, Jimmy and Bobby had their heads together, and Bobby was writing
more.
When Donna saw where Jimmy had gone, even though she couldn't hear the
conversation, she saw him stick out his hand and eventually get it
shaken. She turned back to her son and his remaining friend.
"Well, with Meg right there I doubt we'll be seeing much of him for a while," she said, half joking.
Wally laughed. "I remember her, but not like that."
Donna turned to Ralph. "And what about you? A handsome man like yourself must have a girl somewhere, right?"
Ralph looked morose. "There was a girl back home, but she got
married while I was gone." His eyes drifted to Prudence, who was
playing catch with Terrence.
Donna saw where he was looking and her lips thinned. "I don't
think she's the one for you," she said. "Her husband was over
there with you boys and he dumped her for some French tart. He
even sent her divorce papers. I don't imagine she's got much
patience with soldiers right now."
"Man must be off his feed to abandon a woman like that," said Ralph,
half under his breath. Like other men, he let his eyes drift
across Sally, but not light on her.
Donna nodded. She wanted to talk to Wally some more, so she
tossed off something to get off the subject. "Well, I'm sure
there will be a dance in honor of your return. You could ask her
to it, but don't be surprised if she throws something at you."
Then she turned back to her son and began peppering him with questions
about where he'd been, and what he'd seen, and how he was and so on.
Unnoticed by either his best friend, or his best friend's mother, Ralph
stood up to take a walk. His walk took him vaguely in the
direction of one Mrs. Prudence Watson, soon to be divorced.
The object of Ralph's interest missed a wild throw of the balled up
sock that the children often played catch with. It had been made
heavier by rolling three more socks up inside and then folding the
outside sock down, twisting it and folding it over the lump
again. What resulted was between the size of a hardball and
softball, and if it hit you it didn't hurt. She twisted,
reaching as the "ball" sailed over her head and to the left, and saw
the sock caught by one of the soldiers who was with Donna's son.
She saw it was the tall one, with the scar on his cheek. He held
the sock out to her.
"Thank you," she said, somewhat stiffly. What she saw most
was his uniform ... the same uniform her husband had been wearing when
he left her.
"Ma'am?" came the man's deep voice ... much deeper than George's
voice. She looked up again. "I just wanted to say how sorry
I am about how things turned out for you."
"What?" asked Prudence, astonished.
"Wally's mom explained what happened with your husband and all, and I
just wanted you to know that not all of us behaved like that over
there."
Prudence was horrified that this strange man knew about her ...
situation. The first thing she thought of was the fistfuls of
hair she was going to pull out of Donna's head the first chance she
got. She was so mad she sputtered, unable to say anything.
Ralph held up his hands. "Now don't get all riled up,
Ma'am. I'll leave you in peace. I just wanted you to know
that hard as things was over there, a man would have to be plumb loco
to abandon a woman like you. That's all. I just wanted to
say that."
Ralph Carter was not a sophisticated man. He was from a culture
where a man said what he meant, and meant what he said. Most
times, whatever it was that was said wasn't held against a man either,
as far as that went, whether people agreed with him or not. He,
too, had left home when he was young, being eighteen on the seventh of
December, 1941, and since then his world had been that of men. He
didn't put on airs, and what he had done to save Wally's life he would
have done for any other man. He didn't know how to talk to a
woman, especially a woman as beautiful as he thought Prudence Watson
was. So, having said his piece, he turned around and walked back
towards his friend.
Prudence sat, dumbstruck. The man had paid her a compliment,
strange as it might have been. And then he had just walked away
from her. As mad as she was at Donna, something in her wished
that the man had stayed a little longer. Then she decided that
she would just have yelled at him, and something in her was glad he
HADN'T stayed, and that she HADN'T had the opportunity to heap all her
scorn on him.
"PRU!"
Her concentration was fragmented by Terrence's insistent call for her to throw him the sock again.
This time she was the one who threw wildly.
Wally answered all his mother's questions as his eyes roved over the
scene, drinking in the normality of it. Battle had been
terrifying, and he had almost broken under the strain, like many other
men. Seeing his friends die had hardened him in some ways, and
had made him reflect often on the meaning of life. As his mother
peppered him with questions, his eyes lit on the blond woman who was
reading a book to a group of smaller children. She sat awkwardly,
her legs folded under her and to one side. She was
obviously pregnant and, like many pregnant women, she was beautiful in
a way that tugged at a man's heart.
Unknown to his mother, Wally was not a virgin. While he had been
in temporary billets, waiting for his troopship, certain that he was
going off to die, he had taken a walk in the biggest city he'd ever
seen in his life. He'd been approached by a whore, offering him
something he'd never had before. She too had been pregnant,
though not so much as the woman he was looking at now. His first
impulse had been to scorn the whore, but as he looked through the dirt
on her unwashed face, he saw a girl, about his own age, down on her
luck. He had wanted to just give her some money, but she insisted
that the man watching them would beat her if she didn't perform for her
"fee", and he had allowed her to take him to a dingy room, where she
initiated him into the ways of being a man. He couldn't look at
her as anything other than the poor girl she was as, bit by bit he
pulled her story from her. Then she had sat atop him, riding him
to a release that he could still remember if he closed his eyes, and it
was quiet. He could still see the swell of the child some other
man had put into her, that soft white curve of her belly, riding right
on top of what felt so amazing to him.
Now, as he stared at the blond woman, her image was superimposed on the
thin face, with the dank, oily hair, of the girl who had taken his
virginity. He flushed and felt guilty.
Donna saw consternation in her son's face and looked to see what was
troubling him. He was looking at Rachel. She frowned.
"She's the school teacher. A man tried to rape her.
She's not married. Things are ... difficult for her now," she
said.
Wally looked at his mother. "Tried ... to rape her?" he asked.
Donna signed. "Bobby, the boy your friend Jimmy is talking to,
stopped it. Or at least we thought he stopped it. He hit
the rapist on the head and killed him. She's always claimed that
the man didn't finish the rape. Events suggest otherwise,
though," she finished. Donna, like many others in Milleson House,
was fairly sure that Bobby had something to do with that swollen belly,
but she wasn't going to pursue that. Especially not, considering
what role Bobby played in her own life.
"She's beautiful," said Wally.
"She's a sweet girl," said his mother.
"Really?" asked Wally.
"She's a sweet ... pregnant girl," cautioned his mother.
