Brother's Keeper, LUKE'S SAGA - PART V

Luke woke slowly the day after the baby’s birth with a feeling of wellbeing penetrating his very flesh and bones.  His boyhood was still a place of dream images, fleeting feelings and some facts provided by the army but now he realized it was probably a happy, very normal childhood from the images he did have.  His time in the desert was a blur of silent patrols and killing, poor rations, and then rest and relaxation in some hell hole or another with accommodating bars and women.

Luke’s journey north and his first winter, here in his peaceful valley had been a time of healing and restoration; and then, suddenly, he was faced with the decision to move on or stay and help provide for three new dependents. It was the hardest decision he had ever made and smiling to himself he realized God had had His plan and it was a good plan.  Luke sank to his knees beside the bed and thanked God for his care and provision. 

He felt Martha’s hand on his bowed head and prayed aloud so that she was there before God with him.  He heard Martha laugh softly and looked up to see that Martin had crawled down and was kneeling beside the bed with him.  He hugged the boy and stood up and stretched, then sat on the bed beside Martha with Marty in his lap.

“Sweet Martha how is my wife and the mother of my new daughter?” he asked as he brushed the hair from her face. 

She smiled her peaceful, child in her arms smile that baffled Luke after the pain and danger of the birth experience she had just undergone. The same smile he had noticed the first time he saw her at Left Fork when he watched her rock little Martin to sleep as she crooned to him in front of the fire in the doctor’s cabin. Luke decided that he would have to make a new holiday for after the harvest bonfire and the Thanksgiving feast, to commemorate the wedding of Luke and Martha.

He had already carved a counting stick to determine the new baby’s years. It was much like the one he had made for Ned to know the Sabbath.  This stick had three scales, the thirty days of the month, the twelve months of the year and each year up to the Biblical life expectancy.  Martin’s was there too, figured as best he could from Martha’s memory on where to place the peg.  All of the markers were on a special shelf in the main room of the sod house.

He smiled down at Martha and said, “Stay in bed, today, and I’ll bring you tea and broth and a light supper later,” he promised.

“I need to walk around a bit, Luke,” she said.

He took little Martha and placed her in Martin’s old cradle and carried it behind Martha as she navigated to the main room and the table that Luke made.  She sat on the bench and Luke realized that this winter’s first project would be a rocking chair for Martha.

Luke showed Martha the baby’s calendar stick and they marked her birth by placing the peg in the proper day of the month.      

“Papa, my stick,” Martin said with a question in his little voice. 

Luke finished pouring Martha’s tea and then took Martin’s hand and led him to the shelf with the calendar sticks.  He lifted the one he had carved for Martin right after he and Martha were married. He sat there on the bench with Martin and they counted off his year and months together. He would have to discuss this with Martha as soon as the new baby excitement quieted down because it was almost time for Martin’s second birthday. 

Luke knew he would have to tell Martin someday about his birth and parentage because it was the truth and that was important. He and Martha talked about it and it was still under review.  Luke smiled at the nature of this killer soldier’s family dynamics, the purest democracy, he hoped. He looked down at his new, little daughter and wondered at what new lessons he would learn from being her father.

Luke and Martha looked forward to the Sabbath so that they could show the new baby off to Ned.  They prepared the meal together because Luke didn’t want Martha lifting or doing any heavy work until she was completely healed. They sat waiting for Ned’s holler but it didn’t happen that Sabbath so Luke read from the Bible and Martha told the story of David and Goliath to little Marty.  The following Sabbath Ned again failed to show up for the celebration and meal. 

After putting the kids to bed Luke and Martha talked late into the night and decided that Luke would have to set out early the next morning to check Ned’s house.  He hated to leave Martha so soon but it had been a little over two weeks and they were both worried.  There was already an early snow on the ground and Ned could be lying somewhere in the cold unable to get home. Martha was nursing the baby when he left and he kissed them both and slipped out into the early morning darkness.

Luke lay in the first snow watching his brother-in-law’s sod house for some sign of life. Luke was there for half a day before he began to move in slowly and carefully, stopping to watch and listen.  When Luke reached the cabin it was a grim sight and he went out and was sick in the snow. Ned and Shadow were both dead from knife wounds. Dead for several days or a week, Luke decided, and the supplies were pilfered or gone.  He went out and found one set of tracks leading away from the sod house. The tracks of dead man, Luke decided.

