Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] Read Online Free PDF Page A

urged her toward the door. In the kitchen she sat down in a chair and pulled JoBeth to her.
    Ruth Ann stood ramrod straight with her back turned.
    “I'll tell you just what the man told me. The sick skunk bit your daddy on the leg. The doctor will have to give him shots for about six weeks, so that he won't get the sickness from the skunk. They want him to stay in the hospital where they can watch him and be sure that he will be all right.” Leona paused, then added, “That's all I know.”
    “He'll die,” Ruth Ann said bitterly.
    “He'll not die,” Leona replied forcefully. “They have inoculations for that sickness. Remember when you had the vaccination for smallpox? Your arm was sore and it made you sick for a while. The shots might make your daddy sick. Maybe sicker than the smallpox vaccination. That's why they want him to stay in the hospital.”
    “So they can make him better?” JoBeth asked.
    “So they can make him feel better. The only thing we can do for him now is take care of things here at home so that everything will be the same when he comes back.”
    “Can we go see him?” JoBeth asked.
    “I don't know, honey. He's in Oklahoma City. That's a long way from here.” Leona went to where Ruth Ann stood, gripped her shoulders and pulled the child back against her. “He'll be all right. You must believe that and not think the worst.”
    “He'll die. I know he will.” Sobs broke loose. She turned and buried her face against Leona.
    “No. Don't think that.” Leona hugged the child to her and smoothed back her hair. “He'll come back and tell us all about it—about the big hospital and about being in the city. Maybe he'll even ride a streetcar.”
    “I'm scared he won't come back.”
    “He'll come back, honey. We'll write to him so he won't be lonesome up there in the city. You can draw a picture for him. He is so proud of the way you draw. JoBeth can make the ABC's and show him how she is learning to write her name. He'll write back and put lots of X's on the bottom of the page.”
    “What's X's?” JoBeth asked.
    “Kisses. Here's one for each of you. MaryLou is out there waiting for me. I've got to go milk her. Did you gather eggs, Ruth Ann?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Gracious me. We'd better get our chores done if we're going to make candy tonight.”
    Leona washed her hands in the basin in the dry sink, wet a clean cloth to wash the cow's teats, then picked up the milk bucket and headed for the barn.
    While she milked, she leaned her head against the side of the patient cow and thought how fortunate they were that MaryLou produced good rich milk. They had all the milk and butter they could use, a good garden spot close to the well so that she could water the plants if necessary, and a dozen good laying hens. They had a sound, dry storm cellar and almost fifty jars of canned food.
    Andy had been looking to buy a couple of runt pigs to fatten on the extra milk. Even without money coming in from the garage, they would be all right for a while.
    “Ma'am.” The deep masculine voice behind Leona startled her so much that she almost overturned the milk bucket when she whirled around. “Is there a spot in here where I can store a few bales of hay for my horse?”
    “You scared the fool out of me.” Leona spoke more harshly than she intended.
    “Sorry,” he muttered with his back to her.
    She had not yet admitted to herself that she was a little afraid of Yates and what his unexpected intrusion in their lives could mean. He was so quiet, so intensely male and alert. An odd feeling raced through her, making her shiver.
    Leona blamed her reaction to him on the strange events of the day and on the fact that she'd not had to deal with an
unsociable
man before. All the men of her acquaintance would talk the leg off a mule.
    Ignoring her outburst, Yates picked up his saddle, flung it over a sawhorse and reached for the rifle he had placed high on a beam that morning before he took Andy to the