Nancy Kress by Nothing Human

Author:Nothing Human
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-05-26T13:57:26+00:00

When they returned to the farm, Jody was there. He nodded at her. Carlo pushed past his brother and headed for the barn. Scott went directly to his room, looking suddenly much older than his fifty-three years.

Jody and Spring sat with her, drinking coffee, saying nothing, until Theresa told them she could sleep now, from sheer exhaustion.

When she woke late the next morning, all three of her sons were gone, plus, surprisingly, Sam. They’d taken the cart and the decrepit horse that drew it. Carlo must have been driving; Jody’s and Spring’s horses were gone but Carlo’s bay snorted in its stall. Theresa thought of saddling him, but she was at best an indifferent rider and the wind blew at its full force. She returned to the house.

They came in after sunset, filthy and silent. She had already brought the well hose to the back shed and filled the two oversize plastic garbage cans sometimes used as vertical bathtubs. When the men were washed, she had their dinner ready. She’d sent everyone else to their rooms or the “den,” damn if she cared how cramped they were in there for an entire evening. Scott had left a day early to do his doctoring in Wenton, leaving word with Senni that he’d spend several nights there. Just as well.

After he’d eaten ferociously, Jody said, “We buried them all. Mass grave. The weapons, plus anything else I thought we could use, we brought back on the cart. It’s all in the barn. You can look it over tomorrow.”

Theresa nodded. Slowly she said, “I never wanted this for my children. Not for any of you.”

“We know,” Spring said. He smiled. “Stop feeling guilty, Mom. You’re not responsible for every single bad thing that happens to us for our entire lives, you know.”

Jody said, “Motherhood is powerful.”

“But not that powerful,” Spring added.

“I want to say,” Jody added, “that Sam was an enormous help to us. He more than carried his share.”

Sam flushed with pleasure. He was sunburned, a whole day spent in that dangerous high-UV sun. Not good. But his angry, sullen look was gone. He’d been needed, and praised.

She said, “Carlo?”

He looked at her directly. Seeing the pain in his eyes, she could have wept. Carlo said, “We did what we had to. But I don’t have to pretend it wasn’t a mortal sin.” Abruptly he pushed his chair from the table, stood, and strode out.

Spring said, “He had a funeral. A mass, or whatever you call it, over the grave. Prayers and crosses in the air. I thought he’d never get done.”

“Let him have it, if it helps him,” Theresa said.

“Mom, he’s going into Wenton to that priest’s church, Father What’s-His-Name, spending the entire day with him, every Sunday. Did you know?”

She hadn’t. “I thought he was seeing some girl.”

“Carlo?” Jody laughed. “No. But I am.”

She was caught by surprise. “Well, you certainly took time for it that I didn’t notice. Who?”

He said defiantly, “Her name is Carolina Mendoza.”

Mexican. From the new encampment, growing larger every month, a few miles beyond Wenton.

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