ATOP Chapter Fifty-One

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Josh plopped down in the empty seat of the tractor as Ronnie emerged from beneath it. Every inch of him seemed covered with grease... even his glasses... and he yanked them off, attempting to find a clean spot on his shirt to wipe them with. Josh laughed.

"Better not let Rachel see you like that. Tractor on the fritz again?"

"Tell you what, I'm about to take the horses out to finish the plowing," Ronnie shook his head. "This thing is a hunk of junk." And he kicked the tractor spitefully, to illustrate his point. 

"You oughta see mine," Josh shrugged. "I'll be holding it together with baling twine come harvest."

"Use duct tape," Ronnie grinned, running greasy fingers through his already-filthy hair.

"No way, duct tape and I don't like each other," Josh grimaced. "Y'know what we need, Chief, is to go tractor shopping. Something that can take care of both the fields and the garden, preferably."

"Yeah, garden work can be dangerous, maybe a tractor's what we need..." Ronnie laughed and at Josh's curious look, he added, "There are unforseen hazards to gardening... like those horrid giant black 'n yellow spiders... y'know the type?"

"What... you scared of 'em?" Josh raised his eyebrows. "Chief, I never woulda thunk it... braved all those Krauts and here you're 'fraid of spiders?"

"Aw, shut up... not me... Rachel. One of them crawled up to her hand a few days ago when we were planting the peas. And it was a big one, I mean big. Probably the biggest I ever saw. And Rachel just froze stiff. It was only a couple inches away from her hand... and she started shaking all over and let out a shriek that would've probably shattered the kitchen window, had the garden been any closer to the house. Next thing I know, she's trying to climb up my back. Isn't easy to squash a spider when there's a person practically sitting on top of you. Trouble was, I was on my knees when she did it and then I couldn't get up, so I squashed it with my hand... and then she screamed even louder. And before I knew it, she was trying to get away from me, since now the spider was on me, I guess... and she tumbled off my back, gathered up her skirts, and ran for the house faster than I've ever seen anyone run before, in all my life. Slammed the door and didn't come out again at all. Finished planting the peas by myself."

By this point, Josh was laughing fit to split. He already had tears coming down his face. Ronnie just rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't even end there. Would you believe one o' those darn spiders actually dared to show up in the kitchen last night? I was outside when it was discovered, but I heard the screaming all the way from the house. By the time I got there, Rachel was on the kitchen table and Benjie, the little champ, was stomping the stuffings out of that spider. Never been prouder of my boy."

"I'll bet..." Josh gasped, holding his sides. 

"So Benjie n' I have come up with a battle strategy now. Soon's a spider is spotted, and Rachel will sound the alarm, trust her for that, I'll scoop her up to keep her from climbing something or someone and thereby hurting herself or me in the process, and Benjie will attack the spider. Y'know..." Ronnie chuckled reflectively, shaking his head. "I guess we're pretty lucky she decided to climb on the table instead of Benjie that last time... the spider wouldn't have been the only one who got squashed, if she had..."

"When I get through laughing," Josh managed to say somehow, wiping away the tears. "Remind me I came out to ask you a serious question."

"If you stop laughing now, I won't have to remind you," Ronnie grinned wryly. "Out with it, bud, what's up?"

"Okay, don't think I'm dumb or anything," Josh leaned forward, resting his elbows on the tractor's battered steering wheel. "Cuz I'm seriously serious. I'm actually a bit concerned."

"And...?"

"So..." Josh chewed nervously on the corner of his lip. "What... what are... what are women like... when they're... pregnant...?" He paused a moment and then rushed on, his words tumbling over each other. "What I mean to say is... how do they act? I mean... can you tell if they're pregnant if they won't tell you? I... I'm only asking cuz I haven't got any experience... I mean... I woulda asked Dad, but honestly, he hasn't really got any experience in the matter either, cuz the only time Mom ever was pregnant, she... lost... the..."

"Okay, okay, calm down," Ronnie chuckled. "I get what you're saying. And before anyone says anything else, I have a serious question now. D'ya think Emma is...?"

Josh shrugged, solemnly. 

