Jordan's War - 1861 (12 page)

Chapter 14

Jordan sprung up
wild eyed and confused, tore off his covers, and wrestled free of the dream
that had tortured his sleep throughout the night.

What began as a
peaceful vision of him walking on air amongst beautiful winged angels hovering
over the clouds of heaven turned to terror as one misstep sent him spiraling
downward to earth and into a fiery pit that had open up just as he was about to
crash. He careened helpless towards the fires of hell, while tormented screams
and fiendish laughter howled in his ears. He managed to wake himself right
before flames reached out to claim him.

Frightened, he
looked around the dark room to make sure the evil did not follow him to
consciousness. Eamon laid beside him sound asleep.

Fear rushed
through his body and escaped only through the uncontrollable trembling of his
limbs. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, put his feet on the floor, and
leaned over to look out the window. It was too early to get up. It was pitch
black outside and thunder resonated across the mountain from an approaching
storm. Bursts of lightening veined the night sky.

“Did you have a
nightmare?” `

Jordan jumped and
pulled the blankets up to his neck. Gunner was sitting on the cot at the foot
of Jordan’s bed and his silhouette lit up as another bolt of lightning flashed
through the window behind him. Large raindrops pelted the glass.

“Don’t you sleep?”
Jordan asked.

“Shut up,” Eamon
groaned and rolled over.

Jordan crawled
down to the bottom of the bed, taking all the covers with him. Eamon sat up,
gave the blankets a good jerk and took them back.

“Slept already,”
Gunner whispered. “I keep waking up about this time every morning. Bess will be
up soon. Did you have a bad dream?”

“Yeah,” Jordan
said. There was no use to lie. “Why don’t you just go back to sleep?”

“I can’t,” Gunner
whispered. “So I’ve been praying to God to help Pa get well. Do you think it’ll
work?”

“Pa says you can’t
never get enough praying,” Jordan said, but left off the last part about where
you shouldn’t ask for too much because God already gives you all you’ll ever
need in this life.

“Shut up!” Eamon
hollered and kicked Jordan hard in the leg. He scooted down on the cot with
Gunner.

“Let’s go into the
kitchen,” Jordan said. “I’ll start the fire for Ma.”

“Can you make the
coffee?” Gunner asked.

“Get the hell out
of here!” Eamon yelled and threw a pillow at the boys, but missed. Jordan threw
it back and then found his trousers draped over the dresser.

“I’m telling Ma
you cussed,” Jordan said and ran out of the room, just before Eamon lunged at
him.

They tiptoed out
of the bedroom, through the front room where Jim was still asleep and into the
kitchen. Jordan lit two candles while Gunner stuffed a handful of kindling into
the ashen grate.

A look of pure
enchantment came over Gunner as the flames from the fireplace washed over his
face.

“Do you hear
that?” he said and crept back towards the living room.

“Hear what?”

“Pa’s not
coughing.”

Jordan could hear
the gurgling in Jim’s chest with each breath he took, but Gunner was right. He
wasn’t coughing and Jordan had to agree he slept a little more peaceful than
usual.

“Do you think the
prayer worked?” Gunner asked.

“Maybe, but don’t
say nothing to Grandma,” Jordan warned.

“Why not?” Gunner
asked. “Don’t she believe in praying?”

“She’s funny that
way,” Jordan explained. “And I know she gave him something after Reverend
Summey left last night. It may be her tonics that are making him better.”

“Oh, I hope so,”
Gunner said, and smiled. “Maybe with God and Grandma, he’ll get back to normal
soon.”

Bess shuffled into
the kitchen as she pinned the last strand of her long brown hair into a hairpin
and grabbed her apron.

“What are you boys
doing up so early?” she asked.

“Jordan had a bad
dream,” Gunner blurted out. “I’m always awake by now.”

“Are you all
right?” Ma asked Jordan and rubbed her fingers through his hair.

“Yep,” Jordan
said. “Can you make some coffee now?”

“Yes, run out to
the meat house and get a side of bacon,” she said. “We’ve had gravy and
biscuits for too long around here. Jim’s not coughing so he may feel good
enough to eat some meat. Gunner, go on down to the spring and fill up the water
bucket.”

