Free Around the River's Bend by Aaron McCarver

weariness that afflicted his soul more than his body. His body was strong enough, but the constant series of rejections had worn him down. It had been hard for him to take. He had long been an amateur pugilist and had learned to suffer hard blows to his body, but the blows to his spirit hurt worse.
    He knocked on the door sharply. No one came for a moment, then finally a man opened the door. “Yes, what will it be?”
    â€œI am looking for Angor Grufydd.”
    Something changed in the man’s face. “Me father,” he said, “but you’ll not have heard. He passed on two years ago.”
    Quickly Sion said, “Sorry, I am. I didn’t know your father, but he was a good friend of my own dad a long time ago. They worked together in the mines.”
    â€œAnd what might your name be?”
    â€œSion Kenyon. My father’s name was Hugh.”
    â€œWhy, me father spoke of him many times.” The speaker was a man of thirty or thirty-five with dark hair and eyes. He was shorter than Sion but trim, and the scars turned black with coal dust around his face. The black ground into his hands told Sion that he was a miner.
    â€œI’m Rees Grufydd. Come in and warm yourself at the fire. Will a cup of tea go down well?”
    â€œI wouldn’t want to be a bother.”
    â€œBother! Well, devil fly off, if it ever becomes a bother for Rees Grufydd to give a man a cup of tea, I’d rue the day. Come in! Come in!”
    Sion stepped in and took in the main room, which contained a fireplace, a table, a few cabinets nailed to the wall on one end, and several chairs and a sad relic of a couch on the other. The walls were covered with pictures clipped out of magazines, as well as one painting of a young couple.
    Rees saw his glance and said, “That’s me dad and mum painted a year after they were married.”
    â€œYou look very much like your father.”
    â€œSo they say.”
    A pretty woman with two children came in from outside.
    â€œHere, this is me wife, Glenda.”
    â€œI’m glad to know you, sir.” Glenda Grufydd was a tall woman with bright blue eyes and red hair. She smiled and said, “And these are our two children. This is Ysbail, and this is Merin, our son.”
    Ysbail was a girl of twelve or thirteen—the exact image of her mother with bright blue eyes and red hair. She nodded as she examined Sion carefully. Merin appeared to be about six. He was a sturdy young man with brown hair and warm brown eyes. They both greeted Sion politely.
    â€œCome and take a seat by the fire. Dinner will be ready soon. Me wife’s a terrible cook, but no matter.” He winked at Sion, and his lip twitched with a grin.
    â€œI never notice you turning anything down!” Glenda laughed.
    â€œOh, I couldn’t do that. It would be an imposition.”
    â€œNone of that,” Rees insisted. “Have a seat, and I’ll tell you something that, perhaps, you don’t know about your own father.”
    Sion was curious, and he took the offered seat. He could smell fresh meat cooking, and his stomach contracted, for he had had no substantial meal for two days. Only bits and pieces that couldn’t sustain a man. He sat down and smiled at the boy and girl who had stationed themselves so they could see his face. “Did you know my father?” Sion asked Gruyfdd.
    â€œNo, but me father talked about him a lot.” Rees sat down across from Sion and filled a pipe as he talked. “The two were great friends.”
    â€œSo my father told me.”
    â€œBut I wonder, did he tell you that he saved me own father’s life?”
    â€œNo, he never said a word about that.”
    â€œWell, he did. There was a cave-in, and me father was caught along with three others. The gas was bad. They were dying. I’ve heard Father tell the story so many times. He was lying there unable to move, pinned down by a heavy timber, and he tried to