Luke had to track the killer down before the snow melted and erased his tracks.  He would come back to bury Ned and tell Martha when it was done. For Ned and the safety of the valley he asked for God’s help and set out to follow the tracks. 

The killer’s passage was evident through Right Fork and then Left Fork where the killer stopped for the night at the site of the doctor and preacher’s cabins.  Luke wondered how the killer had gotten this far north with so few wilderness skills. As Luke began to notice how fresh the tracks had become he slowed and watched more closely, stopping often and listening more intently now that he was closing in on his prey. 

That night he didn’t sleep but lay listening in the dark. The killer was near and Luke became predator, anticipating the man instead of following his crashing course through the brush and trees.  The next afternoon Luke heard a commotion and closed in to see a huge bear swipe at the killer Luke was following. Luke stayed long enough to make sure the man was going no further and then he took a deep breath and backed slowly out of the area. He hurried back to his valley glad that God had settled the issue without Luke. We sow our own seeds of destruction Luke decided and hurried back to Right Fork wondering if it was one of the cubs that Ned had pleaded for. 

He stopped at Luke’s place and went in and removed a medallion from Ned’s neck for Martha and took the Sabbath Day counter he had made for Luke and then burned the sod house.  He spent the night in the woods nearby and the next day he covered the site with soil and brush. He would do a better job later if the snow didn’t come soon and cover the cabin site.  He prayed silently for Ned the man/boy and set out for home and Martha wondering what he could tell her.

Luke watched his own sod house for a while from the vantage point of a ridge over his valley until he felt it was safe and then he hollered out for Martha to let her know he was coming in.

An exhausted Luke trudged toward his home, the bearer of bad news for his wife. He needed sleep and quiet time to come to terms with what had happened to Ned but he knew Martha would need comforting too. He watched her come out of the sod house surrounded by the flower beds he had planted, and carrying his new baby daughter while Marty followed her until he saw Luke and then he broke away from Martha and ran to his papa as fast as his little legs would carry him.  Luke dropped his pack and picked Martin up and hugged him close telling Martin how much he missed him and they stood waiting for Martha and his baby girl, little Martha.   

Luke’s eyes met Martha’s as she came closer and she saw the sadness and tiredness in his bearing and the lines in his face.  He hugged her with one arm and they started back to the sod house.   

Once inside Martha placed little Martha in her cradle and kissed Luke on the cheek, “Do you need to sleep first or are you hungry, Luke?” she asked, concerned about his troubled countenance. 

“I need to bathe,” he told her, “And pray for a bit,” he admitted.

She smiled and handed him a small stack of clothes from the bench near the fire along with a towel for drying himself that she already had ready for him. 

Martha busied herself with cooking some of Luke’s favorites while she worried about his news.  He had set off to check on Ned when Ned didn’t show up on two Sabbath’s in a row. She could tell something awful had happened and tears coursed down her cheeks as she imagined that Ned was gone. She knew that there was more to it because Luke had been gone over a week on a half day trip.  She was glad Luke had taken Marty to bathe with him. She had prayed with Marty while Luke was gone but she knew that while Marty loved her and his little sister, Luke was his papa.

She decided that now might be a good time to introduce the new berry beverage she had been preparing.  It was something uncle had made for himself that was a wine-like beverage.  She hadn’t tried it herself but hoped she had gotten it right.  It smelled right and would taste good even if it didn’t have the other wine qualities and it would keep longer. She hoped it would help Luke sleep tonight and they could use it on holidays like the harvest bonfire and the Thanksgiving dinner and their Christmas celebration. 

Luke was back sooner than she expected and he needed a long hug from her when he came in. Marty was quiet and sat near the fire with his sister his eyes on papa and mama sensing their sad closeness.

Exhausted Luke sat at the table across from Martha and said, “Ned’s gone Martha,” and he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out Ned’s medallion and chain and gave it to her.  He fished in his pack and got the Sabbath counting stick he had made for Ned and put it on the shelf with his other calendar sticks and went back to Martha at the table.

He sat and held her as quiet tears coursed down her cheeks and slowly the story came out as Luke could put it into words. 

“Ned must have invited him in, Martha,” Luke said, “He was killed in his bed along with the wolf pup and there was evidence that the man had stayed there for at least one night.”

“He was always too trusting,” Martha said.

“Yes, he didn’t understand evil but he apparently did know not to tell the killer about us,” Luke responded. 