"I can see that mother," said the young man.
"There are a lot of sweet un-pregnant girls out there to dear," said Donna.
"True," said her son, who was suddenly much more independent than his
mother remembered ... or appreciated right now. "But I bet there
aren't a whole lot of them un-pregnant who are that good looking."
"Wally," asked Donna, curious now, "Why would you even be interested in
a woman who is already pregnant with another man's child?"
Wally blinked, like he hadn't been actually paying attention to their conversation.
"I don't know," he said truthfully. "I guess it just doesn't
matter if she's not married and interested in me. I just like the
way she is sitting there with the kids. She looks like a mother
and I think mothers are kind of sexy."
Donna arched an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked.
Wally looked at his mother calmly. "Look at you. You're a mother and you're sexy."
"Wally!" said Donna, blushing. "That's a completely inappropriate thing to say to your mother!"
"Hey, the truth is the truth," he said, looking back at Rachel. "I think I'm going to go introduce myself."
Donna stared at him, unbelieving as he rose and sauntered toward the group of children, being read to by their teacher.
Rachel saw the soldier coming, but didn't pay much attention to
him. She was concentrating on trying to read like Meg read, using
different voices, and inflection that made the story come alive.
The children ignored the soldier too, their full attention on the story.
"... and they lived happily ever after," pronounced Rachel at the
end. The children called for more stories, but Rachel told them
to run and play in the warm air. "You'll get all fat like me if
you sit around all the time," she said. She put the book down on
the blanket and leaned back to stretch her back, putting her legs out
in front of her. It was then that she realized the soldier
was still standing a few feet away. He had obviously been
listening to her read.
"You're a fine story teller Ma'am," he said.
"Thank you," she said, aware of her bulging belly. "You should hear Meg read to them though. She's fabulous."
"I haven't heard that story since I was their age," said Wally.
"Who would have thought that a grown man would enjoy listening to a
children's tale? I'm Wally," he said. "Mind if I sit down?"
Rachel wasn't exactly afraid of strangers. She knew that when
that man had attacked her, it was an aberration. Still, she was
startled, and a little nervous. Why would this man want to
talk to her? No one else in town did, with the exception of the
women at Milleson House.
"It's a free country," she said. It suddenly occurred to
her how banal that sounded. "Of course, we have you to thank for
that," she added, feeling foolish.
Wally settled in beside her on the blanket. "Somebody had to do
it," he said casually. "So you're the teacher. I went to
school here, and the teacher didn't look anything like you."
Rachel looked at the young man strangely. If she didn't know
better she'd have thought he was flirting with her. Maybe he was
making fun of her. She knew men had the capacity to be
unbelievably cruel. She didn't want to think that Donna's son was
that way, but she decided to find out.
"I'm sure your teacher was married and probably not ... with child," she said evenly.
Wally looked up at the clouds. "True, but I was thinking more of
how gray her hair was, and how bony she was, and how she frowned all
the time. She was pretty free with that ruler of hers too.
I imagine I'd be a lot smarter today if she'd have been a beautiful
young woman such as yourself." He pointed at a grouping of
clouds, changing the subject suddenly. "Hey, there's one that
looks like a Sherman tank!"
Rachel didn't know what to think. The young man had paid her an
obvious compliment, almost a forward one. It was as if he were
blind to the evidence that she was a slut. Rachel was not unhappy
that she carried Bobby's baby in her womb. What he had done for
her deserved recognition of the highest order, and as far as she was
concerned, having his child was that kind of highest recognition.
What she was unhappy about was the way she was treated. She
couldn't tell people why she'd done what she'd done. If she did
that they'd treat Bobby the same way, maybe even worse. As a
result, they all just assumed she was a slut. But this man didn't
seem to see the negative.
"Thank you," she said belatedly. Then "I'm not sure I know what a Patton tank looks like."
So Wally pointed out the cloud mass he was referring to, and then to
another that looked like a dog. That caused Rachel to want to
talk about Bobby's carvings of dogs. On impulse she called to
Bobby, who was not far away, being ridden like a horse by Patrick, next
to one of the other soldiers, who was providing the same service to
June Bug. there was a line of children chasing both "horses",
waiting for their turn to ride. Bobby trundled over towards her,
crawling quickly and jostling Patrick, who screamed and yelled like a
cowboy.
"Bobby, do you have one of your carvings with you today?" asked Rachel.
Bobby reared, trying to buck off Patrick, who clung to his throat and
laughed. Reaching into his pocket Bobby took out a small carving
he had been working on with his knife. He still liked to whittle
and carve that way, though he spent most of his free time working on
larger projects. He handed it to Rachel, who handed it to Wally.
It was a cat, curled up and sleeping, its tail wrapped around it.
It was almost finished. It was made out of cherry wood, and was
so finely carved you felt like you could see the individual hairs on
its back.
"Wow!" said Wally with appreciation. He looked at Rachel,
who was still looking at Bobby. He saw love in her face for the
boy. His mother had said this boy saved her from the rape, or
that people had thought he had saved her. "Is this for sale?" he
asked, looking up at Bobby.
Bobby shook his head. Carvings like this were being saved to be
given away as gifts. He wanted to make sure he had enough for all
the women in the house, and Rachel, before he gave one to anybody.
"It should be," suggested Wally, handing it back to Bobby. "It's
the kind of thing that would make a perfect gift for somebody like this
pretty lady here."
Rachel suddenly realized she'd never introduced herself. She bit
her lip, though, ambivalent about encouraging this strange young man.
"Thank you Bobby," she said. He turned, and was set upon by Jenny
who, at ten years of age, had long enough legs that they dragged the
ground when she mounted her steed. She didn't care, though, and
slapped his butt with her hand, yelling "giddy up horsy". Bobby
bucked a little and then plodded off as she slapped at his butt again,
yelling for him to go faster.
"Nice kid," said Wally, on a hunch.
"He's wonderful," said Rachel with more feeling than she realized.
Wally could understand how being saved from rape would endear a woman
to a boy ... no, man, like that. Bobby appeared to be of an age
where he was eligible for service.
"My mom said he can't talk," said Wally.
"Yes" said Rachel, still watching Bobby frolic with the children.
"It's very sad. He's very smart. He can read as well as I
can almost."
"How would you know?" asked Wally.
