The McEllis Boys

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Strangers riding in." Andrew called out the next morning as he sat on the porch eating an apple. Ian and Cav stepped out of the barn where they'd been feeding the animals and Jamison poked his head out of the house.

"Who the hell could that be?" Ian asked. Their mama was a nice lady but she had been a housewife, a homemaker, and she had rarely gotten to town seeing as how town was two hours away and therefore she didn't have many friends.

The preacher from the town church that Evelyn had attended several times a month had come and seen her a couple of times and so had several ladies but for the most part it had just been the brothers here taking care of her.

This buggy pulling up was unfamiliar. The man driving it appeared to be one of the shopkeepers from town, Mr Craft, who ran the gun shop. He was hanging half off of the cart in order to keep distance between himself the person riding next to him.

Despite the heat still in the September air, the passenger was completely covered by a thick fur blanket, from their head to their toe. None of their body was visible so it was impossible to tell if the passenger was man or woman. Young or old.

"Can we help you?" Jamison asked as he stepped off the porch and met the buggy in the yard.

"I was out here with those supplies the other day and your mama asked me to send Mary out this way." Mr. Craft replied.

"Mary?" Jamison asked, looking at the covered figure. The person pushed the cover back and sheer willpower kept Jamison from gaping. She was skinny and her face was a mess of wrinkles and sharp boned edges. Her hair was blond and laced with silver and it was a mess of wild, knotted tangles on her head. She had big blue eyes that were so light in color they were nearly translucent and seemed to be looking straight through him.

Her wrinkled hands were covered in large gaudy rings that would have her sinking straight to the bottom of the Cumberland River if the buggy had tipped while coming across.

"What in the world...." Andrew gasped, unable to hide his shock at her appearance. Jamison shot him a look and he snickered behind his apple and quickly slipped into the house.

"Hello, ma'am." Jamison said as he reached up for the woman's hand and it was cold as it wrapped around his and he helped her from the wagon. "Are you a friend of my mothers?"

Mary looked up at him and frowned as she shook her head. Jamison wondered why she didn't speak and Mr. Craft answered the unspoken question.

"Mary is a healer. She's very different from you and I and she doesn't speak much but she is damn good at healing."

"I think our mother is past healing." Cav said as he limped over. He didn't take kindly to this new breed of swindlers coming out of the woodwork. They claimed to work magic and took dying people's money only to have the dying people realize they really had no magic at all and they died penniless with their spirit broken.

"Shut-up, Cav. There could still be hope!" Ian countered as he walked up. Mary stared at all three boys for a long while, causing all of them to shift their feet and look at each other uncomfortably.

"I will go see her now." Mary said in a raspy voice and she shoved past the brothers leaving them gaping at her hunched back.

She entered the house and then suddenly Andrew came stumbling out the door, barely managing to catch himself on the post before he tumbled head first down the steps.

"Stay out!" Mary's raspy voice exclaimed just before the door slammed shut.

"I'll be on my way now." Mr. Craft stated, sounding relieved. "Mary said she's staying until your mama...." he stopped suddenly and cleared his throat.