They talked quietly until Luke had told Martha everything and the baby woke up fussy and occupied Martha’s full attention while she nursed her.

Luke fed Marty and talked with him as Martha’s attention was drawn to the baby’s needs.  Luke took Marty out and they relieved themselves and when they got back to the fire Martin fell asleep against Luke and Luke carried him into his alcove and settled him in his new bed for the night. Marty was a quick boy and had already learned to go outside to pee because Luke took the boy with him for the ritual from the time he learned to walk.  Martha would do the same with their little girl Luke decided even though it might be a bit more complicated for a girl baby.

Later that night Martha brought Luke a taste of her wine and she told him about uncle’s recipe.  He wanted her to share but she said no, not while she was nursing the baby. 

Luke enjoyed the sweet beverage and finished the tin cup while Martha put the baby down again.  He was feeling the effects of the wine when she came back to the main room and he pulled her down on his lap to cuddle her. 

She giggled and tousled his hair and kissed his tired face.  He knew it would be a while before they could love each other again but he wanted her close so he could smell her and feel her soft, warm, curves against his hard body.

They played for a while and then Luke turned serious again, “That man who killed Ned might just be the first of the refugees from the south, Martha, and you’re not well enough to travel even if we knew where to go.  Right now all I can do is make a blast to create a bigger rock slide into the neck of our canyon and seal us in better here at Right Fork.

“Luke, I don’t want to do it but maybe I should learn how to shoot,” Martha said.

“I’m glad, Martha, we’ll start tomorrow while I plan a place to set off the blast.”

Martha knew it would make Luke feel better if she learned to shoot so she would learn to shoot she determined grimly.

As soon as she was well enough he planned on teaching her some of the tricks he had learned in desert forces.  He could take down a man twice his size and strength just by using his head and so could Martha if she or the babies were threatened.

Luke had a couple of revolvers, a shotgun, and one rifle that could be used for sniping or hunting. He now had Ned’s pistol and several of his knives.  He wanted to make some kind of knife holder for Martha to strap to her leg under her skirt.  She should always carry it and have a gun nearby and that meant training Marty the danger, care, and handling of guns and what he could and could not touch.  Luke knew he would have to be stern about this thing and knew it would be hard in the face of Marty’s boyish sense of fun. The boy would just have to accept Luke’s rules in this case with no discussion. 

Martha proved to be a quick study and soon had all of the mechanics of each gun memorized and knew how to clean and care for them.  She began to target practice with each arm and Marty shed a few tears when he was left out of the activity but his father was very strict and he soon caught on to the seriousness of the tools as his father called them.

He made Marty sit with his sister when they shot or Luke was showing Martha how to throw a knife.  He wanted her to be used to handling the knives before he taught her anything about hand to hand combat.

Luke walked up to the ridge behind the cabin each day and studied the tops of the canyon coming into their valley.  The last time he had dislodged boulders on the lower side of the canyon he thought this time he saw crevices on the higher side that might hold enough of a blast to cause a heavy avalanche and really seal them in.  He didn’t think anyone would go north and then turn back south and cross the bare ridges from Left to Right Fork.  It was much too difficult a passage and people would keep moving north and west he decided or they would stop in Left Fork first and he would start scouting that area a couple of times a week for signs of human activity. 

Luke left early one morning with all of his gear already packed and headed for the high side of his canyon.  It took all day to decide where to plant the devices in the rocky cliff top.  He chose the narrowest point again to make the blockage as effective as possible.  After deciding where each charge would be placed he spent the next day placing them and set up the detonation point and his escape route.  On the third day he was ready and set off the charges and high tailed it to high ground. He watched as a huge chunk of rock broke off and then splintered and filled the canyon below.  As he surveyed the results he felt the wind come up and a few snowflakes hit his skin.  Even better Luke thought it would soften and cover evidence of the blast and even explain the avalanche to those less knowledgeable.

Luke hurried home knowing they were as safe from outside intrusion as they could ever be realistically. All was well at home and he started training the wolf to protect Martha and the children. She was a good dog and was now getting old enough to earn her keep with her puppy days behind her. Luke did his best to avoid killing predators because they might discourage refugees. Besides he didn’t like to interfere with the natural balance in his valley. 

This time when Luke was up on the ridge he saw what he thought were mountain sheep or goats, it was too far to be sure but he was interested in getting some kind of milking animal.  Next spring, after birthing time he would go up and study the animals more closely. He told Martha and she expressed interest in a wool bearing animal for stuffing mattresses and cold weather leggings and jackets. 

