Chapter One, - Sean and Ryan Come Home

The night before they made Jamestown harbor Sean trimmed his beard and mustache down and shaved them off. Ryan watched and whistled with amazement as his Granddad’s youthful face was revealed.
“I saw the same thing forty-eight years ago and I almost didn’t believe it then and I almost don’t believe it now,” he said with awe and his hand came up to rub the smooth skin. “You look so young, like you’re my grandson instead of the other way around.” Sean smiled at him.
“It doesn’t matter what I look like, Ryan, I’ll always be your Granddad,” he told him and Ryan’s eyes misted over.
“If it wasn’t for your voice, I wouldn’t know it was you,” he said and Sean hugged him.
“Ah, lad, don’t cry, if you want I’ll grow the beard back and keep dyeing it white, I’ll stay old with you,” he said and Ryan shook his head.
“No way, that wouldn’t be fair,” he said firmly, “If you do that then you would have to leave the Ridge right after I died and go back to Hamish or Ennis or someplace else. No, you become young again and you’ll have another sixty or seventy years back on the Ridge before you have to leave it again.” Sean nodded.
“You’re a very generous man, Ryan Donoghue and I love you very much,” he told him and kissed him full on the lips. Ryan laughed.
“Well, it’s the least I can do, after all, you stayed on Topanga for me and Chris so we could have our life together,” he said and Sean sighed. No matter how many times he told him he didn’t stay there for that, Ryan would insist that he did. Just because he didn’t find true love like he had. Silly boy, Sean thought, but damned if he didn’t love him.
The next morning they left the ship bright and early so that none of the other passengers could see Sean’s youthful face. He kept a scarf around it for the crew’s benefit and wore his long hair loose so they could see the white hair. But once they were in the hired carriage on the way to the inn, he pulled it back and tucked it under his hat. Now he was twenty once again, for the fourth time in his life. It was sixteen ninety-five and in reality, Sean Donoghue was a hundred and eighty-three. Sometimes he felt it, but today sitting next to his sixty-five year old grandson, he only felt like he was twenty.
They checked into the inn and made a nice hot soak in the tub their first priority.
“Ah, this feels great,” Ryan sighed as he soaked his old bones. Sean washed the white dye out of his hair before any other guests joined them and then relaxed. He opened his eyes to see Ryan staring at him.
“It’s still me, Grandson,” he said and Ryan giggled.
“It must be feel funny to go from a dotty old man to a goofy young one in a matter of minutes,” he observed. Sean nodded.
“People treat you about the same,” he said. “When you’re young they treat you as if you have no sense, until you get married and have children, you’re not really counted as a man. And when you get white hair, well, you might as well put your diapers back on for they way they talk down to you.” Ryan nodded.
“Chris and I used to talk about that,” he said. “You were the only one who treated us as if we had some sense.” Sean nodded.
“You raised four children each and lived a life, you didn’t get to be old by not having any sense, you would have died long time ago without it,” he remarked and Ryan laughed.
“So would have you, Granddad, so would have you,” he commented and they finished up their baths and went in search of a hot meal, their first one in six months.
Then Sean left him resting while he went out and purchased a nice carriage drawn by two horses, a black stallion he promptly named Sir William and the supplies they would need for the week long journey to O’Brien’s Ridge. He noticed the high taxes on everything he bought and the rudeness of the nobility who sometimes shoved him out of their way as they moved about the city.
“Well, someone thinks her shit doesn’t stink,” he muttered as a Lady obviously by her fine clothes and the man servant pushed past him on her way into a dress shop. The man next to him laughed.
“They’re all like that nowadays, like their shit don’t stink, that’s a good one,” he said and then spat on the sidewalk. Sean tipped his hat and was on his way. Anamylia was getting to be as bad as Hamish with all the nobility thinking they were above the rest of the people. He took his purchases back to the inn and woke Ryan up for dinner. They talked about it over sliced roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy with snapped peas.
“I heard some gentlemen talking while I was having coffee today that the Hamish are pissed over the Ennis in Andalusia because they’re letting people buy stuff there and not charging them any taxes,” Ryan explained as they ate. Sean nodded.
“You wouldn’t believe the taxes I had to pay for the stuff I bought for the trip home, it’s outrageous,” he told his grandson. Ryan waved his fork, a new invention of the Ennis, a rather clever three-pronged device in which people stabbed their food with. Both men thought it very clever and, of course, it had to be invented by the Ennish. The Hamish would have never thought up anything worth using; Sean had rushed out and bought a whole set of them.
“Well, it looks as if a trip to Portsmyth is in our future, lad,” Sean said slyly and winked at Ryan who grinned.
“Going to get back into smuggling are you?” he leaned forward to whisper. Sean nodded.
“I’m not paying these outrageous taxes; the Hamish don’t deserve my hard earned coin,” he told him.
The next morning they left for the Ridge, Sean riding Sir William and Ryan riding in comfort in his new carriage.
“This is grand, Granddad, but you could have just bought me a wagon, I could have made due with that,” Ryan protested. Sean shook his head.
“A wagon, Ryan Donoghue does not return to O’Brien’s Ridge after forty-nine years in Topanga riding in a wagon,” he informed him. “He comes back in style in a carriage.” Ryan laughed. And they made better time in a carriage pulled by two horses than they would have in a wagon pulled by two mules. The road was nicer too, and wider. Some improvements had been made in the forty-nine years they had been away.
They noticed some right away when they found the road that led up to the Ridge. Instead of just the road leading up, there were houses, a few stores, one of them another general store called Gleason’s.
“This is all new,” Ryan remarked as they rode past it. Sean nodded.
“Another store, I wonder how the Stones are doing,” he asked. Ryan shrugged. When they got to the top of the Ridge they found out, it was still there but it had changed and now it was something called a Five and Dime. And the O’Brien house was a store and so was the Stone’s. And where Susan’s art studio had been, that was now the new Post Office. Jefferies was still a tavern but it was twice as big and there were a dozen more stores. It had grown considerably.
“Looks like a different town doesn’t it?” Ryan asked as they rode past. Sean nodded, he was anxious to get a look at his cabin, would it still look the same and who was living in it? If they didn’t want to move, where would he and Ryan live until they built another cabin? Ryan noticed his worry.
“Don’t worry, Granddad, no one is living in your house, Lizzie wrote to me that it was empty and they’re keeping it for you if you ever come back,” he assured him. Sean nodded. But that was a year ago she wrote that he wanted to say, what if someone got married and needed a place to live?
Then they were on the rise and over-looking the cabin and it was a beautiful sight. Sean felt tears come to his eyes. He reached over and took one of Ryan’s hands.
“Ah, lad, it’s good to be home,” he said and heard his grandson sniff.
“I wish Chris was with us, Granddad,” Ryan said and Sean nodded.
“Ah, lad, so do I, so do I,” he agreed and they rode up the slope and to the barn. Sean helped Ryan down and put him on the porch to sit while he unloaded the carriage. They had two precious paintings as well as the jar.
“Be careful with Chris, Granddad,” Ryan warned as he carried the blanket wrapped bundle containing the jar and laid it down gently next to him. Sean smiled and he ruffled his hair.
“I’ll be extra careful, darling,” he assured him and Ryan grinned. Next came the two paintings, both boxed in wood and wrapped in blankets. One was of Sean, around twenty-eight holding his two great-grandsons, Sam and Mickey on his lap. And the other was of Chris and Ryan, around twenty-six, sitting side by side holding hands and smiling. Sean went back for another load. When he returned there was a boy about thirteen years of age standing next to Ryan and staring at them. Ryan introduced them.
“Sean Donoghue meet Sean Donoghue,” he said with a big grin. Both Seans looked at one another and then the oldest held out his hand.
“Pleased to meet you, Sean,” he said and grinned. The younger Sean shook it and grinned.
“Except for missing the mustache you look just like the man in the paintings that are inside this house,” he informed him. Sean nodded.
“That’s because I am the man in the paintings that’s inside this house,” he informed him. The lad stared at him and snorted. Sean looked at Ryan and grinned.
“So whose lad are you and who’s your Granddad?” Sean asked him. The young Sean grinned.
“My dad’s Douglas Donoghue and his dad was Brian Donoghue and his dad was Sean Donoghue who built this house in fifteen eighty-nine,” he informed them, beaming with pride. Sean nodded.
“So that would make you my great-great grandson, but you can call me Granddad like all the other kids, on account that great-great-Granddad is going to be hard to say all the time,” he said and Ryan laughed. The boy looked confused. Sean shook his head.
“Do you know Daniel Donoghue and Annie Donoghue Richards?” he asked the boy. Young Sean nodded.
“Sure that’s my cousin’s Bobby’s grandfather and my cousin’s Tommy’s grandmother,” he informed them. Sean and Ryan both nodded.
“Listen carefully, this is important, I want you to take them both this same message,” Sean instructed. “Tell them both that their brother Ryan and their Granddad Sean are back from Topanga and want them to come over to the main house and see them right away. You got that?” he asked and Young Sean looked around.
“Their Granddad must really be old, where is he?” he asked. Sean sighed.
“Just give them the message, what is it?” he asked him. Young Sean sighed.
“I’m to tell them that their brother Ryan and their Granddad Sean are back from that island place Topanga they’ve been living and they’re living in the first Sean’s house and they want to see them right away, okay I got it. Can I go now?” he asked with the impatience of youth. Sean nodded and reaching into his pocket handed him a five gilder gold coin. Young Sean’s eyes got big and round.
“Five whole gilders, just for delivering a message, wow you must be rich,” he exclaimed and ran off. Ryan and Sean looked at each other and laughed.
“He’ll get the message all wrong,” Ryan predicted. Sean nodded.
“But he’ll get someone here who won’t,” he said and Ryan nodded.
They went inside the house and Sean went to light the carbo-oil lamp and didn’t find one. What he did find was a lamp that looked sort of liked a glow light only bigger and when he flipped the lever it lit up the whole front room.
“Well, look what the clever Ennish have thought of next,” he remarked to Ryan who laughed.
“It could have been the Hamish who invented it,” he said. Sean shook his head.
“The Hamish couldn’t find their own arses with both hands,” he remarked and they both laughed. There was one of those new lights in the kitchen too only this one was mounted on the ceiling and the switch was on the wall. Sean flipped it and the whole room lit up.
“That’s pretty clever,” Ryan said and he sat down on a chair with cushions and sighed. “My arse was growing roots on that carriage seat, I don’t see how you made that trip on horseback,” he told his Granddad. Sean laughed.
“You forget, lad, I have a twenty year-old arse,” he said and Ryan laughed.
“I guess that does make a difference,” he teased. Sean looked around and found coffee and a pot so he made coffee. There was sugar but no milk in the cold box.
“I guess we’ll have to drink it black until I can buy us a cow,” he said and there came a soft knock on the door. “Ah, I hope they brought milk for the coffee,” he muttered as he went to open it. He opened the door to find a nice woman of about forty-five and several other women and children, all looking very excited. He opened the door wider. They all gasped when they got a good look at him.
“I told you, Mom, he looks just like the painting Sean,” Young Sean told them. Sean held out his hand to the boy’s mother.
“You must be Lizzie, Douglas’s wife, I’m Sean Donoghue,” he told her and of course they all gasped again. Ryan came to the door.
“Is that Danny or Annie,” he called out and frowned when he saw all the young faces. “Where the hell is Danny and Annie, why didn’t you bring them with you?” he demanded and Sean put his hand on his shoulder. Ryan sighed.
“We weren’t sure if the lad was telling the truth or not,” Lizzie explained. “He has a habit of fibbing.” Young Sean fidgeted. Ryan sighed again. Sean smiled at them.
