Free Sandra Hill - [Jinx] by Pearl Jinx Page B

the farm.”
    He arched an eyebrow.
    “Dat and Mam had another baby.”
    “They did?” Now, that was a surprise. His mother had been forty-five when he left, and his father fifty. Who knew the old goat had it in him!
    “
Jah.
Joseph.”
    Understanding slowly crept into his thick skull. “A younger brother. Then that means . . .”
    Jonas nodded. “I dint get the farm, either.”
    “So Dat, by screwing his ol’ heart out, screwed both of us.” Caleb started to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
    Jonas laughed, too, though Caleb could tell that he didn’t want to. After a few moments, Jonas turned serious again and said, “Ya shoulda come back.”
    “How? I’m being shunned.”
    “So am I,” Jonas said, so softly that at first Caleb didn’t hear.
    His eyes went wide. “Both of us? Under the
Bann?
”
    “Both of us.”
    “But . . .” He stared pointedly at Jonas’s Amish clothing and the beard, which was a requirement of married men of the People.
    “Mennonite.”
    Ah, he noticed now. The beard was trimmed, which would not have been allowed in the Amish sect. A sign of vanity.
    “This is unbelievable.” Caleb didn’t even hesitate then. He pulled his brother into a hug, and it was debatable which of them held on tighter.
    “There were times I hated ya, Caleb. I wantcha ta know that,” Jonas said against his ear, but he hugged tight while he spoke.
    Caleb blinked several times, then gazed over Jonas’s shoulder, where he saw the most alarming thing. Not only were Tante Lulu and Claire witnessing the spectacle he and Jonas were making, with tears in their eyes, ferchrissake, but Abbie, Mark, LeDeux, and Famosa were all smiling. Like he was the star of some freak reality TV show.
    He stepped away from his brother with embarrassment.
    Jonas appeared stunned, by him as well as the crowd.
    “Ain’t this jist wonderful? Me, I gots a good idea. Let’s have us a reunion party,” Tante Lulu suggested. “A real
fais do-do.
I bought me a boatload of okra. So we kin have gumbo.”
    “A what dodo?” he asked.
    “A party down on the bayou,” LeDeux interpreted, grinning.
    “There’s no bayou here,” he argued.
    “No bayou? Whaddya call that over yonder?” Tante Lulu pointed to the creek. “Mebbe there’s no gators or crawfish or hangin’ moss, but where I come from, thass a bayou.”
    “You tell ’em,” Abbie said, speaking for the first time. She was blowing smoke rings while she talked. “We haven’t had a party here since Mark went off to war.”
    A moment of silence followed in which everyone turned with sympathy to a mortified Mark.
    “There is
not
going to be a party,” Caleb insisted. “We have work to do.”
    “You know what they say ’bout all work and no play?” Tante Lulu turned to Abbie, and they began discussing a menu.
    He put his face in his hands.
    “I’ll tell you one thing, Tante Lulu. You won’t be seeing me at any party,” Mark said.
    “Is that so?” Tante Lulu put her hands on her tiny hips. “Someone oughta tol’ you a long time ago ta not let the seeds spoil yer melon. Just spit out the buggers.”
    “What . . . what does that mean?”
    “It means it’s time ta shake off yer troubles and enjoy life. Ya cain’t unscramble yer eggs, boy, but ya kin make a darn fine omelette.”
    Mark was too flabbergasted at her nerve to respond.
    “I’ll be in charge of music,” LeDeux said. “There’s gotta be dancin’, or it won’t be a party. Maybe Claire knows some hot babes.”
    “I don’t know any hot babes.” Claire glanced at Caleb. “Except for me.”
    “Very funny,” he replied.
But true.
    “No problem. If there are hotties within a twenty-mile radius, I’ll find ’em.” Humility was not one of LeDeux’s attributes. “I might even find an overaged one for Mister Fuddy-Duddy Professor here. I get first dibs on the oversexed ones.”
    Famosa just shook his head, already used to LeDeux’s antics.
    “Behave yerself, boy,” Tante Lulu told her