Making several more calls, he was ready to call it a day when his phone rang.He would usually let it go to voicemail, but since he’d made so many calls today, he thought that he’d better answer it.He couldn’t believe it was the prison where his father was.They were asking him if he was Kinsey Pennington.
“I’m not, but I’m one of his brothers.What’s going on that has you calling here?I know for a fact that we said that we didn’t want to hear from him again.”The man said his name was Warden Jefferson, and he was calling to tell him that their father was dead.“What happened to him?”
“He got into a fight over potato chips of all things, and the other man broke his neck for trying to steal them.It was over almost as soon as it started, as your father didn’t have a chance.We didn’t see it happen, but it’s on CCTV here at the prison if you were to ever want to look at it.I’m sorry for your loss.”He didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing.If he was honest with himself, he was happy that he was gone.It had been his biggest fear that he’d get out somehow and terrorize them.“Would anyone from your family like to claim his body?I know for a while there he was talking to one of you, so I was wondering if you’ve had a change of heart about him.”
“No, we only spoke with him the one time, and that was it.That’s all it took for us to tell him not to call here anymore.”He said he was sorry.“I am as well, but not like you think.Thanks for telling me, and I’ll make sure to pass it along to the others.You can bury him out there in the unmarked graves asfar as we’re concerned.”
He did wonder if he should have asked his brothers about their father, but he was sure that they were under the same opinion he was about him.He was gone and good riddens.As soon as he got off the phone, he called Kinsey.He was the oldest and would know more than they did about what was going on about them being called.
“Good.”He told him that was pretty much what he’d said about him.“I’ve been wondering if he’d be buried up there or not.I’m glad that we no longer have to worry about him getting out anytime too soon.I know that was in the back of my mind a great deal.Or when I ever thought about him.Which I tried not to do.”
“I guess we should tell the others.I don’t know that they’ll care anymore than we do.But they should know.”He asked his big brother if he’d been talking to him.He said he’d not.“I didn’t either.I wanted nothing to do with him after we had that talk with him after our accident.It was bad enough that he figured out that we were still around.Having him call us just after you and me had that accident really put me off.He never did ask how we’d been feeling.I think that stuck with me more than anything he said to us.”
“He was a selfish bastard, and I’m glad that he’s gone.I don’t plan on telling my kids he was around either.I’m just going to say that he’s dead and that will be the end of it.”Wylie said that he hoped it would be that easy.“I do as well.But my luck, they’ll want to know all about him, and I’ll tell them if they ask.But as far as I’m concerned, he was dead to me the moment he tried to start that chainsaw.”
“I have dreams about that still.Do you?”He said that he’d think about it, but nothing bothered him at night.“I’m glad to hear that.I know that Ara still has some nightmares about him.He was the youngest and may never get over that part.”
“I don’t think any of us will.”There was that, and Wylie knew that to be true.“What else did he say?Anything about us picking up his body?I’m not going to bury him next to Mom if we have to.”
“I told him to bury him in their fields for all I cared.We wouldn’t be claiming the body no matter what.I didn’t ask, and probably should have, whether they would be sending us the things that he left behind.I don’t want those either.I should have thought to ask.”Kinsey said if they arrived for any of them, he’d make sure to burn them.There was nothing this man had that would have made them want to see what he’d left them.“We can have a ceremony about them and burn them in the trash pile in the back of my property.Since we had the house done, we have accumulated a great deal of crap.”
“Good.If it comes to that, we’ll take care of them that way.Otherwise, we just go on with our lives and pretend that he didn’t matter to us one bit.”He said that he didn’t.“Nope, not at all.Especially not enough for us to get worked up over about it.”
After asking Kinsey to help him make the calls, they were finished in no time.His brothers that he called, didn’t want to have anything to do with his remains either, and he was glad for that.Telling them that they were going to have a celebration if the prison was to send them his things, they all thought that was the way to go.It was sad to him that a man had had six sons, and they wanted nothing to do with him in either life or death.He supposed that it was his own fault.As he’d made his bed and now must lie in it.
He never hated the man so much as he did that day.It hadn’t been a day that started out like something terrible was going to happen.Mom and the rest of them had been making strawberry jelly when he’d come home and demanded that she let him have a party for his drinking buddies.When she’d said no, he beat her nearly to death, then strangled her for good measure.There had been jam everywhere mixed with the blood, and to this day, he couldn’t eat any kind of jam without thinking about that day.He thought his brothers did the same thing and never touched the stuff again.
~*~
Gleason decided that he was going to build.He knew that it would take longer for him to get into a real house, but he was sick of looking at other people’s houses and wanted one of his own.He thought for sure that Wylie and Kinsey got the last two good houses around town.They’d been looking for onesince he’d started and didn’t like what he was seeing.He found a blueprint for one that he’d like about five years ago and hoped that he could still get them to have his own home.He knew nothing about building something other than what he’d been able to find on the internet.It sounded complicated yet easy, and that’s what he was going to do.
