Chapter Five
Harry broke the quiet, “Well, I don’t know if I could forgive her either. I mean she always told us that we needed to be kind to others and then we hear what she did to her own cousin? That’s hypocritical and dishonest, isn’t it?”
Colt nodded. “Yeah, it is. And being albino ain’t a crime that I ever heard.
” He shrugged. “I mean it is different but it’s not criminal and for a whole family to treat her like she’s a freak?
That’s just wrong, brother. And what they did was wrong too.
Treating her like she was a freak? Over something she couldn’t help.
Your grandmother was lucky the family didn’t know about this until today. ”
King crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “But now we have another worry.”
Everyone in the room stared at him.
Teige looked over at King and asked, “Like what?”
“Maudie showed us where Sharon lived all those years ago. The cabin Jed built for her is still standing. Whoever lives there now has put in a garden and has kept the place up, but we also found a grave. The marker had Sharon’s name on it and the date she died.
It also had the words Daughter, Mother and Grandmother engraved on it.
” King looked around the room. “Sharon died ten years ago. And we figure that she was almost 90 when she passed. Grace died fifteen years ago and Jed died five years after she did. So who stayed at Sharon’s cabin all these years? Who planted that garden?”
The room went silent again and this time no one broke the silence for a long time.
“Weh, I’m gonna see if I can find out who’s staying at da cabin,” Leeza announced. “If we can find dat out maybe we’ll find some answers. We need to get some answers here.”
Mickey had been silent during the entire discussion.
Now he stood and walked over to the window.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he just stared at the swamp beyond Ms. Maudie’s yard.
He snorted then stared some more. Finally, he turned back to his family and said, “You know something? We never had to leave home to find some excitement. Nothing like what we’ve just been through over the last few months ever happened to us in the city.
I think we had to come home and find ourselves. ”
Teige chuckled.
So did Ragan, and Jordy.
Colt just sat there with his arms over his chest glaring at his brothers.
Teige nodded then said, “Yeah, I agree. We had to come back home to really find ourselves. We came back and it was here that we found our Ones too. Well, some of us have.”
Mickey snorted and turned his head to look outside again.
Then he noticed that same feeling, that itch between his shoulder blades.
His eyes narrowed as he searched the swamp around Maudie’s place carefully.
He couldn’t see anything out of place but he could feel it.
He was so intent on this feeling that he missed his own brother coming up behind him.
“What’s so interesting out there, brother?” Colt wanted to know.
Mickey almost jumped but he didn’t. “What are you talking about?” he finally answered.
“You’re staring out there with a focus I’ve never seen coming from you before.” Colt studied him. “What’s going on with you?”
Mickey took a deep breath and shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong, Colt. I’m trying to wrap my head around what we were told just now. I mean I always knew Grace was a little tetched but this was extreme.”
Colt just stared at him for a minute then asked, “Have you ever seen an albino before?”
“Have you?” Mickey scoffed.
Colt nodded. “Yeah, I have.”
“When? Where?” Mickey wanted to know.
“I saw a woman in the city and brother, let me tell you I just stopped and stared at her for a minute. She was so different from any other woman I ever saw before. Her hair was white and so was her skin. But it was her eyes that stood out the most to me. They were an amber color, they weren’t blue or brown or green.
They were a reddish yellow, mostly yellow but they were so pale.
I wasn’t afraid of her nor would I have called her a freak but I ain’t seen another woman like her either. ”
“We’re all different Colt,” Renee called him out. “She’s just a woman trying to live her life. She’s not a freak for you to stare at. That was just rude.”
Colt turned and agreed with her, “Yeah, I know. I’ve grown up a bit since then and I realize if she saw me staring it would have hurt her feelings.
We’re all just people. Maybe if I had seen someone with that distinct coloring before I wouldn’t have stared at her.
That’s on me, isn’t it?” Shaking his head he admitted, “And yeah, it was rude and again that’s on me. ”
“Look...” Ragan turned to face the room. “It’s getting late and we need to get ourselves home before nightfall. I don’t want to have to wrestle a gator to get home to sleep in my own bed tonight.”
Colt agreed, “We’ll be back early in the morning to figure out a plan to find out who’s been using Ms. Sharon’s cabin but all this has been unsettling and it’s gonna take time for everyone to adjust to this news.
” He looked at his cousins Sonny, Rhetta, Leeza, Harry and Clive then turned to look at Renee.
“I remember your grandmother but I never imagined she could do something like this to her own family and I’ll bet that none of you did either.
We’ve got to figure out what we’re gonna do about this and see if we can find her daughter and whatever child she had that caused her to be a grandmother.
You guys might need to find your own family. ”
Sonny nodded. “Yeah, I think we all need time to ponder what we already know and what we plan to do about it.”
Harry shook his head. “I don’t know if I could forgive her if I was grandpa.
The Hogan’s have always accepted people for who they were, not what they looked like.
Grandpa taught us all that. He used to tell us growing up, to never judge anyone by how they looked but how they treated you.
And he told us all to treat everyone how you wanted to be treated. ”
“Almost makes a man wonder how he could stay with Grandma after everything she did to her own cousin?” Clive finally threw in his two cents.
“But then Jed was a Hogan,” Colt said quietly. “Not a Langley.”
Everyone in the room nodded but no one said a word.