She said "I spend a lot of extra time with him, and he writes me
notes." She turned back to Wally, feeling like she was
being interrogated. "He's not eligible for service."
"Oh, I know," said Wally, looking back up at the sky. "My mom
told me what happened. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"You don't even know me," said Rachel. "Why would you care?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you look like somebody I'd like to get to know. Then would it be all right if I cared?"
Rachel was embarrassed. This man had been nothing but civil to her, and she was treating him badly.
"It's just that most people don't ... approve ... they don't want to get to know me," she said.
"I'm not like most people," he said, looking over at her. "Would it be all right if I called on you?"
Rachel felt flustered. This was so outside her expectations she
was at a loss. The girl in her said "Yes, that would be all
right." Then she added. "I don't imagine your mother would
be impressed, though."
"My mother is a nice woman, almost as beautiful as you are," he
said. "I'm going to spend some time with her too." He
grinned. "But I can't hope for holding her hand, or maybe
stealing a kiss from her. People would REALLY be in an uproar if
I did that. Being seen with you won't be nearly so controversial."
Rachel felt a flush of warmth in her chest. "You, mister Pratt, are a very forward man."
Wally smiled, and looked at her pregnant abdomen. "I think we
have more in common than you might realize," he said. "I'm
not concerned with your past, other than to wish that it had been
happier. And I'm not concerned about what people think who
haven't been where I've been, or seen what I've seen. I'd just
like to spend some time with you and see how things go. Maybe
I'll get that kiss, and maybe not. But spending time with you
will be fun even if all I get is a slap in the face."
It was the kind of speech a woman in Rachel's situation would dream to
hear, and her heart fluttered in her chest. Wally gave her a
relaxed salute and got up.
"Now I'd better go spend some time with that other beautiful woman I
mentioned, or I might not get any supper. He grinned and trod off
towards Donna, who had joined Mavis in cleaning up the ruin left by
hungry, but distracted children.
The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly, and the men helped herd
the children back to Milleson House. Wally spent most of his time
with his mother. Both Jimmy and Ralph had been lassoed into being
horses, and had become favorites of the children. Still, Jimmy
seemed to be near Meg frequently, and Ralph spent plenty of time in the
vicinity of Prudence. When it was time to go the knees of
their uniform pants were stained green. Mavis ordered them to
bring the pants to her and she would clean them.
"Least I can do for you," she said firmly.
"Sure thing ma'am" said Jimmy, looking at Meg. "I'd like to see
this orphanage of yours anyhow. From what I've seen it can't be
anything like the ones I was ever in."
Mavis snorted. "You might see the orphanage," she commented, "but I doubt that's what you'll be looking at."
Both Meg and Jimmy flushed. But both smiled too.
"I'll ride herd on him ma'am," drawled Ralph.
Mavis arched her eyebrow at him. "If you can tear yourself away
from other interests," she said, glancing at Prudence. Prudence
was suddenly very busy looking elsewhere. Ralph just smiled.
On the way back to the orphanage, the children traded off riding on the
shoulders of Bobby and the three soldiers, who were already loaded down
with their kits.
None of them complained.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
That night at supper the mood was euphoric, with the possible exception
of Sally. She had seen the same thing happen that day that
always happened. Men just weren't interested in her. She
tried hard to be happy for Meg and Prudence, and she was pleasantly
amazed at Wally's interest in Rachel. But her face was back to
its normal unsmiling visage as she dealt with supper. She was
distracted during the evening radio mystery, and was still feeling
sorry for herself when she opened the door to her room and went in,
wondering if she'd be able to get to sleep.
Bobby was in her bed, and he was naked. She'd forgotten completely that it was Wednesday.
He smiled at her and her heart melted. She was blinded by
tears of mixed happiness and disgust with herself for feeling so alone.
"Ohhh Bobby" she moaned, and she ran to the bed, flinging herself on
top of him and kissing him urgently. They fumbled with her
clothing, and she was almost mad with desire by the time he got her
dress off of her. She let him remove her panties and threw her
legs wide in welcome. Her groan of satisfaction was loud as
she sheathed his stiff prick deep in her belly.
On this night Sally was, again, insatiable, as she drank in everything
Bobby had to offer her. Finally she slept, entwined in his arms.
Her smile was back.
In another house, on a farm nearby, three weary fighting men bedded
down together in Wally's room. Donna had offered them individual
rooms, but they delined. They had slept together for years, in
conditions much worse than this, and neither Jimmy nor Ralph complained
that his bed was on the floor. Donna provided blankets enough
that one could be rolled up for a pillow. For the men it was, if
not heaven, close enough for now.
They talked in the dark, as men do on a campout, or hunting trip, and
the women were discussed in intimate detail that would have embarrassed
them had they known. Breasts and hips were compared and judged
better than the other man's pick. Wally got guff for being
interested in a woman who had obviously spread her legs for another
man. They didn't know about the girl who'd taken his virginity.
"She's beautiful, and intelligent," said Wally, who claimed his own bed
that first night, but offered to trade out in nights to come.
"And she was raped, or almost raped. Either way, she can have
more babies in the future. I'd sure like to see what one of mine
would look like coming from her."
"That's just plain nuts," said Ralph. "She's been ridden already, pardner."
"Well, maybe she's broke for riding, but the way I see it, that just
means she'll be more gentle," quipped Wally. "At least I'll be
able to stay in the saddle." He grinned in the dark.
"There is that," admitted Ralph. "And I have to admit that Prudence has been broke to ride too."
"Right now I don't care if they're ALL pregnant," said Jimmy,
completely unaware of his prophetic comment. "I ain't seen a
woman like Meg in longer than I can remember. I'm hard as nails
right now just thinking 'bout her."
"Don't mess up my mamma's blankets" warned Wally, laughing. "She'd have my head."
"Never you mind 'bout that, buddy," said Jimmy. "I'm saving it up for later."
There was the usual joking banter about dreams they had about what
might happen, and of getting slapped for pursuing those dreams, and
ending up with blue balls as each man claimed that HE would be
successful, but the others would fail in their pursuit of their chosen
women.
All of them went to sleep with hardons before it was finished.
Over the next three weeks the soldiers, perhaps because they were used
to pursuing their mission to the end, bitter or sweet, were relentless
in their pursuit of the women who had caught their eye.
