by Akart, Bobby
He’d be direct and honest. There was no need to skirt around what had happened. He’d had the benefit of many hours to accept the fact his father was dead. Now he had to help his mom through the pain and grief.
As if on cue, the rain, which had subsided in the last ten minutes somewhat, began to pour buckets. The steady drizzle came down in torrents as he pulled the truck to a stop. He suggested to Levi what he should do. During that brief moment the two men exchanged sentences, the rest of the Boone family poured through the front door, led by Sarah and followed by Carly and the kids.
Chapman quickly exited the truck to approach his mother. Levi did the same. Off in the distance, the sound of the four-wheeler could be heard approaching at a high rate of speed. Because Kristi wasn’t present, he assumed she was out on patrol.
Levi raced into Carly’s arms and the two of them fell onto the sopping wet ground. Tears of joy flowed as the kids joined in. While Levi’s family enjoyed a tear-filled reunion, Chapman joined hands with Isabella and paused.
That brief moment in time, lasting less than five seconds, was all it took to zap the hope out of his mother.
Sarah stopped dead in her tracks and covered her mouth with both hands. Her long hair was soaked, strands drooping on her shoulders and over her face. Chapman stepped forward and held his hands out toward his mother. His body language, his facial expression, his tears mixed with rain spoke volumes.
Sarah Boone wailed. It was a bloodcurdling, sorrowful shout at the heavens that only a wife who’d lost a husband could emit. She dropped to her knees with her mouth open. Her angst was so deep, nothing came out now.
Chapman lost all sense of how he’d planned to soften the blow. He, too, was overcome with grief as he rushed to her side. He could barely hear Carly questioning Levi about Squire’s whereabouts. He tried to delay his response, but it didn’t work. Soon, the entire family was spread about the muddy front lawn, crying in agony.
When Tommy and Kristi arrived, she raced out of the four-wheeler and ran past Isabella, who stood awkwardly alone, washed by the truck’s headlights. Kristi heard the agony that her family was going through, and in her haste, she fell down, sliding through the mud until she reached her mother.
For several minutes, in between sobs, Chapman and Levi explained what had happened to Squire. Questions were asked, for which there were no answers, only suppositions. Everyone questioned God as to how He could let this happen. Why would He allow the beloved patriarch of the Boone family to die?
The only response they got was moisture from the heavens.
Tommy approached Isabella and introduced himself. She was crying and he hugged her with one arm.
“I feel terrible for them,” she began through her own tears. “It was so sudden and unexpected.”
Tommy stayed strong. He used his experience from losing his father to speak. “I understand that you and I have only been a part of this family for a short time, but we have to try to help them. Let’s start by trying to get everyone out of the rain.”
Isabella nodded and added, “Levi is home, too. I do not think his mother is aware of this yet. Perhaps that will ease her pain.”
Tommy agreed. “Will you speak with Carly? I’ll try to convince Sarah and Kristi to come inside.”
“Oui.”
The newcomers to the Boone family were empathetic as they softly encouraged the two groups to come inside. Tommy was effective in distracting Sarah from her angst as she immediately broke away from Kristi and Chapman to embrace Levi.
“Son, I couldn’t have lost you, too. Thank God they found you!”
The two hugged each other as they carefully tromped through the muddy grounds. The months of dried, hardened soil had succumbed to the deluge of water. The entire front of the Boones’ home resembled a pigpen rather than a lawn.
Once inside, Chapman enlisted Tommy and Isabella’s help to find blankets and towels to dry everyone off while he made coffee on the cast-iron stove. As the coffee brewed, he put together a fire with what was left of the dry wood inside the house. As it crackled to life, he considered the difficulties this heavy rain would put on their family, in addition to the loss of his father.
Levi explained to Kristi, Carly and his mother what had happened to him. Chapman was proud of his younger brother for keeping it simple and avoiding the worst details of his journey.