"This is why I'm asking. She's been acting awful funny lately. I mean awful funny. She's tired all the time, and kinda... moody. Snaps at me sometimes, and when I haven't even done anything!" He threw up his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "She doesn't seem to feel too good either. Not much of an appetite, and she gets dizzy sometimes. It scares me. I wanna help her, but I dunno how... she's been... avoiding me... like... like she's scared to talk to me... and I... I just don't get it..."

"Between you and me," Ronnie lowered his voice. "Women don't make much sense. I don't get it half the time either. And now that I've got a whole houseful of them, I'm more confused than ever..."

Josh grinned.

"I've been wondering how it's been going. With the baby halfway here, and that sweet little Shonie too scared to talk, and Bekah's a whole mystery inside a mystery, and your poor little brother head-over-heels in love with her... How you holding out, eh?"

"If there's anything I've learned about life, it's that nothing goes even remotely the way you expect it to, but there are hidden treasures inside all those twists and turns," Ronnie answered slowly. "Rachel is my joy and my strength and I couldn't live without her. As for her sisters, well... Shonie is precious, and I'm glad she's here.  Bekah... she's something else... but I feel her pain. She's got it locked up inside of herself, and I understand that. We can't be hard on her, she needs love and care, and as much of it as we can give her. I think Mickey, poor kid, can help her a lot. More than he or she knows."

"Wise words, Chief," Josh nodded. "Which is why you're the Chief."

"Aw, shucks, stop it," Ronnie snatched up a wrench and dove halfway under the tractor again. "Um... about Emma... have you tried just asking her? Yeah, I know, I don't always follow my own advice... but one of the many things I've been learning from Rachel is that just talking about stuff fixes a lot of problems..." he chuckled. "Other than that, I dunno what to say, cuz I wouldn't have known for the life of me that Rachel was pregnant, until she told me. So either talk to her about it or wait until she starts taking on unusual dimensions, and then you'll know for sure."

"Unusual dimensions, eh?" Josh laughed. "I have a feeling she'd come after me with a rolling pin if I used those words."

"Eh, that's probably not the best way to put it, but I don't mean anything insulting by it," Ronnie tossed the wrench aside and sat up again. "Rachel's just as beautiful as ever, and more every day." He scrambled to his feet, wiping greasy hands on his jeans, and kicked the tractor again. "Gotta see if this ole' hunk o' junk will start now..."

"On it," Josh turned the key and the tractor slowly sputtered into some sort of life. "Hey, you decided about that honor medal ceremony thing?"

Ronnie shrugged.

"Got a lot to do around here..."

"Don'tcha have to RSVP or something?"

"Or something, yeah. I'd rather not go, but Rachel thinks I ought to. And now that the newspapers have got ahold of it, the whole town thinks I ought to. They're driving me nuts, and people know things that I thought no one ever knew... how that dumb story about me getting beat up got out to the public, I'll never know, but I sure wish it hadn't."

"It all explains a lot that you never told us," Josh said quietly.

"Yeah, well..." Ronnie spoke bitterly, his eyes darkening. "There are reasons I didn't tell."

"And what was all that about keeping pain locked up inside yourself?" Josh asked foolishly... or perhaps brilliantly... and Ronnie looked at him, his expression unreadable.

"Everyone deals with stuff differently, Josh." He clapped a firm hand on the steering wheel. Josh took his cue and slid off the tractor.

"Not to... uh... change the subject or anything..." he grinned crookedly. "But Katie called Emma this morning with the date for Mac's ordination. It's just a couple weeks before Jafe and Annie's wedding... so I doubt we can go for both, if they're that close together..."

"Yeah, not very likely..." Ronnie sighed and then laughed. "Pastor Mac, eh? It fits him. He always seemed the sort of person who ought to be on a pulpit. Bet he'll preach great sermons."

"He sure preached some pretty good ones in those foxholes in Africa," Josh grinned wider and saluted as Ronnie pulled the tractor from the barn. "Well, I'm off to my own fields, catch ya later, Chief!"

"See ya, Torpedo," Ronnie called over the roar of the tractor and saluted back.