Galactic Axia Adventure 1: Escape to Destiny (3 page)

Watching the boy eat, Robert came to a decision. “I need to make a run into town. I want you to finish stacking that hay and then see what you can do to fix the garden fence. You know where the tools are out in the barn. If I’m not back by then, I’m sure Agnes can come up with more for you to do.”

“Yes sir.”

“Don’t worry, Delmar,” Robert went on with a chuckle. “She won’t work you to death. It may seem like it, but she won’t!”

Robert pushed up from the table after draining his coffee cup and spoke to his wife. “I may be a while,” he said as he stepped over to grab his jacket off the hook. “I’ll call before I come back just in case you need me to pick something up for you.”

“I’ll try to keep the list short,” Agnes said with a smile. Delmar watched Mr. Hassel limp out to the car shed. He wondered what could be wrong with the old farmer’s leg. A minute later, Robert drove his car down the drive and off toward town.

“Yes, I know he limps,” Agnes said in answer to Delmar’s thoughts. “Combat injury.”

“I’m sorry,” Delmar said.

“Don’t be,” Agnes answered, “we aren’t. It’s an old injury. I’m sure Robert will tell you all about it eventually,” she added with a knowing smile.

“Guess I better get started on these projects,” Delmar said as he started to get up.

“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” Agnes ordered in a tone that brooked no argument. “Now finish your breakfast. You don’t want it to go to waste.”

“No ma’am,” Delmar said as he dutifully took another bite.
Now that’s the waist I want to see it going to!
Agnes thought while she studied Delmar’s too thin frame. Pouring herself a refill of coffee, she decided to make good use of the time.

“You graduate already?” she asked innocently.

“Why do you ask?”

“No reason. It’s just a boy your age should be in school right now,” Agnes answered. “Since you’re not, I suspect you’ve graduated in some accelerated program.”

“No ma’am. I’m in the correspondence program so I can be at home more. I hope to finish soon.”

“I see,” Agnes said.
Not a very good liar,
she thought. “What have you been studying lately?”

“History and social studies and stuff like that.”

“History and social studies?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

From the look on his face, Agnes suspected the boy hadn’t spent much time studying anything of real importance. And it wasn’t even so much the look on his face that caused her to suspect as much as the timber of his voice. He didn’t sound convinced.

“So how do you like living under a dictatorial monarchy?”

“It’s ok I guess.”

“But what if the empress ordered her troopers to storm this place and take us all captive?”

“She wouldn’t do that, would she?” Delmar asked, fear shading his voice. Agnes made another mental note.
This is very interesting. Either he’s never studied history and civics or he has no understanding of it.

“How about the ongoing war with the Red-tails?” she asked.

“What about it?” Delmar dissembled. “I mean, can’t we just leave them alone? Why do we have to provoke them to attack us?”

Agnes felt her bile rising when she considered the absolute ignorance and distortion of facts Delmar was spouting. She couldn’t imagine what kind of lessons the boy was studying in the government correspondence courses. Whatever they were, she was certain he didn’t understand their true content.

“You better finish up and get on with those chores,” Agnes chided as she changed tact. “I don’t want your parents calling if you get home late.”

Delmar’s face grew ashen. “I don’t have any parents,” he mumbled.

Agnes was stunned. “What did you say?”

“I said I don’t have any parents,” Delmar replied more evenly. “My Dad was a trooper and died in space somewhere. My mother was killed when I was ten. Now my brother is my guardian and we do the best we can.”

“I’m sure you do,” Agnes said, trying to bring her own emotions under control. How could she have forgotten? Of course, she knew Delmar’s history, having been friends and neighbors of his parents so long ago. It just didn’t seem possible this boy could have grown up without any parental guidance on a farm just down the road from her and Robert. It was no wonder the boy was confused and even a little bitter.

“You best get busy,” Agnes said as she got up. “I’d like to see those projects well toward completion when Mr. Hassel gets home.”

Delmar hastily finished the last of his meal. Without a word, he placed his dishes in the sink and headed out toward the barn. Agnes watched him through the window and found her own thoughts going back to the sons she and Robert had lost early in their marriage.

