FORLORN AND FOREWARNED

 

 

            Jody yawned and stretched and awakened pleasantly at the Glen, with the warm sun on his face. It was August, three months after the fight in Volusia, two months after Penny's snakebite, and one month after Fodder-wing's death. But it was well before Oliver had run off with Twink, and well before Lem had vowed to kill the both of them. Jody opened his eyes lazily, to the unexpected sight of Buck and Mill-wheel standing several feet from him.

            The boy smiled in surprise, and said, "Oh!" But then, he remembered the sleeping Oliver beside him, and blurted a much more ominous, "Ohh!!" He glanced frantically at Oliver, and cried, "Oh no!! No no no no no!!!" He moved to uselessly shield Oliver from their sight; they had long since already seen the blond sailor.

            The Forresters' brows rose questioningly: was Jody going to keep the promise that he had made to all of them when they had saved his father from the snakebite, or was he going to betray them and side with Oliver once again?

            "Oh please! Don't hurt him!!" the boy implored. He read their expressions clearly, and added, "I'll...not rile you, but please don't do nothin' awful to him; he still ain't all healed from the fight!"

            By this time, the tall blond had awakened as well, and he regarded with undeniable dread the two Forresters who had helped Lem to severely batter him. "Oh don't!! Oh please, no, don't!!!"

            Their brows rose in surprise. "Now we figgered you'd be eager to go at it with us agin," said Mill-wheel.

            Horror etched in his face, Oliver slowly shook his head. "Never agin!! Please, leave me go!!!"

            Buck turned a perplexed expression to his brother. "Now this is a mite awkward." As Mill-wheel nodded agreement, Buck said to Oliver, "Gabby goed to fetch Lem. They'll be back b'fore long. We knowed we couldn't leave Lem outen it; he'd sure wanta be in on it. Th'others might come, too. We cain't jest leave you go. How'd we 'splain that when th'others git back here?"

            Jody's heart visibly sank. "Gabby...was here, too? And he goed to fetch Lem???" he repeated. "And th'others, too?? Oh no!!!!"

            "This is a nightmare!!!" Oliver gasped, his stricken expression crumpling.

            Buck and Mill-wheel went closer, conflicted and in concern, and sat down in the grass in front of the two blonds.

            "But you was so ready to take us on in Volusia," Buck reminded Oliver.

            "No," Oliver murmured sadly. "Only Lem. I was fool 'nough to start in on him; I admit that. But I ain't thought through what you two might do, that you might gang up on me. By the time I realized..., it was way too late!"

            Their reluctant expressions showed that they understood all too well. Still, Mill-wheel suggested, "You coulda backed out."

            "With the whole town watchin'?? How could I??" he appealed to them earnestly.

            The two bearded men visibly resigned themselves to the confirmation of a theory that they had not liked upon first hearing. Ruefully, Buck admitted, "Ma wondered iffen that might be true: that you felt trapped into fightin' all three of us. We had...hoped not."

            Oliver's eyes clouded with tears. "Please!! I cain't face this agin!! I cain't take it!! You-all're too rough, too strong!!! You was too hard on me!!!! I'm even still hurtin' a leetle!!"

            Buck and Mill-wheel regarded him in consternation. Their hearts were kind enough not to wish this sort of anguish on anyone.

            And then Oliver really flabbergasted them. He put his hands together as if to pray, and whispered, "I beg you not to!!!"

            This floored them, and tore their often gentle hearts. Buck reached out and put a consoling arm around Oliver's shoulders. "We'll talk to th'others when they git here; we'll try to git this quarrelin' stopped."

            Oliver leaned fully into Buck's arms, sobbing. Jody, too, began to cry, and crawled into Mill-wheel's lap. The two Forresters reluctantly enfolded them, and exchanged helpless looks. Neither was entirely comfortable with these developments, but they felt that they had no choice but to  offer whatever comfort they could, having caused this misery in the two vulnerable blonds.

            "What iffen you cain't? What iffen they'll not listen??" Jody implored.

            Very reluctantly, Mill-wheel confirmed what Jody suspected, "It'll have to be up to Lem."

            "But he's the only one o' you-all is mean and heartless!!" Jody wailed.

            A bit irked by that evaluation of his clean-shaven brother, Mill-wheel retorted, "He's the one Oliver's quarrel is with!"

            Panicked, Oliver begged, "Please have mercy on me!!! I'm afraid o' you-all!!! I promise, I'll leave Twink be! I know she runned off! I don't know where! I ain't tried to find her! I'll not try! Please he'p me tell Lem...!!"

            "All right, all right," Buck attempted to soothe the distraught fellow. "We'll he'p you tell him; we'll make sure he listens. It might he'p. But you gotta remember: he's been layin' for you ever since the fight."

