"Luka!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Abby sobbed, carrying the bundle in her shaking arms.
"Luka!?!!!!?????? Come here.. Come quick! Something's happened!" She stumbled
forward, wrapping her arms around the small package in her caring grasp
as she fell into the grass. She rolled into the impact, laying on the ground,
bruised, scraped and crying hysterically as her friends rushed from the
house and to her aid.
"What.. Abby!? What's wrong!? Are you okay??!" Luka rushed to her side and pulled the bundle from her arms.
"The dog... Tonto.. Your uncle's sweet, sweet dog.. He.. He was sleeping in the barn with the cows.. I.. I think a cow stepped on him.. Oh.. Luka.. I think he's dying.."
*******
Benton had finished plastering the upstairs halls, the cracks, the holes,
and the dents in the walls and ceiling. As he was starting to paint a primer
over the dried spackle, Benton heard the heart-wrenching wails and ran
down the stairs.
"What's wrong with Abby!?"
Elizabeth held the weeping, nurse/med student and rocked her gently. "She found Tonto.. He was crushed by one of the cows.."
They watched the laboured breathing of the hound as it lay in the grass gasping for breath. It bled from it's mouth and nose as its tongue hung flaccidly from it's gaping jaws and Luka started to sob.
"He was getting too old.. Slow.. I guess he couldn't get out of the way in time.." He replied sadly as he pulled himself to his feet.
"Where are you going Luka!?" Abby said worriedly as she watched him walk into the house.
"To get my gun.." Luka said coldly.
The doctors stared at each other in disbelief. "Maybe he was kicked.." Carter said as he probed the poor hound's limp body with his tender touch.
"Then the cow stepped on him?" Dave cocked a brow.
Luka returned from the house, his shotgun loaded. "What was he doing in the barn in the first place!? He was always a house pet as long as I knew him.. He never went into the barn." He said sadly, stooping beside the bassett hound and petting the dog's bloodied coat.
"You're not going to shoot us are you Luka?!" Doug asked nervously as he watched Luka scoop the dog into his arms.
"No..." Luka said softly as he walked away from the house and towards the barnyard where both dog and owner disappeared behind the barn.
There was a loud report of a gun shot and the quick yip of the hound's final goodbye as the bullet hit him between the eyes. Luka returned to the lawn of the farmhouse where his friends sat. His eyes red-rimmed and his hands which had proved the true aim and perfect shot, shaking so badly, his knuckles had whitened around the gun as not to drop it.
As if stuck in molasses, Luka slipped slowly to his knees before falling to the ground and hugging the earth, the turf spilling between his fingers as he rolled on the soft ground. Tears slipping down his cheeks as he slowed to a stop and lay still on the grass, sobs shaking his body and tightening his chest.
As the sobs subsided, Luka pulled himself up and glared at his friends. "Who... Who did it.. Who put the dog in the barn!?"
***********************
"I.. I did.. I'm allergic.. Really allergic.. I didn't think it would matter.. It's a farm.. He's a farm dog.. I'd seen him wander in the barn before.. It's warm out.. It wasn't like he'd freeze to death or anything.." They admitted feebly.
"No.. He didn't freeze to death.. But he was 14 years old.. With bad hips and arthritic joints.. He was a house pet.. He didn't know how to react around the farm animals.. It was one thing to have him join you out on a walk to the barn.. It's something entirely different to lock him out there.." Luka said with a disappointed tone in his voice. His gaze couldn't meet his friend's not after what they had done.
"I'm really sorry Luka.. I didn't know.." They said pitifully watching Luka storm off into the house.
"Sorry.. That's right.. You're very sorry.. You're not the one who had to shoot your uncle's dog between the eyes.. He trusted us... and we killed him.. Think about that.. Think about what you've done."
Luka walked dejectedly into the house, closing the door behind him, leaving his friends to sit on the lawn and to mull over what he had said.
"I didn't think I'd kill him Mark.. You know I'm allergic to dogs.. I.. I made you get rid of Max... You know I'm allergic to dogs.. Right?" Elizabeth looked at her husband pleadingly as she pulled herself into his arms.
"I didn't mean to kill him Mark... It was an accident."
*********
As Luka and Abby trekked to the Pet Cemetery(Not built over an Indian
burial ground, this was just the patch of dirt that the Kovacs had used
for generations of dogs, cats and hamsters.) at the back of the property,
Benton resumed painting the upstairs. The radio piped out it's HOUSE OF
PAIN marathon and when Peter was certain that there was nobody else around
he started to sing...
"Pack it up, pack it in
Let me begin
I came to win
Battle me that's a sin
I won't tear the sack up
Punk you'd better back up
Try and play the role and the whole crew will act up
Get up, stand up, come on!
Come on, throw your hands up
If you've got the feeling, jump across the ceiling
Muggs is a funk fest, someone's talking junk
Yo, I'll bust em in the eye
And then I'll take the punks home
Feel it, funk it
Amps it are junking
And I got more rhymes than there's cops that are dunking
Donuts shop
Sure 'nuff I got props from the kids on the Hill
Plus my mom and my pops
I came to get down
I came to get down
So get out your seats and jump around
Jump around
Jump around
Jump around
Jump up Jump up and get down.
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump
Jump."
Meanwhile, Carter, Dave and Mark began the thank-less job of cleaning the entire empty barn from rafters to floor. The animals: the horses, the cows, pigs and sheep, all had been shipped to auction. The chickens penned up in their coop, looking worriedly through the wire mesh of their enclosure. Luka had said he could slaughter them himself. He'd done it years before, spending time here on this farm. It was a learned skill. "Like riding a bike." He'd said before Abby interrupted him. "But you don't know HOW to ride a bike!"