Wally visited the school first, and convinced Rachel to have dinner
with him at the restaurant in the saloon. That caused a
sensation, which they both ignored. She was nervous about
letting him come to her house, primarily because she was sure that
tongues would wag. When it occurred to her that tongues were
already wagging, and had been for months, she put her attention on this
amazing man and stopped caring. He'd be gone in less than a
month, and she wanted to enjoy the facade of normality he brought to
her.
By the time they'd known each other for a week, and he began wanting to
spend the afternoons with her, she felt compelled to talk to Bobby
about it. She explained that this man wanted to be with her
during the times they usually spent in bed, and asked him how he felt
about that.
"Do you like him?" he wrote.
She nodded, a strange reversal of their usual roles.
"Then you should spend time with him," wrote Bobby.
Wally spent the first two weeks just talking, or listening to her read,
or walking with her, hand in hand. He talked little about
the war, but talked much about the places he'd seen, and the people
he'd met.
Rachel was smitten.
When, two weeks before he was to ship out, he calmly said "I'd sure like to try for that kiss now Rachel."
Still unbelieving, she let him kiss her. His kiss was
different than Bobby's. The stubble on his face was rough, and he
tasted different. But his kisses were just as hot, and Rachel was
just as horny as she was with Bobby.
A week before he left, he relived his one sexual escapade, as the
skinny girl's image was replaced forever by Rachel. Blond,
pale and round, she rode his stiff prick until it bulged and spat her
full of Pratt seed, his hands caressing the bulge made by the life
inside her. He loved her, and didn't care where the baby
had come from. He would love it too.
Every day until he left, he tried to impress on her how much it meant
to him that she would grace him with her love. And every day she
fell more and more under his spell as he held out to her more than she
ever thought she'd be offered.
For Jimmy and Meg it was a much more easy-going relationship. His
light heartedness, and the interest he showed in her were both welcome
to a girl who hadn't been on a date since before the war
started. They found it easy to talk and Meg was giddy,
except for the fact that she was pregnant, and nobody knew it
yet. That bothered her a lot. It bothered her so much she
asked Jimmy what he thought about Wally's interest in Rachel.
"I don't know," he said, as they walked along the street. She had
actually taken her days off for two weeks in a row, and had spent most
of each day with Jimmy. They walked, her fingers loosely held in
two of his. "I mean if he likes her, and it doesn't bother him,
then who am I to say anything about it?"
"But you wouldn't want to be seen with a pregnant woman," she said, her hopes fading.
"I never thought about it. Why, are you pregnant too?" He grinned, thinking he had made a joke.
But her reaction to that wasn't to slap him, or laugh, or call him a
name. She just walked on, and pulled her fingers from his.
"Uh oh," said Jimmy, stopping. "I said something bad, didn't I?"
Meg held back her tears. "You won't want to be seeing me any more, I suppose."
Jimmy's reaction to that was not what she expected.
"What the heck is in the water 'round here?" he said. "That
Rachel girl and now you too? How the heck did this happen?"
Meg, who knew exactly how it had happened, and who, up to now had
decided that she would raise Bobby's baby proudly, despite what she
knew would happen when people found out, got a little surly.
"You know how it happened," she said. "It happened the way every baby gets made.
"But I thought you didn't have a man friend," said Jimmy helplessly.
"I don't," she said. "And I'm not telling anyone who made this
baby in me either!" she said hotly. "This was a special
situation, and I can't talk about it ... won't talk about it."
"Hey," he said, holding up his hands. "Don't be all mad at me. I didn't do it."
"No, but you COULD have!" she cried. She rubbed her fists into
her eyes, forcing herself to stop crying by will alone. She
was not going to break down in front of this man. "If only I'd
have met you before. It could have been you! But you
were off in that stupid war, instead of here, making me happy. So
somebody ELSE had to make me happy!" She was on a roll now, but
Jimmy let it all roll off of him. Her comments suggested she was
more interested in him than she had let on. He let her finish,
and she stood there, quivering.
"OK" he said calmly. "You got that off your chest? I
thought we were on a walk here." He reached for her hand and
started walking. He had to pull to get her moving.
"Some day I have to hear the story of how this happened. You're
no tramp. Believe me, I know a tramp when I see one. So
I'll take it on your word that something important happened, and the
guy can't take credit for it. Maybe that's what happened to Miss
Rachel too."
"But you don't hate me?" whined Meg.
"Meg, I got to confess that I been tryin' to get under your skirts ever
since I saw you. Now that don't make me any better or worse than
the man that got there first. Least that's the way I see
it. Hell, I never had a girlfriend who was pretty and
smart. I kind of thought I'd like to try that for a while."
They walked on for a while, quietly.
"How can you be interested in a fallen woman?" she asked finally.
He looked at her. "One way of lookin' at things is that, if I
should happen to get lucky enough to get under your skirts ... I shore
won't be able to knock you up all accidental like."
"That's a bit crude," said Meg, pulling at her hand. He held on tightly.
"Another way of lookin' at things is that anybody can make a mistake,
but that don't mean they have to be punished more than yore labor pains
are goin' to punish you later on."
He stopped and faced her, taking her other hand too.
"I like you Meg. I like you a lot. It was strange
circumstances that brought us together here, and I suppose it's strange
circumstances that happened before I got here. But if you don't
plan on taking up with the father of what's inside you, then I'd kind
of like to have somebody to come back to when this war is over."
"You'd come back to me?" she squeaked.
"Wally's offered both Ralph and me room and board for helping him work
the farm after the war. When things get goin' we'll even get some
pay. Maybe some day I'll have a place of my own. Here's as
good a place as any to start a family. If you think about
it, I even got a head start on that!" He grinned. Then his
face got serious. "And no little baby should be without a mamma
AND a pappa. I know what that's like, and it shouldn't happen to
anybody."
Meg looked at his face. He wasn't the handsomest man she'd ever
seen, and he wasn't as educated as some men she'd met. She had
noticed that his speech got much better sometimes, like he was putting
on a hick face, and sometimes forgot to keep that up. He was like
Bobby, an orphan who made his way in the world as best he
could. He intrigued her, and she liked him too.
"Have you ever been skinny dipping?" she asked him, turning to lead him to the creek, where a wide turn held fairly deep water.
As Jimmy would tell it later, to his two best friends, he found out
what had attracted Wally to a good looking pregnant woman. When
Meg dropped her clothing on the bank of the creek, she stood
proudly. There was only a gentle swell to her belly, making it
round enough that what her clothes hid, was plain to see when her soft
abdomen was revealed. He stopped his description there, though, because
what else he saw he wanted to keep just to himself.