“Well, you can see it’s true so please, Ryan has traveled a long way and he really wants to see his brother and sister, can you please run and get them?” he asked politely. They all nodded and several turned to rush down the slope. “Bring back some milk for the coffee too,” he called to them and one of the waved. Lizzie stayed and came in with them. She sat down at the table and stared at Sean.
“You must be Ryan’s grandson,” she finally spoke and Ryan laughed.
“No, I’m the grandson, Sean is my Granddad,” he informed her rather smugly. Sean laughed.
“You really like shocking people with that don’t you, lad?” he teased him and Ryan nodded. The coffee was done and Sean got up to pour it, Lizzie brushed him aside and poured it herself.
“We’ve kept the house nice and tidy in case you ever came back, Ryan,” she told him obviously intended to ignore what was just said. And in the way of adults, ignoring the young ones and talk to the older people in the room. Ryan rolled his eyes behind her back and Sean shrugged.
“That’s awfully kind of you, Lizzie, Sean and I really appreciate it, don’t we, Granddad?” Ryan said and Sean nodded.
“We sure do, it’s nice to be able to come home and find everything almost exactly the way I left it,” he remarked and she flushed. They sipped their coffee and waited.
Eventually there was a commotion outside and they heard a man’s voice yell out.
“Let go of my arm, you arsehole, I can walk by myself, I’m sixty-three not a hundred.” Sean and Ryan both grinned.
“That sounds like Daniel and he’s in another bad mood,” Lizzie murmured and pulled at her hair. The two men got up and walked to the door. Ryan was the first out and onto the porch.
“You were a brat at fifteen and it doesn’t sound like you’ve improved with age, Daniel Donoghue,” Ryan shouted and the old man who had been fighting with his grandsons stopped and turned to stare with wonder at the brother who he hadn’t seen in forty-nine long years.
“My God, Ryan is that you?” he asked softly, tears coming to his eyes. Ryan nodded and then they were in each others arms and hugging and kissing.
“Look at you, you’ve still got your hair,” Ryan gushed and he ruffled his brother’s hair. Danny grinned.
“You too, you old bastard, how can you still be so skinny,” he teased and they hugged so more. Then Ryan turned him around.
“Look who I brought with me, Danny,” he said and the other man saw Sean standing there.
“Granddad, oh, my God, Ryan, it’s Granddad,” he said and began to cry again. Sean held out his arms and the old man fell into them. Everyone looked puzzled but it was a heart warming moment.
“Ah, Danny, lad, I love you, don’t cry, I came back didn’t I?” he teased him gently. Danny nodded.
“I never thought I’d see you again, you either,” he said to Ryan and all three men hugged. Then a wagon pulled up and people began to help an old, slender woman out of it. Danny grinned and looked at Sean.
“Stand back so she doesn’t see you, Granddad,” he told him and Sean did.
“Where is Ryan, where is my little brother?” Annie demanded and when she saw him she began to cry. Ryan rushed forward and they hugged.
“Oh, Ryan, you great big fool, you had to go off and have an adventure, you don’t know how many nights Mom cried herself to sleep missing you,” she chided him. Ryan smiled.
“Ah, Annie, but what an adventure I had with my Chris,” he told her and she hugged him.
“I know, lad, I had an adventure with my Dennis and I didn’t even have to go six months away to find it,” she said. Then Danny turned her around.
“Look who Ryan brought with him, Annie,” he said and her eyes filled with tears and both of her hands went to her mouth.
“Granddad, oh, my God, it’s Granddad,” she exclaimed and she rushed into his arms. Sean wrapped his arms around her.
“Ah, Annie, lass, ah, don’t cry, I’ve come back for good now, I’m staying here forever with you now, I love you, Annie, you’re my good girl,” he cooed and she put her head on his strong chest and closed her eyes. He was really here. Young Sean looked at his mother.
“I guess he really is the Sean Donoghue in the painting with Maggie,” he said and she nodded. They all went into the house and more old people showed up. One, Mickey Jefferies was the same age of Ryan, sixty-five and the rest of the cousins were younger all the way down to Douglas who was forty-eight and not even born when the two had left for Topanga but for the ones who had been old enough to remember Ryan and Sean there was no doubt about it, this was their Granddad. And they convinced the others and the legend of the Fairie Cave and the Moon Pearl Pool was repeated at bedtime once again.
“I’m not going home, I’m moving in here with you two,” Danny announced when his son and daughter-in-law told him it was time to be getting home. Sean and Ryan both nodded.
“Dad, you shouldn’t be a bother to these two, they just got home,” Dan his son told him. Sean put his arm around Dan’s shoulder.
“Now, Son, you mean well when you talk to your father like he’s a child, but it’s not really appreciated,” he said calmly. Dan looked confused. “Daniel is a grown man and he can decide where he wants to live. Now if he’s bothering us, we’ll let him know. Now why don’t you and Sophia go on home, milk time comes early on the Ridge and we’ll stop by tomorrow sometimes for his things, okay?” The two nodded and left. Danny burst into laughter.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for years,” he said and put his arm around Sean. “It’s really good to have you home, Granddad,” he gushed. The two old men decided to share a room so they could talk. Annie sighed.
“Well, if he’s moving in, I’m moving in, otherwise the two of them will drive you to drink,” she remarked so casually that Sean knew she was dying for him to say yes. He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek.
“There’s always room in my house for a lovely lady, Annie, lass,” he informed her and she giggled.
“Ah, Granddad, you were always such a charmer, Grandmom said you could charm the skin off a snake, you were that smooth,” she told him and they both looked at the painting of him and Maggie.
“I still remember her,” Annie said and sighed. He nodded.
“I still do and I still love and miss her too, lass,” he told her and she went home. She would come over the next day with her things. Sean wandered into his bedroom. A large gray tabby lied on the blanket and blinked at him when he approached. Sean picked it up and saw that it was a male. He scratched his head and the cat began to purr.
“Hey, kitty, your name wouldn’t be Toby, now would it?” he whispered gently. The cat didn’t appear to mind being called that so Sean lied down and the cat curled up on his chest and fell asleep. Sean smiled.
“Ah, yes, kitty, your name is Toby alright,” he whispered and fell asleep.
The next morning Sean was up at five like he always was when he was on the Ridge, he guessed some habits were harder to break than others. He went out to the barn, the night air was cold as it was in early spring and he could see lights on in most of the houses down in the valley. There was no cow to milk but there were horses to feed so he did that and of course there were no eggs to collect. Sean had no idea what he was going to fix for breakfast so he went back into the house to look and found the cupboards bare.
The cellar was bare also so he put on his coat and walked down to the little house by the mill where he had put those two witches Susan Johnson and Marianne Parker and knocked on the door. One of the people he had met yesterday, a young man Sean couldn’t remember his name opened the door. He seemed surprised to see Sean on his doorstep so early in the morning. Sean smiled at him.
“I hate to bother you so early but seeing on how we’re related and I forget just how, but could I borrow breakfast?” he asked and the man grinned and invited him in.
“I’m Kyle Donoghue and I’m Colin’s son who was Samuel and Debra’s son,” the man told him and Sean nodded. They shook hands again.
“I guess with all the excitement no one remembered that they only had coffee in the main house and no food,” Kyle said and laughed. He made up a box of supplies and Sean thanked him.
“Hey, no problem, say, are you really my great-great Granddad?” he asked him and Sean nodded his head. Kyle laughed, his dark, green eyes gleaming with the delight of it.
“My grandmom always loved to tell us kids that legend of the Fairie Cave and now I know why,” he gushed and they hugged. Sean went back up the slope and found the two old men awake and hungry.
“I hope that’s food you’ve got there, Sean, I’m starving,” Ryan grumbled. Sean laughed and put the box on the table.
“I had to go begging next door but I got us breakfast,” he informed them and added that they had to go shopping; Portsmyth would probably be best and buy a load of supplies to last them until the summer harvest came in.
“I’ll get us a dairy cow, some chickens, pigs and a cow to butcher too, I love my steak,” Sean rubbed his belly and Ryan patted his.
“Me too, Granddad,” he retorted. Danny looked at them with wonder.
“How do you two stay so skinny if you eat that much?” he asked. “I only have to look at a nice big steak and I gain two pounds,” he told them. Ryan reached over and patted his brother’s big belly.
“That’s not a steak belly, that’s a too much beer belly,” he teased him and they all laughed. Sean put sausage and ham in the pan and potatoes and onions in other.
“Talking about beer,” he said. “How come there’s no beer aging in the aging building and the vat’s all dusty like no one’s used it in years?” he asked Danny who nodded.
“That’s because no one’s used it for years,” he informed them. They both looked shocked.
“No Donoghue making beer on the Ridge, how could that be?” Ryan demanded to know why. Danny shrugged.
“I was the last one who brewed a batch, it must have been, oh, ten years ago, but I hurt my back doing it and my wife, she was living then, forbid me from doing it again, so I had to quit,” he explained. “I was the last one who had a license and the damned things went up to a thousand gilders from five hundred gilders and no one wanted to pay that. That’s why they stopped making the whiskey too; no one had the coin for the license.” Sean looked amazed.
“They didn’t have the coin, but what about the mine, why didn’t they just melt the gold from the mine for the license?” he asked him. Danny looked uncomfortable. Ryan and Sean exchanged a glance. Sean sighed.
“Don’t tell me they forgot where the mine is didn’t they?” he said and Ryan laughed. Danny glared at him.
“Well, all of your boys knew where the mine was, of course, but they didn’t tell all of their boys, they just told the oldest. And Charlie didn’t have any children and my dad died without telling my brother,” Danny explained how it had happened. “Everyone thought that Kevin had told Sean and he did and everything was alright but then no one expected Sean to die in that accident, he was only thirty-two for God’s sake and he was the only one who knew where the mine was. We searched and searched and Scott knew the general direction but by then he was so old his mind was all confused, he kept taking us back to the same old spot and there was a cave there, but no gold in it.” Sean sighed.
“Oh, well, lad, I’m back now and I know where my gold and silver mine is,” he informed him and he looked at Ryan. “You know where it is don’t, you, lad?” he asked and Ryan nodded.
“I followed you and Dad there once and you saw me but you never said anything, how come?” he asked. Sean shrugged.
“I figured that if anything happened to your dad before he got to tell anyone, it would be best if someone else in the family knew,” he said and they both looked at Danny and grinned. Danny shrugged.
“Oh, well, you’re both back now so you can show us where it is and maybe this time someone will draw a map,” he suggested. Sean shook his head.
“A map can be found by someone outside the family,” he told him. “This time, more than one son gets shown where it is,” he advised and they all nodded.
After breakfast Annie moved in and they told her about headed into Portsmyth for supplies. She wanted to come so they all climbed into the carriage, the two men in the backseat, Annie and her granddaughter Gina who decided to come along and keep her company; Sean rode Sir William and set off for Portsmyth. And, of course, all of their neighbors stood and stared at them as they rode down the Ridge and through Main Street. Annie and Gina waved at everyone and called out they were going to Portsmyth and everyone called hello and have a safe trip. Sean grinned; such was the joys of small town life. He looked over at Ryan and saw him grinning and knew he was thinking the same thing.
Once in Portsmyth the group got two rooms at a nice respectable inn and Sean bought a wagon and four mules. Danny and Ryan helped him pick them out giving their expert opinions while the two ladies shopped and peeked into windows, something only women liked to do. They had dinner and while the others slept Sean walked down to the docks to have a look around. He was armed with his Chervek sword and didn’t worry too much about being pressed. He did pity however the gang that tried to press him, they would be a dead group of individuals.