While they were speaking, Chapman walked back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, nervously trying to keep busy to avoid becoming emotional again. He looked at himself as the proverbial man of the house, although it was really Levi who knew the most about the operations of Riverfront Farms.
Chapman saw the challenges they’d be facing from a much larger perspective. The waters all around them were rising rapidly. While conventional climatological wisdom dictated the rivers and creek levels would drop when the rain stopped, Chapman believed in his gut there was more to this than a sudden cloud outburst.
The river had behaved strangely before the rain started. When he’d noticed it flowing backwards, with a corresponding sudden rise in elevation despite the lack of rain, he surmised the pole shift was having a dramatic impact on the planet.
Now he was certain it was.
Chapter 25
Riverfront Farms
Southeast Indiana
Carly was finally able to get the kids to bed with the assistance of Levi, who was glad to take a bath, albeit lukewarm. He and his wife discussed what had really happened to Levi with his friends in the wilderness, as well as his subsequent travails on the way home. She broke down crying when she thought of how close to death he’d been on several occasions.
Kristi and Chapman helped their mother to bed, and she agreed to take an extra dose of her medication designed to calm her anxiety. One of the side effects was drowsiness, which they hoped would help her sleep.
It didn’t, at first.
Sarah tossed and turned, thinking about Squire. As if she were watching a home movie of their life together, she replayed all of the momentous occasions they’d shared, from meeting to their first kiss, marriage, babies, and working the farm side by side. She thought it would never end.
But it did.
After crying and laughing alone in the dark and reminiscing about their love, she finally drifted off to sleep, comforted in knowing that he was with God now, and her entire family, plus a couple of new additions, were home safe and sound.
Meanwhile, after the fire burned out, Chapman and Kristi, together with their new significant others, shared a bottle of Knob Creek single-barrel whiskey, which had been given to Squire for his sixtieth birthday. Chapman and Kristi had driven down to the distillery in Kentucky and created a personalized label with his name on it. They’d presented it to him as a family on the morning of his birthday. Then, because Squire wasn’t one to take a day off, he’d ventured out into the orchards to check on the spring growth.
That was the kind of man he was. Always focused on providing for his family. Never sitting still when one of them was in need. And now, the man they’d all relied upon since they were born was gone.
Eventually, the liquor loosened up the group, and they took a moment to recall some of the funnier family memories for the benefit of Isabella and Tommy. The four got along well on this first get-together, and it was obvious they’d not only be friends but, eventually, true family.
Chapman was about to discuss the matter of Squire’s burial when Kristi interrupted him. “Something else happened that you need to know about.”
“That sounds ominous,” said Chapman.
“Well, Mom is downplaying it, but I don’t think we should.”
“What is it?”
“Randy drove to the house with a deputy, a druggie, according to Carly, who is now a deputy somehow. Anyway, they served a letter on Mom, ostensibly to be delivered to Dad. It was a declaration of default on Dad’s bank loan to Billy’s bank.”
“Jeez, really? What a pile of shit!” Chapman raised his v
oice.
“Shhh,” his sister admonished. “Listen, my reaction was exactly the same. Before we talk about the ramifications of what this means, let’s talk about how we’re gonna deal with Levi on this.”
“Levi?” asked Isabella.
“Yes,” Kristi continued. “According to Mom, he holds some guilt because he believes Dad bought these adjacent farms for him to run in the future. If it wasn’t for that, the family wouldn’t owe Billy’s bank anything.”
“That’s not the case, though,” said Chapman.
“We both agree, as does Mom, but Levi…” Her voice trailed off. “You know how he can be. He takes things really hard and tends to carry the whole burden on his shoulders.”
“Just like Dad,” said Chapman as he shook his head.
“Exactly, only Levi has a temper. I don’t know if we’ll be able to control him when he finds out.”
Chapman rolled his head and neck around his shoulders to relieve some tension. The bottle of whiskey was nearing the bottom, and with this news, he considered opening another one.
