Red - Jack Ketchum [22]
And the Woman sees…
…a family. What the man has. And she has not.
ELEVEN
His children and Belle — at some point they each look at him, the father, for instruction. But it’s Peggy who actually asks the question.
“Dad? What the hell is going on here?”
He pardons the swearing.
“God knows where she‘s been living, Peg. In the woods. In caves. We’re going to help her.”
“Help her? By chaining her up in a fruit cellar?”
He sees Belle shoot his daughter a warning glance. Good. Belle’s standing by her man. Though he can see she’s pretty damn puzzled too.
“She needs a big Band-Aid,” Darlin’ says. Bless her.
He smiles. “That’s the first thing we’re going to fix. She’s been wounded. We’ll get right to it. Okay, now listen. We’re each going to share in the responsibility of taking care of her.”
“The police should be taking care of her,” Peggy says. “Or a hospital.”
“No police. No hospitals.”
“She’s not some fucking pet, Dad!”
“Peggy,” says Belle, “you watch your mouth.”
He lets that one pass too.
“The first rule, ground rule number one,” he says, “is no touching.”
He holds up his ruined finger, wiggles it. Darlin’ giggles.
“I learned that the hard way. Our friend here likes to bite.”
“ She bit you?” says Belle.
“Took about an inch off my finger. Swallowed it.”
“Jeez!” Brian’s impressed. Well, he would be. Hell, he’s impressed. If not in a good way.
“What are we going to do with her?” his son says.
“Train her, Brian. Civilize her. Free her from herself, her baser instincts. What we have here is…well, I’ve never seen anything quite exactly like it. This woman thinks she’s an animal. Damned if I know how she got that way. But we can’t have people running around in the woods thinking they’re animals. It’s not right. It’s not safe.”
He takes a quick survey of his family. Darlin’s easy to read — Darlin’s fascinated. Brian’s probably thinking, awesome. Peggy is going to be trouble. Her face reads a mix of disbelief and disgust…or is that contempt? It better not be contempt. Belle is wearing that guarded look she has. The jury’s still out with Belle. But she’ll come around. She always does.
“Belle, why don’t you run on up and put together a bowl of cereal or oatmeal or something. Something simple. The woman’s got to be hungry. All she’s had to eat since I found her is…”
He wags his finger again. Gets another giggle out of Darlin’.
“And Peg? Dig out the first aid kit for me. I want to see to her wounds. Go on now, get a move on, ladies.”
They both seem to hesitate for a moment and then Belle leads them up the stairs. Darlin’ doesn’t want to leave, he can tell, but Peg takes her hand and off they go. That leaves Brian standing there with him. The boy can’t take his eyes off her. And that would figure too. She’s a mess but she’s still a woman full-grown and mostly naked. He can’t help but smile.
“Better than a mountain lion, son?”
“Boy, you said it. Do we really get to keep her?”
“We do. Go out to the barn. Grab me a bow rake, will you?”
“Sure, dad.”
He takes the stairs two at a time — and once out there, sets the dogs to barking. Have they been fed tonight? Probably. Who knows. He’s tired of asking.
~ * ~
The man has done her a service. She doesn’t know why. He has removed the poultices at her side, cleaned her wounds and replaced the poultices with ones of his own making, white. No, he has done her two services. He has removed the piss-bowl from under her and used a crank on the wall to lower her down and allow her to rest on her knees, taking the