The Rockin' Chair by Steven Manchester

Author:Steven Manchester [Manchester, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction, FICTION/Family Life, FIC000000, FIC045000, FICTION/ General
ISBN: 9781611880670
Publisher: Story Plant
Published: 2013-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

John walked out onto the farmyard and stared at the charred eyesore. “It just ain’t true,” he repeated in a whisper, and his mind immediately raced back to recall his own version of that terrible night.

It wasn’t like Hank couldn’t find his own share of problems all by his lonesome. He had shaken more than one hive in his day, leaving the bees more scared than him. Alice had also drawn a few tomato juice baths when the boy set his mind on investigating skunks. He loved tipping cows and once, he even cursed at Alice at the supper table. John remembered the boy’s face when he landed flat on his back in the pig trough. “You wanna talk like one, then you can eat with’em,” the old man barked, leaving Hank to ponder the consequences of his loose tongue. Still, no trouble imaginable could compare to the mountains of manure Hank and his buddy George stepped into together. Outside of school, John didn’t want Hank around the deviant. But on one horrible night, Hank would defy his wishes once again. The boys’ reunion would prove deadly and the very memory brought a queasy feeling to John’s insides.

The sun had just gone in for the night when John remembered checking whether they had enough feed to last out the month. It was a quiet night, very still. For a second, he recalled feeling disturbed—as if he’d forgotten something important. Eventually shaking it off as nothing, he started for the house to steal a kiss from his squaw. Again, something stopped him in mid-stride. Turning back, he checked the coops and both barns. Everything seems fine, he decided, and went in for his supper and that kiss.

No sooner had he washed behind his ears than the faint cry of horses had him at the window. Like something straight from a nightmare, he could see the orange glow pulsate from the horse barn’s loft. “No!” he screamed and fetched his boots. As he hit the porch running, he saw two boys doing the same. Hank was running for the well, while George was high-tailing it home.

It took no more than minutes before the hay-packed barn was engulfed in flames. “Please Lord … no!” John yelled again. Though he tried several times, with the intense heat he couldn’t get close enough to free the screaming animals. Through the thick, heavy smoke, he witnessed the cruelest sight his eyes had ever beheld. The horses were kicking up dirt so high that it looked like black rain, while they sent shrills that would haunt his soul for life. Insane with seeing their own destructive end, the animals bounced off the walls. John swore he could hear their bones breaking. As he recalled the brutal chaos, he felt chills travel his spine. Alice, Hank and he did all they could to contain the hypnotizing inferno. As if they were sent from the bowels of hell, those starving flames lashed out at the smoke-filled sky, wanting nothing more than to feed off of the other barn.

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