SOGGY SALVATION

 

 

            "Hey fellers!" Gabby called out to his brothers. "Over here!"

            Buck, Mill-wheel, Arch, and Pack came running to see what he'd found. Or, more accurately, whom. Jody lay on the ground in obvious pain.

            "Ooooow," the child murmured tearfully, holding his tummy.

            "Easy boy." Gabby stroked the blond hair.

            Buck and Mill-wheel squatted down on either side of the writhing youngster.

            "Jody?" Buck reached a concerned hand to stroke his cheek. "What happened to you?"

            "He hit me," Jody sobbed, followed by an "Ooooow" that was even higher-pitched and more pathetic than the first. One small leg kicked uselessly in protest to the agony that would not stop.

            "Who hit you?" Mill-wheel demanded.

            Jody's eyes were fearful. "Lem," he answered in a tiny voice. "I'm afraid of him! I'm afraid of you!"

            Buck tilted up the boy's chin to look into his eyes. "Now, Jody. Ain't no cause for you to fear us. We'll not hurt you."

            Jody ignored his reassurance. "It hurts so bad!" he whimpered. "He hits so hard! You're all so strong! I'm jest leetle! Please!!"

            Mill-wheel spoke soothingly, "We know that. And we'll not do nothin' to you. And Lem's gone off; you're safe."

            Jody did not look convinced. His eyes filled with foreboding. "He'll be back. More riled than ever."

            "We'll protect you," Buck consoled him. The others mumbled agreement.

            "I hope you will," Jody begged, tears flowing freely. "Please! It hurts too much! I cain't take this!"

            "Why would you doubt us?" Gabby wondered.

            Jody's fear rose. "I reckon I best tell you why Lem's riled at me."

            The Forresters exchanged glances.

            "Please!!" he sobbed. "I'm frightened!!"

            "Shhh," Buck soothed, but he was a bit more reserved. "Jest tell us now."

            Jody's wide eyes watched him. "Oliver's back." He waited but they said nothing. He drew a deep, shuddering breath and went on, "Lem found out. Somehow. He hit me 'cause he was tryin' to make me tell where Oliver is."

            Mill-wheel asked evenly, "And did you?"

            "He musta," Buck concluded ominously. "Lem ain't still here beatin' him, and Jody's yit alive."

            "He thinks I did," Jody agreed. "I lied. I couldn't git Oliver kilt, but I couldn't take no more beatin', neither. Soon as Lem figgers out Oliver ain't at the Glen, he'll be back. And I been too bad hurted to even run away. Please! Don't hurt me! I'm terrified!!"

            "All right, now, all right." Buck laid a comforting hand on Jody's tortured tummy. He happened to glance down to Jody's crotch. "What's this?" he demanded in alarm. "Blood??"

            "No," Jody confessed ruefully. "I wet my pants."

            Buck smiled with a mixture of sympathy, pity, and gentle amusement.

            "I done it when he hit me."

            "That's all right."

            "'Cause it hurt so. And 'cause I panicked."

            "Don't be 'shamed."

            Mill-wheel stood, declaring, "I best go see iffen I kin meet Lem halfway. Mebbe I kin git him simmered down a mite, afore he gits back here."

            "Good idea," agreed Buck. "We kin take keer o' the boy."

            Mill-wheel had not gone very far when he heard a rustling in the bushes to his left. With sharp eyes peering intently, he reached to shove them aside. Revealing Oliver.

            Oliver's tenor gasp accompanied a frantic backward scrambling on all fours.

            "Easy." Mill-wheel raised a hand.

            Oliver paused in his scuffling, but his voice was horrified. "You're gonna call the others, ain't you?! You're gonna...!" A choked sob cut off his speech.

            "Relax." Mill-wheel knelt beside him. He couldn't have explained why he meant Oliver no harm; he just knew it to be so.

            Tears streamed down Oliver's face. He couldn't help a renewed scrabbling backward as Mill-wheel leaned nearer. Oliver shrieked with fear, and then groaned with disgust, as a new wetness spread from the other end of his body. He moved hastily to try to cover the growing stain with his hand, but he wasn't fast enough.

            Mill-wheel regarded him with sympathy and suppressed amusement, scooped up the red-faced Oliver, and carried him back to the waiting group, dumping him next to Jody. The other Forresters stared. Oliver cringed.

            Buck asked, at a loss, "Did you find Lem?"

            Oliver gasped and winced.

            Mill-wheel shook his head. "No, but I found this'n, and I don't much feel like hurtin' him, neither."

            Buck opened his mouth to ask why not, but then happened to glance down at Oliver's drenched trousers. He shut his mouth abruptly and looked at Mill-wheel. They guffawed.

 

            A short time later, Lem found them. A terrified Jody and a horrified Oliver, both damp at both ends, clung to each other, sobbing noisily.

            Lem took in the sight of the two of them, surrounded by his five brothers. "What in tarnation?!" he bellowed.

            "Now jest hold on, Lem." Buck put up a cautioning hand. "Look here." He tugged gently on Jody's shoulders, and nodded to Mill-wheel, who pulled carefully on Oliver's. The two blonds reluctantly separated.

            "What the devil?!" Lem stared at the two pairs of soaked trousers. "What is that, blood?!" He grinned evilly at Jody. "Did I hit you that hard?" He smiled wickedly at Oliver. "Did my brothers start on you without me?"

            Mill-wheel answered, "Ain't blood. They both peed theirselves in fright." He waited, hoping his clean-shaven brother would laugh. He was not disappointed.