That evening after dinner and the babies were down for the night Luke and Martha went through her father’s books looking for anything on looms or wool or on milk and cheese products. The doctor had books on any possible use in the wilderness, at least in his eyes, Luke thought.  The doctor hadn’t fancied himself a farmer so any of Luke’s genetic experimentation with his crops would have to be instructional for Luke as well as informational about his specific crop.  Luke laughed at himself. About all he could remember about genetics from his schooling was something about a monk and peas.  Not too helpful.

“What do you remember about genetics, Martha?” he asked his wife.

She thought for a minute and said, “Mendel and peas,” she said.

“Mendel, more than I remembered,” Luke said.

She was engrossed in her own research on wool but she said, “Actually, the name is not too useful,” she said, “His conclusions are more important,” she said, “Remind me of that when we teach our children.”

Luke looked at Martha and realized what an assets she was in their relationship. Luke thought that he lived almost exclusively in the moment but that Martha was generations beyond him. Martha’s biological attributes seemed to provide her with brain functions that he never used.  They must discuss that sometime.

He pulled out one of the tablets the doctor had given him and started writing.  It snowed heavily for three days and Luke wrote for three days and brought his journal up to date particularly the latest events with Ned and all of his feelings about his new daughter and Martha’s birthing.

When he finished he thanked Martha and Martin for putting up with his silly hobby and Martha said, “I have the same silly hobby.”

Luke was surprised, “When,” he asked, “Your hands are always full with some chore or another or one of the babies?”

She smiled knowing it would be o.k. with Luke that she wrote daily, “Usually right after you go out for the day and I get the kitchen cleaned up and the kids settled down.”

Luke hugged her and said, “As soon as Martin can write we should start him journaling too.”

She agreed and said, “I tried to get him to write his name the other day but his motor skills aren’t developed enough yet,” she told Luke, “But it won’t be long.”

“Yes, I noticed the same thing when I tried to show him how to use a cup.”

“He needs toys to develop those skills,” she said.

Luke happily began drawing up some toys he could make for Martin and their other children, and realized that he could make something for Martin’s birthday.  He started with a design similar to his calendar sticks but larger and sturdier.  He carved a hammer and cut holes of different shapes in one of the rounds from the tree he hadn’t used for Martin’s bed.  He made pegs with different shapes to fit the holes he had carved and hoped it would help Martin develop his motor skills.  He found a box for the game and had it ready for Martin’s birthday.

While Luke worked on the new toy Martha was sewing for Martin and she drew up a design she asked Luke to make for Martin.  It was a simple pencil holder that made it much easier to handle for little hands.  Luke was impressed and it inspired him to use one of his large, sturdy reeds to make a three hole flute for Martin to play. 

Luke laughingly told Martha that they would both be stir crazy by spring between the pounding and flute playing if the presents went over well.

They used some of their precious honey to make a honey, berry cake for Marty and had a special dinner planned with his favorite foods.

The morning of his birthday Luke went in and woke Martin up and took him to the kitchen where he and Martha sang “Happy Birthday” to the grinning boy.  Luke showed him his birthday on the calendar stick and told him he was two years old today. They ate a hot cereal made with a local grain that Luke was now growing and for the birthday boy they added a little honey.  They made it his day and that evening after his favorite dinner they gave him his honey, berry cake and sat him at the table and gave him his gifts.

He loved his new shirt which was exactly like his papa’s and he was intrigued with the pegs and hole game.  Luke knew it wouldn’t be long before he had mastered that game but the flute and pencil would take a little longer.  Martin finally got a sound out of the flute but it wasn’t too musical. He put the exhausted little boy to bed that night and he and Martha sat and talked over the day.

Martha came and hugged Luke after he put Martin down for the night.  “Thank you for being such a good father to my son,” she said.

He hugged her close, “Our son,” he told her.

“Do we have to tell him?” Martha asked.

“If we want him to understand that truth is important,” Luke told her, “But not until he’s much older,” he comforted Martha.

He hugged her and told her, “Thank you for our son and daughter, Martha.”

She kissed him softly and said, “I think it’s time for us to love again,” she told Luke.

He made sure the fire was banked and picked her up and carried her into their bed and they spent the night renewing their love life and enjoying one another and even little Martha cooperated by sleeping through her midnight snack.