He was only down to his pants when she stood naked before him, and it
stopped him cold. He, like Bobby, had been housed in places where
he never got to see what a woman's body looked like. He had
told lies about being with women, while he was in the Army, but Meg was
the first woman he'd seen like this. Being older, and hearing the
other men talk, he had a much better grasp of the sex act than Bobby
had. But he was still a virgin, and this woman was
not. He suddenly got cold feet. What if he didn't do
it right? What if he couldn't do it at all? His prick,
which had firmed up nicely, began to wilt. He didn't want
to take his pants off.
Meg stood and watched him, saying nothing. Similar fears were
going through her mind. What if he found her ugly, with her
swollen belly? What if, after she had made herself naked in front
of him, he didn't want her any more? Her proud shoulders
drooped. When he didn't move, she bent to pick up her dress.
"I understand," she said miserably. "They were nice words, but ..."
"NO!" he blurted. "Wait ... please. It's just that
... well, I'm kind of ashamed to say this, but ... well, I never done
this before."
"But ... you said you wanted to ..." said Meg, confused now.
"Oh hell, men lie about all kinds of stuff," he said. When she
winced he held up his hands. "NO! I don't mean I was lying
about that. Not about you. Oh this isn't going good
at all!" he said. "What I mean is I want to, but I don't know
how. I don't want to ..." He trailed off.
Meg's hopes were rekindled. "Fail?" she said.
He hung his head. "Yeah ... fail."
What she'd done with Bobby raced through her mind. Bobby had made
her feel beautiful and desirable and loved. She would always love
Bobby for who he was, and what they'd shared. Now, here was
another orphan who she could experience things with ... teach things.
"You won't fail," she said, dropping her dress again, and stepping toward him. "I won't let you fail."
She went to him and said "Let me." She knelt in front of him,
working at his pants until they gaped open. She worked them
down, pulling his drawers down with them and baring his limp
penis. She was amazed at how similar it looked to Bobby's,
but how different it was too. She looked up at him, through her
lashes.
"It's quite handsome." She felt foolish. "I've only seen
one other, but yours compares nicely." Then she felt even
sillier, and blushed.
Now Meg's inexperience came into play. She wasn't aware that oral
sex wasn't widely known of or practiced in the 1940s. She just
did what she'd done with Bobby. Grasping his penis, she
leaned forward and sucked it into her mouth. She'd brought
Bobby's from this state to full rigidity, and she knew how to do that.
Jimmy had heard of this, but hadn't believed the men who claimed it was
the best thing since sliced bread. He decided he owed them an
apology. Within half a minute, he was, as he had characterized
it, "hard as nails."
Meg pulled of his now rampant prick. "I like it better this way," she said. "Do you want to go swimming now?"
"No ma'am, I do not," croaked the soldier.
"Good," said Meg. She sat him down on the grass and pulled
the pants off his feet, after unlacing his boots. He lay back,
staring at her as she worked.
"Meg, honey," he said. "You have got the most beautiful breasts in the whole world."
"Thank you," she said, her confidence soaring. "Would you like to taste them?"
"More than anything I can think of," he panted.
Meg had learned from Bobby about being on top of him. Sometimes
he liked her to be that way, and he played with her breasts when she
rode him like that. She straddled Jimmy and, putting one hand on
his chest, squatted slowly, bringing her pussy down to meet the stiff
prick she held in her other hand. She notched it, and sank
gratefully down on it with a sigh.
Jimmy gasped as his prick was covered by heat. Then she
leaned forward and dangled one of those fabulous breasts in his
face. He sucked at the nipple, lifting his head, as she began to
rock on him.
Meg, used to being able to bring her orgasms almost on command now,
decided to have a quick one, just in case he got overexcited.
When it happened, she told him it was happening, and she told him how
happy he was making her. When her pussy rippled along his prick,
he groaned and gave Meg the only other seed she'd ever had in her body
besides Bobby's.
They lay together, catching their breath, and Meg kissed him for the first time. He laughed when the kiss was over.
"I never figured to do what we just did before I ever kissed the girl," he said.
"I really am a hussy," she said, but she didn't feel all that guilty any more.
He had to pee, and jumped up to go do that into a bush. When he came back she was looking at him with tears in her eyes.
"You have scars too," she said. "On your back."
"That's over and done with," he said gruffly. Then he was curious. "Scars like who?"
"Bobby," she said shortly. "He's got them all down his back, even
on his legs and rear. It breaks my heart," she moaned.
Jimmy thought about the fact that Meg knew what Bobby's naked backside
looked like. That thought buzzed in his mind. When would
she have seen that? He knew the boy had been sent to Milleson
House by mistake. Mavis had asked him about that. And
he'd only been at the orphanage a short time. So, he was as fully
grown when she saw him as he was now, for the most part.
He looked at Meg.
"It was Bobby, wasn't it?"
Meg covered her face with her hands and cried.
Jimmy felt heat build in his chest, that threatened to burst out. "Did he force you?" he asked heavily.
Meg's hands flew away from her face, shock showing there. "Oh
no!" she said. "I was just giving him a bath. We didn't
know how smart he was then, and we thought he was simple
minded. And while I washed him ... things got kind of
complicated," she ended.
"But he didn't force you?" he asked again, the heat fading slowly.
"No" she said. "I'm a trollop ... a hussy. I seduced him,"
she moaned. "He was so scarred up, and seemed so sweet.
He's never forced me to do anything." Her memory of losing her
maidenhead had altered over the months. Until recently - very
recently - it was one of the high points of her life.
Jimmy reached over and smoothed his hand over Meg's humped abdomen.
"So this is my little brother's baby in there?" he asked.
She nodded, her eyes red. "He's not really your brother," she sniffled.
With very serious eyes, Jimmy said "We're all brothers and sisters, who
come from those places. He's my brother all right. We're
family as far as I'm concerned." He stroked her belly
again, sliding his hand to her breast.
"My brother's baby," he mused. "I think I can live with that," he said, leaning in for another kiss.
This time Jimmy got on top of her, and, as he experienced sliding his
stiff cock in and out of a welcoming, loving woman for the first time
in his life, he asked her to be his bride.
