6. Song in the Night
Song in the Night
His brother-by-marriage looked up from stabbing bits of green salad and asked, "Do you know anything about a ... Pavlovic family, I think it is, from River County?"
Jude's mouth dried a little, and it took a second before he answered, "If it is who I think it is, they have a small dairy in north-central River County, local market for the most part."
"Ah, thanks, that fits. Henk said last week at the dairy meeting that two brothers are getting a multi-year lease on the Kuhmann place and herd, since the son's not interested and the daughter's allergic to milk.
" Ruben shook his head. "She can't even be around cows for long because of dust and hair allergies, too. "
"That is a problem, yes." Negative predestination? Not that he believed in such things.
Ruben considered the greenery on his fork. "I'd rather see it go to another local dairy family than out-of-state owners or people who don't farm."
Four days later, Jude's phone buzzed a little after noon.
He glanced at the message, blinked, then glanced again.
Why at the courthouse? What had happened?
He looked up and his eyes found the master calendar of school and church events.
Oh, the rescheduled field trip. Claire's civics class had gone to the courthouse to learn about the laws and the Constitution and things like that.
The class must be running late, or the bus had a mechanical difficulty. Again.
He took the sedan, since it had not been run for a few days.
He kept the speed within the bounds of the law.
"I miss the days without radar," he informed the air.
Not that he had a good excuse for racing into town, or more correctly, none that the high sheriff would believe.
Alas. He rolled up the window as he passed through a cloud of dust and chaff.
A combine worked near the road, and the wind sent the golden haze into traffic.
He sneezed, then opened the window once more.
For once traffic flowed smoothly around the courthouse.
He parked, got out, and stretched a little.
Where was—? Ah. Claire hurried toward him.
She glanced over her shoulder, then lengthened her stride even more as she stuffed papers into her backpack.
Jude moved to meet her, gathering power and watching her back trail.
"Problem?"
She looked back at two dark haired young men. "I don't know, sir. They came out of the property office and stared at me, then followed a little. I ... Dad Jude, they have shields and look like you, move like you do."
Should he? He shifted to seeing magic. The faint grey green of clan magic brushed one of the men. He should not be wasting power so. Jude considered. No, not the time, not the place, not a Hunt. "We'll talk once we get home."
"Yes, sir." Relief replaced mild fear around her as she slid into the front seat and set her bag in the footwell.
He got in, looked six ways, and eased into traffic.
The two Hunters had gone a different direction.
They'd probably parked in the far city lot, since they didn't have a pass and court cars filled most of the slots.
The businesses on the square took a dim view to lawyers and others occupying customer parking.
Once out of town, Claire said, "Thank you, sir.
They had to change return buses because of a scheduling problem, and ended up with the really small bus.
Nine of us said we could walk or have someone come get us.
The class was really interesting. I didn't know that the Declaration of Independence quoted the Magna Charta. "
It did? "Too bad your mother's great aunt Katherine is no longer alive. I think she was in charge of filing documents when the Magna Charta was signed." He stopped, looked for cross traffic, then added, "Or so I have been assured by half the county."
He felt her stare, then heard a little giggle. "Ah, was that the Great Aunt Katherine that even Mr. Shoim behaved around?"
"It was." How he behaved ... Well, Katherine Schmidt had inspired probity, or at least temporary quiet, in everyone around her with any survival instinct at all.
Once they reached the yellow farmhouse, and he parked, he said, "The two men who moved like me."
"Yes, sir?"
Jude took a long, settling breath. "They grew up training the way I did.
They are very, very distant cousins of my family.
I think they are brothers who have leased the Kuhmann Dairy from the Kuhmann family.
" He took another breath. "They are probably Sensitives, but not magic workers. They are also going to be very busy."
She made the clan's sign for "strong agreement." "Yes sir! Uncle Ruben was asking about borrowing Levi for the next few years. I think Aunt Lucy might agree."
He shook a finger at her as they went into the house. "Just because Levi is growing again does not mean he is for sale or rent."
"No, but long-term loan or giving away has some appeal." Lucy appeared, carrying a still-sleepy Martha Gertrude. "How much homework do you have?"
