The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (91 page)

“
What about Deck’s place?”
Mahrree suggested. “Couldn’t he go there?”

“
Thorne has it guarded too.
Another tree I may need to take down,” he said more to himself. “I
don’t know how Shem could reach us, at least not until all of this
calms down a bit. Uh, Mahrree,” he pointed to the notice, “you need
to continue reading.” He cringed, waiting for the rest of her
reaction which would be coming in about five seconds, four, three,
two . . .

Mahrree slapped the notice. “What’s this?
‘During this time of adjustment for the Shin family, all residents
of Edge are recommended to
not interact
with Perrin,
Mahrree, or Peto Shin until all considerations and concerns have
been addressed’? So, so . . . we have no more friends?! No one who
can contact us?” Panicked heat welled in her chest. “What concerns?
When will that be? Perrin!” Her shoulders heaved and the tears came
in a great wave. “What have I done to this family?” she choked out
between sobs.

He pulled her head to rest on his shoulder
and kissed her cheek. Before he could answer her, his son did.

“
You’ve
done nothing
to this family, Mother,” Peto said, standing at the door with fury
in his pale eyes. “It’s
them
. They’ve ruined everything.
Again.”

His father shot him a glance of both approval
and warning.

“
And don’t say you’re sorry
again, Mother. I know.” Peto said wearily and sat down in the other
kitchen chair. “So now what? The Hero of Edge is to be shunned, as
well as his wife and son. Any new plans, Father?”

“
Well,” Perrin started
slowly, “actually, yes. First we need to make some new dreams, ones
that no one here can thwart or interfere with. That will take a
little time. So what we do next is, we don’t worry about the
notice, don’t worry about anyone or anything in Edge, except for
Jaytsy, Deckett, and the baby. Their farm and their family is our
focus for now. I predict that by the end of Planting Season we’ll
know exactly what we’ll do next. And when we look back we’ll
remember this time with fondness, because it will mark the
beginning of our new lives which will be better than what we left.
I promise.”

“
Nice speech,” Peto
smirked. “So how long have you been practicing that?”

“
Actually, I was planning
to use it on your mother. Did you catch it all,
Mahrree?”

She chuckled and wiped her face. “Yes, I did.
And I think you’re right.”

“
Of course I’m right! I’m
always right,” insisted Perrin.

Peto rolled his eyes. “Always right?”

“
Absolutely!” Perrin said.
“Now, I was also planning, after that speech to your mother which
became
your
speech, to do something else.”

Peto’s eyes widened. “Don’t you dare!”

Despite his son scrambling away, Perrin
caught and kissed him on the cheek.

“
Ugh!” Peto yelled, wiping
his face with dramatic revulsion.

Perrin chuckled. “Now be grateful. On your
mother it would have been the lips. And that’s why you need to
learn to be faster than me. Your attempts this afternoon were
dismal. Deck’s cows are quicker than you. You should have seen what
was coming.”

“
How could I have seen
that
?” Peto rubbed his cheek to make sure nothing
remained.

Perrin scowled. “Boy, how long have you lived
with me? What do I usually do with your mother in front of you? You
whine about it nearly every day. I even gave you a warning! You
need to learn to anticipate and prepare. You did that on the
kickball field, now do that in your life.”

“
Kick a ball at me, you’ll
see me anticipated and prepared!”

“
So pretend that ball is an
arrow.”

Peto scoffed. “No one can prepare for an
arrow.”

“
Learn to estimate where
it’s coming from, its trajectory, the wind—you can. And you must.
We don’t know who we can trust anymore.”

Peto sighed. “All right.” He stood at sloppy
attention. “I will subject myself to your training, sir. But on one
condition.”

“
And what is
that?”

“
So that I can see how to
dodge the arrow appropriately, I need a demonstration. I get to
shoot at you first.”

---

That evening after dinner a subdued yet still
trying to be hopeful Mahrree headed over to Jaytsy’s.