“You said you have the land picked out?He said that it was some of the land that they’d not been able to buy back from the neighborhood lands.“I’ll make sure that it’s available.You never know after all this time if it’s still a good piece of land.”
Howard the banker had been a friend of the family since before he’d been born.It was mostly his grannie who had dealt with him, and he was glad that she had a good relationship with the banker.It made things easier for him when he wanted to talk to him about banking needs.He’d also been investing in things online that he knew would benefit the town and was glad that he’d had that as well.
It took him most of the day to find someone who could build his home.He finally ended up talking to David about his builder and went with him.He seemed not to have any complaints about him, and that was as good a recommendation as it came.Getting it started now would mean that he might be in it by next spring.He wasn’t going to hire extra men to get it done sooner, as David did.David was a billionaire, and that was all on him.
He was still living with Kinsey and Meggie.The others had moved out on their own, and he was happy for them.The three of them got along well, and he was glad for the company sometimes.He was getting bored by not working as much as he had before, and that worried him a little.Boredom usually led to trouble, and he didn’t want to be caught not doing something when he had plenty of time to work.He decided that was the next thing on his list of stuff to do.Get a job.
He didn’t want to farm anymore.He’d had enough of that working for himself.But he did want to do something, even if it only got him out of the house for a couple of hours a day.He knew what he had planned for next spring season, and that was to till up gardens with old Tim.He didn’t know who had named the tractor, but he was glad that he was still working for him.
Gleason was just thinking about getting something to eat when he saw his brothers, Ara and Raphael.They, too, were going to get something to eat at the little diner and asked if he could join them.They were expecting Bodi to join them, but he was running late and told them to start without him.He ordered himself two double cheeseburgers with fries, while the other two ordered a pizza to share.He didn’t know how well that was going to go over; they didn’t share well, but he was staying out of it if they got into a fight.He wanted a meal, and if he had to put up with them to do it, he was all right with that.
The food was being set in front of them when Bodi joined them.He asked if he would give him one of his burgers when it came.Knowing that he could always get him something else to eat if he didn’t want to give up one of his meals, he handed him one of the burgers while he ate his.
“Did you hear that there’s going to be a big to-do in the town over?They’re having a street fair and everything in a few weeks.Something about their homecoming.We all know that when Dresden has their homecoming, it rains for four straight days.I hope they have better luck than we do.”They talked about Frazeysburg having their homecoming as well.“I wonder what they have a homecoming for.I didn’t think that anyone left this town once they were born here.We certainly didn’t.”
“No, and I don’t plan on it either.I love this little town.”They all agreed, and when Bodi’s plate came with his cheeseburgers, he gave him his second one like he said.“Where else can you get a burger this great and not have to spend a large amount of money?Nowhere unless you go to that fancy shop in downtown Zanesville.Eighteen dollars for a single burger without any fries or milkshake is a lot of money to put out.”
“You’re just mad because she charged you full price when you asked her out.Flirting doesn’t always get you what you want, you know?”They teased Bodi for a while, then they ate the rest of their dinner.“I’m going to have to get me someone to cook for me when I move out.I’ve been living with Kinsey and Meggie, and they have a cook.I’ve gotten used to it, and I love being able to have a full meal and not have to clean up after myself.”He was eating the last of his fries when he told them aboutthe house he was going to have built.
“Will you stay with Kinsey?I’m sure with the baby coming along, it’ll be odd there.Kinsey is already showing signs of being stressed out.”He said he’d stay until he couldn’t anymore.“That’s a good plan.Just don’t hurt Meggie’s feelings.I know with the baby coming along, that’s what made her so tender but I hate that she cries at the least bit of commotion.”
“You should see Kinsey when he makes her cry.All he has to do is mention that she’s doing something wonderful, and he gets all stressed up.Like her crying is a part of him or something.I’m betting by the time the baby’s here, things will even out.She’s just tender like that because her body is working hard on creating a life.”He was asked how he was so knowledgeable all of a sudden.“When she started crying about everything, even before they told us, I knew something was wrong.So I looked it up on the computer and found out she was more than likely going to have a baby, and I just kept reading from there.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”He said he might have been wrong.“Yeah, okay, I can see that.Better to keep your mouth shut than to ruin their surprise.I was, too.I know most of us were.”
“I think they told David and Alice before us.I think they were hoping that he’d stop pushing for a large wedding.He wants to show off his kids.He thinks of all of us like his kids now that we’ve been hanging out with them.”Gleason agreed and said he thought of him as a father figure and went to him when he had questions.“I do too.Even going to Alice sometimes when I have questions.She’s pretty good at not laughing at me when I do have something to find out.”