“Well, look at that,” Sean whispered and looked at a ship that was just docking. Isn’t life a coincidence? An Ennish ship called the Mermaid, and he would just bet that that ship’s Captain would be a man named Gaston. He decided to check it out in the morning. Sean turned around and began to walk back to his inn. Just as he was turning the corner, three men in Hamish sailor uniforms darted out of an alley.
“Well, look at what we have here chaps, he looks like he wants to join His Majesty’s fleet,” the largest of the men exclaimed and all three laughed. Sean put a look of outrage on his face.
“Get out of my way you filthy Hamish pigs,” he said in perfect Ennish. They looked surprised. Then the middle one shrugged.
“Hamish, Ennish, the Captain said to come back with six men and we’ve got five, I don’t think he cares,” he said and the other two laughed.
“Come along little fellow and we won’t hurt you much,” the large one said and he pulled out a knife and waved it in front of Sean’s face. The others laughed again. That was enough for Sean. If they didn’t care that he was Ennish then he didn’t care if he killed them. He pulled out his sword and the smallest one swallowed nervously.
“Maybe we should pick someone else, this one looks dangerous,” he stammered. The large one laughed.
“Don’t be a chicken, Morris, there’s three of us and only one of him,” he sneered. Sean looked at him.
“You really should listen to your friend,” he said in perfect Hamish with no accent and they looked surprised. The middle one spat on the ground.
“Oh, you’s were only pretending to be Ennis, I don’t like when they do’s that, cut him, Jake,” he ordered and Jake lunged and slashed out with his knife. Sean dodged to the right and slashed Jake’s throat from ear to ear. Jake made a gurgling noise and fell to the ground. The other’s looked at him in horror and the smaller one turned to run. Sean reached out and grabbed him.
“Not so fast little one,” he said and with a practiced slash, cut off the head of the middle one. It fell before his body and then it fell to the ground. The little one would have screamed but Sean’s hand around his neck prevented any sound from getting out.
“Where are these five other men you three hoodlums pressed tonight, tell me and I might let you live,” he conjured him. The little one nodded and he pointed to the alley. Sean walked to the entrance and saw five men at the end all tied up and gagged. They looked at him holding the sailor and began to struggle. He nodded and then looked at the sailor.
“You really made a poor choice in careers,” he told him and then he snapped his neck. Sean threw the body down and then raced to the end of the alley and quickly untied the men. They all undid their gags.
“Thank you, whoever you are, my wife is expecting a baby, I was on the way for the midwife when they grabbed me,” a man gushed. Sean pushed him away.
“Well, get home then, hurry,” he told him. The other’s had enough sense to just run away like Sean did before the watch found the dead sailors and looked around for someone to blame them on. He wiped his sword before entering a busy street and hurried into the inn. Both men were asleep when he got into the room so Sean crawled into his bed and was so fast asleep himself.
The next morning as they made to the docks, the three men were surprised to find the place swarming with Hamish soldiers who stopped them and demanded to know their business.
“We’re on our way to see Captain Gaston of the Mermaid,” Sean informed them, and added, “We’re personal friends of his.” The soldier looked at the suspiciously but didn’t prevent them from walking towards the ship.
“You don’t even know if they’re actually is a Captain Gaston of the Mermaid,” Ryan remarked casually. Sean shrugged.
“So I lied, sue me,” he retorted and both brothers laughed.
When they got to the Mermaid, Sean asked to speak with the Captain and was directed to a tall, thin dark-haired man who bore a remarkable resemblance to Armand Gaston and to Pierre his father. Sean smiled; this man had to be a Gaston. He talked to his mate and glanced over to the three men, frowned and then walked over to talk with them, it was apparent, he had more important things on his mind.
“My mate says you wanted to talk with me,” he said briskly. Sean nodded.
“My great-grandfather sailed on a ship called the Mermaid with a Pierre Gaston and my grandfather sailed on the North Star with an Armand Gaston, you bare a remarkable resemblance to both of those gentlemen, you wouldn’t happen to be a Gaston now would you?” he asked with a sly grin. The man grinned and held out his hand.
“Pierre Gaston at your service, and you would be?” he asked. Sean shook his hand and received a firm grip in return.
“Sean Donoghue,” he told him and saw a light come into the Captain’s eyes. Obviously he had heard tales of smuggling with the famous Sean Donoghue.
“My grandfather had told me many stories of your grandfather, those two rascals were quite the devils,” Pierre teased and they both laughed. They Sean introduced the older gentlemen as his two uncles. Danny thought that was strange but he didn’t say anything. They Sean offered the Captain a bottle of whiskey he had brought with him and they went below to his cabin.
They chatted a few minutes about family and grandfathers and then Sean leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs.
“When I saw that this was an Ennis ship and it was called the Mermaid I was hoping that the Captain might be a Gaston,” he told the Captain oh-so-casually. Pierre lifted his eyebrow.
“Oh, did you?” he replied as casually in return. The two brothers watched and held their breaths.
“Yes, I thought we might go on where the old men left off, sort of a family tradition so to speak,” Sean said meeting the Captain’s glance with a twinkle in his dark, green eyes. Pierre grinned.
“The Hamish do tax us poor sea Captain’s unfairly and the stupid bastards couldn’t find their own asses with both hands,” he remarked. Everyone in the room grinned. Pierre lifted his glass up.
“To family traditions,” he toasted. Sean lifted his glass up and they clinked them.
“To family traditions,” he said.
“I do have something rather special that I really don’t want falling into Hamish hands,” Pierre said and they walked down into the hold. He showed them a long box and carefully opened it revealing six long metal objects with wooden grips. They had a long barrel on one end with a trigger looking thing and a handle with a bolt and Sean felt a shiver run up his spine just by looking at them. He waved his hand and Pierre nodded. Sean lifted one out and held it correctly pointing the barrel towards the wall and looking through over the barrel. There was a metal notch with a ‘v’ cut into it on the barrel and he could tell it was to look through so you could aim better.
“It’s called a rifle and some men named the Giovanni brothers are manufacturing them in Bismol in Ennis, I have three hundred and they cost me a hundred gilders apiece,” Pierre informed them. Ryan and Danny whistled.
“What are they for?” Ryan asked. Sean looked at him.
“They’re for killing, lad,” he answered and Pierre nodded. He picked up a small oblong object and held it up for them to see.
“They shoot these things, they’re called bullets and the bottom part is called the shell casing and the top part is the slug,” he explained and showed them how to load it into the gun which the rifle was also called. He pulled back the bolt which was how it was loaded. Then before you could shoot it, you had to arm it by cocking the handle and then you shot it by pulling the trigger. Then you slid the bolt again the empty casing popped out. You kept that for refilling and using again.
Then Pierre showed them the red gunpowder that was used to fill the bullet and the slug that went on top and you put it in the press and then pulled the handle down and it put them together. He was willing to sell Sean a dozen barrels of the gunpowder, ten thousand bullets, extra slugs and casings and the press. All for a hundred and fifty gilders a rifle and he would throw in the press and extra slugs and cases for free. The powder would be extra. Sean nodded.
“I’ll need coffee, sugar, tea, whatever else you’ve got too, the stores on the Ridge are empty because of the taxes,” he informed him. Pierre nodded.
“That’s a lot of coin, my friend,” he told him. Sean grinned.
“I won’t be paying in coin unless you really want it, I was thinking of another kind of currency,” he teased and Ryan grinned. Danny looked confused. Sean reached into his pocket and took out a small leather pouch. He handed it to Pierre.
“Take what you think is payment enough for what I need,” he said. Pierre nodded, opened the pouch and spilled its contents onto the lid of a barrel. He and Danny gasped at the sparkling green stones.
“My God, Topangan emeralds,” Pierre whispered and he looked at Sean who nodded. “You know the Giovanni brothers love Topangan emeralds and they’re getting ready to sell the Hamish army five thousand rifles next year,” he informed and Sean frowned.
“When do you leave port?” he asked. Pierre smiled.
“A week,” he answered. Sean nodded.
“Don’t leave without me,” he told him and Pierre nodded. Ryan looked at him and frowned. Pierre took two emeralds and reluctantly put the rest back. The three men left the ship. Ryan didn’t say a word until they were back in their room and then he turned to Sean.
“What do you mean don’t leave port without me, we just got here and you’re going to run off and leave me and go to Ennis?” he said and tears came to his eyes. Sean put his arms around him.
“Ah, lad, I would never leave you, ever,” he said firmly. “If I decide to go to Ennis, then you and Danny will go with me.” Danny looked surprised.
“I’ve never been off the Ridge,” he said. Sean looked at him.
“Well, don’t you think it’s time you had an adventure before you go and die?” he asked him and Danny laughed.
“Why the hell not,” he chortled. Ryan patted him on his back.
“That’s the spirit,” he told him. Then he looked at Sean.
“Why are we going to Ennis anyway, we just got to Anamylia?” he asked.
“I know, lad, but just think of five thousand of those deadly rifles in the hands of the Hamish army. Think of the damage they could do,” he said. “Now think of those five thousand rifles in the hands of every man on the Ridges here in Anamylia. It would be the same as putting swords into the hands of all those Topangans back on Queensland,” he explained and Ryan’s eyes lit up.
“Ah, lad, two revolutions in one lifetime, how lucky can one man be,” he said with a big grin. Danny looked confused.
Sean left them at the inn to keep Annie company while he made the trip up the river with the long boats. He stored everything in the old cave, it was still there and the boulder still moved when they rocked it into place. Then he returned to Portsmyth and they bought food and supplies for the journey and loaded it onto the Mermaid. He had to hire two men to see the ladies safely home. Annie, of course, bitched and complained and tried to force her brother Danny to stay home.
“Daniel Donoghue you’ve never been off the Ridge in your whole life and you’re too old to be gallivanted off on some fool adventure with these two fools,” she snapped at him. Sean sighed and tried to take her hands. She pushed him away.
“No, don’t you dare touch me,” she spat at him, angry tears in her eyes. “It was bad enough that you took my baby brother away for forty-nine years but now you’ve come back and want to take both of them off with you, well maybe you get to live forever Sean Donoghue but look at them, they are old men and they’re too old to be running around the world risking their lives for some damned foolish reason.” She began to cry. Sean sighed. Ryan sat on the bed next to her.
“Annie, lass, first of all, Granddad didn’t take me away, I left because I wanted to go and I would have left even if he hadn’t taken me,” he said and when she tried to turn away, he put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. “Because of Granddad I had the most wonderful life, Annie. I was in love with the most wonderful man in the world and he loved me too. We had eight beautiful children and two wives and a magical adventure. Now me and Danny might be old but we’re not dead yet, don’t make us live like we are. Maybe we’ll die on the trip, maybe we won’t but at least we’ll die doing something, not just sitting on the porch waiting to die like a couple of slugs.” Annie sighed.
“But what if I die before you come back?” she whispered. “What if I never see you both again?” And they knew that was the real reason for her outbreak. They had just come home and now they were leaving for a year and she would never see them again if she died. Sean grinned.
“So come with us, lass,” he suggested and she looked shocked.
“I’m sixty-nine years old, I can’t be gallivanting across the ocean just like that,” she snorted. Sean took her hands.
“Why not, lass, are you scared you’re going to die on the trip? You’re going to die one of these day, why not doing something you’ve never done before?” he said and she shook her head.
“No, I’m not the traveling sort, but you boys have a good trip and maybe I’ll still be alive when you come back,” she whined and went home with her granddaughter. Ryan just shook his head.
