Revolt of the Rats - Reed Blitzerman (early readers txt) 📗

NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME, Everett wished he was an adult. He woke before everyone else, except his father, twisting in his second-floor bed. Dad had been delirious and in pain as soon as he woke. He’d said in a croak that it felt like his skin was on fire, the itching was so bad. Mom came in, covered him in calamine lotion and gave him three aspirin. When Dad returned to a fitful sleep, she ordered Everett to watch over his father, and then she left them for the bank.

Everett hugged himself as he paced back and forth. He kept telling himself that this was not happening even though he knew it was.

Father seemed to feel his distress. He opened his eyes, staring in the half light, returning briefly to clarity. “Read for me, son.”

Everett stopped pacing. His mouth formed a slight smile. Then he crossed to the bed stand and picked up his father’s book. Father sat up slightly in anticipation, looking happy for any distraction for them both. Everett laid the bookmark across his knee, started at the top of the leftmost page, and spoke out loud in a small but powerful voice.

“There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars...” 

Eli and Everett were reading when Judith got home. She came through the back door, placed her keys on the countertop, and made a pot of coffee.

Doc Vickers had said he would be by today. She’d confided her husband’s condition and he said what she already knew, “there’s no cure. It’s got to run its course.”

Judith had been inoculated as a girl. Despite being a farmer and a pastor, her father had also loved science. So she and her sister Dill had been the first in town to get the needle. She’d never thought to do the same for Eli and Everett. They were on a farm in the middle of nowhere. She’d never anticipated the disease’s reach would be so far, and yet here she was.

Smallpox could be a death sentence, and her little boy had already been exposed for several days. She sat in their small kitchen and silently wept.

The wait for Doc Vickers seemed to stretch into eternity. The only positive light was her son’s small sing-song voice echoing down from the upstairs bedroom. The rhythm was unbroken, except for Eli’s occasional grunted encouragement. She listened, unnoticed, with the sensitive ear of a professional mother.

He was such a raw creature. Even as a child he had a wildness about him. A ragged aggressiveness lay just below the skin and around the eyes. He was sweet in his own way, but it was nothing like having a daughter. He reminded Judith of her sister, she thought with apprehension. It’ll be hell on wheels if she shows up. Judith felt like a cold glass of gin just thinking about it.

The steadying force with Dill had always been Eli. Somehow he’d seen past that sullen exterior. On their first date, her girl child sister had insisted on tagging along. She’d become attached long before Judith did.

Unlike every other suitor that had come before, he somehow seemed to have all the time in the world: for Judith, for Dill, even for her father. When Dill mentioned she always wanted to see an airplane engine, he’d nodded. On their next date, he’d taken both of them to see a local barnstormer.

Dill had squealed like a stuck pig. She’d stroked the engine of the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” with reverence. Judith had had to wipe the grease off Dill before taking her back home; not an easy thing as it went from her hands all the way up her elbows.

Since Dill was usually fighting with Daddy, Eli was a godsend. When he lightly teased, called her “Dilly Pickle” he did so with such a warm smile and a gentleness Judith had no doubts about what kind of father he’d be. Only now he was sick. And a different kind of godsend, as Eli on his deathbed was probably the only thing that could’ve gotten Dill to come.

Judith needed the help. She needed the help desperately, hellion or not, baggage and all. Her sister was only slightly smaller than Judith and had a capacity for work that was breathtaking, when she felt like working. The two of them with Everett...they would still need seeds. Until Eli could make it to the bank, she didn’t know how she could make this work.

The nape of her neck tingled, bringing her back to the moment. Her son had stopped reading, walked down the stairs, and was staring at her. Those eyes so cool, so calculating, and clearly very afraid. Damn his intuition.

How long has he been watching? She wondered how much he understood, what was at stake, what could be lost. She opened her arms and her wild curious child came to her, and wrapped his arms around her neck. She was glad for once he didn’t ask any questions. She had no answers to give.

Just before dusk, Doc Vickers arrived in a dirt-caked black Model T Ford. Last stop of the day. He stepped off the running board slowly in a threadbare black suit and white shirt he’d washed and re-washed many times. He carried his medical case in his right hand past Judith and into the entryway, filling it with the scent of witch hazel.

He nodded by way of greeting and waited as she pointed upstairs, leading him to the master bedroom where her husband now lay. He had brought a small lantern and he lit it now. He held it over his head, illuminating his patient in a dirty yellow glow and asked a single question. “Where’d you get this?”

There was a pause so long he thought Eli wouldn’t answer. Eli’s eyes opened to slits. “Anise. Salesman.”

Doc brought the lantern closer. “Anise at the bed and breakfast?”

“Yes.”

Doc muttered under his breath, “I’ll pay her a visit.” And later he did. He got up from the chair beside the bed and led Judith downstairs where they settled in the kitchen. “How long’s he been like that?”

“Couple of days,” Judith said.

“Well, it’s at the tail end of the cycle. You’ll know everything in a couple days more. If he does recover...”

“When,” she corrected.

Doc Vickers eyebrows went up and he continued on in a low but firm voice, “If he does recover, there may be side effects. You’ll know soon enough. But given your husband’s constitution, his chances are excellent.”

“You’ve heard of my husband?”

“Well, it’s worth your while to know your competition, isn’t it?” He hoped the look in his eyes was kindly and a touch wistful. “Actually, there’s no shortage of work, and most people can’t pay anyhow. I hope he does get better, he’s a good man. Now where’s that boy of yours you mentioned? We’ll do an exam and I’ll come back to give him an inoculation.”

When Doc returned, the three of them sat in the kitchen and administered the needle. When he’d finished, he shook Everett’s hand and gave him a small salute. “That should do it. Good luck to you, young sir. And ma’am you keep an eye on him for a few days. He might have a slight fever and a few aches but it’ll be gone pretty quickly.”

Judith finally stopped hugging herself, seeming to relax slightly. “Thank you, Doc Vickers. How much do we owe you?”

They settled the bill and he returned to his car, placed the case on the seat