Miracles

by Thomas A. Watson

  Walking up the steps, Arthur heard raised voices and just gave a sigh looking down at Nicole. “They’re fighting again,” he moaned and Nicole giggled again, throwing out her hands.

  Looking up, he saw Joseph and Sarah squared off on top of the levee with the other adults standing around watching. “My God, they fight worse than toddlers,” Arthur sighed, feeling very tired.

  Searching the group around Joseph and Sarah he didn’t see Wendy, and turned and spotted her watching the kids sliding down the slope on sheets of cardboard. “Why in the hell do I always have to break them up?!” Arthur cried out.

  “I’ll kick your ass!” Sarah shouted in Joseph’s face.

  Scoffing, “You couldn’t whip your way out of a wet paper bag with both ends open,” Joseph replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Over the last month he had put on twenty pounds, but was still twenty pounds lighter than he’d been before Rudolph. His weight was returning, but Joseph still wasn’t near his normal stamina and tired very easily.

  “Want me to show you?!” Sarah screamed.

  Shaking his head, Arthur moved over beside the two. “Children, that’s enough,” he said calmly.

  Turning to Arthur, “Dad, back off,” Joseph snapped startling everyone, including Arthur. “This prima donna bitch is going to listen today.”

  “Prima donna!” Sarah bellowed. “That’s funny as hell coming from a Neanderthal who has trouble tying his shoes and counting past four!”

  Locking his eyes on Sarah, “I’m telling you, it can’t be done that way, BITCH!” Joseph yelled.

  Feeling Nicole squirm, Arthur looked down at her and saw her looking around with wide fearful eyes. “The next one to yell and scare Nicole gets bent over my knee,” Arthur said calmly as he caressed Nicole’s cheek with his fingers until she smiled. “I won’t stop using my belt on your ass until I see blood,” he vowed.

  Standing off to the side with Sutton, Skannish leaned over and whispered. “If Arthur spanks Sarah, I’m watching and cheering him on.”

  Turning to Skannish, “You do that and Sarah will be on your ass when he’s done with her,” Sutton advised.

  Both Joseph and Sarah turned to Arthur to see him looking down at Nicole, stroking her cheeks. “Sorry, Nicole,” Joseph said softly.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you,” Sarah said, reaching out and rubbing Nicole’s blonde hair.

  Looking up from Nicole and giving a long sigh, “What are we fighting about today?” Arthur asked. After talking with Sutton and Skannish, the day after Sarah joined, Wendy had put her over making work crews for the jobs they had planned. Even Arthur had to admit, Sarah was very good at the job, but Sarah was a bitch when shit didn’t get done her way. Needless to say, every day since, she and Joseph had locked horns.

  Joseph knew how to interpret Arthur’s plans without explanation, Sarah didn’t. He would tell her they needed more people on one job and less on another. For the most part, Joseph was right ninety percent of the time. It was his tact on telling Sarah where she was wrong that Arthur thought needed some work. Not just calling her a ‘stupid bitch’.

  Looking up from Nicole at Arthur, “Pops,” Sarah said, and even Arthur gave a startle since she had never addressed him as that before. “I know the little kids can do many things, but I don’t like so many working in one place. I’ve noticed the more of them there are on any one job, and safety isn’t their primary concern any more. I want to pull five off the crew working with the rocks and put them on the greenhouses.”

  Clearing his throat, “Um, the ‘kids’,” Joseph lisped, “are doing great. None have gotten hurt, and they always look out for each other.”

  Pointing at Arthur, “Yeah, when Pops or Momma is around,” Sarah snapped, but it was in a low voice. “The other adults don’t watch them like they do and even if we did,” Sarah said and Arthur caught the ‘we’, “none of them respect us like they do Momma and Pops. Hell, they’re more terrified of Little Momma than any other adult here.”

  Nodding his head as he looked off, “Hell, I’m scared of Little Momma,” Joseph mumbled with no shame.

  Hearing that, Sarah gave a nod. “I am also, so don’t feel alone there.”

  Feeling totally lost, “So, today’s fight is because Sarah wants to pull five from the rock crew to the greenhouses?” Arthur asked hesitantly.

  “Dad, I need those five!” Joseph cried out, throwing up his hands toward the kids sliding down the levee. “They know how and what I want after I explain it once.”

