Free All Men Fear Me by Donis Casey

like to go off half-cocked and run away to join up.”
    Shaw put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s far too young to get called or to enlist, either. He can try but they won’t take him.”
    She scoffed at his naiveté. “He’s tall for his age and the Army is desperate for soldiers. He’s like to get away with it if nobody looks too close.”
    â€œAlafair, young men are rash. No use to wish otherwise. Best just to try and stand back and let them grow out of it.” An image of Charlie in an Army uniform popped into Shaw’s mind, and he shook his head to dislodge it. “And hope they don’t kill themselves or somebody else before they do,” he added.
    The fire went out of her suddenly, and she sagged. “Oh, Shaw, it’s just hard. From the first time they opened their eyes, I’ve spent every minute of the kids’ lives trying to keep them safe. When the war started it seemed too far away to do us any harm, but just lately, I’ve known that something bad is going to happen. There’s a troubled spirit around here that wasn’t around before. A fear, a horrible fear. I feel it.”
    She untied her bonnet and took it off. She was staring at it when she began to speak again. “I remember that when the kids were little, I thought that if I could just keep them from killing themselves until they were big enough to take care of themselves, then I wouldn’t be worrying about them so much.” She looked at him sidelong. “Turns out I had it backwards. When they were little, I had more charge over what happened to them. But now they’re all about their own affairs, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
    Shaw felt much the same way, but there was no use to wish things were different than they were. So he said, “That was the point, wasn’t it, to get them where they could take care of themselves? That’s the way of it. Pretty soon they’ll be taking care of us.”
    â€œYes, I expect. I never figured it’d be this hard to let them go, though. Especially these boys. Up to now, we’ve given four girls over to a partner, so they can look out for each other.”
    â€œThat’ll happen with the boys, too.”
    â€œI hope so. But they’re boys, and they’ll do what all boys do before they become men. They’ll put themselves in harm’s way, and you and me both know there’s no guarantee they’ll come away unscathed. Or come away at all.”
    Shaw nodded. She was right that boys had to go through their rite of passage. That was the natural way of things. He was too kind to say it to her, but he was proud that his boys didn’t want to shirk their responsibility. This was a man’s office, to stand between his loved ones and danger.
    â€œHoney, nobody is guaranteed to live even through today. Every minute of life is in God’s hands, so there’s no use to fret over it.”
    She smiled. “You’re a better Christian than me, Shaw. I gave life to four boys, and God took two of them from me. I begrudge him another one. I’d fight God or the devil for them, if I had to.”
    Maybe she was joking, but if Alafair and the devil went head to head for her sons, Shaw wouldn’t have laid odds against her. Still, there was nothing more to say on the subject. “I have to go back to work, darlin’. I’ll unhitch Missy for you.”
    She nodded. “You want some pie before you go?”
    Shaw smiled. She always could read his mind. “Yes, I do. Oh, and by the way, I told Charlie that he could take a part-time job at the brick plant until school starts. Mr. Cooper told him he could work the six a.m. shift.”
    She had started for the house with her package of meat beneath her arm, but she stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. “You told him he could do what? Why, he’ll have to get himself on the road before dawn to get