Widowmakers by William Joseph Roberts

Author:William Joseph Roberts [Roberts, William Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adventure
ISBN: 9781951768324
Google: usCczgEACAAJ
Amazon: B08QNBWCQ4
Barnesnoble: B08QNBWCQ4
Goodreads: 56394490
Publisher: Three Ravens Publishing
Published: 2020-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

W e worked as fast as we physically could until that evening. With the help of the old farmer, we collected the remains of the villagers and buried them in a mass grave near the tower, while April, her little sister Carmen, and Grand-mère Monette cooked the salvageable bits of chicken, mutton, and beef. They had quickly erected a wooden frame over a small fire and cut hundreds of thin slices of meat, which they then hung on the frame over the fire. Larger portions of meat that had been set aside for our dinner slowly cooked over a fire that had been lit in the tower’s large fireplace.

When I’d pass by where the ladies were working, I could hear Grand-mère Monette chattering on to April in a cautionary tone. I couldn’t understand a lick of what the old lady said, since it was all in French, but for whatever reason, it always seemed like she was giving me the evil eye. Glaring at me whenever I’d look in their direction. I really don’t think she liked me, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. Maybe because we were Americans invading her homeland, even though we were there to drive back the Nazis from France. Or maybe she half expected me to soil her granddaughter and leave her with child. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened during a war.

By the time the sun had set, we’d parked the truck just outside the door of the tower, and settled ourselves down for the evening in the first floor of the structure. Using some heavy canvas we’d found upstairs, we covered every murder hole we could to prevent light from escaping and giving us away. The scent of cooking meat hung heavy in the orange glow of the keep.

Pierce had gathered a respectable stack of firewood for the womenfolk before the night settled over us. Each trip back into the tower with an armload of wood was an opportunity for him to say a word or two, or to steal another glance at April. If he was trying to hide his interest in her, he was going about it horribly. If looks could kill, the daggers Grand-mère Monette flashed at him when he’d bring in another load of wood would have done him in on the first trip. He sat near the fireplace, stoking and feeding the fire as needed to maintain the heat to cure the remainder of the meat. He hung on April’s every word, even the French ones, as he tried to remember and translate each of them.

After we’d all eaten, those of us with smokes lit up, and O’Brian passed around his canteen, which had miraculously refilled itself once again.

I let out a slight chuckle at a long-forgotten memory. “This reminds me of when I was little, and we’d spend the evenings at my Granny’s house during the summer harvest. We’d all be gathered around the fireplace, where she had this or that cooking on the hearth.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.