A Wolf in the Fold

“You should. It’s not good to go through life alone. Ma hates being alone. She misses Pa something fierce. They were special close, her and him. Always holding hands and making cow eyes, even after being married so long and having all us kids.”

“She has held up well.”

“She says she has to, for our sake.” Daisy stared at me. “What will happen, Parson? How will this all end?”

“I can’t predict the future,” I responded. “But I pray it ends as it should.” She could take that however she pleased.

“Ma is worried, Parson. She’s heard about the Texas Rangers coming, and it can’t be soon enough to suit her. She was all fired up to fight the Tanners tooth and nail after Sissy was killed, but losing Clell has changed her mind. Now all she wants is for all of us to live through this.”

I was glad when the clearing and the cabin appeared. Their dog started barking, and Jordy and Carson came out of the woods. As was to be expected, they were armed with rifles and revolvers.

As I was dismounting Hannah emerged. She looked terrible, as if she had not slept in days. She had dark bags under her eyes and more lines in her face than I remembered. Deep sorrow had her in its grip, and I was partly to blame.

“Reverend.” She grasped my hand in both of hers. Her eyes moistened and her lips trembled. “How good of you to pay us a visit. Come inside, won’t you, and let me treat you to coffee or whatever else you would like.”

Ty and Kip appeared, and Ty cleared his throat. “We would be right honored if you would say a few words over Clell. We buried him this morning next to Sissy.”

“Certainly.” That was when I realized I had left the Bible back in my room at Calista’s.

“Would you rather do that first and then come in?” Hannah asked.

“Lead the way.”

The two mounds of dirt were a dozen yards into the woods. Crude crosses had been stuck atop each. The Butchers ringed them and bowed their heads.

I racked my brain for a quote, but for the life of me I couldn’t think of one.

“Whenever you are ready, Parson,” Hannah politely prompted.

I stared at the mounds, wondering which was which as the crosses did not have their names carved into the wood. “Death comes to us all,” I said, groping and hoping I sounded like a real preacher. “We don’t want it to, but it does. Rich or poor, young or old, it comes for us when we least expect, and there is nothing any of us can do. Death is always there, always waiting.” I was rambling and not sounding very biblical. “Look at the Old Testament. Moses, Joshua, Samson, they were all close to God, yet they all died. Look at the New Testament. Even Jesus was put to death. When our time comes, it comes.”

Hannah and Daisy were looking at me.

“We are gathered to give our respects to two fine people, Clell and Sistine Butcher. They did not deserve to die, but they did. None of us does, but we do. Some say it’s not fair and it’s not right, but it’s the way God arranged things, so what can we do?” I promised myself, then and there, that this was the last time I would ever pretend to be a preacher. “We ask you, Lord, to welcome Clell and Sistine into the hereafter. Look after them. May their stay in heaven be happier than their stay here. And may we one day join them in their happiness.”

Some of the Butchers were fidgeting. I needed a drink. Not a glass or two but an entire bottle.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. The Lord is our shepherd, we shall not want. Amen.”

“Amen,” Hannah said, and was echoed by her brood.

I kept my head bowed until we came to the cabin. I figured they had seen right through me, but I was forgetting that most people don’t expect perfection since they fall so short of it themselves.

“That was mighty fine,” Jordy said.

Hannah opened the door for me. “You will have supper with us, won’t you?” I opened my mouth, but she did not give me a chance to speak. “I won’t take no for an answer, Parson. If I’m imposing on your good nature, so be it. I want you to stay, and that’s that.”

I couldn’t very well tell her I had no intention of leaving until all of them were dead. “I will be happy to stay.” She ushered me to the rough-hewn log table and bade me sit, then asked if I would like some coffee. When I said I would, she motioned to Daisy, who went to the stove and soon brought over two brimming cups.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Hannah said as I took my first sip. “Losing Sissy and Clell has hit me hard.”

“As it would any mother,” I remarked.

“It was wrong to send Ty and Clell to kill the Tanners. I was better off waiting for the Rangers.”

“We all make mistakes.”

Hannah did not seem to hear me. “I wanted to end it, Parson. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing more of those I love. I reckoned that with the Tanners dead, the killing would stop.”

“I pray it does,” I said.