Prudence also had a lot on her mind as Ralph pursued her. Like
the others, her cherished time with Bobby had become so important that
she hadn't paid as much attention to her cycle as she should
have. The result was that, as of June the fifteenth, she was
exactly two weeks overdue for her "monthly trial" as she thought of
it. She had never been late in her life. Her suspicions,
voiced to Donna three weeks earlier, had born out true. She was
quite sure that she was pregnant. She had always wanted to be
pregnant, but not quite this way.
Now, she had been notified that her husband was seeking a divorce, and
she would probably have to find some other place to live.
Ralph’s attentions were unwelcome, since he was a soldier, but
welcome, since he was a nice man, who treated her with respect.
She actually liked him a lot, even though she tried not to show
it. She didn't know what to do, and she couldn't talk to anyone
about it except Donna, who was busy with her son. Had she known
that Meg was showing, and that Sally too had missed two periods, she
might have done things differently.
But the truth of it was that she saw Ralph as a possible way out of her
predicament. She would later confess to him what had happened,
based on true and deep love she felt for him then. And, he would
forgive her, but she didn't know that now, of course.
But for now, her motives were less than sterling. She didn't feel
good about it, but she did what she thought she needed to do. She
accepted his attention, and encouraged it. She knew Donna would
give her fits later, but ... that would be later.
Within three weeks she felt terrible. He really WAS a nice man,
with a quick wit who made her laugh. He was a strong and
dependable man too, from what she could see. He told her about
Wally's offer of employment, and how he dreamed of having a
family. He had saved almost all his Army pay, and had a nest egg
that would allow him to buy land, or perhaps start a business when the
war was over.
As he showed her what a decent man he was, she felt worse and worse
about what she was hiding from him. But she kept her mouth
closed, and continued with her plan.
At the 4th of July picnic, she had no trouble at all succumbing to his
advances and she led him to her house, where they made wild, sweet love
in her bed. She cried tears of shame, mixed with tears of
joy. Had she been a less desperate woman, she might have broken
under the strain.
Three days later she kissed Ralph goodbye at the train station. He asked her to wait for him, and she said she would.
To punish herself, she told Bobby that they could not make love any
longer ... that she belonged to Ralph now. She did not tell
him that he had made her pregnant. She only felt worse when Bobby
wrote her a note, telling her how glad he was for her new found
happiness.
She had to tell Donna then what she was doing. She couldn't bear
to have Bobby making love to Donna in her house any more. Donna
was disgusted with her, and tried to talk her out of her deceit, but
Prudence begged her to leave it alone. After that Bobby went to
Donna's house on Saturdays.
Mavis could feel the change in the mood of the house when the men
shipped off to war. She understood the fear that the girls
felt. Meg had announced her engagement to Jimmy, and Prudence
made a happy face when she said she was promised to Ralph, saying
nothing about the baby inside her. Donna stopped talking to
her unless it was absolutely necessary.
In another few weeks Meg was showing through her clothes, and Sally as
well. Prudence, later in August started showing too. Mavis,
along with Sally, had seen no need to deprive herself of Bobby's
affections, and had missed the first period she had ever wanted badly
to arrive.
All in all, things were glum indeed. The reaction of the
townsfolk wasn't quite as negative as Mavis would have expected.
She kept Sally and Meg in the house as long as she could, and their
first exposure to the public view as obviously pregnant ladies didn't
come until September. Prudence had already been seen to be heavy
around the middle as she shopped for food. As luck would have it,
there were two or three other women in town who needed bigger
dresses. Two of those women were married to soldiers on that
train. One was the sister of a soldier. People
in town counted back, and remembered that trainload of lonely GIs, and
made assumptions that were not as negative as if those soldiers had not
been around. Somehow, the idea that lonely soldiers might have
strayed with the women didn't seem so bad as it might otherwise have.
Though the people of Hampstead Nebraska weren't aware of it, what would
come to be known as the Baby Boom of the late forties had begun.
War news was now avidly sought by more than just Donna, and Bobby and
Mavis played with the children while the adults huddled around the
radio set. Rachel became a constant visitor, and listened with
them.
The attitude of the women toward Bobby was something a good doctoral thesis on psychology could have been based on.
Donna might have been the best study. Only Prudence knew that she
too was involved with Bobby sexually. The others thought their
secrets were secrets. But Donna wasn't stupid, and when bellies
began to swell all around her it didn't take long for her to make
assumptions about who was "responsible". Rather than making
her slack off her relationship, she used both Prudence's time and her
own, keeping Bobby at her house all morning, or all afternoon, urging
him to do the same thing to her that he'd done to all of them.
She, alone, tried her best to get pregnant with Bobby. And when,
in August, she knew she WAS pregnant, she exulted in that
knowledge. What she felt with him was so precious that she
wanted his baby, to take the place of her grown son, and the babies her
dead husband hadn't been able to give her. And when that
baby was old enough, she'd have another one, if Bobby was still
available to father one on her.
None of the rest of the women had intended to, or wanted to get
pregnant with Bobby's baby. All of them knew it was their own
fault that they had conceived. Even though, in today's world,
Bobby's part in the process would have resulted in him taking half of
the responsibility, the women didn't look at it that way. They
still viewed Bobby as the hapless youth who had made them so happy with
his loving touches, and kisses ... and more, as they manipulated him.
Even so, like Donna, they all still loved him, and they loved the feel
of his babies growing in their wombs. At the same time, they
wished they weren't with child, because of the problems those swelling
bellies caused.
Some people love to drive fast, even though it scares them to
death. It's the same with being in high places, or handling
dangerous creatures. There is a thrill that can't be experienced
any other way, but that thrill also carries with it dangers.
These women felt that way. None of them would have though of
ending the pregnancy Bobby had caused in them. But most would
have rather it hadn't happened.
And yet, all of them were, in one way or another, glad beyond reason that it HAD happened.
For Sally, as she rubbed her hands over her bulging abdomen, she felt
only her love for Bobby. No one had cared about her before she
was pregnant, and she was fast coming to an acceptance that what people
outside the house thought about her now just didn't matter. Now
that some of the other women had given up their access to Bobby, she
expanded it, sleeping with him two nights a week. She wished she
could sleep with him every night.
