Page 33 of Always to Remember
“Josh,” he said, his face beaming.
“I’ll never be able to tell you apart.”
“It’s easy. Joe’s got more freckles.”
“I do not,” Joe said as he climbed onto the table.
“What are you doing?” Clay asked.
“I ain’t never seen nobody sew somebody up before.”
“It’s no different than sewing cloth so get outta here.”
Josh scrambled onto the table. “Ah, Clay, let us have a look see.”
“You might make Mrs. Warner nervous, and she’ll end up sewing the tip of my ear to my head.”
Laughing, the twins punched each other on the arm. Then they grew serious. “Will we make you nervous, Miz Warner?” Joe asked.
She smiled. “No. Do you have any whiskey?”
“No, ma’am,” Clay said.
Gingerly, Meg lifted the strands of his hair aside. “Well, the blood probably washed out the wound.”
“Probably.”
“This may hurt,” she said quietly.
“That should make you happy,” he said.
He was right. She could jab the needle a little deeper than necessary, pull it through slower than usual, and prolong his misery. She took a deep breath to steady her fingers and poked the needle through his flesh.
He didn’t flinch. If Meg hadn’t known better, she’d think he’d turned into stone.
“Gawd Almighty! She stuck that needle right into your head, Clay. Look, Joe, all that blood looks like a red river runnin’ through a forest of hair. Ain’t that somethin'?”
Joe dropped to his backside and let his legs dangle over the edge of the table. “I think I’m gonna puke.”
“Do it outside,” Clay ordered through clenched teeth.
So he hadn’t turned to stone after all.
“Don’t that hurt, Clay?” Josh asked. “I’d be a hollerin'—”
“Then I’ll make sure I never lower the mantel over the hearth.”
The boy smiled. “Miz Warner, you gonna eat breakfast with us? We’re havin’ biscuits again.” His eyes filled with delight at the prospect. “Reckon Clay’d fix you one.”
“Or maybe I’ll just swipe his,” she said as her fingers nimbly worked to close the gash.
“He don’t make him one.”
“Why not?” Meg asked.
“He never eats much lessen he shoots a buck or somethin’ big. Then he eats like he’s got two bellies to fill.”
“Mrs. Warner isn’t interested in my eating habits,” Clay said sharply, but his tone didn’t take the smile off Josh’s face.
