Arrow

Admin Posts : 8858 Join date : 2013-08-24

February is the month of St. Valentine and Eros is around firing arrows of love, so that has inspired this month's challenge prompt.

Arrow

The arrows need not be so loving, and it need not be a literal arrow at all. It could be straight as an arrow, literally, or meaning honest. Swift as an arrow, about someone who has more than one arrow in their quiver, the slings and arrows of misfortune, swiftness, hitting the target with two arrows, or any other spin your imaginative minds can come up with.

What are you waiting for? get writing.

Subject: Re: Arrow Sat Feb 11, 2023 12:49 am

Arrow

February 2023 Challenge

Future Winter’s Refuge Universe

JED ‘KID’ CURRY

Mr. Dwyer, the undertaker, came to dinner every Sunday night. To be nice, one day when she was shoppin’ in Three Birds, Mrs. Clark asked him to Sunday dinner. He came and then kept comin’ every Sunday at two. We tend to acquire people like that. Mrs. Clark came to Lom’s sister Lily's funeral and never left. We built her a small one-bedroom cottage in back of our house after about a year so she had some privacy. Her cookin’ is amazin’ and don’t know how we’d raise our kids without her. She feels sorry because Mr. Dwyer lives alone and only sees dead bodies and mournin’ people all week. He is lonely and talks all dinner.

This Sunday he arrived with a telegram.

“Brought this out for you, Mr. Curry,” he said as he passed by me and headed to the dinner table. “Smells great as usual, Mrs. Clark.”

The telegram was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Jedediah Curry…and it was from The Wyoming Territorial Prison. As my family gathered around the Sunday dinner table, I stepped outside to read it. It was from Dr. Arden. Despite all his protests, he still worked at the prison. He visited often for Sunday dinner and the kids call him Uncle Aiden, much to his delight.

I read the telegram. Took a deep breath and read it again, tryin’ to get more information out of the few words.

Jed and Miss Chrissy,

Matt attacked. STOP Injuries severe.

Aiden.

Ever since me and Chrissy went to Matt’s trial, we visit him monthly. He ain’t too much on books, but he loves candy. He’d been a model prisoner. Maybe too model. Last month he became a trustee, unusual for someone servin’ a life sentence. He had stopped another prisoner from stabbin’ a guard in the back with a homemade shiv, badly cuttin’ his hand in the process. As a reward, he was made a trustee and assigned to work with the prison horses. He was content, if not happy.

And the last time we visited, instead of bein’ escorted to the visitin’ area, we were escorted to Dr. Arden’s office. This room brought up emotions both good and bad with me, but I tried to keep both off of my face as Chrissy clung to me in terror. This life sucking place affects her just like it does me, the walls seem to be clammy and closin’ in on me. Fear needs to be conquered to put one foot in front of the other and not go runnin’ out the front door.

I remembered that visit clearly.

“I got you, darlin’,” I told her, puttin’ my arm around her waist. She held my arm so tight it hurt, but I’d never tell her that. I knew the memories of her prison time closed in on her every time we came here. But she told me each time we needed to see Matt.

The guard knocked on the door and Aiden immediately opened it. “Miss Chrissy, are you okay?” he asked, leadin’ her to the chair in front of his desk. “Are you comfortable?” I had to smile at his care. Chrissy was pregnant again, but under her wide skirt it was just barely noticeable.

“Water?” she asked, and he hurried to the pitcher on his sideboard and poured some for her. “Matt?”

Aiden smiled. “He’s fine, ma’am.”

Unexpectedly, the office back door opened and Warden Mays entered. Chrissy jumped up and grabbed me at the sudden entrance.

“Didn’t mean to startle you, ma’am. Just wanted to let you know that your brother’s hand was injured saving one of my guards from getting stabbed in the back with a shiv. To show my appreciation, he can visit with you here unshackled under Dr. Arden’s supervision. In the past, he has broken up two other prisoner fights. He has been made a trustee and assigned to the stables.”

I think both Chrissy and I must have looked shocked and concerned, but she managed a “Thank you, sir,” without lookin’ at him.

I held out my hand. “Thanks for lettin’ us know, Warden.” I forced a smile and made eye contact. He doesn’t like to make eye contact or shake hands with convicts, even ex-convicts, even ones like me that have helped him in the past. Especially one that refuses to call him sir.

He shook my hand quickly, said, “He earned it,” and left just as suddenly as he came.

Dr. Arden had noticed our reaction as he helped Chrissy back into the chair.

“Jed?”

