Page 9 of Resilience on Canvas

During the song, Robert looked toward the front right corner of the room and caught Henry staring. At Clara, most likely.

Robert nudged Clara with his elbow.

“See that?” Robert said, nodding toward his sister’s future husband. “He can’t take his eyes off of you.”

Henry’s head immediately whipped back around to face the sanctuary, and Clara’s eyes fell to the floor.

“Oh, I’m not sure that’s what’s happenin’,” she said, seeming to shrink into herself a little. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It seemed to me like he was lookin’ at you.”

Robert snorted. “Yeah, maybe he’s worried I’ll beat him senseless for ignorin’ you. Didn’t I tell you how frightened he was when I visited the store yesterday?”

Clara only hummed in response, keeping her face low, and so, Robert nudged her more forcefully, trying to lift her spirits, but it only elicited a little half smile from her.

If only Clara could see how lovely she was. No matter how many times Robert tried to make her see her worth, no matter how many times Robert tried to instill a bit of confidence in her with some sort of compliment, Clara never seemed to believe him. Instead, she seemed to be becoming more unsure of herself with each passing year. If Henry called off the wedding, Jesus Christ, that might break her completely.

Robert’s blood ran hotter, fury over something that hadn’t even come to pass making him feel like a pot of corn mush threatening to boil over. Henry looked back once more. Poor bastard must have sensed how mad Robert was, because his eyes blew so wide, Robert thought they might pop right out of his head. Then Henry turned back to face their minister, who had started shufflingtoward the pulpit. And Robert tried to wipe the nasty scowl off of his face before the start of the service.

After church, while everyone was making their way out of the pews, Robert told Clara to catch Henry instead of coming home with them. Once the two of them talked, Clara would see that Henry had only been feeling shy, like he said. She’d see that Henry still wanted her.

God willing.

After Clara left to find Henry, Robert had to see his siblings home. Hopefully the rabbits hadn’t chewed off every leaf in the garden by now. Lucky for Robert, the twins weren’t fighting for the moment, and May seemed to have come around to the idea of walking home barefoot. It was even clear enough out for them not to need to wear their goggles. Perhaps the long walk wouldn’t be so bad. Even without Clara’s help.

Half a mile or so into the walk, they came across a baby rabbit, one who looked to be injured somehow. It was lying on its side, its breathing ragged and shallow and much too fast, and though Robert couldn’t see no blood, he knew that the thing wasn’t long for this world.

May knelt beside it, shoving her rag into the front pocket of her dress.

“Can we help him?” she asked.

“Afraid not,” Robert said with a shrug.

May’s face fell, the hope leaving her light-brown eyes. “Oh.”

Robert felt a twinge in his chest, May’s concern for the little vermin tugging at his heart. Before he could try to make May feel better, maybe by reminding her that this would mean one less rabbit ravaging their farm, Thomas and Peter shoved May back to inspect the creature themselves, letting their rags fall into the dirt.

“Aw, it’s so little,” Thomas said.

Robert smiled weakly. Thomas always was the more compassionate of the two.

Peter reached out to touch it but ended up hovering his hand a few inches from the rabbit’s belly. “Where’s its ma?”

“Dead, probably,” Robert said.

“Yeah, maybe someone knocked her with a club,” Peter said.

“That’s sad,” Thomas remarked, his voice filled with genuine sorrow.

Peter nodded while May let out a whimper.

Robert winced, the twinge of pain in his chest worsening.

“Poor baby,” May said with a sniffle.

Damn, that hurt. May’s kindness sure was something. Her beautiful little soul was making the world better, Robert was sure of it. He knew right then and there that the compassion May possessed, even for these pesky Hoover hogs, had to be protected. And it seemed like his brothers still had some of that compassion in them, too, though it’d been tempered a little.

Kneeling, Robert reached out to brush May’s cheek with the back of his hand, wiping one of her tears. It was up to him to make sure that his siblings weren’t broken by the hard times they were living through. He had to take care of them, not only by feeding them and sending them to school and keeping the roof over their heads but by protecting their kind little hearts as well. He’d have to make sure to take them somewhere else, somewhere out of view of the carnage, when the next rabbit drive happened. Thousands of rabbits being clubbed or shot or maimed somehow... it was a necessary thing, maybe, but his little brothers and sister shouldn’t have to witness such horrors.

Heaving a sigh, Robert let his hand fall from May’s face.

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