            Oliver moaned in horror at that pronouncement. "I'm so frightened!! Have pity!! I cain't take it agin!! You-all hurted me too much!! And I still have sich awful nightmares! And this here is too much like some of 'em!"

            "Me too!" Jody agreed. "I still have bad nightmares, too!"

            Thus reminded of his small friend's presence and potential danger as well, Oliver pleaded, "Leave Jody go! Don't make him watch...whatever this is gonna be!!"

            Reluctantly, Mill-wheel shook his head. "We cain't turn Jody loose. He'd likely come back here with Penny, and make the problem worse agin."

            "Don't worry 'bout me, Oliver! I'm jest feared for you! I'll behave; I have to, and I know they'll not hurt me long's I do," Jody reassured him. The two Forresters nodded agreement.

            Oliver looked up into Buck's often kindly eyes. "I'm scared! I'm so scared!! Spare me!! I jest wanta live in peace! Please!!"

            "What the HELL is this!" demanded Lem's harsh voice.

            Jody screamed shrilly and buried his little face in Mill-wheel's beard.

            "Oh no no no no!!!" Oliver moaned, gave just a brief horrified glance at the four new arrivals, and then turned his own face away from them.

            Buck said mildly, "Lem, we got a mite of a problem." He proceeded to explain what they'd learned and what had transpired, as Oliver and Jody continued to sob steadily and hide their faces. "So Ma was right," he finished. "Oliver ain't never meant to take on the rest of us."

            "Dang!" spat Arch. "Bad 'nough we wa'n't with you-all in Volusia, and missed out on the fight! We was hopin' to make up for that today!"

            Pack agreed, "I wanta be in on beatin' him...finally!"

            "We still kin!" Lem retorted murderously.

            "Now wait a minute!" insisted Buck. "I told you: he promised to leave Twink be, and stay outta your way. What more do you want??"

            Lem looked disgusted and hesitant for a moment, and then aimed his wrath in a different direction. His eyes narrowed and he demanded harshly, "What about you, Skeeter? You gonna behave??" His black eyes nearly dared the child to interfere again, as Jody forced himself to look into those hostile eyes.

            "Yes, Lem," Jody responded timidly. "I have to. 'Cause I promised you. And 'cause I don't b'long in your fights; I'm too leetle. But I kin still beg you! Please don't hurt Oliver no more!!"

            Gabby protested, "Hey! I got a say in this, too. I goed all the way back to our place, to fetch Lem and th'others."

            Mill-wheel gave him an aggravated look. "You really wanta beat on a feller who's beggin' and blubberin'?"

            Gabby muttered unintelligibly, frustrated.

            Lem advanced a threatening step. "No. I want him to stand up and face us like a man."

            Oliver cringed and whined, "I tried that once, in town, and we seed how that come out! Plus, now you-all've doubled in number! I cain't! I jest cain't!!"

            Possibly just hoping for a distraction, suddenly Mill-wheel wondered, "What was you two doin' out here today anyways?"

            Jody spoke softly, "We've allus liked to come here. For the flowers and the birds, and...."

            Oliver finished for him, "And to build a flutter-mill in the stream."

            "Build a what?" asked Buck.

            In response, Oliver pointed just past him, where the little wheel of leaves turned in the flowing water.

            Buck and Mill-wheel, and perhaps the others, stared at it for a moment, and then Buck took gentle hold of Oliver's chin, looked into his blue eyes, and regarded him pensively. He said, "In some ways, you're still jest a boy at heart."

            "I s'pose," Oliver admitted.

            "Jumpin' Lem in town in front of me and Mill-wheel was jest a sudden impulse, same as Jody done by gittin' into it, and you been sufferin' for it ever since, physical and emotional."

            "Yes," he responded quietly.

            "You're a heap younger'n us. You know, I recollect when you was jest a leetle thing, and we was teenagers."

            "I remember. You-all played with me at the doin's. You-all was nice, and it was fun."

            "Your ma didn't think so," Mill-wheel reminded him without rancor.

            "I know." Oliver hung his head. "I'm sorry Ma takened me away from you-all. I didn't want her to."

            Buck realized, "That was the start o' troubles betwixt you and us."

            Oliver nodded sadly.

            Buck regarded the other four Forresters. "Lem, you ain't gonna wanta hear this, but rememberin' when he was leetle, plus all o' this what's happened today, makes me feel right protective of Oliver, sorta like the way me and Mill-wheel feel protective o' Penny ever since we saved him from the snakebite."

            Mill-wheel was nodding. "And protective o' Jody, too, ever since he come to us, cryin' and beggin' for us to save his pa."

            Buck explained, "Havin' them need us, so desperate, makes us feel more powerful and proud, than any amount o' hurtin' 'em kin do. Kin you understand that?"

            Lem looked rueful. "Maybe. But still seems to me, since Oliver's my problem, what to do with him oughta be my decision."