“I’ll get two
buckets. Pa’ll need to wash up a bit.”

“Thank you dear,”
Ma said, and went into the pantry.

Jordan laced up
his boots and headed for the back door. Gunner knelt beside him and pulled on
his boots, which were an old pair of Jakes. They fit him just fine and they
weren’t worn too badly.

There was a chill
in the air and Jordan had to hold his arm over his face to keep out the rain.
He thought about Gunner sliding down the hill on the wet leaves to get to the
spring. He certainly got the better of the two chores. He trotted down the
path, through the mud and wet grass, and unlatched the door to the meat house.

He heard the rats
scurry away as he entered the building. It was dark but he knew right where the
bacons were hung, as he’d helped hang them there last fall. He grabbed one of
the larger slabs and struggled with the hook. What the heck, he was starving. It
took him a few minutes to get the meat down and head back up the path.

A shot pierced the
morning silence. Jordan froze as the gunfire echoed over the mountain and got a
fix on where the shot came from before he sprinted back to the house. Something
wasn’t right and as usual, he immediately assumed Luke Vander was involved
somehow. He quickened his pace because the last thing he needed was Luke
stalking him in the dark. Not after the nightmare.

“Did you hear
that?” Jordan asked as he stumbled into the back door. He hoped no one would
notice his blood-drained face in the dim light.

“Yes,” Ma said.
“Take off your boots before you track mud in the house.”

“Who do you think
was shooting?” Gunner asked.

“Probably someone
shooting a bear or something,” Ma said. She didn’t seem too concerned.

“No one shoots a
bear in the spring,” Jordan reasoned. “They’re too skinny now.”

“A raccoon then,”
she said as she sharpened a knife on the wet stone.

Jordan didn’t
believe it. He’d wait until after breakfast and then find a way to go explore.

“Pa!” Gunner
hollered.

Jim was leaning
against the door frame. In his hand was Grandma’s walking stick. Gunner ran to
him so fast that he almost knocked him over.

“Abigail left this
for me,” he said in a hoarse voice and twirled the old knobby branch. “I
suppose she knew I’d be needing it.”

“She don’t miss
much,” Ma said and pulled out a chair. “Sit down before you fall down.”

“I’ll stand right
now if that’s fine with you Bess,” Jim said and coughed. “Need to get my legs
built back up.”

“Did you hear the
gunshot Jim?” Jordan asked.

“Yep,” Jim said.
“Don’t know who’d be out hunting at this hour in this storm.”

The rain was
coming down in sheets now and the wind whipped through the open kitchen window.

“Some fool,” Ma
said and reached over to close the window. “Did you boys open this?”

“No,” Jordan said.

Gunner opened the
door, struggling to carry two full water buckets. Jordan ran over, took one
from him and put it on the table.

All the morning
chores were done and Jordan was ready to go exploring. The rain was over before
he’d even finished eating breakfast and the sun sprays made their way through
the thinning clouds to the earth, and it looked as though the Almighty had
never left the Sinclair farm after the long prayer vigil had ended.

“Let’s go,” Jordan
said to Gunner after the last plate was scraped into the slop bucket. Willow
and Selie would finish cleaning up and Jordan wouldn’t have to help in the
fields since they were all wet from the rain.

“Where?”

“To see where that
shot came from,” Jordan said.

“I don’t think
anyone is still there.”

“I know that,”
Jordan said. “I just want to take a look, that’s all.”

“What if you run
into that boy who was shooting at you yesterday?”

Jordan didn’t want
to tell Gunner he’d already thought about that. He wanted so much to
investigate, but he didn’t want to go off by himself.

“Oh, come on,”
Jordan said. “We won’t go that far.”

“No,” Gunner said.
“I want to stay here. Finnian gave Pa some strings for my fiddle.”

Jordan followed
Gunner outside to persuade him to go. Jim was sitting next to Grandma fussing
at the strings on the old fiddle.

“Finnian said
we’re going to do some singing after supper tonight,” Jim said and strummed the
strings.