Although, Luka had been right. It was something not readily forgotten, even if one wanted to.
"It sure is quiet here in here without the animals." Carter remarked as he shoveled out a pen.
Dave wrinkled his nose in disgust as the dust rose. "Still smells the same."
Mark sighed as he started to shovel the manure into the back of the truck. They would use it to spread on the freshly till fields later, then plant some things after the harvest. The harvest... Had they really been here that long?! "What in the hell would you two know about anything!? You guys were inside while we did chores.."
"I had a hangover." Carter mumbled, pulling the mask over his face to filter out the harmful dust.
"I had a concussion.. I made lunch.." Dave said defiantly.
"Yeah, Carol and Doug wrecked it. Don't blame us!" Carter whined.
"US!? As in you and me!? I remember Weaver and I making sandwiches as you lay on the floor and moaned." Dave sneered angrily, shoveling the straw and filth into the grate on the floor.
**********
"You sure you're up to this Kerry?" Elizabeth asked worriedly as Kerry limped down the lane way with her crutches towards the sign that Carol and Doug were piecing back together.
"Do you know if Luka's uncle had a wood working shop? I need to cut out some new letters for this thing.." Doug grumbled as he stooped to the ground, picking up the rotted 'C'. It crumbled in his fingers and he cursed. "This place really is a dump."
"As far as I understand it.. Luka's uncle was an old man.. He wasn't able to do the upkeep for the farm by himself.. Then when he got ill.. The neighbouring farms helped him as best they could.. But they couldn't do everything for him, they had their own farms to run, Doug." Carol said pointedly.
"Okay.. Well.. Somebody help me get this sign down off the posts.. Then I can fix it."
"Yeah, I think we should carry this up to the house. Carefully though, I don't think it can take much abuse." Elizabeth said as they lowered the sign to the ground.
Carol, Doug and Elizabeth carried the pieces of the sign up to the house and Kerry crutched to the apple orchard, lowering herself down under a shade tree and took a nap.
********
"Luka.. I'm sorry about Tonto.." Abby murmured as she watched her boyfriend dig the grave.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Abby. It wasn't your fault. You did not lock him in the barn. Elizabeth did that. Elizabeth killed him." Luka replied gruffly, wiping his brow and smearing it with dirt.
"It was an accident, she didn't mean to. Elizabeth didn't know." She said as she got to her knees, putting the body, wrapped in one of Drzislav's shirts, into the hole.
Luka and Abby bowed their heads, and he started to whisper a Croatian prayer.
********
"What do we do with all this shit?" Dave whined as he slammed the back of the truck shut.
"I don't know. Leave it here. Let Luka deal with it." Mark snapped, throwing the shovels in the shed.
****
Doug sat in the workshop drawing up the plans for the sign. "You think he'll be able to sell the whole farm? Maybe he should just divide off lots. Get rid of it that way."
"I guess he could do that. Should that sign be in English or Croatian?" Carol said, changing the subject.
Elizabeth looked up to see Luka run past.
As Carter hosed out the inside of the barn, he turned around and looked out the door to see Luka hop in the truck and drive off.
"What in the hell's up with him?!"
********
"Oce nas koji si na nebesima: da se sveti ime tvoje. Da dodje carstvo tvoje. Da bude volja tvoja, i na zemlja kao na nebu. Hljeb nas potrebni daj nam danas. I oprosti nam dugrove nase, kao i mi sto oprastamo duznicima svojijem. I ne navedi nas u napast, no izbavi nas oda zla. Jer je tvoje carstvo i sila i slava u vijek." Luka's lip quivered, and his hands shook as he scattered a fine dust of earth over the body.
He blinked and suddenly he was standing over graves of his family. The priest reciting the holy prayer as his wizened hand rose, letting the handful of dirt fall through his fingers and over their coffins.
He blinked back tears and he was standing in the bombed ruins of his apartment, the overturned crib.. The blood..
Luka fell to his knees and started to sob, shaking and muttering the names of his wife and children in a catatonic chanting.
"Luka?? Honey?? Are you okay?" Abby asked putting a hand, on his shoulder. "Luka?!"
Luka stood mechanically, turning on his heel and running across the fields leaving Abby standing there beside the open grave. "LUKA!!!!!"
"COME BACK!!!!!!! LUKA!!!!!????"
*******
Kerry tossed and turned on the grass, the dreams sinking her deeper
into sleep.
**
"Is there a Ms.Weaver in?" The handsome man shifted nervously at the front desk. He rocked from foot to foot, his large hands stuffed into his jacket.
"Who are you, sir?" The desk clerk sighed, flipping through her paper work.
"My father found her, and her... friend on his land.. I came to see how she is." He said his deep voice, shaking.
"Your name sir.." She said evenly.
"Munglisi.." He said smiling. "Munglisi Naeem"
"Go in then sir.. Not too long though, visiting hours are over soon."
He walked in, his large beefy paw opening the door and revealing the heavily bandaged young woman.
"Ms.Weaver?" Munglisi said softly.
Kerry's eyes opened slowly and she gasped at the rather large man standing over her bed. Her mother had been right.. She was going to get murdered in her bed in Africa.
"I'm Runako's son. He found you on his land.. I'm sorry for what happened. I was wondering how we could help?"
Kerry smiled bitterly. "You wouldn't have two-thousand dollars on you,
would you?"