“If he finds out, and we didn’t tell him, it’ll be much worse,” added Chapman.
Tommy sat on the edge of the sofa and spoke in a hushed tone. “Maybe I can help? My father was an attorney and a pretty good one. Now, that certainly doesn’t make me a lawyer, but I was around legal speak all my life. Certain basics did rub off on me just by eavesdropping on conversations or having him explain legal principles to me when he tried to steer me toward law school instead of zoology.”
“What are you thinking?” asked Chapman.
“Well, a lot of the law really is just common-sense dispute resolution. Two parties get their hackles up, convince themselves they’re absolutely right, and then they hire attorneys to fight a battle that could’ve been resolved by simply hashing it out.”
“Tommy, I don’t know how much Kristi may have told you about Bully Billy or the ongoing tiff between our two families, but the Clarks don’t hash anything out. They’d rather die than compromise.”
“Which is exactly what Levi will say, and then probably act upon,” interjected Kristi.
“Oh, I get it. I was born and raised in Chicago, the land of crooked politicians, mafia wars, and gangbangers. I’m not suggesting a sit-down or resolution with the bank. I’m thinking along the lines of downplaying the legal threat to Levi so he doesn’t overreact.”
Kristi sighed and finished her drink. She picked up the bottle of Knob Creek and offered it to both Tommy and Isabella, who declined. She split the last of the whiskey with her brother.
“Okay,” said Chapman. “I can sign off on that. He’s volatile right now. Anything you can do to downplay the bank’s actual ability to move forward would be great.”
Tommy continued. “To me, like I said, it’s just common sense. A borrower can’t pay a note without access to their bank accounts. A bank can’t enforce a note without access to the courts. With the power grid down, none of those two things can take place for a while. Now, it might just be forestalling the inevitable. I don’t know anything about the family’s financial situation.”
“Sadly, I don’t either,” said Kristi. “Dad always played that stuff close to the vest.”
Chapman shook his head and stared at his glass, which was now empty. “Kinda like his health, huh?”
The group grew silent for a moment until Kristi spoke up. “We need to bury him tomorrow. Fortunately, temps have dropped with the rain, but his body is probably decomposing a little faster now.”
“Does your family have a graveyard on the farm?” asked Isabella.
“No, but close by,” said Chapman. “Technically it’s property owned by the state, but under the circumstances, I don’t think they’ll object if we lay Dad to rest there. What do you think, Kristi?”
“Absolutely. Who would possibly object?”
Chapter 26
Riverfront Farms
Southeast Indiana
Morning came to Riverfront Farms. Everyone stirred awake to the sound of rain and the absence of Squire. It was one of those mornings in which you just wanted to lie in bed and will the sadness out of your mind. No matter how hard you tried, the despair creeped right back in again.
Chapman was the first to venture downstairs to the kitchen. Even Jesse and Rachel stayed in their rooms despite the fact they usually joined their grandmother to get the coffee started and to make breakfast.
Dawn had arrived, but Chapman couldn’t see the sun. It was raining steadily and the low cloud cover blocked the sun’s rays from providing much light. After entering the kitchen, he immediately noticed a single candle burning in the middle of the kitchen table. The wax in the center of the pillar candle was hot and liquefied, indicating it had been lit some time ago.
Whoever was awake hadn’t bothered to start the stove to get coffee brewing, nor had they pulled open the curtains, as had been their practice since the power outage. Puzzled, he ventured down the hallway to check the doors to the guest rooms, thinking Tommy might have risen early. He placed his ear to the solid wood door and heard Kristi’s new friend sawing logs. The late night of whiskey brought a hefty snore out of the most athletic of men.
Chapman found his way in the darkened hallway to his parents’ room. He paused at the door. Now the room belonged to his mother. She was alone except for her children. They’d have to rally around her today, as she’d need their strength to bury her husband.