It sounded much
better than the first time Jordan heard it. Jim’s eyes sparkled just as they
did when they first met.

“Where you off
to?” Grandma asked Jordan. She had her head cocked to one side and her narrow,
inquisitive eyes unnerved him a bit. It was like she was looking right through
him.

“Nowhere,” Jordan
answered. “Where’s Jake?”

Maybe he’d like to
come exploring with him. He saw him coming back from the woodshed with a
handful of blocks.

“I think I have
enough,” Jake hollered to Gunner.

Darn! They’re
going to work on their army.

“Are you going to
make the guns?” Jake asked as he dropped the blocks on the porch.

“I’ll be back in a
bit,” Jordan said and gave Gunner a wink. Gunner smiled and pulled his knife
out of his pocket.

Jordan walked down
the path towards the barn, fully aware of his grandma’s eyes watching him. He
didn’t want to run because this would only add to her suspicions.

He reached the
barn and looked for Gus before he went any farther. Someone hit him from behind
and knocked him to his knees.

“That’s for waking
me up this morning,” Eamon yelled, and jumped on top of him and held his face
in the dirt.

Jordan managed to
turn his face to the side so he could breathe.

“Get off of me!”
Jordan yelled at Eamon and squirmed until he finally got off. His clothes were
now all muddy and wet.

 “Where are you
going?” Eamon asked. “Pa needs us to clean the manure out of the barn. You can
fill up the wheelbarrow and I’ll wheel it to the manure pile.”

“Where’s Pa?”
Jordan asked.

“Checking the
sheep’s feet for rot,” Eamon answered.

“Want to go see
where that shot was?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I
just want to see what’s going on.”

“Ain’t nothing
going on but that wild imagination of yours,” Eamon said. “Which direction did
it come from?”

“Up near the
rocks. I was outside when I heard it.”

“You sure?”

“Yep,” Jordan
said.

“I’ll come with
you,” Eamon said and ran down the path ahead of him.

They crossed the
creek at the shallow part, but Jordan managed to slip off a rock and fill his
boot with cold water. He was out of breath by the time they climbed the
mountainside and had to rest on one of the big rocks that lay all around the
area.

“Come one!” Eamon
hollered. He was at least twenty yards up the hill and didn’t seem to be out of
breath at all.

Jordan ran after
him, ignoring the pain in his side. He caught up with him just at the base of
the bare rocks that protruded from the top of the mountain.

Eamon was the
first to climb the cliffs and kicked Jordan in the head when he got too close.
At last they reached the summit and crouched behind one of the large rocks that
littered the mountainside.

“Shhh,” Eamon said
then peered around the side.

Jordan stood up
and looked over Eamon’s head. He could hear the voices before he saw three men
standing around a tall oak tree looking at the ground. They must have been
there for some time as their horses had wandered off to forage for food.

“What are they
doing?” Jordan whispered.

“Whatever they’re
doing,” Eamon said. “It’s trespassing. Let’s go get Pa.”

Chapter 15

Jordan and Eamon
crept back over the rocks and raced down the mountainside. Jordan stumbled in
the ruts made by water runoff during the spring thaw and tumbled more distance
than he ran. He lost sight of Eamon. The shortcut he tried didn’t work too well
as he ended up tangled in a briar patch and ripped the sleeve of his shirt.
Blood oozed from a few of the deeper scratches on his arms and face.

At last he reached
the path to the creek and caught flashing glimpses of Eamon ahead of him.

Jordan rounded the
corner of the barn and saw Eamon leaning against the bull pen talking with Jake
and Gunner. He slowed down and walked the rest of the way, holding his side the
entire time.

“What’s wrong?”
Jordan shouted when he thought he was close enough for them to hear him.

Eamon waved for
him to come closer and Jordan increased his pace a little. He was too out of
breath to run anymore.

“What happened to
you?” Gunner asked. “Why are you all muddy and bleeding?”

“You went through
the briar patch didn’t you?” Eamon laughed “You look like you’ve been fighting
with Willow’s old mama cat.”

“Grandma will whip
you if you bothered the blackberries,” Jake warned.