  “You can teach others,” Sarah countered, putting her hands on her hips. “I’ve noticed when they’re rotated regularly, the younger kids are more safety conscious.”

  Noticing Joseph tensing up to unleash, “Son,” Arthur said in a low hard voice. “Don’t you dare shout and scare Nicole.”

  Letting out the breath he’d taken in to bellow, “Dad, we’re on a timeline, and teaching five more to fill in those jobs will push us back weeks, at the very least. If ‘stupid bitch’ here gets her way, we’re talking about changing out crews every few days, and that’ll push us back more. They’re doing great,” Joseph said in a normal voice.

  “No, they aren’t. I saw two playing while they waited on the dump trucks to return,” Sarah popped off and Joseph scoffed, making her face darken.

  “Sarah, don’t yell,” Arthur warned, looking at the side of her face and knew she wanted to unleash on Joseph.

  “Did you hear what you said?” Joseph asked. “They were playing when there wasn’t any heavy equipment around. Hello? They’re kids,” he sassed. “Hell, I play when there’s downtime, so do I need to be moved off the crew?”

  Having heard the two arguing for the last thirty plus days straight, Arthur had had enough. “Okay, you two,” he snapped, and they both looked at him. “Enough is enough. Both of you make valid arguments, but there has never been a need to have the knockdown drag-outs you two have every fucking day. All I can say is I’m so happy you two haven’t screamed at each other already today.”

  Both jerked their faces away when he said that. “Oh, so this isn’t the first?”

  “No,” they both growled, looking off.

  Tilting his head back and looking up at the sky, “God, any help here would be appreciated,” Arthur told the heavens, but nothing happened.

  Looking back at the two, “I want you two to talk, notice I said ‘talk’. That means in normal voices. You discuss this like adults. We’ll work on name-calling later,” Arthur told them. “I’m walking off and will come back in half an hour to see what you’ve come up with.”

  “Fine,” they both sang out, and Arthur fought the urge to slap both upside the head.

  Turning away, he saw many around them were grinning and just ignored them to move through the group to Wendy.

  Looking away from the kids sliding down the slope, “You handled that very well,” Wendy told him with a huge smile.

  “You could’ve done something,” Arthur snapped. “I’m surprised you haven’t removed her ass with the way she yells at Joseph.”

  Shrugging her shoulders, “Sorry, but most of the time I agree with her, and Joseph is being an ass,” Wendy said.

  With his mouth falling open, Arthur nearly passed out hearing that declaration from Wendy. He remembered having to drag Wendy out of a teacher’s meeting because the teacher had said Joseph wasn’t applying himself. Joseph was her baby, and Wendy usually wanted blood when others spoke unkindly of him or to him. “Sarah’s a bitch,” he whispered back harshly. “Joseph knows what he’s doing.”

  Turning away to watch the kids, “That’s what you think but I know different, and that’s why I didn’t get into the argument,” Wendy told him.

  Thinking the day had been so good, Arthur turned away to watch the kids as he calmed down before he started yelling. “Tonight at supper, we teach Chloe she’s wrong,” he finally said.

  Giving a relieved sigh, “Oh, thank you,” Wendy panted. “That is a little bitch right there. I want t
o blister her ass.”

  Jerking his eyes to Wendy, Arthur just stared at her for a minute. “Hello? You can do shit without me,” he sang out. “I tell everyone here, you’re in charge and I’m next.”

  When Wendy looked into his eyes, Arthur saw she was nervous. “Baby, I don’t know what to do,” she told him in a very low voice. “I’m really scared if she acts like an ass and blows up, I’ll stomp her ass.”

  Reaching over, Arthur popped the side of Wendy’s head, somewhat hard. “Then you stomp a fucking mudhole in her ass and walk over that bitch until she has your shoe prints on her face!” Arthur shouted, and Nicole gave a startle informing him she didn’t like that.

  Anger flared in Wendy’s eyes as she balled up her fists, but Arthur just looked down at Nicole. “Sorry, blue eyes, but Momma was being stupid,” Arthur cooed.

  “If I stomp Chloe’s ass, I’m throwing her out,” Wendy snarled.

  Looking up and bobbing his head, “Oh, no you fucking won’t,” Arthur snapped. “I’ll throw the bitch out, and if she pissed you off too bad, she’ll find her ass getting thrown off a bridge into a river.”