∞∞∞

Hours later, Agnes heard Robert drive into the farmyard. Stepping out onto the back porch, she could see his weariness in the way he walked. “How did it go?” she asked as Robert dragged himself up onto the porch.

“Not very well.”

Agnes stepped supportively under one of his arms and together they walked inside. “Tell me about it.” She poured them steaming hot cups of coffee while Robert sagged into his chair at the table.

“Where’s Delmar?” Robert asked.

“He went home as soon as the projects were finished. But not before his brother showed up and demanded Delmar’s pay. I told him we pay by the week, not the day. Dorn sure seemed anxious to get Delmar’s money.”

“Didn’t he give the boy a ride home?”

“No,” Agnes said tightly. “He was in a hurry. Just before he left, he eyed Delmar and I saw his face go pale. I suspect that’s why Delmar left in such a hurry as soon as I released him.” She gave her husband his coffee and then sat down across the corner of the table from him.

“That fits in with what I pieced together while talking to people today,” Robert said wearily as he took a sip.

“I figured you went to the school.”

“Yes, but they were the least helpful,” Robert answered. “Seems Delmar hasn’t been turning in his correspondence courses for a while now. Much more and they’ll drop him from the program.”

“So what did you do?” She knew Robert wouldn’t leave things to get worse when he could get involved.

“I signed up to mentor Delmar through the Service Tutorial Program,” Robert answered with a wry smile. “I arranged for the material to come here directly. Then when Delmar’s not doing chores, he can get some study in without interference.”

“What interference?”

“It seems his brother, who does have legal guardianship, keeps Delmar so busy that his studies are neglected. Since the boy is old enough to leave school, there’s very little they can do about it. Even the social agency claims their hands are tied.”

“That fits in with what I learned just talking with Delmar,” Agnes reported.

“Been snooping again?” Robert quipped with a tired grin.

“Just asking a few questions. What little knowledge Delmar has in some subjects such as history and social studies is either missing or twisted. For the son of a trooper, you’d think he’d know much more.”

“His father was reported missing and presumed killed in action, and his mother died in that terrible accident when he was only ten,” Robert reminded Agnes. “It must have been hard on both of those boys.”

Agnes reflected on what her husband had just told her. She took his hand and squeezed it gently. “The Eagleman’s were our friends, Robert,” she said. “We should have watched out for those boys these last few years, but we didn’t.”

“I know, honey,” Robert answered. “I think that’s why I feel responsible for Delmar now.”

Agnes leaned into Robert’s chest. “Those could have been our boys,” she whispered, trying to keep her emotions in check.

“Now honey. Stepping in and trying to raise those boys would not have brought our boys back to us.”

Agnes looked up into the caring face of her husband. “There’s one more thing, Robert,” Agnes said. “I also suspect that things at home aren’t too happy for Delmar. He acted very uncomfortable around his brother, as if he expected to be hit or something. He stayed just out of Dorn’s reach.”

“My sources confirm that,” Robert said. “More than one person mentioned they suspected abuse and neglect. That and Dorn has quite a reputation around the area as a troublemaker and a boozer.”

“So you think we’re up to tutoring this boy?” Agnes asked.

“I don’t see why not. And besides, the chores won’t last forever. Might as well pay him to be a student as well.”

“When will we start?”

“Soon enough,” Robert said. “They have to notify Delmar first. Then the materials will come here if he doesn’t object.”

“What’s worrying you?” Agnes asked, detecting hesitancy in her husband.

“I just hope Dorn doesn’t interfere.”

∞∞∞

The boy looked up as the shadow of the incoming ship moved across the field. He stopped hoeing the weeds around the cabbages and stared with unabashed envy as the ship glided silently out of his field of vision, heading toward the spaceport several miles away to the south.

“Hey! Dreamer!” Dorn yelled. “Get back to work on those cabbages or I’ll thrash ya good!” Dorn was just sliding in behind the wheel of the truck, apparently on his way to the bar where he spent most of his time with his drunken friends.