“She’ll probably spend the next year wishing she’d come with us,” he commented and they all nodded.
The trip across the ocean was fun. Sean skipped being a sailor and spent all of his time playing cards with his grandsons and talking with the Captain. They had a blast and got special privileges the other guests didn’t get like hot food occasionally and a hot bath once in a while. He bribed the night watch and took both Danny and Ryan up the rigging so they could fly. Danny had the time of his life and swore he now knew what it was like to be a bird. Ryan insisted on bringing Chris along, he carried him everywhere, he couldn’t part with him, but Sean let him, he knew how hard it was to lose someone after so long and promised if the ship went down, he would grab the jar and rescue Chris along with them.
As soon as they landed in Tibor and unloaded the ship, Captain Gaston turned around and sailed directly to Bismol. Sean and the two brothers headed directly to the Giovanni factory. The brothers didn’t even want to speak with him until he put an emerald in an envelope and handed it to the secretary.
“Give this to Mr. Giovanni and tell him that Sean Donoghue would like to speak to him whenever he has the chance,” Sean said and took a seat. The secretary sighed and with a pout, he turned around and walked into the office. Ryan and Danny sat next to Sean and smiled.
A few minutes later the secretary came out of the office and glared at Sean.
“Mr. Giovanni will see you now,” he said very politely and escorted the three men into the office. Two tall, slender gentlemen were sitting in the office, one behind a desk and one on the side of it. The one on the side stood up and started to introduce himself. Sean held up his hand.
“I really think things would be better if we didn’t share our names,” he suggested calmly. Both sets of brothers looked confused. The Giovannis recovered first.
“That would be fine, Mister whatever your name is, you sent a rather intriguing note,” the one behind the desk said and poured the emerald out of the envelope onto the desk. Both brothers looked at it with lust in their eyes. It was then Sean knew he had them in the palm of his hands. Sean nodded.
“I heard through a friend that you gentlemen had an interest in Topangan emeralds and what a coincidence, I happen to have quite a few Topangan emeralds looking for a new home,” he informed them. They both licked their lips.
“What are you looking for in exchange for those emeralds?” the taller man asked.
“I have heard a rumor that you have five thousand rifles in your warehouse ready to be delivered to His Majesty King William the fifth of Hamish. It would be a pity if perhaps tonight at midnight, say, your guards on the warehouse were called to the factory for an important meeting and other guards replaced them. And the guards that replaced them mysteriously vanished overnight with the rifles, that would be a pity wouldn’t it and of course not your fault,” he explained in a soft voice and then tossed a leather pouch onto the desk top.
Both Giovannis who had begun to frown at his story now eagerly opened the pouch. Thirty nine brilliant emeralds sparkled onto the desk top. They began to count them and Sean could have sworn he saw drool.
“How many are you willing to part with for the rifles?” the short fat one asked. Sean shrugged.
“Take as many as you wish, I have plenty,” he told them. They looked at one another and began splitting them up. Danny and Ryan watched them with amazement as they carefully examined each stone and put them into little piles. Finally the tall one sighed.
“We can’t decide; can we have them all?” he asked with a sly grin. Sean thought about it.
“Will you throw in gunpowder and extra bullets, presses and shell cases?” he asked. They both quickly nodded. Sean nodded. The tall one shook his hand.
“We’ll have everything delivered to the warehouse right away. Have your men in uniforms with swords so they look authentic, it won’t be our fault if they screw it up and you get caught,” he informed him and Sean nodded. They turned around and started to walk out. Sean paused at door.
“Tell your men to expect Mr. Benson, and in case you gentlemen decide to cross me remember, I have over two thousand emeralds and I plan to come back often so this can be the beginning of a long friendship or the end of your very short lives,” he said with a gleam in his dark, green eyes that made them both very nervous. They both nodded and look at one another when he left.
“Did he say he had two thousand emeralds? Maurice Giovanni asked his brother Tyrone who nodded.
“Well, he has forty less now,” he remarked and he looked at his twenty and wondered how he was going to hide them from his wife and mistress.
The left the factory and went to a uniform shop and bought fifty all black uniforms. Then they went back to the ship and put fifty sailors in them. Not everyone had black boots so they put black polish on the ones that didn’t and pulled everyone’s hair back into ponytails with black string
When they got to Giovanni’s warehouse, it was a very large one and the men on guard duty didn’t like the fact that they were being pulled off and replaced by strangers. They stared at Sean and his men with suspicion.
“There’s something fishy about this whole thing if you ask me, Mr. Benson,” the head guard Captain Giles told him and stuck his finger in Sean’s chest. Sean just shrugged.
“You’ve got your orders from Mr. Giovanni himself, Captain Giles, please take your men and leave,” he ordered him in a firm tone and the man had no choice but to go. Sean posted lookouts and in no time at all had wagons loaded up and heading for the docks and the Mermaid. Luckily the warehouse was close to the docks so it didn’t take long to unload it. By four in the morning it was emptied and the sailors were aboard the ship and she was heading back to Tibor.
“A very clever plan and well executed, Sean,” Pierre congratulated him and patted him on the back.
“I couldn’t have done it without your men, they were very handed fellows,” Sean insisted on giving praise where it was warranted.
“You paid them nicely for their efforts,” Pierre continued and Ryan and Danny laughed.
“Will you two gentlemen quit, you’re going to make us lose our dinner, you’re so sweet patting one another on the back,” Ryan teased them. Now it was Sean and Pierre’s turn to laugh.
“Okay, okay, we’re just in a good mood, it’s not every day you get to steal the five thousand rifles you’ve just over-paid for,” Sean informed them and now everyone laughed.
When they reached Tibor the three Ridge men went shopping some more. They figured they might as well rent the Mermaid and fill her entire hold with provisions, since they had half the hold filled with rifles. They might as well make the trip count. So they went shopping for coffee, tea, cloth, spices and Sean found a new invention called the sewing machine that was a complete marvel.
“My goodness, what will these clever Ennish think up next?” Ryan exclaimed as he watched a woman demonstrate sewing on the little machine. It had a floor pedal that she stepped on with her foot that caused the arm of the machine to move up and down causing the needle to move and a thing called a shuttle that moved the material and ran it through and it actually sewed just like a person, only faster. The man who had designed it showed them how it ran on two threads, one on a spool on top and one in a thing called a bobbin that was underneath the shuttle. It was amazing.
“How many of these sewing machines do you have that I can buy?” Sean asked him. The man shrugged.
“I have five hundred in my warehouse but I can only sell you fifty, that’s all I’m selling at a time to one person,” he said pompously. Sean put his hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Let’s go into your office and talk about this for a minute, lad,” he said and winked at his two companions. Danny and Ryan looked at one another and grinned. In the office the man took one look at the Topangan emeralds and gasped. Danny and Ryan looked at one another and grinned some more. Later that afternoon Sean loaded five hundred sewing machines aboard the Mermaid.
“Ah, Granddad, I do love it when you take those beauties out and wave them in front of people’s faces,” Danny told his Granddad. Sean put his arm around him and hugged him.
“Ah, lad, greed can be a handy thing can’t it,” he said and they laughed.
With the sewing machines the hold was packed and the ship ready to leave. They loaded on the last of the supplies and passengers and set sail for Anamylia. The Ridge men were ready to go home. It had been an exciting journey but they were ready to return to O’Brien’s Ridge and their families. Danny had a lot of stories to tell his grandchildren.
“Provided of course that we don’t get sunk by a whale and we get there,” he said with a twinkle in his dark, green eyes. Ryan slapped his arm.
“Don’t you be putting a curse on this ship,” he told him. “I’ll throw you overboard to the sharks, old man.” Sean laughed at them.
“You can tell you two are brothers the way you fuss at one another,” he teased them. They both turned to glare at him. He laughed again and took them on deck to watch the shoreline disappear.
The return trip was pretty much like the trip to Ennis. Danny got bored very quickly.
“I don’t see the excitement in being a sailor, every day is the same as the day before it,” he complained as they walked on deck. Sean grinned.
“So is farming, you plant, then you weed and water and then you harvest,” he informed him. “Then the next year you do it all over again.” Danny grinned.
“But at least on the Ridge, there’s more to look at and do, you can go hunting or fishing, or up to Jefferies for a cold beer or walking in the forest,” he said. Then he looked around him and frowned. “Here there’s nothing to look at but the damned ocean, nothing but blue skies and blue water, it’s boring.” A sailor walking past heard him and stopped to grin.
“Yeah, ain’t it beautiful, the sky and the water, so blue today, it’s going to be clear sailing today, not a cloud in the sky and the winds nice and crisp. We’re going to make good time today, yes Sir, it’s going to be a real beautiful day today,” he chortled and laughing kept walking. Sean laughed and put his arm around his grandson.
“See, it’s just what you like that counts,” he said. “You like living on the Ridge and farming and that sailor loves being on this ship and sailing.” Ryan grinned and nodded. Danny shrugged.
“I guess it takes all kinds of people to make the world what it is,” he said and nodded.
Instead of landing at Jamestown or Portsmyth where the Hamish would board the ship and demand their unjust taxes, Captain Gaston anchored near the mouth of the Champion River and Sean and the sailors took the goods up the river to his caves in long boats. They had to make a dozen trips to get it all and filled a lot of caves. He even filled the gold mine with rifles making a ladder and climbing up himself and getting the sailors to lift the long crates up to him. He put two thousand rifles in the gold mine plus twenty barrels of gunpowder.
Then they docked at Portsmyth and Sean and his grandsons said farewell to their friends and agreed to meet them the following year when they returned to Anamylia.
“I’ll send word to the Ridge when we’ve docked,” Captain Gaston promised as they hugged their farewells.
“Good sailing to you, Pierre, and stay away from the whales,” Sean said with a grin. Pierre nodded and grinned back.
In Portsmyth Sean bought another horse, this time a chestnut mare to mate with Sir William and called her Katie like Jamie’s old horse and bought a wagon to fill with supplies to last them until the summer harvest. He also bought a dozen head of cattle, two pigs, a hundred chickens and a dairy cow he named Betsy. Two more rented wagons followed them home. Danny and Ryan sat on comfortable pillows in the back of one of them. They left at dusk, camped out overnight and made the Ridge in the afternoon of the next day. Everyone on Main Street turned to stare as the three wagons drove down it of course, Sean had expected it. The two old men waved at everyone and called out greetings.
“Hey, look its Danny and Ryan Donoghue back from Ennis with their grandson,” someone called out. Danny called back.
“Is my sister Annie still alive?” he asked someone on the street. They nodded.
“She is Danny, she’s still living in Sean Donoghue’s old house waiting for you two to come home,” he told him. The two men laughed and hugged. They looked at Sean who was grinned.
“I told you she’d still be alive, Granddad, and I bet she wishes she’d come with us,” Ryan retorted. Sean nodded.
When they pulled up to the barn in front of Sean’s house, the two men rushed off the wagons, Sean had to rush over to help them.
“Slow down, you two boys, you don’t want to fall off and break something now do you?” he scolded them gently. Ryan flushed.
“No, I guess we don’t, sorry, Granddad,” he apologized. Sean laughed and ruffled his hair.
“She’ll still be there in a minute, hold on, Danny, let me help you down, I swear you two are worse than wee ones, you’re so impatient,” he said and grinned. Finally they were both safe on the ground and he let them go. The rushed up to the house and Annie was waiting on the porch. It was a very tearful reunion. Sean felt tears come to his eyes and he wanted to join them but there were wagons to unload and people wanting to go back to Portsmyth so he went to work instead.