For Mavis, she would have the chance now to have her own baby,
something she had given up on long ago. She, like Sally, was fast
approaching the point where she didn't care what others in town thought
about her indiscretion. She felt no compulsion to stop what she
did with Bobby. She felt lavishly wonderful and complete when he
pounded her and she clamped her teeth on her gag.
Everyone in the house assumed that Prudence's baby was Bobby's
too. It was impossible not to for them, even though she had told
them how, in a moment of weakness, she had let Ralph have her.
But none of them would say anything to Ralph about that, and he would
think it was his baby. She felt miserable about that, but
at the same time she firmed her resolve to get another man, however she
could. She had nightmares about him coming back and deciding that
he didn't want her after all. Or that he wouldn't come back
at all.
Meg had experienced a roller coaster of emotions, first with Bobby
himself, and then, against all odds, with Jimmy, who decided to love
her despite the fact that she was a fallen woman. She still had
trouble believing that this was all going to work out as well as Jimmy
had described it to her as they lay in the sun on the grass. His
dreams were infectious, and she had only hope for a bright and happy
future - as long as Jimmy came back from the war. Since he had
left she had forced herself to be true to him. She still ached
for Bobby's touch, though, and Jimmy's acceptance of his little
brother's baby in his fiancé’s belly only made it harder
to keep from stealing away in the night to Bobby's bed.
Of them all, Rachel's attitude about life had changed the most.
Her inflated view of her own importance had died a horrible death when
her pregnancy became common knowledge. That she loved Bobby so
much made her accept the ridicule and shame as something she deserved
for some unstated reason, and she refused to name him as the
father. And then when Wally accepted her as she was, with another
man's baby in her womb, her world had expanded to include a new kind of
joy and love. She still loved Bobby. She would always love
Bobby. But now she had experienced something that went beyond
meeting just her physical needs, on an emotional level that Bobby
couldn't approach. It could be argued that, had Bobby been
completely truthful with her, and the other women, he could have met
that need too. But he limited his own world by the role he
played.
The dichotomy was that he had expanded his world even more, in one
sense, with his prevarication. He had worked to climb up the
levels of Mr. Maslow's pyramid. It had worked for him in some
ways, and not in others.
And all the women were conflicted in some ways, and happy in
others. It is the natural state of humanity when they struggle to
climb from one level of Mister Maslow's pyramid to another, or get
knocked from one level to the one below. Life is just that way.
Bobby's life, however, was about to take a turn for the worse. At least initially.
It happened one day in July, when harvest was in full swing, and
carefully hoarded and rationed gasoline was being used to transport
grain from the fields to the grain elevator in town. There was
dust everywhere, in choking clouds, and it was hot and sticky.
Mavis decided that a picnic was in order, down at the creek, at the
bend where Meg had skinny-dipped with Jimmy, and where he had proposed
to her. There had been four days of heavy rain north of
them, to the anguish of the farmers, who couldn't harvest if the
moisture content in the grain was too high. The weather had
been fine around Hampstead, but the watershed came toward them.
As a result, the little placid creek was a rushing maelstrom of
turbulent water. Since swimming wasn't part of the plan,
however, the lush grassy spot was the perfect place to get away from
the dust and noise, and enjoy nature.
They were playing a game of keep-away with the rolled up sock
ball. That ball had caused a boy to almost lose the use of his
hand when the broken window almost ruined it. Now that ball
almost caused more tragedy.
Bobby was watching, lying on his side in the grass, while the children
ran and played. He saw the ball arch up into the sky, and saw
June Bug reaching for it, running full speed ... toward the
creek. As in slow motion he saw her trip, and fall headlong over
the embankment. Below that, he knew, ran raging water.
His scream of "JUNE BUG" was out of his throat before he had any
rational thought. The women were in two groups, one with Mavis,
Meg and Donna, who were preparing the food, spreading it out on a
blanket. Prudence, Sally and Rachel were sitting on another
blanket, just chatting while they kept one eye on the children.
None of them had seen June Bug's tumble. At Bobby's strange yelling voice, though, all six women looked up.
Bobby's mind put first priority on the little girl who loved him and
sat on his lap listening to stories. He jumped up and yelled
again. "JUNE BUG JUST FELL IN THE RIVER!"
Then he ran, cutting at an angle away from where she had disappeared,
heading downstream, hoping he could run faster than the water was
carrying the little girl. He fell once, rolled and was up and
running again as if he had done it on purpose, as some fancy
stunt. He reached the shore, tearing through the brush growing on
the bank and raking long bloody scratches on his arms and
face. As he broke through, he saw her bobbing body about to
sweep past him. One arm was up in the air as she struggled to
stay afloat.
He dove as he saw her little body disappear under the water.
Bobby couldn't swim. Only providence managed to put both
him and June Bug at a part of the creek where the water was shallow
enough that, once he felt her clothing in his grasp, allowed him to
push off the bottom so that his head broke the surface. The water
swept him and his charge along and toward the shore where the creek
made a wide curve, where it was shallower still. He managed to
get his feet in front of him and, when they dug into the bottom of the
creek, the water stood him up and almost knocked him over
again. His instinctive movement to lean back as June Bug's
weight came onto his arm saved him. Teetering in water up to his
thighs, he kept leaning and pulled the little girl's body to his.
He couldn't know that, when he hugged her fiercely to his body that he
squeezed her hard enough to force the water out of her lungs, almost as
if he had done what would some day be called CPR to her.
As he staggered toward the shore, toward a branch that was hanging out,
she began to cough, and her limp body took on some tone. He
adjusted her in his arms, getting his arm under her buttocks, as if he
was just carrying her from one place to another. She
coughed more, and began crying, her body shaking in his arms. He
picked his way through the brush, onto dry land, and stood, looking
around. He was disoriented now, and looked back at the creek,
knowing he needed to go upstream.
He started slogging in that direction, cooing in June Bug's ear that
everything was going to be all right, and that she was safe now, and
patting her on the back. She hugged him tightly.
He heard the women before he saw them through the dense brush that
lined the side of the creek. They were yelling to each other as
they picked their way through the vegetation, telling each other they
didn't see anything. The, through a break in the branches, Bobby
saw a splash of color that was Sally's blouse. She had pulled
ahead of the others because she wore slacks this day.
Knowing that he had already alerted them to the fact that he could
speak, and knowing he couldn't carry June Bug much further, he called
out. "Sally ... over here."