“Aiden, glad Matt saved the guard, but the warden has set him up as a target for the other prisoners,” I answered, quietly in case the warden was listenin’ at the back door. The doctor saw me lookin’ and, without warnin’, pulled the door open. The hall was empty.

“I didn’t think of that.”

Chrissy was cryin’ as she looked at Aiden. “Not good warden favors in prison. No attention good. Chrissy ask you, watch Matt, please.”

Her fear of this place always affected her speech but with this news it got worse. I can’t resist when her green eyes fill with tears, neither could he. “I’ll do my best.”

When a knock came at the front door, a guard opened it without waitin’ for an answer. Matt entered without the shackles we usually saw on him. His left hand was bandaged to his elbow. As soon as the door closed, she ran into his arms with a hug and tears.

He had caught her with a sad smile and hugged her close. They sat holdin’ hands in side-by-side chairs as he told us what happened. He didn’t have time to think, just react when he saw the shiv. He would do it again.

I wandered over and looked out my window at the horizon, never look down out this window. Down at the prison yard is my past. The horizon is our future.

When he finished talkin’, turnin’ around, I asked, “You like workin’ with the horses?”

I saw a spark of life in his eyes as he lifted them to me. “I do, sir. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do after growin’ up at Winter’s Refuge.”

“It’s Jed, not sir,” I said too harshly that made him look down again.

Chrissy lifted his chin so their eyes met. “Matt need anything from Chrissy and Jed?”

She looked at Dr. Arden. “Box?”

“Just a minute,” he said, leavin’ the room through the back door toward his private office. He winked as he closed it behind him, and I knew he had done this on purpose to give us some time alone.

Matt was about to answer Chrissy’s question, but I strode across the room. “Be careful, Matt. The warden told us what happened. He thought he was doin’ good but he made you a target,” I warned firmly. “If you need help, ask Dr. Arden.”

“Yeah, got a lot of prisoner eyes on me now and none of them friendly. Still would have done the same thing.” He watched Chrissy put her hand on her belly as she started cryin’ again and realization hit him. “You with child again?”

He asked her but looked at me. “Why’d you bring her here if she's…”

“You ever try to stop her from doin’ anythin’?”

“I’m glad for you both. Chrissy needs family around her to boss around.”

There was a cough out the back door to warn us before Aiden entered with the box we had brought and set it on his desk.

Matt took hold of Chrissy’s hand again. “Don’t need nothin’ much but the food boxes you send.” He looked at me. “You offered to bring some books. I think I’d like to try a couple.”

“Learned to appreciate books when I was in prison,” I answered. “Helped my mind escape this place, even if just for a while.”

Matt went to the desk and opened the box. Chrissy and Mrs. Clark always debated what to include. He reached in and took up a small, wrapped square.

“Cake?” he asked Chrissy.

“Cake. You like?”

He unwrapped it and devoured it in three big bites as if someone was gonna grab it away from him.

He smiled at her with crumbs still on his teeth. He and Chrissy have the same warm smile when they’re happy. “I like.”

Too soon, the guards knocked on the front door and entered with shackles.

“Do that in the hall,” Aiden ordered in a firm voice I was not used to hearin’ from him.

Matt hugged Chrissy and held out his hand to me. “Jed.”

I didn’t take his hand. I wrapped him in a bear hug like I gave Heyes in this same room. I could have come to love this man with his gentle spirit as a brother if things had been different.

He hugged me back, then looked down and followed the guards out the door.

Now here we were less than three weeks later, back again. This time was different. This time Matt was hurt. Aiden wouldn’t have sent the telegram unless it was bad.

I trembled as I knocked on the prison front entrance, waitin’ to walk into the darkness behind it.

“Mr. and Mrs. Jedediah Curry,” I told the guard.

He looked at his approved guest list. “Jedediah and Christina Curry,” the guard answered. They always did this, used our first names. I felt it disrespectful. That’s probably why they do it. “Follow me.”

Chrissy had been sick on the buggy ride from the train to here and still looked pale. She had a strong grip on my arm. The guard took a path unfamiliar to her, but I’d been this way before. It led to the infirmary. Aiden met us at the door and told the guard to wait for us there.

“Aiden, what happened?” I asked. Chrissy had spotted Matt in the far bed and was already rushin’ to him. I saw her almost collapse into the chair next to the bed as she ever so gently picked up his hand.

“He was attacked by three prisoners as he sat down to eat dinner last night. Hasn’t regained consciousness yet.”