Finally the chickens were in their house, the pigs were in theirs, the cow was in the barn, one of the cattle was tied up out back waiting to be butchered, the others in the corral, and all the supplies were in the house waiting to be put away and Sean was free to go inside. The rented wagons were on their way back to Portsmyth, the men happy with the twenty gilder bonus Sean had given them for their troubles.
“Well, I see you got my brothers home safe and sound, but we lost a year we should have spent together,” Annie said when he entered the kitchen. They were all sitting around drinking coffee. Ryan and Danny rolled their eyes. Sean grinned and bending down, kissed her cheek.
“How lovely it is to see you too, Annie, darling,” he told her and got a cup for his coffee. She sniffed.
“I’m seventy years old, Granddad, I don’t know how long I’ll live, you can’t be taking the boys away from me again,” she told him firmly and he nodded and sat down.
“Ah, lass, you’re so ornery, you’ll going to live to be ninety at least,” he teased her and she rolled her eyes.
“That’s not charming, Granddad, that’s just rude,” she snapped and all the men laughed. Sally the housekeeper offered them food and they all said yes. Sean got up and helped her to her surprise and soon they were eating fried potatoes with ham, eggs and toast.
Then the boys went to lie down in their room, Annie went to sit on the porch and Sean helped Sally and Bill her husband who both were living upstairs put away all the supplies and food. Soon the cabinets and cellar were filled. Then Sean harnessed up two of the mules he had just bought and began to plow the big field he used to plow with Jamie. No one had plowed it for years and the dirt was hard and tough to dig through but he had always loved digging up the dirt and today was no exception.
He plowed through dinner, just waved them aside when they called him and then plowed deep into the night. When it got to be after eleven he stopped and went in to eat and take a nice hot soak and go to sleep. He had muscles aching that he hadn’t used in years but it felt so good to be back in the fields again working in the land.
The next morning Sean woke up at five and went out to the barn to milk the cow and felt like crying, it felt so good to be back in the old routine.
“Hi, Betsy, it’s just you and me, lass,” he told her and gave her a cup of oats to munch on while he milked her. Toby the cat meowed at his feet and he squirted some milk onto the floor for him to lick up. The cat attacked it and wanted more so he gave him some more and then went to the house. Sally wasn’t up yet, he guessed she and Bill slept in because the old ones did.
So Sean made his breakfast as quietly as he could. He took out the milk fat for butter and put ice cubes in his glass of milk so he could drink it cold. He ate and then went out to the fields again. The sun was just up and the day promised to be a good one, nice and sunny. He could see others in their fields just like he was and some of them waved at him so he waved back. About two hours later the two brothers and Annie came out to the porch and waved at him so he waved back at them.
“He sure is a hard worker ain’t he?” Danny remarked as they watched Sean expertly turn the mules at the corner of the field and start another row. Ryan nodded.
“He’s never happier than when he’s digging up the dirt, he loves it,” he informed him and the grandchildren came to listen to stories about the cannibals and Ryan was so busy telling stories all morning he didn’t have time to watch Sean do his work.
“Tell the children about cannibals and giving them nightmares, their mothers are going to come up here and spank you, old man,” Sean teased when he took his supper break. Ryan looked guilty and Sean laughed.
“I didn’t mean to scare them,” he stammered. Sean put his hand on his grandson’s shoulder.
“Ah, lad, I was just teasing, that’s what Granddads are supposed to do, tell scary stories, let their parents deal with them,” he said and the two old men relaxed. They all went in to supper. Annie laughed.
“I don’t believe half of what you were saying anyway, Ryan Donoghue, people eating people, you were probably making it all up to scare the children,” she slapped his arm. Sean looked at her and shook his head.
“He wasn’t making any of that up, lass; those cannibals actually exist and they almost ate the missionaries and they would have if we hadn’t rescued them,” he informed her and Ryan shuddered. Sean put his arm around his shoulder and hugged him.
“You’re going to scare yourself with those old stories, silly goose,” he said softly and Ryan grinned.
“Not as long as I have Chris to protect me I won’t have any nightmares,” he told him and Sean nodded.
“What do you mean as long as you have Chris?” Annie demanded. “Chris is dead and buried on Topangan,” she snapped and Ryan shook his head. He went to his room and came back with the large beautiful clay jar containing the ashes of his loved one.
“Here is Chris,” he announced. Both Annie and Danny as well as Sally and Bill looked mystified. Sean explained about the jar containing the burned ashes of Ryan’s beloved Chris and how when Ryan died he would be burned the same way and his ashes combined in the jar with his lover’s and the two buried together. Danny, Sally and Bill all thought that was a lovely thing to do, but Annie clearly though her brother had gone mad.
“Ryan Donoghue, have you gone mad, what kind of crazy thing is that to do to your poor body. How’s it going to get to get to heaven when you’ve burnt it up to ashes, it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of,” she spat and turned to Sean. “And why are you encouraging him. And you let poor Chris burn up his body, you’re all fools. You lived on that island too long and all that sun’s fried your brains.”
Both Ryan and Sean burst out laughing. She glared at them; it seemed she didn’t appreciate their reaction to her outbreak. Sean took her hands in his.
“Annie, lass, your body doesn’t go to heaven, it stays here on earth in the grave where they bury it so you don’t need it anymore after you die,” he informed her gently. “It’s your spirit that’s goes to heaven. What Chris and Ryan are doing is an old Topangan custom and it’s a beautiful one, it ensures that their bodies here on earth will be together for all eternity while their spirits are together forever in heaven. You may not understand it but you have no right to condemn it, so hush your mouth, lass. You can do whatever you want with your body, it’s yours but your brother has every right to do what he wants with his body, it’s his right.” Sean’s voice was very firm and she slowly nodded. Ryan smiled and he reached out and took his Granddad’s hand and kissed it.
Once spring planting was over, Sean did the whole big field with vegetables and a whole field of melons and strawberries as well as trimming back the blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Then he planted two big fields of barley and went across the river and trimmed back the hops that was growing wild and free. Next he and the boys built several tall, large targets so he could take out the rifles and practice shooting them. He read the instruction book that came with them, learned how to clean them, they came with a can of cleaning solution, several small cloths and a long metal stick that had a hook at one end that one attached a cloth to stick down the long barrel. It was fairly obvious how to do it. The book did point out that if you didn’t want to be shot by your own gun that you had to make sure that a bullet wasn’t in the chamber before you released the little hinge and bended it in half. Sean lifted an eyebrow at that. He could just see some idiot blowing himself in the face cleaning his rifle.
Sean made his targets out of logs, splitting them in half and nailing them together and making tall rectangles. He painted huge outlines of a bear, a deer and smaller ones of squirrels, rabbits and birds on them to aim for. He, on purpose, didn’t put the outline of a man on them. He figured the men who shot the rifles would figure out soon enough that you could shoot a man with them as well as you could shoot a deer, he didn’t have to give them any ideas. He knew that the Hamish army hadn’t intended the five thousand he had stolen from them for deer hunting.
Sean lined up his targets with the mountain behind them and counted off a hundred paces. He had set everything up on a table and Danny and Ryan stood by the table with smiles of anticipation of their faces. Bill, Sally and Annie were sitting off to the side; they didn’t want to miss on the excitement. Sean carefully loaded a bullet into the chamber, slid the bolt back and then cocked the handle. Then he lifted the rifle and braced it against his shoulder, closed one eye and peered through the ‘v’ of the sight, aimed and gently pulled the trigger. The gun jerked out of his hands, made a loud explosion and a bullet raced out and struck the target a few feet from where he had been aiming. He hadn’t held it tight enough; Sean hadn’t been ready for the jerking of the rifle.
“Oh, my God, did you see that, holy shit,” Ryan yelled and he patted Sean on his back and grinned. Danny was practically jumping up and down.
“You hit the target, Granddad, you hit the target,” he shouted. Bill and the others clapped their hands. Sean took a bow.
“This thing has quite a kick to it, it almost flew from my hands,” he told them. “I’ll hold on tighter this time,” he said. He slid the bolt back and the shell casing flew out and onto the ground. Danny bent down and picked it up and then almost dropped it.
“Hot damned, this sucker is hot,” he said and they all examined it. It was hot. Sean looked it over.
“The gunpowder must make it hot when it explodes,” he said and they all nodded. He loaded another bullet and cocked the handed being careful to keep the barrel turned to the ground away from everyone and then lifted it up, aimed and fired. This time he was ready for the jerking and hit the deer right in its head. Everyone cheered.
“You’re a hell of a shot, Granddad,” Ryan said and kissed him full of his lips. Annie laughed. Sean fired five more rounds and then handed the rifle to Ryan.
“Here, lad, you fire a few,” he offered and Ryan grinned.
“You know I want to,” he said and Sean grinned. He watched as his grandson carefully loaded it, barrel to the ground like he had seen Sean do and then he took aim.
“You look through this little ‘v’ thingy, right?” Ryan asked and Sean told him yes. Then he told him to hold tight because when he fired it was going to jerk a lot. Ryan nodded and he fired. The rifle almost went flying out of his hands and the bullet hit the mountain. Annie groaned.
“You’re too old to be messing with that thing, Ryan, put it down,” she snapped. Sean glared at her.
“He just wasn’t ready for the jerking, he’ll be ready next time,” he informed her, then he turned to Ryan, “Try again, lad, and this time; hold on tighter.” Ryan nodded and this time, he hit the deer in the chest. Everyone cheered and he fired twice more before he gave up tired.
“It’s a young man’s game, this rifle business,” he told his Granddad. “But thanks for letting me try it,” he said with a big grin. Sean nodded. And of course Danny had to take his turn and he held on tight and hit the target the first time. Everyone cheered and clapped but after five shots he agreed with his brother that it was a young man’s game. Then Sean turned to Bill and offered him a try.
“Who me, I’m just the hired man?” Bill stammered. Ryan laughed.
“There’s no such distinction to Sean Donoghue,” he informed him. And to Bill’s complete surprise Sean took out a brand new rifle and handed it to him.
“This one’s for you, lad, try it out and see if you like it,” he said and winked at the brothers. Ryan elbowed Danny and they both covered their mouths to hide their grins. Bill tried the rifle and discovered what Sean had discovered; it was a powerful weapon and felt wonderful in his hands.
“This is going to change hunting forever,” he exclaimed thinking of how easy it was going to be to get a deer with this thing. Sean nodded.
“It’s going to change a lot of thing forever,” he told him with a slight smile. Then he showed him how to clean the rifles and they unhook the little hinge, after making sure they were unloaded and everyone watched them put a little cleaning oil on the cloths, hook them to the rods and stick them down the barrels. They were amazed at the reddish dirt that had accumulated.
“That must be gunpowder residue,” Daniel explained and they all nodded like they had ever seen it before. When the guns were cleaned, Sean put the supplies back in the little wooden box they had come in and handed one of them to Bill who looked surprise.
“Why are you giving this to me?” he asked timidly, hope shining in his eyes. Sean smiled at that hope.
“Well, you’re going to need this to clean your rifle,” he explained. Bill’s eyes lit up.
“You’re giving me the rifle?” he asked weakly and Sean nodded.
“Of course I am, you’re my man and you work for me, consider it a bonus for a job well done,” he said and the man gave a big yell and hugged him. All the men laughed and Annie frowned.
“He’ll probably shot his foot off with that thing,” she grumbled and Bill shook his head.
“Oh, no, Annie, I won’t I’ll be real careful,” he assured her. Sean gave him three hundred bullets in a leather bag and told him to get the slugs from the animals he shot when he could and of course save the shell casings because they could be used again. Bill rushed back to the house a happy man. Sean, Ryan and Danny walked over to the targets and with knives dug out the fired slugs, which were now mashed messes.
