Part 19 (1/2)
”I can't say as I do, either,” Winn said.
”No, me, neither,” Jeremiah said quickly.
”But the difference, see, is when I'm eatin' I can tell if it was cooked
good or not. But Peter there, he just got no taste for nothin' but eggs.”Winn wasn't sure how he should respond. He couldn't tell how Peter felt about it. He thought it was probably a well-worn argument, if anything soone- sided could be called an argument.In a moment Jeremiah went on.”Makes you wonder what the boy grew up eatin', don't it?” He leaned across the table and said in a lower voice, ”He's just grinnin' at us.
He knows I don't mean nothin'. ”
Winn tried to grin, too, but he felt very uncomfortable. He hadn't been
around Peter much without Greg, and Jeremiah was new to him.Dropping in for breakfast hardly seemed right anyway. The silence was filledwith coo king sounds. Finally Winn asked, ”You were up at the house a day or so ago, weren't you?”
”Yes, sir, I was,” Jeremiah said.
”I went up to report on the drive. You was up there then, was you?””I heard your voice. Mrs. Franklin lets me use a room off the front roomthere.”
”Then you heard about the drive, I guess.”Winn didn't see the hopeful look on the man's face. ”No,” he said.”Iheard your voice when you first came in. I didn't mean to be listening anyway. ”
Peter brought Winn's plate to the table and Jeremiah got up to get his own.
”Need help?” Peter asked quietly.
”Tell me where everything is.”
Peter did and placed a fork in his hand before going back to the stove for
his own plate. Jeremiah brought the coffee and Winn heard the sound of thetin cups being filled. The sense of relief he experienced at not having toworry about breaking a china cup was replaced with a pang almost like regret.It came as a surprise but he didn't have time to wonder about it.
”I'd like to ride Lullaby,” Peter said.
Winn was quiet for a moment. He found the young man's tone interesting. He
was stating a desire and asking permission but there was no fear or excitement in his voice, just calm a.s.surance.
”Be my guest,” he said after some consideration. ”But be careful.”
”Before you go risking your hide tryin' to break a horse, you best recollect
Louie told us to get that corral fence mended. It looked to me like that would take most all day even without us star tin' so late.”
”Winn could help.”
The statement hung in the air and Winn's fork hovered halfway to his mouth.
He was afraid his hand was star ting to shake so he set the fork down verycarefully.
After what seemed like several minutes, Jeremiah spoke softly.
”Mr. Louie give that job to us to do and we don't need to go asking Mrs.Franklin's guest to be doin' none of it.”
For some reason that was as embarra.s.sing as being called useless. He was eating a meal from their table; he ought to do something in return.
Before he stopped to think, he found himself answering, ”I'll be glad to helpany way I can.”
He didn't see the glances exchanged by his two companions. Jeremiah looked doubtfully at Peter, who smiled back before resuming his breakfast as if nothing had interrupted it. After a few minutes of thought, Jeremiah said, ”Well, a strong back and an extra pair of hands would sh.o.r.e 'enough make thejob easier. You real certain you don't mind, now?”
Winn answered truthfully, ”If I can be of any help at all, I'll be happy totry.”
Try is what he did for the next several hours. He was kept busy but he nevergot over the feeling that he was more in the way than anything else.
While Peter and Jeremiah carried the lumber from the barn that would be used to replace the ruined rails, Winn was loaned a pair of gloves and trustedwith a sawhorse.
Peter found the first rail that would need to be replaced and put Winn towork on it with a crowbar. He added a couple of nails to a loose board andfound the next rail for Winn to work on. Jeremiah sawed the boards to replace the ones Winn removed, and Peter stacked the ruined ones to chop forkindling.
Greg joined them shortly after they started.
”Are we fixin' the fence?” he asked.
Jeremiah was the first to answer.
”We's fixin' it but you better be careful you don't get hit with nothin'.”
”I'm gonna help Winn.”
Winn had quit working as soon as he heard the boy's voice, afraid that he
would misjudge the child's location.”I don't think you can help with this,” he said.”Nope,” said Greg, trying to sound like the men. ”Don't got no gloves.””Hold my nails,” Peter called and Greg scampered away.Winn wondered if his own job was any different from Greg's. Surely it would be easier for Peter to pull off the boards himself than it was to get him
started and wait until he finished. When Winn had torn the ruined rails off one side of the fence, Peter led himback to where they had started. Winn and Jeremiah held the new boards in place and Peter nailed them securely. Winn felt the pull of muscles that hadbeen unused for too long. The feeling wasn't altogether unpleasant.
Despite Jeremiah's predictions, they were more than halfway around the corralwhen they decided to quit for lunch. Greg ran to the house to tell hismother he was going to eat with the men.