"I need to write about our field trip, two copies, one for English and one for Government, ma'am. That's all." Claire took off her shoes, then scooted down the hall to her room to change and put her schoolbooks out of the way.
Jude kissed his wife. "Good afternoon, my lady. You found the apple funds?"
"Yes. Thank you." She handed him their daughter, then kissed him. "Levi and AJ are out tending to the rabbits. She has had her afternoon snack, so once the sleepies wear off ..." She left the rest of the warning unsaid.
"I will put her in her playpen and stand back.
" He kissed Lucy, then carried Gertie into the living room.
He settled her into the playpen. She blinked, grinned, and started to stack blocks.
"Young lady, if you take after your brothers, I will have to build a larger fence around the farm.
" Levi and AJ had sufficient energy for four, at least. The trick was channeling it away from mischief.
Now he understood why his family had kept the large garden and potato acres!
Which reminded him ... Lucy and Claire were in the kitchen, contemplating two cookbooks and two and a half pounds of ground lamb and veal.
"This one calls for something no one in Devon County sells or makes, Aunt Lucy," Claire warned, then turned the page.
Crunching from the corner warned where the cat was.
Bauxite had firm opinions about cooking.
Which cookbook was the problem? He shrugged to himself and went outside to check on the boys. The crisp fall air carried a bit of a warning. Something waited, winter waited, just out of sight, and the time for harvest and preparation would soon be coming to an end.
"I just know," Levi told his younger brother. "It doesn't look different, but you can tell. Something's stuck in his middle." The boy sounded frustrated. AJ had a dubious expression as they studied the mostly-white gelded buck rabbit.
Jude cleared his throat, so the boys didn't startle. "Is there a problem?" The doe had recovered from whatever had ailed her, and munched away on a serving of alfalfa hay.
"This one's got a stuffed stomach, sir. The food isn't getting through." Levi gestured to the gelded buck.
Jude crouched down beside the hutch and lowered his shield a little, reaching a little bit of land-healer magic to brush the rabbit.
Indeed, something wasn't moving properly.
He withdrew the power and waited until the world stopped weaving back and forth.
I am not a Healer of creatures or people, that I know very well.
He stood. "You are right, Levi. Since he's not hurting, and we are going to eat this one this weekend, please see that he has water and some rabbit chow, but no more hay. "
"Yes, sir. AJ gets the drumsticks." Levi grinned up at his father.
AJ frowned mightily. "No drumsticks on rabbits.
" With that statement he wandered off, probably to see how much dirt he could get into before an adult intervened.
His enthusiasm for playing in dirt had led Lucy to suggest leasing him out as a self-propelled garden tiller.
Shoim had agreed, a development that his mage found gravely concerning.
Splash! Speaking of which ... Jude observed the cascade of spraying water as the melanistic northern harrier bathed.
He'd need to refill the basin once more.
And it was time to put the heater in, and check the wiring on all the outdoor plugs, and mulch the fruit trees once more before they went dormant, and all the other needful things around the house and woodlot.
Levi shook his head at the display, then tended to the other rabbits.
Jude turned and spotted AJ. The five-year-old contemplated the freshly turned dirt in the vegetable garden, as serious as his maternal grandfather when Mr. Hoffman watched the cows.
The boy glanced left and right, then stuck both arms into the dirt up to the elbows, shirt sleeves and all, before his father could intervene.
By the time Levi finished with the rabbits and refilled the bird bath, and Levi's father got AJ de-dirted and clean enough for supper, food was almost on the table.
"I will lease you to the county so you can help dig ditches and culverts if you keep this up," Jude warned.
AJ grinned, then tried to climb up onto his booster seat.
Gertie sat in the highchair, chewing on a teething biscuit and kicking a little.
She'd been chattering away when Lucy brought her in, about what he had no idea.
After giving thanks, he watched to be certain that AJ did not try to impale his pasta, then sampled the dish. Whatever the ladies had done tasted good, not so heavy that the lamb disappeared. "How was your day, Levi?" Lucy asked, once the boy's devouring slowed a little.