Alafair Tucker 01 - The Old Buzzard Had It Coming

soap wouldn’t go amiss.”
    “I’m laying the fire in the kitchen right now. I’ll have some hot water for you in a minute. Now, come on inside. I’m afraid you’ll both die of the ague.”
    Shaw nodded at Gee Dub, and the two of them dragged their weary bodies into the house. They hovered over the stove in the parlor while Alafair kindled a roaring fire in the kitchen and heated a kettle of water that had been standing on the stove all night.
    While her husband and son cleaned up on the back porch, Alafair went back into the still-frigid bedroom. She dressed as quickly as she could, taking her arms out of her nightgown and pulling on her clothes underneath. The two stoves had begun to warm the front part of the house enough that while she was measuring coffee into the pot, Alafair noticed that her teeth had stopped chattering. Shaw and Gee Dub, however, were still shuddering with cold when they finally came into the kitchen, their faces shiny from scrubbing with the water she had warmed, and their wet hair slicked back.
    “Sit down,” she ordered. “I’ve heated some milk with a little honey. Drink it up and get to bed. It’s still early enough that y’all can get some sleep before the workday has to start.”
    Alafair drew more water from the pump outside the back door and poured it in a large pot to heat at the back of the stove. Then she added more water to the oats which had been soaking all night and put them on a front burner to slowly cook for breakfast.
    “It must have been a hard foaling,” she commented, as she worked at the stove. No one answered at first, and she looked back over her shoulder at the two sitting at the table. Shaw looked up at her dully from over the rim of his cup. He set the mug down on the table and absently wiped the milk foam from his mustache with the back of his index finger.
    “It was,” he affirmed. “Blackberry has produced a lot of fine mules in her time, and with no trouble at all, but this little fellow wanted to come out sideways. It took us a long time to get him turned around proper. He made it, though. He’s a fine, strapping mule.”
    “How’s Blackberry?”
    Shaw shrugged. “She’s wrung out, but I think she’ll be all right. She took to the new foal just fine, and we left them looking pretty comfortable and interested in their grub.” Shaw took another sip of his hot milk, and nodded across the table at his son. “Gee Dub was a big help. I don’t know if I could have done it without him.”
    Gee Dub, who was slumped over the table with his half-empty mug in his hand, didn’t acknowledge his father’s praise.
    Shaw chuckled. “Gee,” he said sharply, and the boy jerked upright and blinked at Shaw blearily. “Go to bed, son,” Shaw instructed. “You did a good job.”
    Gee Dub smiled and hoisted himself out of his chair. He detoured to give Alafair a brief squeeze around the shoulders, then disappeared into the parlor. He had not uttered one word.
    “I’ll send a note to school with Mary,” Alafair said, after he had gone. “I reckon he won’t be much for going to school today.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down in Gee Dub’s vacated chair at the table.
    “I’m sorry I kept him all night,” Shaw said, “but I wasn’t fooling when I said I’d have been hard pressed to do it without him. And there’s two more mares ready to drop in the next few days. I’ve got eight mares in foal, and buyers for every one. There’s so many people moving in here that I can hardly keep up with the call for mules. I need to buy more mares, and another good jackass or two.”
    “You need to hire some help, Shaw,” Alafair chided. “You can’t keep the kids out of school, and your brothers are all too busy with their own places to help you much any more. Why don’t you hire Georgie’s husband Edgar? You always said he was a good worker.”
    Shaw made a little gesture of agreement. “He is that. I reckon I will ask him if he’ll hire on to help me with the foaling, but I doubt if he’ll want to come on permanent. He’s got enough of a job with that shareholding of his.” He smiled as Alafair prepared to protest. “Don’t worry,” he preempted her. “I’ll start looking around for somebody.” He sat up in his chair and rolled his shoulders. “I’m mighty sore,” he admitted. “I about got my arms jerked out of their sockets. I’m afraid I’m going to be stiff as a post later.”
    Alafair leaped to her feet.