Yet as she stepped out into the alley, she
couldn’t help herself. “My goodness. Someone left a long knife
under that bush. What would Captain Thorne think? Tsk-tsk.”

After she passed the bush, she ducked behind
a fence and peered down the alley. A hand reached out blindly from
one bush to pat the empty ground underneath another. It was amazing
Perrin had as much success as he did with those boys.

Her fleeting amusement came to an end as she
turned to head north. She hadn’t realized, but should have, that
she was now walking to the fort. A lump filled her throat. She had
no reason to go there ever again. It’s not that she ever
loved
it, but the fort was a symbol of her husband. And now
it felt like it had betrayed her by betraying him. True, he left
it. But it forced him to.

It took her a moment to notice that soldiers
were crossing the road to avoid her. The same young men who
cheerfully greeted her, tipped their caps, and even playfully
saluted at times now ignored her.

It’s all right
, she told herself. It’s
all right. They aren’t our sons. They never were. They belong to
the Administrators. The only thing those silly men in red no longer
own is Perrin.

That put a smile on her face. He was his own
man now. A little lost for the time being, and refusing to
elaborate on his new “plan” just yet, but still his own man.

She turned to her daughter’s home and noticed
the perfectly straight rows beginning to sprout. Thank goodness
Jaytsy and Deckett weren’t on the notice. When it was time to weed
this enormous farm they’d need help. Jaytsy would be busy nursing
an infant. Mahrree could help, so could Peto and Perrin—

She shook her head. Perrin weeding a farm.
She laughed lightly at the idea. The one-time future High General
of Idumea on his knees in rows of cucumbers.

Did cucumbers even grow in rows?

“
We have a lot to learn,
don’t we?” she muttered as she came to her daughter’s kitchen
door.

Deck opened the door for her. “Come to get
the seeds, have you?” he said too loudly.

Mahrree patted his arm. “The soldier’s in the
thick bushes by the fence, probably so he can see both doors. He’s
out of earshot.”

“
I’m not really used to all
of this,” Deck apologized as he let Mahrree into the house. “This
sneaking around.”

“
Remember, Deck—you’re not
sneaking,” she said. “They are. None of us is doing anything wrong.
Their jobs are incredibly dull, and if Jaytsy has any rotten food
that the hog won’t eat, I can toss it out on my way home by the
fence.”

Jaytsy came to the kitchen holding a small
basket. “There’s a sample of everything we had left. And in this
envelope are mystery seeds from Mrs. Briter’s collection that
neither of us can identify.”

“
Good,” Mahrree said,
taking the basket. “It’ll be a surprise. I’m rather used to
surprises by now. Bring me more!”

Jaytsy giggled. “You really are behind the
times, Mother. Everyone is now Idumean-ing their gardens with turf
and rock, but
you
have now decided to plant a garden.”

“
I’m not behind the times,
Jaytsy. I’m just finally catching on. The Creator said we should
till and plant in the world, so that’s what I’m finally going to
do.” She peered into the basket. “Um, Deck, Jayts—how do you know
which side of the seed should point up?”

Hmph!
she thought as she left their
house a few minutes later—her daughter giggling so hard she had to
run to relieve herself and her son-in-law literally rolling on the
floor—
I don’t know why they never answer that question.

Chapter 34
~
“This has always been such a nice
village—”

T
he very next
morning Mahrree attempted to take out the weeds in the front
garden. After half an hour she sent Peto to get Deck’s plow to
churn it all up. His ox wouldn’t fit in the small yard, but his
largest goat proved to be powerful enough to till the whole
yard.

Peto sat on the front steps and offered
advice only an almost-seventeen-year-old could.

“
Are you sure you don’t
want to just rock the whole thing like the Hershes did, and place
one little flower in a pot on top of a big boulder? I’m afraid this
dirt won’t know what to do with seeds. It’s too old and has never
had anything purposely placed in it. Ooh, careful what you grab,
Mother. I don’t think that’s really the
front
of the
goat—”

That’s when Perrin dragged him over to the
Briters, because Mahrree was coming after her son intending to use
a hoe on him in a way no hoe was ever intended to be used. It was
bad enough the goat was giving her a hard time.