The door was slightly ajar, but out of respect, he tapped gently with his knuckles anyway.
“Mom, are you awake?” he whispered.
Chapman waited for her to respond. He tapped again, but this time he pushed the door open to see whether she was still asleep.
Her bed was empty. He stuck his head inside and didn’t see any candles burning. He called her name out again.
“Where is she?” he muttered under his breath.
Chapman suddenly became concerned. He wasn’t sure how she’d handle his father’s death, and he silently chastised himself for not making sure she had someone watching over her at all times. Although he wasn’t completely aware of the anxiety issues she’d experienced over the last few years, he had seen a change in her demeanor during his last extended visit to the farm at Christmas. At the time, he’d shrugged it off to the pressures of the holiday season, which seemed to beset all of America during the last couple of months of the year.
He hustled back to the kitchen to check for any clues that she’d made herself breakfast. There was nothing there except the single candle. He set it on a pewter plate to avoid it making contact with the wooden table in case it burned to the base before anyone else woke up.
He wandered into the living area and noticed that her rain parka was missing from the wall hooks near the front door. Everyone’s shoes and jackets were piled together, reminiscent of January, when the Indiana snows dictated lots of outerwear. Now the nonstop rain required similar gear.
Chapman was still pulling on his jacket when he emerged on the porch. The skies were lighter now, and despite the low visibility, he was still able to see up the hill toward one of the barns. That was when he saw her standing alone in the rain.
When his parents were married and his mom first moved to the farm with his dad, they planted a solitary apple tree on the slight hill overlooking the house and the rest of the farm. It had been cared for over the many years of their marriage and would likely live to eighty-plus years.
Chapman pulled the parka hood over his head and began to slosh through the water puddles up the hill. The apple tree stood tall in the background, just barely visible in the dim light, stretching a single limb toward his mom as if it wanted to give her a hug. Her silhouette was perfectly still against the gray sky, staring at the tree she’d nurtured with her husband, just as they’d cared for this farm and their children.
He approached her slowly, respectful of the peace and solitude she so desperately needed. Without saying a word, he joined her side. He did what the tr
ee couldn’t. Chapman wrapped his arm around his mom’s shoulder and gave her a gentle hug.
She looked up to his face with her tired and sad eyes. She managed a smile; the wrinkles caused by years of working in the sun filled her face. She wasn’t crying although her face was covered with moisture.
Sarah chuckled and looked toward the sky, squinting her eyes to prevent the steady rain from flooding them. “You know, we can’t choose what life throws at us, but we can choose how we react to it. That’s what defines us as human beings.”
Chapman wanted to encourage his mother to let out her feelings, so he didn’t interrupt, hoping she’d explain her thoughts.
She did and subconsciously rubbed her wedding ring with her thumb as she spoke. “Your dad and I lived a fairly safe life, if you know what I mean. We weren’t risk takers like so many others our age. I watched some of our friends from school venture out of our community to climb the corporate ladder of success or grab the so-called brass ring. Some of them made it, if you call a bigger house and a fancier car making it. Others burned themselves out, experienced failed marriages and broken families. To each their own, right?”
“Right,” Chapman replied softly.
“He and I were content growing our apples, raising you beautiful children, and eventually bouncing some grandbabies on our knees. We made a home together, although it was one that had been in the Boone family for centuries. We made it ours and we were proud of what we’d accomplished.”
Chapman took a turn to speak. “I couldn’t have asked for better parents. You always encouraged me in anything I wanted to do, even when you disapproved.”
She laughed again. “Like chasing tornados? Yeah, I didn’t like that one bit, nor did your father.”
“Really?” Chapman seemed surprised at her statement. “He was always excited to hear the details when I returned home.”
“It was his way of interrogating you, son. It was a technique he perfected on your sister when she started dating in high school. He pretended to be genuinely interested in how every minute of her dates went when, in reality, he was searching her answers and demeanor to identify holes in her story.”