Read Renewal 7 - When the Student Is Ready for Free Online

word of our usual traders in town, but I should have known that they’re in the business of making everything sound good.”
    “I don’t think they’ll be stretching the truth anymore. The first one was missing, and the second one made us both puke.” Terry said.
    Bill winced at that news. He was familiar with what they had seen. “Ok. Well, you both smell a little like fish. How about you get cleaned up and we’ll see if we can find some supper. Seth you’re welcome to stay.”
    “Thanks, Boss. I think I’d just as soon go home and get some sleep. Long day. What’s on for me tomorrow?”
    “I’ll let you know, one way or another. It was a long day for me too, Big Seth.”
    “Ok, Boss. Keep that leg up. G’night.” Seth thumped Terry on the back as he turned to leave.
    Bill listened to Seth’s size-fourteens on the steps, and waited for the front door to close with its familiar light rattle. “Do you have any spare clothes?”
    “Yeah. I’ve been keeping some in my bike box.” Terry replied.
    “Good thinking. Well, after you get changed, would you mind helping me down to the kitchen? I think I’d like to eat at the table tonight.”
    “Sure thing, Bill. I’ll be back shortly.”
     
    Chapter 7 – 5
    Once that thermometer started to move, it seemed to gain enthusiasm. The daytime temperatures were above zero outside our barn home by the end of May, and crossed the freezing point by mid-June. I could remember thirty-two degrees being very cold, but after the winter we had survived, it was a balmy spring day. We spent a lot of time that month gathering up animals that had frozen to death over the winter. The only good thing about living in Tennessee’s version of the North Pole was that it was easy to find unspoiled meat when the whole world was a freezer. We quickly put on some of the weight we had lost, as if our bodies were primed to absorb any food we gave them.
    The nights were still cold, but the psychology of knowing that we could survive outside during the day put the universal threat of the cold back in its proper place. Add a little food and we regained some of our original group optimism. In that changed existence, however, almost any optimism was tempered by pain.
    The third day of above-freezing weather, my dad took the clear skies as a sign and took Arturo outside that late morning. He asked the rest of us to stay in the barn, which was odd. Normally he had a list of jobs for us when we rolled out of our sleeping bags. They were gone for an hour or so, before they came back and asked us to join them outside.
    I could smell the diesel fuel on the air as we lined up behind the Carroll’s modest farm house, but I didn’t make the connection until Dad walked in the back door. A minute later, he walked out with a lighter in hand and dark smoke following him out the door. We stood in amazement as the house was rapidly swallowed in flames. We were forced back ten steps as the heat began to build, melting a gray crater in the snow piled around the house. We watched it burn for a long time before Dad spoke up.
    “George asked me to do this when we could. He wanted to leave this world with Martha and the home they shared. If anyone has anything to say, now would be a good time.”
    Arturo’s eyes immediately overflowed. He seemed to have something to say, but couldn’t quite pull himself together to say it. Little Jimmy looked up at his father’s tears and took hold of some wisdom far beyond his seven years.
    “George was a good man,” Jimmy said. “Martha was good, too. I love them both. We love them both.  We’ll miss them. They saved us. They’re with God now, and that’s good, too.”
    Nothing else needed to be said. Arturo hugged his son fiercely, and walked down towards the old homestead, still buried far beneath the snow. Jimmy watched him go and turned to take Lucy’s hand, which probably helped her more than it did him.
    As nice as the funeral gesture was, it was not the