Chase the Wind (25 page)

“She broke my nose,” he cried out. Joe nervously looked at Jenny, who was rubbing her fist, then back at his friend. He didn’t seem to know what to say without his buddy standing solidly behind him. Jenny made sure he wasn’t going to try anything, then stalked off, still rubbing her fist. She ran into Marcus at the edge of the orchard.

“Are you all right? I saw Logan and Joe follow you.”

“I’m fine, but I can’t say the same for Logan.” Logan and Joe came out of the orchard, and Marcus grabbed Jenny, pulling her away from the two as they walked by, Logan stopping the flow of blood with his shirt. Marcus’s eyes grew wide.

“Did you do that?” he asked.

“Someone had to do it,” Jenny replied. “Come on, I want to make sure they don’t go into the infirmary.”

He shook his head as she began to run, and then followed behind her. Before they could enter the mission, Logan and Joe were stopped by a nun, who examined Logan’s bloody nose in the courtyard while Joe hopped alongside, waving his arms and pointing towards the orchard. Jenny and Marcus ducked into the building
and made their way to the infirmary at a East walk, being warned
to slow down by another frowning sister.

Sister Mary Frances was in the outer office when they came bursting in, and she rose from her desk at the interruption.

“You have a patient coming.” Jenny was almost out of breath,
but she managed to get the words out.

“Is it bad?” she asked, suddenly alarmed at the urgency in Jenny’s
face.

-No, I—”

“Go on in and shut the door,” Sister Mary Frances said, under
standing the situation when she heard the complaining Logan coming down the hall. Jenny dashed into Jamie’s room with Marcus on
her heels and firmly shut the door behind her.

Jamie greeted her with a look of horror when he realized that she was not alone. Marcus didn’t hesitate. He walked over to the
bed with his hand outstretched.

“Hi, I’m Marcus,” he said with a friendly smile. Jamie looked at
Marcus’s hand, looked up at his friendly face, then looked past him
to his sister, who shrugged and gave him an imploring look. Jamie
took the outstretched hand and shook it, turning his face away to
hide the burn.

“James Duncan,” he said, and immediately began to fumble around, searching for his shirt. Jenny produced it from the back of the chair he had been sitting in earlier and held it up, hooked
on the end of her finger, dangling just out of his reach. He leaned forward and jerked it out of her hand, giving her a murderous look as he pulled it on. Jenny gave him a sarcastic smile in return. Mar
cus decided to give the two of them some room and went over to the closed door, where he stuck his ear to the crack.

“What is going on?” Jamie asked, motioning towards the door
with his chin. Marcus stuck his finger up to his lips, signaling Jamie
to be quiet. Jamie started using the Indian sign language that Gray
Horse had taught them to talk to Jenny. Marcus watched the exchange between the two with his ear still at the door.

“Uh-oh,” he finally whispered, looking towards Jenny. “You’re
going to get in trouble.”

“For what?” they both asked.

“Logan is telling the sisters that you went crazy and hit him for
no reason.”

“They won’t believe that.”

“Who is this guy?” Jamie asked.

“They’re sending for Father Clarence right now,” Marcus re
ported. Jamie got out of bed and went over to the door, leaning
over Marcus so that he had his ear pressed to the crack above the
smaller boy’s. Marcus looked up, and Jamie flashed his grin. The
salve that Jenny had rubbed on earlier had softened his skin so that
he now could move about without feeling the pulling and tearing that he had experienced earlier. They both listened to the soothing tones of Sister Mary Frances as she ministered to Logan’s nose. They also heard the angry accusations he was making, including several references to the freak hiding behind the door, in a voice
loud enough for all to hear. Jamie stalked away from the door, the
clear skin of his cheeks flushing red in anger.

“You punched this guy in the nose?” he asked his sister.

“He asked for it,” Jenny declared.

“That’s not all he’s asking for.” Jamie started pacing around the confines of his room, stopping only long enough to look out the window when his route took him past it. Jenny could hardly contain her joy at seeing him this way. He was ready to whip Logan but good, and he hadn’t even met him yet. If anything would get
him on the road to recovery it would be this. Jamie had always
hated injustice of any kind; one time he had even fought an older boy at school when he caught him throwing rocks at a bird’s nest.
He would get strong again, just to keep this bully from picking on
everyone else. Marcus saw the smile on her face and smiled back.

“Father Clarence is here,” he whispered as he leaned back against
the door. Jamie and Jenny joined him, each taking a station above or below. They listened as Logan angrily told his story, Joe inter
jecting his asides into the fabrication.

“Where is the girl now?” they heard Father Clarence ask. The
three behind the door all looked at each other when they heard
Joe announce that she had still been in the orchard with that punk
Marcus when they came in. Sister Mary Frances never said a word
as the priest instructed the other nun to find the missing girl im
mediately and bring her to his office. He then instructed Joe on
the sins of name-calling, telling him not to refer to Marcus as a
punk. Marcus put his hands over his mouth to cover his laughter
as he listened to joe being chastised for his “sin.” The three of them
scattered around the room, trying to look casual when they heard
footsteps approaching the door.