“I didn’t do
nothing,” Jordan said. “What’s going on?”

“Sergeant Hummel
is at the house talking to Pa,” Eamon said.

“The Home Guard?”
Jordan asked.

“Yeah,” Jake said.
“He rode up a little while ago with another soldier.”

“Was Luke with
him?” Jordan asked.

“No,” Jake said.
“I didn’t see him.”

“Why’s he here?”
Eamon asked.

“I don’t know,”
Jake said.

“I heard him say
something about spies,” Gunner said. “But I didn’t mean to listen. I was just
cleaning up all my wood shavings.”

“I didn’t hear him
say anything,” Jake shrugged.

Jordan backed away
from the fence when Gus lumbered over to eat the tall grass by the post. Every
time the beast would snort Jordan would flinch.

“Look,” Eamon
laughed and pointed. “You’re still afraid of him aren’t you?”

“You’d be too if
he stepped on your back and you had to wear one of Grandma’s smelly old
poultices,” Jordan yelled.

“He does look a
little big,” Gunner said.

“I’m going back to
the house,” Jordan said.

“You can’t,”
Gunner said. “Bess ran us all off. Willow and Selie went to spread the runners
down at the strawberry patch. We were fetching the hoe to help her weed some
when Eamon came running up.”

“The hoes aren’t
down here,” Eamon said then gave Jake a narrow-eyed stare. “You were following
us weren’t you?”

“Was not,” Jake
retorted and put his head down so no one could see his eyes.

Willow! She’s
alone in the strawberry patch. Jordan forgot all about heading back to
eavesdrop on the grown-ups. If Sergeant Hummel was here that meant Luke Vander
wasn’t far off. He was probably lurking about like some rattlesnake, slithering
through the grass on his belly waiting to ambush.

“Let’s go help
Willow then,” Jordan said and took off to the strawberry patch which was on the
other side of the pasture next to the road.

“Wait
up Jordan!” Gunner hollered.

Jordan slowed his
pace but didn’t stop.

“Did you get your
fiddle fixed?” Jordan asked.

“Yep,” Gunner said.
“Finnian even taught me a few notes before that man came.”

“Did you hear
anything else?”

“No, but Finnian
didn’t seem too concerned about it. Did you see anything up on the mountain?”

“There were
soldiers at the top, over the rocks,” Jordan said. “They were standing around
looking at something.”

“What was it?”

“I don’t know,”
Jordan said. “We couldn’t see anything.”

Jordan spotted
Willow’s blue dress as she knelt in the dirt. He could see Selie standing next
to her doing absolutely nothing.

“Need some help?”
Gunner asked as he unlatched the gate.

Jordan hopped over
the fence.

“It could use some
weeding,” Willow said. “You can start over there and don’t step on any of the
plants. Didn’t you bring a hoe?”

“Jake’s getting
it,” Jordan said. “We can use our hands.”

Jordan followed
Gunner to a corner of the patch and started pulling out the weeds. The blooms
had long since blown away and plump green berries were everywhere. Jake and
Eamon showed up a couple of minutes later with two hoes.

The mid-morning
sun beat down relentlessly and Jordan was dying of thirst.

“Did you bring any
water?” he asked Willow.

“Over by the
fence,” she pointed.

“I’ll get it for
you,” Selie said and raced him to the edge of the patch.

He took the water
from her and gulped down half the jar.

“Hey!” Eamon
called. “Save some for the rest of us.”

Jordan propped the
jar next to the post and went back to work.

“It looks like
we’re going to get a bunch this year,” Jake called out.

“The birds will
probably eat them all,” Selie said. “Just like last year.”

They had weeded
two full rows by the time Ma called them to come and eat. Jordan was filthy,
sweaty, and achy from all the stooping and tugging. The patch was full of
spiders. He didn’t know why, but it seemed as though there were as many spiders
in the patch as there were strawberries. He hated spiders and cringed when he
had to wipe away their webs which were intricately laced on the leaves and
inevitably stuck to his fingers.

Jordan was the
first one over the fence and back to the house. His curiosity was getting the
best of him and he wondered if Sergeant Hummel was still there.

