Semper Fi Read Online Free PDF Page B

inside him with his throbbing—
    A cry pierced the air, and in his haze Cal froze. Had he made that noise? Then the rooster crowed again, and he slumped against the sticky sheets, wondering belatedly if Mrs. O’Brien did the laundry, and when would be a good time to sneak down and wash his bedding.

    Cal couldn’t find Jim when he went downstairs, although there was evidence of breakfast in the pile of dishes on the counter. He quickly ate a bowl of flaked cereal after skimming the cream off the container of milk in the fridge. He wasn’t sure he’d ever tasted milk fresh from the cow before, but found he liked it.
    Outside, Adam ran in circles, chattering to himself while Jim sharpened a machete with a leather strop. “I’m almost afraid to ask.” Cal grinned as he approached.
    Smiling, Jim nodded to another long blade resting by the paddock fence. “That’s yours over there. We’ve got to get all the trees pruned. I’ve been doing it myself, but there are still a few acres left.”
    Picking up his machete, Cal tested its weight, swinging it through the air. “You sure our Ka-Bars wouldn’t be better?”
    At the mention of their foot-long fighting knives, Jim laughed. “We want to prune the trees. Not stab them in the guts.”
    Adam cried out gleefully, and Cal turned to see a woman he presumed to be Mrs. O’Brien pedaling up the laneway. She was about fifty or so, and her dark, graying hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck. Slightly stout and not unattractive, Cal imagined she had been a beauty in her youth. She wore a calf-length navy dress and sturdy shoes.
    She leaned her bicycle against the side of the house and swept Adam up into her arms while he giggled. She smiled at Cal. “This must be Calhoun.”
    Wincing, Cal smiled back. “It’s Cal. No one’s called me Calhoun in…well, actually, I don’t think anyone’s ever called me that. Even my mother. A pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
    “Did Sophie get on the bus all right?” Jim asked.
    “Yes, it pulled up at the end of the lane just as I did,” Mrs. O’Brien replied.
    To Cal, Jim said, “I’ll just go get the rest of the equipment from the barn.” He loped off in that direction.
    “Do you have far to come?” Cal asked Mrs. O’Brien.
    “Oh no, not far. A mile or so.” She lowered Adam to the ground and gave him an affectionate pat on his rear end. “Now that I can ride over with the snow gone, it takes no time at all, really.” Her strong Irish lilt gave her voice a pleasant, sing-song quality.
    Barking happily, Finnigan raced toward them from the orchard. Mrs. O’Brien scratched behind his ears. “I always give him the scraps when I’m cooking, and I swear he has an alarm that tells him when I’m due to arrive. Little scallywag.”
    Cal patted Finnigan. “It’s very good of you to help out Jim like this.”
    “It’s the least I can do for a neighbor. He’s such a fine young man. Lost his mother far too young, and always took good care of his father. And his wife when she came along.” She tsked . “Such a terrible business.”
    Cal had only heard the barest of details via telegram. “Did they ever discover why the car went off the road?”
    “No. They said the brakes appeared to be in working order. The best they could guess was she’d just been going too fast, which doesn’t sound like Ann at all. Of course who can say what she was even doing out on the road at that time.”
    “Was it very late? I’m afraid I don’t know the details.”
    “Yes, quite late, apparently. It wasn’t until dawn that she was discovered. There was nothing to be done for her by then.”
    Cal filed this curious information away. “It’s a terrible loss.” As much as he still envied Ann, he’d certainly never wanted her to come to any harm.
    Mrs. O’Brien nodded sadly. “Jim survives that bloody war and not three years later his wife leaves him and the little ones behind. God has a cruel sense of humor, if you