The Uvalde Raider by Ben English (great books for teens TXT) 📕

care of yourself and be proud. Not every little boy has that kind of a dad.” The major brought up the idle and eased the clutch out, and the Ford sedan pulled away. Micah stood there in the settling dust, studying the golden eagle, globe and fouled anchor clinched tightly in his small right hand. He looked up at the disappearing car and knew in his heart that one day, he would be a Marine, too. Bounding up the steps and across the front porch in his excitement, he pulled up short at the scene presented through the screen door.

His parents sat together, his dad with his head on his forearms resting on the brightly-patterned cloth covering the kitchen table. His mom was close beside, running her fingers through his hair and speaking to him in a soft, comforting tone. When she glanced up and saw Micah looking in, she shook her head from side to side rapidly and shooed her son away with her free hand.

It was the only time he could ever remember his father crying.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The sound of men working in the other room, as well as in the darkness beyond was quieting down. It was in the wee hours now, the hands on the clock that creep through the period between the departing lateness of night and the early morning yet to come. Ezekiel Templar began waking up in slow degrees, rising up to full consciousness through the enveloping malaise brought on by the hour and those pills the Shi’a had forced down him. He felt the sensation of having sweated profusely, which he took as a good sign that his fever was breaking.

Until encountering the mental fog that accompanied his rise from unconsciousness, Ezekiel had been dreaming again. But it was nothing like the disjointed nightmares before, in this sequence he relived precious thoughts of the past and of those who had meant so much to him. In it his wife, Sue, was still alive and Jacob but a rambunctious little boy again. They were at the ancestral Templar family home along the banks of the Nueces, during the coolness of late autumn when the leaves of those enormous old pecan trees begin to fall.

There was nothing really special about the circumstance the dream portrayed, he had spent so many days at that old place with his family. On several occasions, Sue spent time there before they were even married. She would drive out from Uvalde to stay with the Templars and though raised a town girl, she took to ranch life and was square in the middle of everything occurring on the premises. It quickly became her home as much as anyone else’s. During his years in the Air Force, the two and then later three traveled across the world and back again. But home still remained where it was, and they returned to it every chance they had.

In the dream his family was simply spending time by the river, enjoying the late autumn afternoon as much as each other. They had walked from the ranch house and down to the rock-strewn riverbed, holding each other’s hands as Jacob ran forward and examined every small thing that a growing boy’s budding imagination could build upon.

“Jacob Templar! Now you be careful!’ she warned emphatically to the small boy scrambling about.

“Aw, Maw” the little boy protested.

“You speak respectful to your mother, son, and do as she says” Ezekiel sternly added.

“Yes sir. Sorry Mom, I’ll be careful.” Jacob replied somewhat ruefully.

“Zeke, I tell you that boy is going to be the death of me,” Sue confided. “I never know what he might do or say next. In fact,” she added, looking at Ezekiel somewhat mischievously, “he reminds me a whole lot of you at about the same age.”

“Dad often cautioned that I would pay for my raising,” replied Ezekiel in good humor.

“But that doesn’t mean I have to, also. I swear, you Templars are all the same. If there’s trouble to be found, you will find it. And if there isn’t, you won’t rest until you manage to stir some up.” Her voice had the slightest hint of exasperation, yet Sue was grinning up at him as she said it.

“Yes ma’am, and since you are now part of the clan, we fully expect you to do your part.”

Sue half-snorted in glee and gave that special giggle, the same one she had since she was Jacob’s age and then they walked on together.

The scene had changed again almost immediately in the dream, and that was when the sleeping Ezekiel finally recognized it for what it was. The cold chill of reality kept trying to intrude upon this shortest of spans of happiness, forcing him to accept that Sue and Jacob were gone and he was now alone in life.

He needed not the heartbreaking reminder, as he already knew this was nothing more than the journey of a mind and soul that so desperately ached for those whom he loved most. Yet he enjoyed it all the same, as it brought back something immeasurably precious that had been missing over the long, lonely years.

Toward the end of the dream Ezekiel knew he would have to leave soon enough, though he wanted so badly to not have to go. Like so many times before he yearned to stay, to do nothing more than be with her and Jacob and let the rest of the world just pass on by. But duty of some sort would always call, and he would pack his bags and head out the door.

Sue never said much about it. Yet he knew that she not only understood but in her own way encouraged him to go and try to make that difference, be it big or small. At times, she seemed to realize even better than he the kind of man he was and his