[Kentucky Brothers 01] - The Journey (8 page)

As Suzanne and Titus climbed into Grandpa’s buggy, one of Suzanne’s cats—a fluffy gray one—leaped in and jumped up on the seat between them.

“Get out of here!” Titus muttered as he pushed the cat out.

Suzanne ground her teeth. He obviously didn’t like cats any more than he liked her.

As they headed down the road toward the store, Suzanne tried to make conversation, but that was hard to do when Titus didn’t say much in response.

“What’s that?” Suzanne asked, when she noticed some writing on Titus’s arm.

“What’s what?”

“That.” She pointed to his arm.

Titus’s face colored. “Oh, I … uh … started writing the directions to the store when your brother told me …”

“I can’t believe you’d write a note on your arm.”

“It’s easier than carrying a tablet with me all the time. I’ve been doing it since I was a kinner.” He’d spoken without looking at her again.

Suzanne didn’t say what she was thinking, that writing notes on his arm was really strange.

When they arrived at the store, she left Titus to do his shopping while she went after the things Mom needed. She’d just started down the bulk foods aisle when Esther joined her, wearing a frown.

“I thought you weren’t interested in Titus.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what are you doing here with him?”

“He needed to come to the store, and since he doesn’t have a buggy, Grandpa volunteered me to take him.”

“Oh, I see. Did you find out whether he has a girlfriend or not?”

“No, you said you were going to do that.”

“I will, but I need to wait for the right opportunity. I can’t just go up to him and say, ‘Oh, by the way, I was wondering if you have a girlfriend in Pennsylvania.’ “

Suzanne bit back a chuckle. “No, I guess that would seem too bold.”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“Why me?”

“Because with him working in the woodshop, you’ll see him more often than I will.”

“I can’t just blurt it out, but if the subject comes up, I’ll ask. Does that make you happy?”

Esther’s face broke into a wide smile. “I’ll be even happier if he’s available.”

When Titus finished shopping, he found Suzanne talking to her friend. He said a quick hello to Esther and then told Suzanne that he’d gotten everything he needed and was ready to go whenever she was.

“Great. I’ll be done soon.”

A short time later, Titus and Suzanne paid for their purchases, said good-bye to Esther, and climbed into the buggy. They’d no sooner pulled away from the store, when it started to rain.

“Does it rain much here?” he asked.

“In the spring, mostly, but we can have showers any time.”

They talked more about the weather and the kinds of trees and plants that grew in the woods along the road. Titus listened with interest as Suzanne told him that maple, cedar, river birch, willow, and pine trees grew in the area, and that a bush called crape myrtle could grow to be anywhere from fifteen to twenty feet high and six to fifteen feet wide.

“Crape myrtles put on a show all year long,” Suzanne said. “Their long-blooming flowers come in pink, red, white, and lavender. In the fall, the leaves turn yellow or red, then drop off to reveal peeling gray and brown bark.”

“Seems like you know a lot about flowers and trees,” Titus commented, glancing briefly her way. At least he’d been able to make eye contact with Suzanne now that the shock of her looking so much like Phoebe had worn off.

“I enjoy doing almost anything that takes me outdoors, and I also enjoy—” Suzanne pointed to a rabbit skittering into the woods. “Do you like to hunt?”

He nodded. “I’ve gone deer hunting with my half brothers Jake and Norman a few times.”

“I like to hunt and fish,” she said, “but Nelson thinks women shouldn’t do things like that.”

Titus glanced at Suzanne again. She might look like Phoebe, but there were definitely some differences. Phoebe wouldn’t go near a hunting rifle, or even a fishing pole. She liked adventure but not the kind that involved tromping through the woods or sitting by a pond for hours, waiting for a fish to bite.

“Do you miss your family?” Suzanne asked, changing the subject.

“I probably will, but I haven’t been gone long enough to miss anyone too much yet.”

“Not even a girlfriend?”

“Huh?”

“I wondered if you might have a girlfriend back in Pennsylvania.”

“I did have one,” he mumbled, wishing she hadn’t brought the subject up. “But that relationship’s over now.”

“Oh, I see.”

They rode in silence the rest of the way, with the only sounds being the splatter of raindrops against the roof of the buggy and the steady
clip-clop
of the horse’s hooves on the road. Titus was glad when Suzanne didn’t question him further about Phoebe. It wasn’t something he wanted to talk about right now.

