Nobody's Sorry You're Dead

44

Junior went to the shed. Although it was dark, he had his flashlight. He found four red fuel cans and loaded them into the utility vehicle. He hurried back to his father's orchard. With luck, he'd refill the pots before his father and Rayna returned with the load of straw.

Junior grabbed a can and raced to a kerosene heater. He refilled it quickly. The temperatures were dropping, and his nose ran. His hands were cold. The cans were old. Junior was in a hurry. He was so cold, he never noticed the fuel didn't smell right. He sloshed some on his pants leg and boots.

"Junior!" Teddy called. "What are you doing?"

"I bought some kerosene from Mr. Singlepenny, Daddy," Junior said. "Some of them were running out."

Junior stood up and looked at his father.

The was a rumble, and the explosion sent an orange fireball up through the trees and into the black, starry sky.

"Junior!" Teddy and Rayna screamed.

Junior was dead.

***

Teddy Croft was never the same after that night.

Two weeks after they'd buried Junior, Teddy ran into Eustian in town.

"What's this?" Teddy asked, when Eustian pushed a torn piece of paper Teddy's way.

"Collectin' on a bill your boy owed me," Eustian said.

"What are you talking about?" Teddy asked.

"Your boy signed this bill. He owes me this amount. All of it, and I aim to collect it," Eustian said.

"My boy's dead," Teddy said, flatly.

"I know. But you're his daddy," Eustian said. "If he can't pay me, I 'spect you can."

The rage inside Teddy Croft's heart boiled over. He lurched toward Singlepenny, grabbing him by the throat.

"You Devil!" Teddy screamed. "That was gas in those old kerosene cans! What were you thinking! I know Junior. He was careful. If that old can had been labeled Gasoline, Junior never would have poured it into the heater. You killed my son!"

"You can't prove that! And I'll swear till the day I die that there was kerosene in all of them! Way I heard, nothin' left but a few scraps of your boy. If that's true, then there's not gonna be anything left of them cans but a few shards of metal. Dern heater was defective if you ask me. Blew up 'cause it was broke.

All I know is, I didn't have nothing to do with your brat's death. But you still owe me that money. Go put that in your kerosene heater and heat it!"

Several men raced to pull Teddy off Eustian. Eustian got up, coughing and sputtering.

"Arrest this man!" Eustian screamed. "He tried to kill me! You all saw it! Arrest him, I say."

Nobody moved. The sheriff, hearing the commotion on the street, ran up to the group. Teddy Croft was arrested for assault and battery. Eustian refused to drop the charges. 

The trial that followed was covered by the local papers. When the evidence was presented that Eustian may have stored gasoline instead of kerosene in one of the containers in the shed, an audible gasp was heard in the courtroom.

Eustian was called back to the stand and swore he had stored only kerosene in his metal fuel cans.

The jury deliberated for two hours, returning to the box.

"Do you have a verdict?" the judge asked.

Teddy Croft was let go.

"This is a travesty!" Eustian yelled as the Croft family exited the courtroom. "He tried to choke me! Attempted murder! What is wrong with you people! I got people in town who saw this man try to kill me!"

Two months later, Teddy Croft disappeared.

No one knew where Teddy went. Rayna got up one morning, and he was gone.

Had he committed suicide? Too depressed to continue on? Was the sorrow of losing his eldest son too much? Had he just left, abandoning his home where too many memories lingered? Was the pain too much?

No one knew.

There was nobody. No note. Nothing.

***

Reports of sighting in Alaska and Idaho filtered in. The next few years saw good crop yields, and somehow Rayna held onto the orchard. 

Still, it was hard for her and Richie. There were more questions than answers, but Rayna persisted, working from sunup until sundown, to provide for herself and Richie. 

Rayna planted new varieties of fruit trees, hoping that if one kind had a poor yield, another would not. She was lucky enough to have enough good Croft land to do this.

Eustian stewed and continued to be a thorn in Rayna's side. Every chance he got, he pestered her. He pitched a fit when trees were planted near the property line. 

But Rayna was careful. They were near the line, but not on it, so Eustian fumed and ranted, but nothing came of his threats.

She had tried to warn Sandy to steer clear of Singlepenny. But her words of warning had gone unheeded. What could she do?

She was just one woman.