By that afternoon she had churned up the yard
and made a sizable stack of rocks along the fence. She wondered if
everyone in the neighborhood and dumped their rocks in her garden
over the years. But it wasn’t as if she could’ve asked anyone about
that.

Poor Mrs. Hersh kept watching Mahrree out of
her front window, probably waiting for a break to go to the markets
without having to speak to her. Passing neighbors crossed to the
other side of the road and never looked in her direction.

Mahrree did her best to not look at them,
either. It was as if there were an invisible barrier around their
property. That’s fine, she told herself. No one can throw in any
more rocks and no more sheep would nibble . . . whatever it was she
was about to plant.

By evening she was thoroughly exhausted but
wanted to have something to show for her day’s labor instead of
just wobbly rows of uneven grooves in the dirt. She took the
envelope of mystery seeds and scattered them in a square section
she designated as The Surprise Garden in the middle of the
yard.

“
All right, Mrs. Briters,
both older and younger: I hope you’re proud of me.” She smoothed
the dirt over the seeds and sat down beside them. Her yard didn’t
look any different than it had a few minutes ago, but Mahrree knew
it was. Something was hiding, waiting to burst open, beautiful and
amazing. It was going to take time, and Mahrree had all the time in
the world now.

When Perrin came home he evaluated the front
garden. “Well, it’s
different
,” was all he could come up
with. “Any messages?”

“
No. I was out here all
day, too, watching.”

Perrin sighed. “The road to the fort was
rather quiet today. No Administrative or fort messengers. I was
hoping maybe something might come from Brillen—” Discouragement
clouded his eyes.

“
Who knows what they were
told, Perrin,” she reminded him. “Edgers were told the army took
away your command. What news was sent to Brillen, Graeson, and
Gari?”

“
True, true. They’ll have
only Thorne’s version. But they should know me well enough to
realize that . . . Well, doesn’t matter anymore,” he
lied.

There were no messages or even contact with
anyone the next day, either. Or the next.

But that would change, because Mahrree had to
go to the market.

Jaytsy volunteered to go with her. “At least
people are allowed to talk to me.”

At the market Mahrree expected the worst, and
both her and her daughter got it. People barely dared look at
them.

At the baker’s Mahrree realized just how
drastically her world had changed. As she and Jaytsy entered the
shop immediately three women turned and left, leaving them alone
with the baker’s daughter, a woman in her thirties who shifted
anxiously behind the counter.

Mahrree put on her best smile. “My usual
today, Bettie. And the same for Jaytsy, please.” She started to
fish bits of silver out of her pocket and didn’t notice Bettie
setting a sign up on the counter.

“
What’s that?” Jaytsy
snapped, and Mahrree looked up.

Closed for midday meal.

“
You took your midday meal
two hours ago!” Jaytsy sneered.

Bettie shrugged and glanced behind her to the
ovens. That must have been a cue because a voice came, sounding
stiff and rehearsed. “Bettie? Time for midday meal. Sorry it’s late
today. Come
right now.
”

Jaytsy scoffed, but Mahrree said, “So I see
how it will be. I still need my regular order, though. Are you
above taking my silver?”

Bettie, still refusing to open her mouth,
shrugged again. Her eyes darted all over the bakery, and even to
the windows where other customers were waiting, refusing to come
in.

“
Look,” Mahrree said,
“taking my silver doesn’t mean you’re violating any orders. Look
around! There’s not even anyone to report us. No official has
followed us, and I
know
when I’m being followed. Just give
me our loaves, take my silver, and you’ll have done nothing
wrong.”

“
Bettie!” came the voice
from the back more urgently. “Midday meal is getting
COLD!”

“
Just go,” Mahrree sighed.
“I’ll help myself and I’ll leave our pay on the counter, all
right?”

Bettie’s shoulders got a workout that day as
she shrugged again, sent an apologetic look to Jaytsy, and scurried
to the back room.