“Father Clarence would like to have a talk with you,” Sister Mary
Frances told Jenny when she had the door closed firmly behind her. “Before he does, I would like to look at your hand.” Jenny held her right hand out to the nun, who examined it closely, instructing her to make a fist, wiggle her fingers and flex her wrist.
“I can’t believe you didn’t break anything on that hard head of his,”
she finally declared. Marcus began to laugh, and Jamie couldn’t help grinning, his pride in his sister evident. Sister Mary Frances added her own sweet smile to the others and took Jenny’s arm in
hers.

“You’d best be off. Waiting will only make it worse.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“Nothing that can compare to what you’ve already been
through,” the nun assured her. She laid her hand along Jenny’s
cheek. “I’ll say a prayer for you.” Jenny nodded and took off down
the hall.

“What will he do to her?” Jamie asked when she had disappeared
from view.

“She’s going to get a beating,” Marcus declared and flopped
down in die chair.

“Marcus, you don’t know that,” the nun answered.

“Everyone gets a beating, no matter how young or old. ‘It drives
the sin out, it helps to make us stronger in our war against the
devil and his minions,’“ Marcus quoted.

“Father Clarence will recognize the truth,” Sister Mary Frances
said, as much to herself as to the two boys with worried faces. Marcus threw his hands up in disgust as the nun left the room. Jamie went to the door and cautiously peered out into the office. He took a tentative step into the outer room, his hands braced
against the door frame.

“You can’t help her,” Marcus said from the chair. “You will only
make it worse for her and wind up getting in trouble yourself.” Jamie looked over his shoulder at the younger boy, who sounded wiser than his years. “Besides, you know your sister would get really mad if you showed up,” he added with a smile.

Jamie shook his head in wonder at the boy. “It didn’t take you
long to figure her out,” he said, stepping back into the safety of his
room. He hadn’t realized how much he had been shaking until he
reached the edge of his bed, where his legs suddenly gave out from
under him.

“Are you all right?”

“I guess.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“No, stay, at least until Jenny gets back.” Jamie surprised himself with the words. “It will make the time go quicker.” He eased himself up on the bed and leaned back against the pillows. He suddenly felt weary, and very worried about his sister. As Marcus began to chatter about the mission, Jamie realized that he was the only one around to worry about Jenny, and the responsibility settled on him heavily. His heart began to ache for his mother and father and the peace that he had felt in their presence. They had made every day seem so easy, taking on the burdens of life and sharing them equally, giving Jamie and Jenny freedom from everything but the great joys that each day had to offer.

“What happened to your parents, Marcus?”

“Indians attacked our wagon. My father was going to set up a medical practice in Denver. We had an uncle but he said he didn’t know how to care for my baby sister, so he just left us. That was four years ago. My sister Mary doesn’t remember any of it. She was too little.”

“Do you still think about them?”

“Every day. It’s hardest at night when I’m falling asleep. That’s when I miss them the most. Mary cries sometimes, but she doesn’t really know what she’s crying for.”

“I wish I knew why my parents had to die,” Jamie commented after a while.

“We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Marcus said. He wiped at some tears that had gathered at the comer of his eye.

“With my parents, it was deliberate, I know. I just wish I knew why.”

“Sister Mary Frances said there are some things we’ll never know the answers for. I guess this is one of them.”

“I know, but I’m going to do my best to find out.” Jamie closed his eyes. He really was tired. The ordeal of taking off the bandages had drained the little bit of strength he had built up since his injuries. Marcus settled into the chair, hoping that Jenny would be back soon.

Sister Mary Frances could not believe her eyes when she entered the office of Father Clarence. The priest looked as if he was ready to explode, his face a deep purple, his eyes bulging. He was stand
ing at his desk, his arms planted rigidly on the surface, staring
down at Jenny, who was calmly sitting before him.

“You will obey me!” the priest shouted. The girl did not flinch,
just looked up at him with deep blue eyes full of rebellion.

“I will not let you touch me,” she said calmly, as if she were
speaking to a child that was having trouble understanding a diffi
cult lesson.

“You have broken the rules and you must be punished!” The
priest raised his voice again and slammed his fist against the desk top. “I will send for someone to hold you down if I must, but you
will be punished!”

Sister Mary Frances loudly cleared her throat in hopes that the
priest would notice her presence in the room. The priest turned to her, and she was momentarily taken aback by the venomous look
in his eyes. “If I may have a word with you?”

The priest took his glasses off, then removed a white linen hand
kerchief from the pocket of his frock. He spent a few minutes cleaning and checking his glasses, then wiped his face with the
cloth. As the nun approached the desk, Jenny rose from her chair. The nun shifted her eyes towards the door, and Jenny made good
her escape before the priest had a chance to protest. His angry voice
followed her down the hall as she made her way back to the infir
mary.

She found Jamie and Marcus both half asleep in their places.
Marcus jumped up when she entered the room, a questioning look
on his face. She smiled at him, then took a place on the edge of
Jamie’s bed.

“Hey,” she said, gently grabbing the arm of her sleeping brother.

“Hey, are you all right?” he asked sleepily. The bell began to toll,
announcing the dinner hour.

“Fine, although Father Clarence is a bit out of sorts.”

“Why is that?”

“He thought I needed a spanking. I disagreed.”

“You what?” Marcus asked incredulously.

“I told him I wasn’t going to let him punish me, that I didn’t deserve to be punished.” Jamie began to laugh. “It didn’t set well
with him. If Sister Mary Frances hadn’t shown up, I believe he
would have fallen over dead of heart failure.”