Jordan couldn’t
help but show his disappointment when he didn’t see any horses out front. Pa,
Jim, and Grandma were already eating by the time he got to the kitchen and Ma
was fussing over a broken string on her apron.

“What did Sergeant
Hummel want?” Jordan asked as he washed his hands.

Eamon, Gunner,
Jake came into the kitchen before Pa had a chance to answer. Willow and Selie
arrived moments later.

“Ewww!” Willow
said. “Who got the water all dirty?”

She tossed the
water out the back door and filled the basin from the bucket Gunner brought in
earlier this morning.

“So, what’d he
want?” Jordan asked again.

Pa shoved his
plate away and leaned back in his chair.

“Might as well
tell them Finnian,” Ma said. “They ain’t going to let you alone until you do.”

Everyone got quiet
and waited for Pa to say something. He took his tobacco out of his shirt pocket
and plugged a wad in his cheek. It was the quietest it had ever been at the
table and all their eyes were fixed on him.

“Sergeant Hummel
stopped by to tell me there’s been a Federal spy hiding in the caves up on the
mountain,” Pa said. “Asked me if I knew anything about it.”

“Did you?” Jordan
asked.

“No,” Pa said.
“The only time I go up there is when one of the cows wanders off.”

“What was going on
up there?” Eamon asked. “Jordan and me saw soldiers.”

“When?” Pa asked.

Eamon looked at
Jordan. Jordan swallowed hard.

“We went up there
after we ate this morning. Jordan said he knew where the shot came from.”

“You boys ought
not be running off like that without telling anyone,” Ma said. “What if you’d
have run to Luke or some other fool with a gun?”

“You boys best
stay close to home,” Jim said and cast a firm eye at Gunner. “No telling what
you’re going to run into the days.”

“Pa,” Jordan said.
His voice was soft and nervous. “They was looking at something up there. What
was it?”

Pa got up and spit
out the back door.

“They shot of them
Federal boys early this morning and killed him,” Pa said. “So if you see anyone
lurking around, you better get back here and tell me about it.”

“Yes sir,” they
all said and finished eating.

Jordan regretted
being the first one to finish eating. That meant he was the first one back to
work. Willow and Selie eventually showed up but none of the others came back to
help. He was tired of the strawberry patch and pulled only the tallest of the
weeds to get done faster.

Gunner came
running through the pasture, opened the gate and headed straight for Jordan.

“Come on,” he said
and pulled at Jordan’s arm.

“Where are we
going?” Jordan asked.

“Finnian said we
was riding over to the old home place,” Gunner said. “Come on or they’ll leave
us.”

“I thought we had
to finish this first?” Jordan asked.

“They’re loading
the wagon now with lumber and cedar,” Gunner said. “They’re going to fix the
holes in the roof.”

“Go on,” Jordan
said. “I’ll catch up. I need to tell Willow I’m leaving.”

“I know you’re
leaving,” Willow scoffed, as she walked up behind them. “You always manage to
get out of work.”

“I’ve been here
all afternoon,” Jordan whined and waved Gunner on.

“Are you not
going?” she asked as she watched Gunner sprint back to the house.

“Willow,” Jordan
began. “Yesterday Luke Vander was talking about you. Right after he shot at me.
You need to go on back to the house until someone can come out here with you.”

“I ain’t afraid of
no Vander,” she said. “He’ll get his teeth kicked out if he comes around here.”

“Willow,” Jordan
said. “Please, go back to the house. It’s not safe.”

“Go on Jordan,”
Willow said. “Don’t you think I’d know if I was in danger? I ain’t been
spending time with Grandma for nothing. I’m going to be a healer . . . and a
seer, just like she is.”

“But you ain’t
yet,” Jordan protested.

“I’m more of a
seer than you know.”

“Then tell me
something I don’t know.”

“You only pulled
the high weeds on that last row,” Willow said and stuck out her tongue.

“I know that,”
Jordan said. “I said tell me something I don’t know.”

“They are leaving
without you!” Willow hollered.

Jordan looked back
towards the house and sure enough, the wagon rolled down the path to the road.
Jordan took off after them.