  Knowing Arthur was serious, the anger left Wendy faster than it’d come. “She’ll die,” Wendy gasped.

  “I don’t give a fuck,” Arthur sang out. “She’s a bad influence on those here and everyone will see, you don’t work, you get thrown the fuck out.”

  “She’s a teenage girl,” Wendy countered.

  “Pfft,” Arthur scoffed. “We have what, seven other ones who don’t act like that.”

  Shaking her head, “Fifteen teenage girls, babe, and I’m not including Andrea in that either,” Wendy replied.

  Jerking back, Arthur started going over faces in his mind and soon realized his number was way off, but he couldn’t get to fifteen. Giving up, he reached in his back pocket and pulled out folded sheets of paper. After he’d unfolded them, Wendy leaned over to see the sheets were printouts of everyone with a picture beside each name and age. “One hundred and eight people are here, babe, and fifteen girls are between thirteen and seventeen,” Wendy grinned, leaning back and turning to the kids.

  Going through the three pages of names with pictures, Arthur finally looked up. “Fuck,” he moaned. “Okay, you’re right and I was wrong.”

  Liking the fact he’d admitted it, “Thank you,” Wendy smiled, watching a kid hit a bump and go tumbling down the hillside. When the kid reached the bottom, Wendy gave a sigh of relief when the kid stood up laughing and soon more of the kids were just rolling down the side of the levee.

  Happy to hear the laughter, Wendy turned back to Arthur as he refolded the pages.

  “We have twenty-two people here over the age of eighteen,” Wendy told him, and felt bad seeing Arthur’s shoulders slump at hearing the numbers. “Yes, we have eighty-six kids. I can give you the age breakdown if you like. Sarah gave me one.”

  Shoving the papers back in his cargo pocket, “Just why in the hell did she do that?” Arthur moaned.

  “She was comparing numbers to what they’d predicted,” Wendy answered. “The numbers they came up with were six kids would survive for every adult from the flu.”

  Turning away in disgust, “Oh, motherfucker,” Arthur spat. “That means we aren’t even at quota here. We have four for every adult.”

  Reaching over, Wendy grabbed his arm. “Babe,” she said tenderly, and he turned back. Seeing the tenderness on Wendy’s face, Arthur calmed down again. “We’re doing what we can. We’ve taken in any small child we’ve come across who wanted to come. Yes, we could’ve chased down a few that ran off, but we don’t know if they had someone or not and we couldn’t take the chance. It sucks donkey dicks, I know, but we do what we can.”

  Nodding, “Thank you,” Arthur said, reaching out and hugging her.

  “Now do you understand why I feel bad when I want to beat the shit out of Chloe?”

  Leaning back and looking down at her, “No,” Arthur answered truthfully. “Hon, we can’t let one bad apple ruin the others. If Chloe’s attitude even spreads to three kids, it will cause a world of shit for us here.”

  After staring into Arthur’s eyes for several minutes, Wendy finally nodded. “I’ll follow your lead to show me how to deal with it.”

  Letting Wendy go, Arthur grabbed her hand and pulled her over to Joseph and Sarah. Both had snarls on their faces, but they were talking and not shouting at each other. “What have we come up with?” Arthur asked.

  Turning to Arthur, “Yes, Joseph is a coccydynia microphallus excreta gormandizers,” Sarah sang out. Behind her, Sutton and Skannish both fell to the ground laughing. Rolling his eyes, Arthur just shook his head. “Hey, I didn’t curse at him,” Sarah pointed out.

  “What the fuck did you just call me?” Joseph growled, glancing back at Sutton and Skannish rolling on the ground.

  Raising her eyebrows, “Look it up. That is, if you can read,” Sarah challenged.

  Giving a groan, Arthur just walked off. “That’s not very nice, Sarah,” Wendy smirked.

  Pointing at Joseph, “He started it,” Sarah whined.

  “Mom, what did she call me?” Joseph asked.

  Unable to look Joseph in the eyes, Wendy spun away following Arthur. “Look it up, baby,” she called over her shoulder, trying not to laugh. “Everyone load up, time to head home and eat!” Wendy shouted.

  Several of the kids moaned, but they all ran to the side by sides and buggies.

  “This isn’t over,” Joseph snarled, storming off.