“Wow, look what we did to this one!” Danny exclaimed as he held out a smashed ball of gray metal. Sean took it from him.
“Imagine what this wee little piece of metal could do to a man,” he said grimly. They both shook their heads.
“It’s a good thing you did, Granddad, stealing those rifles from the Hamish,” Ryan said softly. “Imagine those rifles in the hands of those filthy bastards.” Sean nodded.
“They’ll have them soon enough but what’s important is that we’ll have them too,” he said smugly. Both men nodded.
The next day Sean spent making a lot more targets and some plank tables. He lined them up by the mountain where they could safely fire and no one could get hurt, he didn’t want an innocent passerby getting shot by a flyaway bullet. Then he gathered all of his male relatives sixteen years and older, there were fifty-two of them and had them met him, Ryan and Danny by the targets. Of course all the women and younger children had to come along to see what the excitement was about.
“I asked all of you here because I wanted to show you something we brought back from Ennis,” Sean spoke loudly so they all could hear him. He held the rifle up so they could see it. Ryan, Danny and Bill held up theirs.
“This is called a rifle and it was invented by the Giovanni brothers and it’s going to change the way you hunt forever,” Sean continued. “It fires one of these, they’re called bullets,” he said and held up a bullet. He passed bullets out so that they all could see what they looked like. All of them looked interested in what he was saying and he could all see they wanted to get their hands on one of those rifles. He didn’t blame them, when Pierre first showed him the rifle, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on one either.
“Now a bullet is made up of three things, first there’s the shell casing, that’s the shiny gold part, then there’s the slug, that the grayish part on the top,” Sean informed them. “And there’s a third part that you can’t see, that’s the gunpowder and that’s inside the casing and its red. That’s the most important part of the bullet, that’s the part that makes it explode out of the rifle, or the gun, as it’s also called and fires it down the barrel and into the deer or bear or squirrel.” Everyone looked at one another and smiled.
Then Sean and the others spread out and he identified the parts of the gun and told them what each part did. Then he showed them how to load the bullet in and cock the handle which he read in the book was called the lever. So he cocked the lever.
“Now when you cock the lever to load the bullet, you want to make sure that the rifle is pointing at the ground and not another person,” Sean told them firmly. “Always point the barrel to the ground when you have it in your hand. This trigger mechanism is very delicate and it goes off with just a mere touch. You don’t want to shot your wife or children or your buddy you’re hunting with. You could kill them the same way you can kill a deer or a bear with this rifle. So always point the rifle to the ground when you’re holding it,” Sean emphasized and they all nodded. He could see they all understood the seriousness of the weapon.
Then Sean faced the targets, lifted the rifle to his shoulder, told them about the sight on the barrel and how to look through it, closing one eye helped, and holding on tight because it had a fierce kick. Then he fired and they all flinched at the explosion. They watched the bullet hit the deer right in its painted eye and they all grinned. Now Sean could see they couldn’t wait to get their hands on a gun now. So he opened the boxes and lined them all up at tables and handed them their own rifles.
“Todd, keep that barrel facing the ground, you don’t want to shot your dad do you?” Sean asked gently as he steered the gun barrel down. The seventeen year-old gasped and blushed.
“Oh, God, no, I’m sorry, Dad,” he stammered. His dad grinned at him.
“Its okay, lad, just remember to point that thing to the ground whenever you have it in your arms,” he warned him and the boy nodded. When they all had bullets loaded, Sean gave the order for them to cock the levers and then they took aim and then he yelled.
“Fire.” And they did. It was an explosion of fifty-two rifles and it echoed over the mountains like nothing the mountains had ever heard before. All of the women plugged their fingers to their ears and laughed. Birds took to the air, screaming their protest. Everyone laughed at who had hit the targets and who had hit the mountain. Then they slid the bolts and felt the heat of the shell casings and tried again.
Sean let them all try ten shots and then he made them clean their rifles and he told them how important it was to keep them free of the gunpowder residue or the barrels will get filled with it and misfire, the bullets could come out the other end and kill them, or blow the barrel apart. And he warned them about making sure the gun was empty before unlatching the hinge or they could blow a hole in themselves.
“You don’t want to shoot yourselves, lads, think how embarrassing that would be,” he informed them and they all laughed.
“Now the sea Captain who bought these fine rifles paid a hundred gilders apiece for them and he sold them to me for a hundred and fifty gilders each,” Sean told them and they all looked at one another and frowned. They couldn’t afford that. None of them had that kind of coin. Sean could see the disappointment on their faces. He quickly put them out of their misery.
“But seeing how your all my great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren, although some of you still don’t believe in all that Fairie Cave legend nonsense, I’m going to give you a big cut on the price,” Sean informed them with a big grin. Ryan giggled.
“How much are you going to charge us?” Douglas his youngest grandson asked; his face worried. Everyone looked at Sean who smiled at Douglas.
“Not a gilder, Doug, the rifles are my gift to all of you because you’re my family and you don’t charge family for something like this,” he said and they all gasped. Ryan and Danny laughed. Then Sean turned to the women.
“Don’t you ladies fret, I brought back something from Ennis for you too and you’re going to love it,” he teased them and they all got excited.
“What is it?” Lizzie asked as they walked back to the house. Sean hugged her.
“As soon as I figure out how to work it, I’ll show it to you, give me a couple of days, lass,” he told her and she pouted. He patted her backside and grinned.
“I can’t teach you how to operate it if I don’t know how, now can I?” he reasoned and she was mystified. All the women tried to think of what it could be, but they just had to wait.
The next day Sean and some of the men went down to the caves and brought back barrels of sugar, coffee and tea and passed it out amongst his family. They were very grateful because the stores had so little of it and the price was so high.
“Those damned Hamish and their high taxes are killing us,” Ben one of his grandsons grumbled. Sean nodded.
“You ought to start a conversation with others who think the same way and try to think of ways you can handle that,” he told him. Ben thought about it.
“No, I can’t think of any,” he said and Sean knew he wasn’t the right man for the job.
The next day he took out one of the sewing machines and some sewing supplies and set it up in the front room. Sally and Annie took one look at it and were amazed.
“What is this, Sean?” Annie asked. Sean smiled at her.
“This is called a sewing machine, lass and you’re going to be amazed at what it can do,” he informed her.
“A machine that can sew?” Sally gasped and they watched as Sean put the pedal on the floor, then took out a spool of thread wound the thread through the machine and put a bobbin in, thread the needle and then put two pieces of material down on the shuttle and with a light press on the pedal the shuttle moved the material, the needle moved up and down rather quickly, Sean guided the material straight and then it was done. The material had gone through. He held it up, cut the threads in back of the needle and then opened it for them to see. They both gasped in shock.
“Give that to me,” Annie demanded and with a smile he did. She carefully examined the sewn material. Sally peered over her shoulder.
“Look at the neat tiny stitches,” she said with awe. Annie tried to break the material apart and couldn’t.
“I can’t believe it, Granddad; do it again,” she ordered. Sean took the material and did it again, and again and a fourth time, leaving a little space. Then he turned the material inside out and he had a little pillow. Both women looked at it with awe.
“If you fill this with foam, you’ll have a little pillow, just like that,” Sally spoke with wonder and Annie nodded and looked at the machine with reverence.
“Where was this damned thing when I was making clothes for five kids,” she snapped and Sean laughed and hugged her.
“Let’s set up a machine for Sally and get the books out to read them,” he suggested and that’s what they did.
For the next few days Sean, Sally, and Annie became experts on the sewing machines and they made a couple of shirts for the men and two dresses and a couple of pillows and curtains for the house. It was the easiest thing in the world. Sally was so happy so almost cried when she sat down at it. Sean teased her.
“You’re never going to sew by hand again are you, lass?” he said and hugged her.
“Never again, Sean Donoghue, never again,” she said and grinned.
They called all the women of the family together and made baby clothes for the demonstration making little pants and shirts while the women gasped with surprise and wonder. Even the younger girls who were just learning how to sew wanted one. So Sean gave them all sewing machines, each and every woman, even the baby girls got a sewing machine and he put twenty aside for the girls who even born yet. He would make more trips to Ennis later for more children. Then he took one up to Stone’s five and dime and gave a demonstration to Ben Stone who was the great-grandson of the original. Luckily he had heard about it from his wife who was a friend of the family and he bought a hundred on consignment with Sean, them splitting the profits.
Friday night Sean and the brothers went up to Jefferies to have a cold one. Sean hadn’t been back long enough to make any beer, he didn’t have any barley yet so he took a bottle of his own whiskey to drink in case the beer turned out to be bad and a cask of rum to give as a present. Several relatives greeted the three men as they entered the tavern.
“Hey, Stan,” Sean greeted his great-grandson who owned the place and put the cask of rum on the bar. Stan came over and grinned at him.
“I shot a deer today, got him at over a hundred yards, I love that rifle,” he informed him and several men looked interested.
“That’s all you Donoghues can talk about is these blasted rifles, what the hell are rifles?” one of them asked. Sean looked at him.
“I’ll show you mine in a minute, let me talk to Stan here,” he said and they nodded.
“I brought you a little something from the island, its called rum and while it’s not whiskey which is a real man’s drink, it’ll be good for the boys to drink,” he told him with a grin. Some of the men laughed and Stan took it.
“Okay, I’ll try it out and see if they like it,” he said and offered Sean a free beer for bringing it. Sean agreed and took a sip of the beer he was given.
“Ah, lad, it’s a sin to be serving this crap to the men,” he said and made a face. They all laughed. Stan nodded.
“It’s the only beer I can get, Granddad,” he told him. “Not everyone can afford the thousand gilders for a license and this crap costs me a fortune as it is.” Sean nodded.
“Don’t worry, lad, as soon as I get some barley I’ll be making my beer and you can tell the man who had the audacity to sell you this crap to go to hell,” he said and everyone cheered. Then Sean picked up his rifle and showed it to everyone. They were fascinated it by it and more than one hand came out to stroke the barrel or stock.
Then Sean loaded a bullet into it and told Stan to put an empty glass on the bar.
“Plug up your ears, lads, its going to be loud,” he warned and then he lifted it, aimed and fired, hitting the glass and blowing it up. The men all gasped. Sean ejected the shell casing and a man picked it up and then dropped it.
“It’s hot,” he said with surprise and picked it up again.
“That’s because of the gunpowder,” Sean informed him. And then he explained to all of them how the gun worked. Then he told them that if they wanted to buy one from him they could for only fifty gilders.
“Fifty gilders, that’s a lot,” one man muttered and looked at his feet. Sean nodded.
“Or you plant some barley and pay me in that,” he suggested and added that they could pick up the rifles now and deliver the barley in the fall. Everyone perked up at that.
“Just a field of barley for a gun, that’s all?” Jack Green asked him with hope in his eyes. Sean nodded.
“I’m going to need a lot of barley if I’m going to be making my beer and whiskey to sell to Stan here,” he informed them and everyone nodded. This they could understand, he wasn’t giving the rifles away, they were earning them fair and square, a man had his pride after all, and no one wanted to accept charity. Ryan leaned forward.
“Good idea, Granddad,” he whispered and Sean grinned at him.
“A man’s got to keep his pride, lad, sometimes that’s all a man has,” he told him and both brothers nodded.
Over the next weeks Sean handed out a lot of rifles to men on the Ridge, some for fifty gilders but most of them for the promise of barley. He took the men for their word refusing the offer of a promissory note, saying that he trusted them. He told Bill to watch out for any Hamish nobility that heard about the rifles and rode up, he didn’t intend for any of his precious rifles to fall into the wrong hands. And if it happened that he was turning down a Hamish at the same time that a Ridge man was showing up, he and Bill worked out a signal so that Bill could take the Ridge man aside and hold him until the Hamish left. Sean didn’t want any Ridge men leaving his farm without a rifle.
