So You're Leaving?

questions

Over the next few days, Johnny went off to school and Dally helped Will and Tom around the stables. "You really know your stuff around the horses, Dallas!" Tom said one day as he and Dally walked out of the barn. It was early afternoon and they'd worked for several hours. "Yeah, I did a little work in some stables back home." Dally replied. He was surprised at how good he actually felt. He had really enjoyed being around the horses and working outside. Tom seemed genuinely impressed. "It really shows! You were a big help today." Dally just nodded. He wasn't used to being appreciated by an adult and he wasn't much for talking about himself to people he didn't know well. But he had decided he sort of liked Tom. He was easy going and relaxed. Being married into the Cade family, he kind of stood out visually. He was rather tall with a sort of stocky, muscular build. He had sandy blonde hair and green eyes. Wendy, Will, Matt and Johnny all looked the same. Wendy was a dead-ringger for Jackie Kennedy, and Dally had joked with Johnny about this before. Wendy said she got that a lot from people. Matt definitely took after his mom and there was no doubt that Wendy and Will were siblings Small builds, dark hair, and big eyes. Johnny's eyes were much darker than everyone else's, he'd inherited that from his own mother. But there was something about the facial features that he'd obiously pulled from this side of the family. But Tom just stuck out like a sore thumb. And maybe that was why Dally felt that out of everyone, Tom was the one he could talk to about the unanswered questions that had begun to surface in his mind. He didn't seem as...connected to it all, even though he was. Dally thought for a moment about all the things he wanted to ask. Who was Emily? Who was the kid in the photo? What was Grandma Cade's first husband like? He didn't know why he cared, but something about it just nagged at him. He didn't feel like he could jump right into that conversation so he started a bit more vauguely. "So... how did you guys decide to get into this business anyhow?" "What, the horses?" Tom asked as he sat down on a bale of hay and picked up the Coke he'd been drinking. "Oh, this came with the marriage," he laughed. "I was supposed to be an electrician!" Dally looked at him startled. Tom laughed again. "This is a lot more fun, let me tell you." "So," Dally continued, still treading lightly. "This farm was Wendy's?" "Well, it was Grandma Cade's farm- Her first husband bred horses for the racing. When he passed on and she remarried, she and Grandpa Cade ran the place. He was Wendy and Will's dad." "But you guys don't breed horses any more, do you?" "Nope. We just board them for people. And we do riding lessons in 10 week intervals. Another group is due to start on Monday afternoon. You planning to stick around? We can always use more help with that!" Dally was distracted by the momentary change of subject. "Huh? Oh, I don't know... Why'd ya stop breeding the horses? There had to be a lot of dough in that business." Tom took another drink of his soda and looked thoughtful. "A lot of dough and a lot of dead horses." "Huh?" Tom shook his head. "When Grandpa and Grandma Cade took over, they found out what happened to all the horses old Charles Hamilton had sold. When they weren't making the big bucks anymore, most of the owners would put 'em in the ground and go buy another one. They got out of that business real quick. They contacted any of the men they thought might still have one of their horses and offered to buy them back when they were through. Put both of them in the hole for a little while money wise, but things worked out. God provides, you know?" Dally looked at the ground. He had almost forgotten the point of his conversation "Boy, that first husband of hers... " Tom said absently, staring off towards the house. Dally started to formulate a more specific question, something that would bring him some answers about the people buried in the family cemetery. But just as he was about to open his mouth, he was interrupted by Will who was just coming out of the barn. "Boy howdy, kid! You sure were a help today!" Will slapped Dally on the back good naturedly. Dally hid his disappointment. He certainly wasn't going to ask Tom anything in front of Will. He didn't want to start asking too many personal quesions and upset people before finding out what he wanted to know. And it wasn't just that he needed information, he realized suddenly. He truly didn't want to upset these people. There was something about them that he respected. Most likely the fact that they had been so kind to Johnny. He could see what a good life they were ready and willing to give him. And it wasn't just Tom that he liked. He liked all of them. Even Grandma Cade had started to grow on him. In fact, out of all of them, she was the one who fascinated Dally the most. She reminded him of Darry- strict and to the point. She didn't say much unless she needed to. She'd been through something very difficult, but her first priority was not herself, but her family. She was very watchful over all of them. And even after only a few days, Dally felt that she had in some ways almost accepted him into her close knit circle. Strangely enough, it was the constant battles he had with her that made him feel accepted. Grandma Cade would get after Dally every day about the fact that he didn't go to school. He would just shrug and tell her he thought school was dumb. "You know what's dumb?" she would ask. "People who don't go to school!" She never minced words. He couldn't figure her out. She could call him dumb, and it didn't make him mad. Part of it was that somehow, he knew she didn't really think he was dumb. And the other part of it was he almost liked it when she would bug him about school. There was also a strength about her that he admired. The two of them would butt heads on all kinds of issues and she could really hold her own. He liked to watch Johnny cringe when he and Grandma Cade got into one of their "discussions". Of course, Dally never really got into real arguments with her the way he could with other people. Their most popular battles (besides those about school) were the ones about church. He had skipped out on church that first Sunday he'd been there and she was determined that he would go the next Sunday. "God is everywhere, Dallas. He's with you every day. He cares about you! Can you not at least give him one hour of your time on Sunday?" "If he's everywhere, can't he just hang out with me on the front porch and read the comics on Sunday while you all are at church?" Usually, she would give in to his stubbornness and leave him alone. But sometimes, more times than Dally would admit, she would leave him thinking about what she said and she knew it. Perhaps, he thought as he remembered his growing "relationship" with Johnny's grandmother, Tom was not the one he should be questioning.