Page 13 of Malachi
“Here, like this.” I showed her how to hold it. How to use her foot to push it down into the earth before she tried to scoop away any of the dirt. As I stepped aside again, letting her take over, she corrected her form and achieved her goal. After a few more moments, she had the pole loose and ready to remove. She turned to me with a wide grin and a cocky look of accomplishment.
“I did it!” she exclaimed, doing a little dance that made me smile, much to my chagrin.
“You did,” I agreed. “But the job has just begun.” I got to work, pulling the post from the ground in order to replace it. She helped me, handing me tools and helping to secure the fencing wire. It wasn’t easy work, especially for a woman who grew up in Zion. The women here did not do hard labor. That was men’s work. Yet, Eden did not shy away from a moment of it, jumping in regardless of how hard the task may be.
“I fixed a fence!” she exclaimed happily once we had finished.
“No, I fixed a fence,” I corrected her, picking up the tools and placing them back on the UTV.
“Well, I helped,” she interjected, hopping back into the vehicle with a certain spring to her step. “What’s next?”
“Time to tend to the horses,” I explained, driving the short distance to the barn off of the fenced-in pasture.
“Oh, I’ve never seen one up close before! Can I ride them?” she asked excitedly.
“No. And you won’t be seeing them up close either.” Once parked, I stalked my way into the barn, hearing her footsteps behind me.
“Then how will we tend to the horses?” she asked as we entered the barn. The stench was overwhelming if you weren’t used to it. I waited for the griping and groaning to come, but it never did. She didn’t comment on it once.
“Here,” I barked, thrusting a pitchfork.
“What’s this for?” She was so innocent, and I couldn’t help the wicked smirk that spread across my face.
“Mucking,” I explained.
“What is mucking?” Silently, I pointed into the nearest stall. She moved around to better see, and, Christ save me, I couldn’t help the guffaw that burst from my lips at her shocked and slightly disgusted face as she looked on into the shit filled stall.
“You mean we’re going to scoop out…” she trailed off, pointing at the heaps of shit and straw that littered the stall.
“Nope,” I answered smugly. “I mean,youare going to scoop out all the shit and dirty straw.” I smiled, quite satisfied with my little plan to turn her away from helping me ever again. However, she surprised me yet again, squaring her shoulders. Her face turned from shock and disgust to sheer determination. Without another thought, I turned away from her, back out of the barn so that I could make a call.
I needed to get a hold of one of my brothers, any of them really, to discuss Levi.
The phone rang, over and over, with no answer. Zeke was out. On to Ollie. Still, no answer from him. I supposed it made sense. They were all at work. With Zeke and Ollie both working within the walls of the church, I couldn’t really be surprised.
Finally, I dialed Gideon’s number.
“Hey, Kai! How’s married life going?” he teased from the other line.
“Thank fuck, one of you answered. You all need to get better about answering your damned phones. Fucking unreliable. But that is a conversation for another day. We need to talk,” I groaned with a sigh of relief.
“Slow down, what’s up?” he chuckled, but I didn’t have time for his humor or his antics today.
“We need to talk,” I reiterated.
“Poor Malachi. Has married life got you down already? Women are fickle creatures, you see,” Gideon began.
“Cut the shit, Gideon. I don’t need advice on women. Please. I was fucking women before you were able to string together a coherent sentence,” I snarled.
“No, you weren’t,” he scoffed. “We were raised in Zion, remember?”
“Enough. This is serious. We need to talk about Levi,” I barked, huffing in exasperation.
“Yeah, he’s had a major stick up his ass ever since he got back from that trip,” Gideon rambled.
“That’s what I’m trying to talk to you about. I overheard him and Father —”
“Oh shit, Kai. I gotta go. I’ll call you tonight, kay? Bye.” And with that, the line disconnected.