Sure Delmar had dreams.
They’re certainly higher than the dirt and weeds surrounding these cabbages
, he thought. Definitely higher than anything that might be percolating in the lazy brain of his twenty-three year old brother.

“What about dinner?” Delmar asked.

“You’re on your own, kid! I can’t stand that slop you call food anyway. I’m going to have some decent food tonight! And just because I’m gone, don’t slack none on your work.”

 Without another word, he sped out of the rutted drive in a shower of dirt and gravel. Delmar watched in silence while the truck sped away in the direction of town. He was pretty sure where Dorn would soon be and what would happen to the money he’d received from the Hassels.
Sure isn’t going for supplies around here!
Delmar thought angrily as he went back to the hoeing.

After dark had finally fallen, Delmar herded the last of the livestock back into the barn and dragged his weary body into the house. Although it was pleasant not having Dorn around, he felt the emptiness more than usual. He retrieved one of the study books from the pile in his room and tried to force his mind to understand the mathematical equations in the text. But without a teacher to explain the variance and subtleties of the problems, study was useless.

The resentment that had been building in the back of Delmar’s mind for a long time demanded attention as well. His job at the Hassel farm had forced Delmar to remember better times when he was a child, and a time when this kitchen had been lit by the buoyant presence of his mother. Although his father was often away on duty, young Delmar had felt the safety of a home and those that loved him which was a far cry from the shabbiness and abuse of his life now.

Chapter Three

The morning dawned warm and early when Delmar saw his brother stagger out of the house toward the postal box on the road. Seeing Dorn this early in the morning after his usual late night carousing was a bit disturbing, so Delmar moved to a different part of the garden to avoid notice for as long as possible.

The six weeks since he had started working for the Hassels had been relatively peaceful. He knew the wages of his labor were keeping Dorn in a steady state of inebriation, but more importantly, it meant a respite from his usual outbursts of rage that were always directed at the younger brother. Even inebriated, Dorn knew better than to make it too hard for Delmar. After all, he did have to work.

Dorn finally made it to the mailbox and pulled out the previous day’s offering from the rural postal carrier. He considered the gathering and perusal of the mail his personal prerogative and had beaten that point into his younger brother years before. It allowed him to have yet one more measure of control over Delmar.

Sifting through the stack, Dorn was pleased to find the regular check from the Hassels for Delmar’s labor. Tearing it open, Dorn grunted with satisfaction, noting that he’d kept his hours regular and high. The bonus they had included for Delmar would be spent for better uses than fixing up their old farm. Invested properly, Dorn anticipated the warm glow of liquid refreshment at his regular watering hole later that night.

In place of the usual packet of correspondence material for Delmar, Dorn found an envelope from the school. It was marked urgent. His interception and destruction of their previous letter to Delmar had proven fruitful. Opening it, he read with satisfaction that Delmar’s enrollment had been dropped for lack of response to the previous missive or return of materials in a timely fashion. Dorn chuckled to himself. He was going to enjoy breaking the news to his brother. It also meant that Delmar now had more time to earn outside income.

“Delmar!” Dorn bellowed as he walked back toward the house with the incriminating letter clutched firmly in his hand. Having seen his breakfast waiting in the warmer, Dorn suspected Delmar was out somewhere doing his regular chores before he had to report down the road at the Hassel farm.

Delmar appeared around the side of an outbuilding from where he’d been working in the garden. “Get over here, you loser!” Dorn yelled at him. The boy dutifully approached him, a wary expression on his face. He could see the glint of mischief in his older brother’s eyes.

“What do you want?” Delmar asked evenly when he stopped close enough to hear but still out of range of Dorn’s fists.

“Got a letter from those correspondence people,” Dorn spat back. “You failed, you loser! They dropped you!”

“What?”

“They canceled you!” Dorn laughed wickedly as he waved the incriminating letter in his brother’s face. “You didn’t stay in touch or turn in your work. I knew you were too lazy or too stupid to make it work.”

Dorn dropped the letter from the correspondence school in the mud and stepped on it with a twist of his shoe.

“But…” Delmar started to say but was cut short by another derisive laugh from his brother.