She screamed, and the other voices slowly converged on them as she took
June Bug from his arms and he sat weakly on the ground. Within
minutes he was surrounded by women, all of whom ignored him completely,
and tended to the crying little girl. She still coughed, but less
often now, and her gasping breaths reassured the women. She was
handed to Donna, who turned and began retracing her steps toward the
swale where the other children huddled nervously, abandoned by their
adult supervisors. Lou Anne and Jenny, as the oldest, had taken
charge and kept the children in a group.
Mavis looked down at Bobby, a strange look on her face, and she held
out her hand to him, pulling him to his feet. Her fingers went to
the bleeding scratches on his face, which looked much worse than they
were because the blood had mixed with the water running down from his
hair. It wasn't until they were into the clearing that she spoke.
"So you can speak after all." She looked at him sideways. "Unless this is a miracle of some sort."
Bobby couldn't look at her. "No miracle," he mumbled.
"Well, well, well," was all she said.
It was immediately decided that the picnic was over ... that June Bug
needed to be looked at by the doctor. Prudence said she would
stay and recover the blankets.
"Bobby will stay and help you," Mavis said tersely.
The women herded the children out toward the road, and the short walk
back to town. bobby began folding up blankets, and putting food
back in the baskets that had carried it to the site. Prudence
glanced at him repeatedly. He felt her looks.
"Are you mad at me?" he asked.
Prudence jumped at the sound of his voice, still not used to the idea that he could make that kind of noise.
"Why?" she asked. She had lots more questions, but that one was
the most important, to her mind. Why had the man she loved so
much lied to her.
"I was afraid you'd send me away," he said. "It was kind of an
accident that it happened. But this was so much better than
anywhere else I'd been I just wanted to stay."
"You're much more intelligent than we thought," she said, amazed at his cultured voice and his diction.
"I guess so," he responded.
Prudence couldn't help but think about all the times they'd lain in
bed, as she talked to him, and urged him to love her again. She
felt naked somehow, but realized that was silly.
"So it was all a game," she said. There was sadness in her voice.
Bobby looked up, hearing that sadness. "No. It was no game. Everything was very real."
"When we were alone together ..." she started. She couldn't,
somehow, say the words out loud. "The look in your eyes ... it
made me feel ... special. Was that real too?"
"Yes," he said. He wasn't used to talking, and it was easier to
mimic with his voice what his motions had communicated so
efficiently.
Then he asked again. "Are you mad at me?"
"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "I have to think about that."
They walked in silence back to Milleson House.
The doctor was there when they arrived, having been gone for by
Sally. He had just pronounced June Bug fine, but put her on some
of his carefully hoarded penicillin to handle any infection that might
pop up from having inhaled any water. He had been told about what
happened, including Bobby's sudden ability to speak. When Bobby
and Prudence came in, weighed down by their burdens, he turned to the
boy.
"Well, you are just full of surprises, aren't you?"
Bobby just hung his head.
The doctor cleared his throat. "Well, be that as it may, it's
turned out to be a good thing you came to Hampstead. It's saved
the lives of two people." He packed up his black bag and
closed it. "You ladies ... all you ladies," he said looking at
Mavis, "You need to get in to see me about prenatal care. I'll
expect to see you all," he said with authority in his voice.
The women nodded as one, looking startled.
"I wonder if I could have a word with you privately?" he said, looking at Bobby.
Bobby looked at Mavis, who waved her hand toward the parlor. She
turned back to June Bug, who had calmed down and was enjoying all the
attention.
The Doctor took Bobby into the parlor and faced him. He reached
into his bag for mercurochrome and began to treat the scratches on
Bobby's face and arms.
"Have you always been able to talk?" he asked.
"Yes sir," was Bobby's reply.
"Tell me what happened when you ... stopped that man." Bobby knew he was talking about Rachel's attempted rape.
"He was attacking her and I hit him," said Bobby. "She was screaming," he added.
"Did you see him actually ... uh ... was he actually in ... I need to know if he had sex with her," he finally finished.
"Why?" asked Bobby.
"Because, when we buried that man, I got a look at him, and he was
wasting away with a disease that that teacher will have if he actually
raped her. If he did, then I need to start her treatment as
soon as possible. She keeps telling me that he didn't, but she
can't remember everything and she is, after all ... well, with child."
"He didn't rape her," said Bobby. "He was ready to, but I hit him and made him stop."
"You did at that," said the doctor. "All right. That's what
I needed to know. He looked shrewdly at Bobby. "You visit
her house frequently, don't you?"
Bobby got cautious. "She lets me read books ... teaches me things."
The doctor nodded. "As I suspected, of course. Well,
education is very important, especially if you can talk. All this
is confidential, of course. Teaches you things.
Humph. Lot of pregnant women around here." He looked
at Bobby.
"Yes sir," said Bobby.
The doctor smiled. "Well, since from what I can see there are no
other men around, I suppose it's handy for them that you're
here." He winked. "And it's a good thing you were there at
the creek, and saw what happened. That little girl owes you her
life." He seemed to be thinking about something. Then
he straightened up. "Yes ... I'm thinking it's a good thing you
came here."
With that he shook Bobby's hand, and headed for the door.
"Teaches him things!" he chuckled as he opened it and left.
With lunch missed, and supper being prepared, the women were too busy
to deal with Bobby. June Bug wanted to sit on his lap anyway, and
she stared at him with adoring eyes. Not only did he dispel
monsters from the closet, he had saved her life too. She felt
compelled to give him a hug about every two or three minutes, and had
to be pried off of him for supper.
After supper, it being bath night, the women were still busy, and both
June Bug and Emily were in their rightful places on his lap as Meg
read. When the second shift of kids came out of the bathroom, and
had been dressed for bed, Mavis looked at Bobby.
"I reckon you'll take your own bath tonight, young man," she said.
"Yes ma'am," he answered. He headed for the bathroom.
He was in the bathtub when Sally came in with his night shirt.
"Here," she said, putting it on the floor by the wall.
"Are you mad at me?" he asked her, sitting in the warm water.
"Yes!" she said. "NO! ... oh I don't know!" she finished. She turned and left before he could say anything else.
When he came out, all five women were waiting for him. They were
seated at the dining table, and there was an empty chair waiting for
him.
Author's comment: Sometiems readers respond to an ongoing story
with ideas and suggestions that make a lot of sense. My thanks to
DirtyH for just that kind of thing, which affected the ending of this
story.