“You’re giving out a lot of rifles aren’t you, Granddad?” Young Sean asked him one day late in April. Sean nodded as the latest man rode away. Young Sean sighed.
“There probably won’t be one for me when I turn sixteen in two years,” he said with a sad look. Sean grinned at him.
“Ah, lad, don’t worry, I’ve put one away for you and all of the other lads in the family plus fifty more that haven’t even been born yet,” he assured him and Sean’s eyes lit up.
“Really, you’ve put away a rifle for me?” he asked, barely able to control his excitement. Sean laughed and took him to the gold mine and showed him the two thousand rifles stored there. Young Sean was amazed.
“This is also the Donoghue family gold mine, lad, so if anything happens to me, you’ll know where it is,” he told him and ruffled his hair. Young Sean nodded.
“You can trust me, Granddad, I won’t tell those bastards the Hamish where it is,” he declared passionately and Sean hugged him.
“I know you won’t, lad, cuz you’re a Donoghue,” he said proudly and the boy beamed.
The first of May Sean and a few others loaded up some rifles and headed next door to Gannon’s Ridge. The ten Ridges in their order from Jamestown were: Adams, Lamanski, O’Brien’s, Gannon’s, O’Malley’s, Henry’s, MacDonald’s, Gray’s, Thomas’s and Chervek’s the last because a lot of Cherveks had landed there. They were the closets to the southwest and the Keetik Indians and the Indians learned very quickly to leave their fierce people alone. They didn’t eat many hearts from the mighty Cherveks.
The men of Gannon’s Ridge were very interested in the rifle demonstration that Sean and the Donoghue men gave. They were very interested in the low price of twenty gilders Sean was charging for them also. And very interested in the barrel of barley he was willing to take in exchange in the fall for a rifle now.
“Why barley?” one of them asked with suspicion. Sean shrugged.
“I make beer and whiskey and I have a need for plenty of barley,” he informed them and they all nodded and grinned. Sean handed out over four hundred rifles and then hit the other Ridges with the same offer.
“You’re going to have enough barley to last a lifetime,” Ryan remarked as they rode home after the last Ridge. Sean shrugged.
“So I’ll make a lot of whiskey, there’s always coin in selling whiskey,” he said and the brothers nodded.
After every trip Young Sean had to be taken back to the gold cave and shown that there were still enough rifles left so that he was sure to get his. He was very happy when the last Ridge was done and no more wagons loaded up with rifles were leaving Sean’s farm. Sean laughed at him.
“I’d never give away your rifle, lad, not after I promised it to you,” he assured him. Young Sean nodded but Sean could see he really wasn’t sure. A ship came in Portsmyth with barley for one of the breweries and Sean took a wagon and a couple of men, Lonnie and Todd seemed to like riding with him so he let them and headed down to see if he could buy some. The beer was so bad at Stan’s and he missed his beer. He made a deal with the Captain for some emerald chips and loaded up in the middle of the night and headed home. No soldiers bothered them and he left the two men in the forest while he went back for his licenses. He decided to go ahead and get both to save himself a trip in the fall.
“You want a whiskey and a beer making license?” the sergeant looked at Sean like he was crazy. Sean explained.
“Well, I won’t be making the whiskey until the fall and my barley crop comes in but I thought I’d go ahead and get it now so I won’t have to make another trip in a few weeks,” he explained. It was the end of August. The sergeant looked at his lieutenant and they both laughed. The lieutenant cleared his throat.
“You do understand don’t you, Mr. Donoghue, that they’re separate licenses, you have to pay for each of them,” he informed him and Sean nodded.
“I understand that, Lieutenant Foster,” he said and with a grin the sergeant handed over the correct forms. Sean took his time filling them out making sure to cross all the t’s and dot the i’s while the word spread round the office that they had a live one. A real live mountain man newly arrived from Topanga Island who thought he was going to be making beer and whiskey in Anamylia. They could barely control their hysterics.
“These look in order, Mr. Donoghue,” the lieutenant said and he choked back a laugh. Then he looked at Sean. “That will be one thousand gilders for the beer making license and one thousand gilders for the whiskey making license,” he spoke firmly waiting for Sean to collapse into rage or tears or both like many men had before him. Sean calmly reached into his pack and pulled out two cloth bags. He opened one and began pulled out gold coins and stacking them on the lieutenant’s desk. The soldiers watched in awe as he casually stacked ten stacks and then opened the other bag and made another row.
“You’ll find its all here, Lieutenant Foster, I’ll take my licenses and be on my way now, if you don’t mind,” Sean said calmly and the lieutenant’s mouth dropped open.
“But you must be mad, you don’t even own a brewery, you have to have a brewery to make beer and a distillery to make whiskey,” he stammered. Sean nodded.
“And I do. I have a two-hundred and fifty gallon brewery and a hundred gallon still,” he informed them and went on to say that he only made beer and whiskey as a hobby, it relaxed him after a long day of farming.
“I only intended to sell my beer to one tavern, Jefferies on the Ridge and maybe Gannon’s but they’ll have to come get it if they want it, I’m not making that trip,” he informed them. They still looked shocked.
“You’re going to pay two thousand gilders so you can make beer and whiskey as a hobby?” the sergeant yelled. Sean shrugged.
“I like to make beer and whiskey and I wouldn’t have to pay anything if it wasn’t for you Hamish and your silly taxes, you’re the one who make it so expensive for a simple man like myself to enjoy his hobby,” he explained patiently. The lieutenant took the forms into the major’s office and told the major what the mad man had said. Major Walters snorted.
“These Anamylian mountain men are the stupidest men in the world. Where the hell did this fool get all this coin to piss away like this, that’s what I want to know,” he snapped as he signed the documents. The lieutenant shrugged. He went back and handed Sean his documents and the mad man left. The soldiers were in a bad mood all day; he had really spoiled their fun.
Sean went home and heated up the processing room and made a batch of beer. Then he chopped down six Peanja trees in anticipation for all that barley he was going to have to make some whiskey. He was in a very good mood for the rest of the month.
Fall harvest came and the whole Ridge was busy as everyone prepared for winter. Sean went back to Portsmyth after all, he and Ryan needed warm clothes, sweaters and long under-garments and scarves and hats and stuff. He was really looked forward to snow but he worried about he effects of it on Ryan, after all, he had lived forty-eight years in a tropical temperature, how would his body react to the bitter cold once again.
“Ah, you worry too much, Granddad, I was born in this land remember,” Ryan chided him as Sean picked up yet another sweater and held it up to see if he liked it. Sean grinned.
“I guess I do worry, lad, I’m sorry, I’ll try not to fuss over you like a woman,” he told him and Annie snorted.
“Why do men always insult women like that, for your information men are filthy pigs,” she declared. The men all laughed.
“Women are always saying that about men,” Sean informed her and she looked surprised.
“They are?” she asked and he nodded.
“Men say women are fussy and dumb and women say men are idiots and pigs,” he told them. “I guess everyone’s got to insult someone,” Sean said with a grin. They all laughed.
Sean made a dozen batches of whiskey and stored them in his aging room he had dug in the side of the mountain. He built a nice wooden door for it and marked it for spring of sixteen ninety-eight, eighteen months from now. Then he concentrated on his beer. He made two batches of that and had them aging. If they sat for a little while it wouldn’t hurt it, beer that sat in the cold only got better.
In between making beer and whiskey Sean chopped wood and picked apples and peaches, butchered the head of cattle and two pigs, hunted for deer with his rifle and went in search of honey which he found without bears. He guessed all the bears had wandered off because of all the people moving into the area. It was really getting crowded on the Ridge with all the new people moving in during the past forty-nine years. It was really lucky that he had helped the Malweenahs because they would have surely lost their valley by now.
The middle of November brought the first flurries and Sean and Ryan rushed outside to see their first snow in almost half a century. Annie watched from the porch and snorted.
“They’ll both catch a death of cold and die,” she muttered but even she had to smile at the delight on their faces. Sean collected enough for a snowball and threw it at Ryan who laughed.
“Ah, Granddad, how I wish Chris were alive to see this, he’s never seen snow before,” he said with tears in his eyes. Sean wrapped his arms around him.
“Ah, lad, I bet there’s snow in heaven and I bet its not even cold like this,” he told him and they went inside before it got too bitter. They didn’t want to catch cold and prove Annie right.
Sunday they all bundled up and attended Church services. Sean got a lot of admiring glances from the local single girls which he was used to but none of them stirred anything in him like Maggie had. Some of the men were interesting though but he didn’t want to get the reputation of being Fey and the morals of the Ridge weren’t as loose as they had been on the island so he guessed he would have to settle for good old fashioned masturbation for a while.
“Any of those young ladies look interesting to you, Granddad?” Ryan whispered as they sat in their pew, he glanced over at a group of ladies who were whispering and looking at Sean and giggling.
“They’re giggling, Ryan, for God’s sake, your grandmom never giggled like that,” Sean snapped. Ryan and Danny looked at each other and raised an eyebrow.
“He’s not going to be easy to marry off,” Danny whispered. Ryan nodded.
“I tried for forty-eight years on Topanga and he never met anyone he liked,” he whispered back. Annie shushed them; Father Zucker was beginning the service.
And it was a long and boring service, at least to Sean who had sat through hundreds of them. He was a hundred and eighty-seven and he had been attending Church most of his life so he figured he had sat through at least a million of these same boring services. And they all said the same thing. God is love, be kind to your neighbor, do to others the way you want them to do to you. Give generously to the Church so they can spread the message of love to the world. And women obey your husbands because they’re the leaders of the house and they know what’s best and God told you to. It’s your job to bare the burden of bearing children and a sin to do it outside of marriage so be strong and don’t do it. Men are weak and it’s a woman’s job to be the stronger one and wait until marriage. Sean thought it all a load of crap. What right did the priests who knew anything about women or children have to tell them what their jobs were.
But he sat through the service and saw all the women nodding their heads like good little girls and knew they believed what they were hearing and wondered how long it would take them to quit and tell the priests to go pound sand up their arses. Maybe when they got tired of being the strong ones who got blamed for everything and had to bare the responsibility when too many children were born and the poor husband worked himself to an early grave trying to support all of them.
“Did you enjoy the service, Sean?” Annie asked as they stood in the foyer. She was surprised when he shook his head; she had thought it a lovely sermon.
“Any woman who believes all that rot is an idiot,” he told her and several women nearby gasped. Mrs. Carter, an older woman marched up to him and demanded he explain why he thought that, she believed a woman’s scared duty was to bear children for God.
“A woman doesn’t have a duty to God, she has a duty to live the best, happiest life she can, to find someone to love who loves her and if having children makes them both happy they should have children,” Sean informed her. “But if they don’t want children and want to devote themselves entirely to making each other happy, then they should be able to, it’s their lives and no one has the right to tell them how to live it, not their parents, not their friends, and especially some priests who has made the decision not to marry and have children himself.” A few people nodded and a few people were shocked. Mrs. Carter was shocked.
“Father Zucker can’t get married and have children, he’s given his life to God,” she snapped. Sean nodded.
“And it’s his life to do that. But he has no right telling other people how they should live their lives, especially telling women, who priests know nothing about, that they should kill themselves having child after child because God told them to,” he snapped back. “Does God tell them how to feed and clothe all those children or how to get another husband because the one who gave you all those children has died killing himself working to support all those children? The priests don’t mention that in their sermons do they?”