  “Hey, I know lots more like that to call you,” Sarah beamed, then turned to Sutton and Skannish as they slowly stood up. “Don’t tell him what it means,” she warned, and they both held up their hands.

  “Would never dream of it,” Sutton laughed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Eye-opening experience for many

  Feeling very tired when he reached the house, Arthur looked down at a sleeping Nicole. “Wish I could sleep like that,” he mumbled as Shawn parked the truck.

  “Are Joseph and Sarah going to yell through dinner again?” Kirk asked from the backseat.

  Throwing his door open, “They damn well better not,” Arthur snarled.

  “Pops, need me to take Nicole?” Shawn offered getting out.

  Shaking his head, “No, go shower so we can eat,” Arthur replied, and stopped by the back door looking down at Kong. “Why in the hell did you drag it up here?!” he cried out, and the boys ran over.

  “Holy shit,” Shawn gasped.

  “Kong killed a dog!” Kirk shouted.

  Sitting regally by the back door licking the back of one of his paws, Kong never looked up at the three but they were all staring at a dog, a dead dog, lying beside Kong. “It’s bigger than Kong,” Kirk pointed out.

  Since he had never picked Kong up Arthur could only guess his weight at forty pounds, and the dead dog was an easy fifty pounds. “Kirk!” Shawn shouted as the others jumped out of buggies and ran over. “Kong didn’t kill it here! There’s a moat around us! He killed it and dragged it here to show us!”

  As the pieces fell together in his mind, Kirk suddenly got very scared of Kong and started backing away, clutching his AR. “Nice Kong,” he said, then took off running to the side entrance of the dorm halls.

  Skidding to a stop, Todd gave a gasp. “Holy shit fuck.”

  “That sums it up,” Arthur nodded, and just walked past Kong into the house. When the dogs followed him inside, everyone noticed Kong never stopped licking his paw. Many of the kids ran to the side entrance like Kirk, not wanting to get anywhere near Kong.

  With Noah on her hip, Wendy pushed through the crowd and came to a stop by the back door. “Ah, good boy, Kong,” she cooed out, and bent down and petted Kong’s head. Kong just stopped licking his paw and gave a soft ‘meow’ when Wendy petted him.

  Those left looked at Wendy like she was an apparition. “You touched Kong!” Andrea blurted out.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t advise trying,” Wendy
said, standing up. “Kong was beating up Kit and Kat two years ago, so I chased him down, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and held him in the swimming pool until he could barely swim. Then I sat him on the concrete to let him know, I could’ve drowned him anytime I wanted,” Wendy said rather cheerfully. “Kong doesn’t mess with the animals and keeps the place guarded.”

  “You didn’t, like, have to go to the hospital to get stitches?” Andrea asked.

  Shaking her head, “No, I had on Arthur’s welding stuff, and anytime Kong tried to bite or scratch me on the way to the swimming pool, I would punch him in the face. It only took like a dozen times and Kong got the idea, ‘I act like an ass, I get punched’,” Wendy explained, grabbing the backdoor.

  “Why not just shoot him if he attacked your dogs?” Todd asked.

  Glancing over her shoulder with a grin, “What fun is that? He’d be dead. This way, every time Kong sees me, he knows I’m the queen bitch here and he better do what I want. See? He lets me pet him, but anyone else, Kong will take your hand off. Don’t believe me? Ask Joseph,” Wendy told him, but was speaking to everyone. Glad to see a sea of spellbound faces, she just headed inside.

  “Fucking psycho cat,” Joseph spat, walking by and not getting anywhere close.

  “Did you try to pet it?” Todd asked.

  Grabbing the door, Joseph paused. “Yep, had to get six stitches because the fucker tore into me,” Joseph said, looking back at Todd. “If you kill Kong, you deal with Mom. She kicked his ass and he worships her. You can basically say, Kong is her bitch, so you kill it, expect to become Mom’s new bitch.”

  Letting out a gasp, Andrea covered her mouth. “That’s why Arthur hasn’t killed Kong, and he hates that fucking cat.”

  Glancing over at Andrea, “You’re very intelligent,” Joseph nodded and just headed inside.

  “Let me get this straight,” Skannish said, stepping to the side of the group to stare at Kong. “Wendy chased the biggest damn house cat I’ve ever seen, or heard of for that matter, wrestled him down, punched him in the face, and then took him swimming until the thing was nearly dead?”