The Wanton Troopers Read Online Free Page B

The Wanton Troopers
Book: The Wanton Troopers Read Online Free
Author: Alden Nowlan
Tags: book, FIC019000
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himself continually and scratched at the hard, reddening lumps on his forearms and thighs.
    Judd squeezed glue from a tube and lit a match. He made the flame stroke the rubber like a tiny, scarlet brush. Then he adjusted the patch carefully and pressed it down hard with his palm. The job finished, he grunted in satisfaction and laid the boot aside to let the glue harden and set.
    Leaning back in the swing, he extracted a yellow-brown quid of chewing tobacco from his pocket, blew away the bits of sawdust that had stuck to it, and tore off a chew with his teeth.
    â€œSoon be dark,” Kevin said.
    He had known better than to speak before his father finished his task. The man smiled. Judd laughed rarely, except when he was drunk, and he seldom smiled.
    Judd gestured toward the sky.
    â€œPretty, ain’t it?”
    â€œYeah,” Kevin agreed.
    As always, their voices, in speaking to one another, were formal, muted with shyness.
    â€œSkeeters botherin’ yuh?”
    â€œA little bit, mebbe.”
    â€œEver hear the story about the Irishmen and the skeeters?”
    â€œGee, no.”
    Kevin shook himself and changed his position in the grass. The ground beneath his body was turning cool.
    â€œWell, it seems as though there was two Irishmen that hadn’t never seen a skeeter in their life . . . I dunno, but I guess there ain’t no skeeters in Ireland. Mebbe, this is the only country that’s got skeeters. I dunno . . . Anyway, that don’t matter none. The story is, Pat and Mike was campin’ out fer the night — in a tent. And they was bein’ skinned alive by skeeters. Why, they was skeeters big as sparrows! And they stung jist like bumble bees! And after a while, Pat and Mike decided to blow out the lantern so the skeeters couldn’t see them! Well, that was all right for a spell, but then the lightnin’ bugs started comin’ in. And Mike wakes up and sees them lightnin’ bugs and he grabs the quilts off Pat and he says, ‘Wake up, Pat. Bejabers,’ he says, ‘They’re comin’ back with lanterns!’”
    Judd chuckled and repeated the words: “Bejabers, Pat! They’re comin’ back with lanterns!”
    Kevin doubled over with laughter. He always responded almost hysterically to his father’s rare jokes, not as much because they were funny as because he was overjoyed to find his father in a mood for such stories. Now he laughed until tears streamed down his cheeks and he gasped for breath, and Judd, chuckling complacently and chewing his tobacco, repeated the line again and again.
    â€œBejabers, Pat, they’re comin’ back with lanterns!”
    *
    When they went into the house, Mary, observing Judd’s apparent good humour, gave him the letter.
    â€œI don’t know what made me forget this,” she said. “It came in the mail yesterday, but I forgot to tell you . . .”
    Judd crushed the envelope in his fist. He went to the cot and sat down with his head in his hands. After a long moment he said, “The damn’ lawyers will hound a man tuh death. They’ll badger a man right intuh his grave.”
    Mary and Kevin sat in silent watchfulness, afraid of what might come next.
    â€œI never should of bought this damn shack,” Judd growled. “I shoulda knowed better than to of bought it.”
    â€œMaybe Hod Rankine will lend us the money,” Mary said.
    Hod Rankine was the owner of the saw mill.
    â€œYuh think I’d ask that bastard fer anythin’? He wouldn’t give a man the parin’s off his toenails!”
    Kevin choked back a giggle. Judd glared at him hatefully. “What’s so damn funny?” he roared.
    â€œNothin’,” Kevin gulped. “Nothin’.”
    â€œEh! Yuh won’t think bills is so damn funny when yuh start payin’ them yourself. I wasn’t much oldern you when my old man put me out tuh dig fer my

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