Cutler 04 - Midnight Whispers

never seen a green barn," I said.
    "I know," Charlotte decided, "we'll paint one side green and one side red, the front red and the back green. Or should we make the front green and the back red?"
    "All those colors might confuse the cows," Gavin said. "They'll think it's Christmas in July."
    "Oh, you think so?" Charlotte said sadly.
    "Cows don't care about colors," Luther muttered. "And they don't know nothing about any Christmas." I could see that he didn't want anything to upset Charlotte and he never wanted to disappoint her.
    "Everyone can help," Charlotte said.
    "Homer and I will paint the front," Jefferson announced. "Won't we, Homer?"
    Homer looked up at us and then at Jefferson before nodding.
    "Doesn't Homer have his own chores at his own farm?" I asked.
    "The Douglases don't have a working farm no more," Luther said. "They're retired folk."
    "Oh. Do you have any brothers or sisters, Homer?" I asked him. He shook his head.
    "His ma and pa were quite along in their years by the time he came along," Luther said quickly. He pushed his plate aside. "Well, we'd better get started," he said, looking at Gavin. Gavin gulped down some milk and nodded.
    "I'll bake an apple pie today," Charlotte said. "Now that I've got more mouths to feed, I'd better get crackin'."
    "Don't you go and overdo it none," Luther warned. "We don't put on airs just because we got some visitors."
    "If I want to put on airs, I can," Charlotte shot back. Luther just gave one of his grunts.
    "When can we start painting the barn?" Jefferson asked.
    "Tomorrow," Luther replied. "If we finish what has to be done today," he added.
    "Maybe I should help you then," Jefferson offered. Luther nearly cracked a smile.
    "I never turn down a pair of hands, no matter how small they might be," he said. "Let's go."
    "Menfolks are off again," Gavin muttered in my ear as he rose to join Luther and Homer. Jefferson pushed his chair in.
    "What are you going to do today, Christie?" he asked me.
    "I'm going to work on our clothes, do some more cleaning, and then look over the library. Tonight, I'll read to you and you'll practice your reading, too," I said.
    "And your multiplication tables. Jefferson didn't do so well in school this year," I explained, my eyes on him firmly. "He needs to work on his math and his reading, especially his spelling, don't you, Jefferson?"
    "Homer can't read and spell good and he's okay," Jefferson said in his own defense.
    "Really?" I looked at Homer, who looked down quickly. "Well, if Homer wants, help him learn to read and spell, too," I said. His eyes widened.
    "Won't that be nice!" Charlotte exclaimed. "We'll have our own one-room schoolhouse, just like the one I went to when I was a little girl. Although I didn't go very long, did I, Luther?"
    He shifted his gaze at me quickly.
    "No," he said. "Are we all gonna stand around here jabberin' while there's real work to be done?" sensed that Luther didn't like talking about the past.
    "I'm not," Charlotte said. "I've got to cut up apples," she added.
    "Good," Luther said and hurried out the door, Gavin, Homer, and Jefferson trailing behind him.
    The rest of the morning passed quickly. I went up to our rooms and dusted and polished. I washed the floors and the windows and then sorted out some more of the old clothing for Jefferson and myself. After lunch, I went into the library and perused the shelves. The books were so old and unused, they each had a second jacket of dust, but I found all the classics, collections of Dickens and Guy de Mau-passant, Tolstoy and Dostoyevski as well as Mark Twain. Some of them were first editions.
    I found one of my favorite stories, The Secret Garden, and decided it would be the one I would read to Jefferson and have him practice his reading on, too. Later, after another day's hard farm work and another nice dinner followed by Charlotte's delicious apple pie, I took Jefferson into the library to read to him and have him read to me. Gavin and Homer followed. Homer had been here all day, helping Luther, and had eaten dinner with us. Although he didn't talk very much, I saw he listened and understood everything that went on around him, and I also saw how much he enjoyed Jefferson's company and how quickly Jefferson had taken to him. He was a gentle giant of a man with soft dark eyes.
    As I read from The Secret Garden, Gavin perused the library and found a book for himself, too. He went off in a corner to read and left me with Homer and Jefferson. First, I