I had reached Chrissy and knelt next to her chair just as Matt’s eyes opened. “Chrissy.” He smiled.

Dr. Arden was immediately on his other side. “How are you feeling?” He felt his temple for fever and started to listen to his heart with his stethoscope.

“Matt very hot,” Chrissy told him.

“He’s awake?” I noticed the ever-present infirmary guard was next to Aiden. “I got some questions,” he demanded.

Matt turned his eyes from Chrissy to the guard. He looked too weak to turn his head.

I knew this guard, Senior Guard Mays from the Arizona prisoner railroad camp. We weren’t friends but we weren’t on opposite sides either.

Matt didn’t wait for the question. His voice was light and breathless. “Sitting down to eat…” He gasped for a breath. His eyes flicked to Chrissy then me. “Shouldn’t have brought her here in her condition,” he scolded me before returnin’ his eyes to Mays. “Three men with shivs made of arrowheads attacked me… Called me snitch…guard lover.” His breath seemed to be gone and he closed his eyes.

“Matty, open eyes now,” Chrissy ordered, and he did.

“Arrowheads?” The guard’s questioning voice seemed to me to carry an accusation.

Matt gave a sad grin. “Guess I’m snitching again. The prisoners digging up the new land in back of the warden’s house for his wife’s flower garden, found buried arrowheads.”

“How do you know?”

“I live in this prison. Everyone knows.” Matt turned to Chrissy. “You have ma’s eyes. Do your kids have them, too?”

There wasn’t time for an answer. Matt closed his eyes and fell into a troubled sleep. Dr. Arden, with Chrissy’s help, forced him to drink strong pain medicine. He waved me and Mays away.

“Mays, you want some advice?” I asked him quietly.

“Heard how well you’ve done for yourself, Curry. I know my brother asked you some questions when he became warden.”

“Didn’t listen to most of the answers, though.”

“Maybe I’ll listen.”

“Tell the warden to spread the news that every prisoner, every cell, every workroom, every corner of this place will be searched multiple times for arrowheads. His first instinct will be lashes for everyone. That won’t do anything except cause a bigger divide between the men and the guards. Start the search with every available man at the same time, bring in off duty guards if you can. Bettin’ the remainin’ arrowheads will be found in some common place. Keep searchin’ if you find a few. You’ll have them all by nightfall.”

“But not who had them.”

“You know the men that were assigned to dig up that garden, don’t you?”

“Lashes for them.”

“If you have to. Lashes don’t change men’s attitudes except to make them darker.”

“I’ll let the warden know this is how we’ll handle this…sir.” He held out his hand to me.

I looked at it before shakin’ it. “One more thing. Watch out for Matt for me.”

“McWinters doesn’t seem the type to ride with an outlaw gang.”

“Not like me, you mean?”

He laughed quietly. “Curry, I’ve seen you in action and it doesn't take much imagination to know how you were successful in leading the most successful outlaw gang ever seen in these parts.”

I just nodded. Chrissy was lookin’ at me. Tears gone, replaced by a concerned look. But I knew the look in her eyes, and she needed me.

Aiden spoke when I approached the bed. “He’s turned the corner. Think having you here made the difference. Going to have to ask you to leave now, though.”

Mays had followed me over.

“Jed, Chrissy sick!” she stated lookin’ around urgently. Aiden understood and rushed her behind a screen to what I knew was the operatin’ room. I heard the mornin’ sickness hit her almost immediately.

Mays hit me in the back in congratulations. I recoiled and I could see he understood what he had done. He didn’t apologize. Guards don’t apologize. Instead, he said, “You goin’ to be a pa, Curry! You’ll be a good one.”

“Yeah, not our first though.”

ASJ*****ASJ

Aiden walked us to the front entrance with the guard leadin’. “He’s improving. I’ll keep you informed. Won’t be to dinner on Sunday. Going to stay here and watch him.”

“Asked Mays to watch his back, too,” I whispered so the lead guard couldn’t hear.

“Good. Goodbye, Mr. Curry, ma’am,” he said formally as we left and headed back to Cheyenne.

As I stopped the buggy again for Chrissy on the way into Cheyenne, she jumped out without waitin’ for me to help her. I thought about Matt and Luke. They were so different from the other brothers, but still led astray by them. We were still allowed to come back next week for our monthly visit; I hoped we’d see Matt much better.

“Thank you, Jed.” I got down and helped Chrissy back onto the driver’s bench.

As I climbed up, she said, “In Cheyenne, I’ll buy Matt Black Beauty. He’ll like that book.”

» Arrow