When they arrived at the trailer, Titus hopped down from the buggy, untied his horse, and led him to the barn, which wasn’t in much better shape than the trailer. Then he returned to the buggy for his groceries. “Danki for the ride,” he said, giving Suzanne a nod.

“You’re welcome.”

As Suzanne’s horse and buggy pulled away, Titus hurried into the trailer. When he entered the kitchen, he screeched to a halt. A huge puddle of water sat in the middle of the floor.

I
t rained all night, and Titus had trouble sleeping, with the constant
ping, ping, ping
of the water dripping into the pan he’d set on the kitchen floor. No wonder the house smelled so musty. This probably wasn’t the first time the roof had leaked. To top it off, he’d discovered some fresh mouse droppings under the kitchen sink and inside a couple of the cupboards. He figured he must have at least one mouse in the house. He’d have to see about getting a couple of traps to take care of that.

Guess I’d better climb up on the roof and see about patching the place where the water’s been coming through before I leave for work today
, Titus thought as he forced himself to crawl out of bed the next morning. He would have done it last night if it hadn’t been raining so hard. So he’d put up with the dripping and spent the evening cleaning out the propane refrigerator, as well as the cupboards, before putting away his groceries. As soon as he got his first paycheck, he planned to hire a driver and go to Hopkinsville to get a new mattress for his bed. If his new job worked out well and he decided to stay in Kentucky permanently, he’d need to find a better place to live, because this trailer wasn’t fit for the mice.

“I can’t believe Allen would expect Titus to live in Vernon Smucker’s old trailer,” Suzanne said to her mother as they scurried around the kitchen getting breakfast on the table. “I didn’t get to see the inside, but if it’s anything like what I saw outside, Titus has a lot of work ahead of him to make that place livable.”

“I never thought much about it, but you’re probably right,” Mom said, turning from the stove where she was frying some bacon. “Vernon’s trailer has been abandoned for quite a while now, and it’s probably not fit for anyone to live in. I think we ought to talk to my daed and Nelson and see about getting a crew of people together for a work frolic soon. The trailer might be livable if a group of us helped fix it up.”

“Who are we helping?” Grandpa asked when he and Nelson entered the kitchen.

“Titus,” Mom answered. “Suzanne said the trailer he’s living in looks pretty bad from the outside, and I’m guessing it’s going to need a lot of repairs inside as well. So I was thinking we ought to have a work frolic to help him fix the place up.”

“That’s a good idea,” Nelson said with a nod. “Titus told me yesterday that the place is a mess.”

“I’ll talk to some folks in our area and see about setting a date for the frolic,” Grandpa said. “If we’d known sooner that Allen was bringing someone to work in the woodshop, and that he’d have him stay in Vernon’s old place, we could have had the trailer cleaned and repaired before Titus got here.”

Titus was relieved when he found a ladder, a hammer, some nails, and a roll of tar paper in the old shed behind the trailer. He would use the tar paper to patch the wooden part of the roof, and when he had the chance to buy some shingles he’d finish the job.

As he set the ladder in place and began to climb, a bird chirped from a nearby tree. “I’m glad someone’s in a happy mood this morning,” Titus muttered. “I’ll bet you wouldn’t be singin’ so cheerfully if you had to fix a roof.”

Titus usually wasn’t so negative, but ever since he and Phoebe had broken up, he couldn’t seem to find anything cheerful to think about. He needed something positive to focus on—something to get excited about and look forward to.

As the bird continued to sing, Titus stepped onto the roof and glanced around, looking for any low spots where water might be lying. He discovered one area, and was heading in that direction, when—
crack!
—a hunk of wood gave way and his foot went through.

His boot hit something, and he looked down through the hole. “Oh, great. I think I’m standing on the refrigerator!” Titus gritted his teeth and pulled his leg out of the hole. Now he’d have to look for a piece of plywood to repair that hole.

He moved cautiously toward the ladder, wincing from the pain in his calf. He leaned over and pulled up his pant leg. Blood oozed from scratches and a cut.

“Guess I’d better get my leg cleaned up and bandaged before I try to patch this stupid roof,” he mumbled. It was a good thing he’d thought to buy a bottle of peroxide and a box of bandages when he’d gone to the store yesterday.

Titus limped his way down the ladder and moved slowly toward the back door. This was not the best way to start out his morning.

What a
dummkopp
I am. This is so typical
. He gritted his teeth.
I’ll bet this wouldn’t have happened to Timothy. He’d have probably seen that rotten board in time to keep from stepping on it. If I hadn’t been distracted by that stupid chirping bird, maybe I would’ve seen it, too
.