            Buck nodded slowly. "In that case, iffen you and Arch and Pack and Gabby insist on goin' through with this, beatin' him agin, me and Mill-wheel'll jest hafta fight on Oliver's side."

            "Really???" Oliver stared at him, thunderstruck.

            "What??!!" Lem roared. "You ain't serious! That ain't how we do things!"

            "Not 'til now," Mill-wheel agreed. "But you know we do fight amongst ourselves right often. So, this here'll jest be a version o' that."

            "Oh my god," Oliver whispered in wonder, staring back and forth between his astounding protectors, overwhelmed.

            Gently, Buck caressed his cheek. "It'll still be right hard on you."

            Oliver winced in fright.

            "But we'll do our best to take the worst of it offen you."

            "Thank you!" Now, Oliver was tearing up for a very different reason.

            "Well, let's git on with it," Mill-wheel said with a sigh. He stood, easily lifting Jody with him, and carried the boy several yards away before setting him down. He instructed, "Now, you stay well-clear. Iffen the fightin' moves in your direction, you move away. Don't leave nobody fall on you." He reached down and briefly caressed a small cheek.

            Jody nodded obedience, began crying harder in horror, and put both hands over his mouth to hold in his screams as his eyes migrated, terrified, to Lem, Arch, Pack, and Gabby, who were waiting in various stages of rage and aggravation. He moved his hands aside long enough to murmur, "Please don't hurt him!! Oh please don't!!!"

            Meanwhile, Buck was helping Oliver to rise. They had two false starts wherein Oliver's legs nearly buckled out from under him.

            "Come on now," Buck chided gently. "You ain't still that bad off."

            Oliver agreed, "No. It's fear! Oh god oh god oh god!!"

            Filled with loathing, Lem declared, "You two are makin' me sick!"

            "Which two?" Buck challenged over his shoulder, beginning to anger.

            "Well, at the moment, THEM two!" he pointed at the two blonds. But, unstated, he left room for the criticism to extend to his two betraying brothers.

            Buck prodded Oliver gently forward. Mill-wheel joined him in standing behind Oliver. Arch and Pack moved to either side of Lem and Oliver, positioning themselves just as Buck and Mill-wheel had done in Volusia. Arch and Pack made fists. Whimpering and wincing in fright, Oliver raised defensive open palms in front of his face. With a grunt, from behind the sailor, Mill-wheel pulled Oliver's arms down and behind his back, saying, "Now you know better'n that. Buck and me'll he'p you, but we'll face up to 'em honest." Oliver whined at him feebly in protest. To make his face less of a target, Oliver lowered his head, shuddering. Lem grabbed Oliver by the collar, drew him harshly to him, and shouted in his face, "Face me, damn you!"

            At the demand, Oliver's blue eyes instantly, involuntarily, met Lem's hate-filled black ones, and at the horrific sight, Oliver's eyes rolled silently up into his head, and he fell forward heavily into Lem's arms. Lem pushed him off roughly, in disgust, whereupon Oliver crumpled to the ground. Jody screamed, "Oliver!!!"

            Just in case the child reacted foolishly, Mill-wheel turned to order Jody, "Stay there! I told you!"

            Buck bent to check Oliver, and assured the boy, "He's all right, Jody; he jest fainted."

            Arch snarled, "This ain't gonna be no fun, Lem!"

            Pack sneered, "We ain't gonna be able to make up what we missed, Arch!"

            "Goldangit!" blurted Gabby. "I goed all the way back and fetched the rest o' you for nothin'!"

            "This ain't workin'!" Lem fumed.

            All six Forresters stood over the unmoving Oliver, shaking their heads for reasons that varied amongst the men.

            "Well, Lem? What's it gonna be?" urged Buck.

            "We may hafta settle for jest scarin' the hell outen him," Lem allowed bitterly.

            "How we gonna do that?" wondered Gabby densely.

            "We DONE it. And we're DOIN' it."

            "Oh."

            Slowly, Oliver began to come to, with a moan and slight movement.

            Indicating the two blonds, Mill-wheel suggested to Buck, "We'll take these fellers home. Jest so we know you'll not change your minds and go after 'em," he added to Lem and the others.

            "Home??" demanded Lem.

            "Baxter's Island," Buck clarified. "To keep 'em together, so's we kin both keep an eye on both of' 'em, for a few days."

            Lem reached a new level of disgust. "You two aim to stay there and babysit 'em??!"

            Buck nodded, and went on, "So's you'll know that iffen you try to change your minds, you'll not git nothin' no diff'rent from what you got here today. No more satisfyin' than today was."

            "After some days, we'll take Oliver home to his ma," Mill-wheel added. "Maybe we'll stay there a bit, too; we'll see."

            "Bodyguards!" Lem spat.

            "That's how it be."