Now more than a few people were nodding and Mrs. Carter looked like she was going to faint. Sean took pity on her and bid her a good day and walked away. Several people clapped as he left the Church.
“I think in the spring I’ll be planting a whole lot of Wild Blue Tansies,” Sean remarked casually as he drove the carriage home. Annie laughed.
“Blue Tansies, I haven’t thought about those for years. I guess no one has,” she commented with a sly grin on her face. “I suspect the Ridge’s birth rate is going to be getting a lot less in the years to come.” The men laughed.
In December Sean bundled up the two men and loaded up the wagon with barrels of beer and headed down to Jefferies. When they walked in with Sean carrying a barrel over his shoulder the tavern went silent.
“Hey, Granddad, is that your famous beer?” Todd yelled across the silence. Sean nodded and put the barrel up on the bar. One man turned to Todd.
“Why do all of you call Sean, Granddad, he’s only twenty-one?” he asked. Todd and a few others laughed.
“It’s because he looked just like the first Sean Donoghue, the one in the painting with Maggie,” Ryan announced and they all nodded. The other man nodded, it made some sense to them. They watched with bated breath as Sean shoved the tap in without using a hammer.
“He’s a strong one,” someone remarked.
Then Sean poured a little and then dumped it out, explaining to Stan about the rinsing out the tap and, of course, someone complained about his beer tasting like metal. Sean had to grin; it was like a scene from his life playing all over again and again. Then he poured a nice full mug for Stan to taste and waited for the next comment, it didn’t take long.
“It’s a nice color,” someone commented and Sean grinned as he handed the mug over. Stan took it and took a big sip. His eyes widened and he grinned.
“That’s the best beer I’ve ever tasted, God-damned that’s good,” he declared and everyone rushed to empty their glasses in the buckets Ryan and Danny held out and stood in line for Sean to fill them. Then Sean filled mugs for him and the boys and everyone cheered.
“This is the best damned beer I ever tasted,” Todd exclaimed and he came over to pat Sean on the back. Douglas nodded.
“This is better than Danny used to make,” he said and apologized to Danny who shrugged.
“Guess who taught me how to make beer?” he teased and hugged Sean. Everyone who knew the secret laughed. Even those who had no clue laughed, they were so happy. Sean and Stan agreed on a fair price which was three gilders less than the price he was paying now and some men went out to the wagon and brought in the other seven barrels.
“And there’s plenty more where that came from so drink up boys,” Sean told them and they cheered again. Sean laughed and sat down with his grandsons. Douglas came over to join them and the four men talked. Then his brother Ben came in and his eyes lit up when he heard that Sean had made the beer.
“Granddad made the beer, oh, my God, I’ve died and gone to heaven,” he declared and he sat with him and took a big sip. Sighing with pleasure he closed his eyes. “Oh, Danny, that’s even better than yours,” he said and apologized. Danny laughed.
“That’s okay, Granddad is the one who taught me how to process the barley when I was just a wee lad,” he told him and of course he and Sean had to tell them that story which led to other stories and Douglas who had just been born after Ryan and Sean left for Topanga and missed those days got misty-eyed. Sean patted his hands.
“I’m sorry, Douglas, I wasn’t here for when you were a wee lad,” he said and Douglas nodded.
“I know why you had to go, Granddad, people would have wondered after you reached ninety or so why you didn’t die, after a hundred they would have blamed it on Satan and burned you for a witch,” he leaned forward to whisper. Sean nodded.
“Maybe in the future people won’t be so superstitious to believe in such nonsense,” he said. They all looked surprised.
“But don’t you believe in witches and the devil?” Ryan asked him. Sean shrugged.
“Most of the stuff that these so-called witches do are mostly herbs and stuff like that, I don’t believe they can put a hex on a person,” he said firmly. “And as far as the devil is concerned, I think man is evil enough, he doesn’t need any help from Satan to think of new ways to torment his fellow man.” They all nodded and Ryan and Sean thought of the cannibals and shuddered.
Winter Solstice came and the whole Ridge celebrated with a big party on Main Street. It was uncommonly warm for the time of year and they had big fires going so Sean’s house went. Sean took five barrels of beer since the Ridge had grown so much. Annie and Sally baked several cakes and pies and Sean made a big pot of stew.
“Sean made the stew, well; the man is really handy isn’t he?” Betty Vernon remarked as she put the stew over a fire and stirred it up. Betty was one of the single ladies who had set her sights on the handsome young man. The only fly in her ointment was the three old people he had living with him, but she intended to send them packing first thing. She wasn’t spending her early married days caring for three old folks, not when little children were coming.
“Oh, yes, Sean can cook, bake and run the sewing machine, he’ll make a girl a fine husband,” Sally informed all the young ladies listening to the conversation. She didn’t like Betty Vernon one little bit. She’d noticed that little face of disgust the girl made whenever she looked at old people like she couldn’t stand them. And she knew how much Sean loved those three old people he lived with, Betty didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting anywhere with him if she went around making those faces.
Sean gathered in a group of men around one of the fires that included the current land grant holder Mike O’Brien and Ben Stone the owner of the five and dime. Both men greeted the young beer maker and made room for him. Anyone who had two thousand gilders to spend on liquor licenses was a man worth knowing. Plus Ben was doing business with him in the store. Someone who could bring back merchandise under the Hamish noses was also someone worth knowing.
The men were talking about poor Kenneth Hamilton who had just been refused permission to marry the young Miss Emily Duncan. Sean was astonished.
“How old is Miss Duncan?” he asked calmly.
“Nineteen,” Ben replied and Sean snorted.
“Well the lass is old enough to make up her own mind on who she wants to marry, why doesn’t she tell her father that and just marry the lad?” he asked and the other men frowned. The Mike spoke up.
“The Hamish changed the age law to twenty-one for women so she can’t move out from her father’s house until she’s twenty-one or get married without his permission until then,” he informed Sean who looked appalled. Then another man spoke up.
“And her father wants her to marry Ted Stevens who a widower with four children because Ted is his best friend and offered him two hundred gilders for her, the poor lad doesn’t have two hundred gilders,” he told Sean who now looked outraged.
“Where’s Ken Hamilton?” he asked and they pointed him out. Sean looked at the young dark-haired boy was staring at a young dark-haired girl who was staring at him, love in both their eyes. Her mother had a good grip on her daughter’s arm and was glaring at the young man while her father was laughing and talking with a fat man who was staring at the girl with lust in his eyes. The whole affair made Sean want to vomit. He walked over to the young man and began to talk to him. They left the party and returned a half hour later.
The men in the group watched them walk over to the Duncans and Sean talked to Mr. Duncan. Whatever he was saying made Ted Stevens very angry and he began to shout and took a punch at Sean who merely stepped aside and pushed him down. The man was drunk enough to stay down. Sean helped by casually putting his foot on top of him and resting it there. Now everyone was watching the scene with interest.
Then Sean took a little pouch out of his bag and showed something to Mrs. Duncan and everyone saw her gasp with shock and lose her grip on her daughter. Emily ran immediately to Ken’s side and they clasped hands, her parents didn’t even notice, they were too busy staring at Sean’s hand. Then Mr. Duncan nodded and he and Sean shook hands. And whatever had been in his left hand was deposited in Mr. Duncan’s hand and he carefully wrapped it in his hankie and put it in his pocket. They barely glanced at their daughter as they left the party. Emily and Ken hugged Sean who just laughed and the two left for his parent’s house.
The next day Father Zucker married them and they lived with his parents until the spring when they built a new house in the valley. Sean and some of his family helped them and Sean gave Emily a sewing machine as a wedding present. Mrs. Duncan was seen walking around town sporting her new emerald earrings and Mr. Duncan bought two new mules with the coin he got with the emeralds he sold. Everyone was happy with the exception of Ted Stevens and Sean was a hero to everyone who loved a happy ending.
After the wedding Sean was talking with Mike and Ben in the tavern when he asked them a question.
“Is it just me or has the morals in this country become more tight and rigid, I don’t remember a woman or a man having to ask permission to get married before?” he asked them. Both men sighed.
“It’s this new stuff that’s coming out of the Church,” Mike informed him. “They’re really getting stricter on women, saying their moral values are getting too loose and it’s dangerous for men to allow women too much freedom. It will wreck society and damage the family core.” Ben nodded.
“They’re even talking about banning Fey marriage in the Church,” he told Sean who looked shocked. “They say that most Fey men don’t have children so there’s no need for them to get married. And Fey women need men to get children so they’re really giving birth to bastards.” Sean shook his head.
“Those fucking priests don’t know what they’re talking about, hell most of them are Fey themselves,” he declared and both men nodded.
“They’re just a bunch of men who afraid of women having too much power so they’re trying to take it away from them before they get too much,” Sean said and both men nodded.
“What can we do?” Mike said. “It’s their religion; we can’t force people not to go to Church.” Sean nodded.
“What do the people in the Freedom Church say, do they say the same things?” he asked them. They both shrugged.
“We’ve never been to one of their Church services,” Ben admitted. Sean nodded.
“Maybe its time someone did,” he suggested. He went home and got the old people together and, of course, Annie raised a fuss but in the end she didn’t want to be left out of a trip to Jamestown, even if it was the dead of winter.
“You men are the biggest idiots in the world,” she fumed all the way to Jamestown despite the warm carriage and the even warmer tents. Sean laughed at her.
“Ah, lass, face it, you’re having a grand time,” he teased her and she made a face at him.
In Jamestown they checked into a nice inn close to the big Freedom Church on Jessup Street. Then on Sunday they joined a remarkable amount of people who crowded into it to hear the good Reverend Thomas to speak.
“There are enough people in here, they don’t need a heater,” Ryan retorted and laughed. Annie shushed him. She felt guilty about being in here; she’d always been a St. Charles Church person and going to another Church just felt wrong. Then the good Reverend began to speak and she changed her mind.
He talked about God’s love for his people and how to do good deeds for others and they will do good deeds for you. He said to love your enemies because Satan had delivered them down the wrong path and it was up to you to show them the way back to God. He said to children were a blessing from God and filled your home with love but never once did he say that it was a woman’s duty to have them and that they had to have as many as they could. He talked about marriage as being a partnership between two people in love, not just between a man and a woman like Father Zuker did. But most of all he talked about the joy of loving God and getting his love in return. There wasn’t a negative thing in the whole sermon. Even the songs they sang were joyful.
“Now that was very pleasant,” Sean remarked as they stood in the foyer and waited for the crowd to thin out. Annie was stunned.
“We’ve got to build a Freedom Church on the Ridge, Granddad, right away,” she demanded and he hugged her.
“I was just thinking the same thing, lass,” he told her.
They waited out the long cold winter and no one got sick and then they went back to Jamestown and talked with Reverend Thomas about building a nice big Freedom Church on O’Brien’s Ridge. Sean even offered to pay for building it and a very nice house for the minister and his family plus a salary until people started attending and supporting the Church themselves.
“You’re a very generous man, Mr. Donoghue, you must feel very strongly about bringing God’s message to the Ridge,” Reverend Thomas praised him. Sean shrugged.
“Your Church will be like a breath of fresh air to the people of the Ridge and they truly need it, Reverend, they truly need it,” he told him truthfully.
Sean and his family got permission from Mike to build a Church and they built a nice big one directly across from the St. Charles Church which was looking old and faded. The priest didn’t spend hardly any of their income on keeping the place up, they sent most of it back to Ennis for the Cardinal to get fat and rich.
Then they built a nice four bedroom house behind the Church for the minister and his family and planted a nice garden of vegetables and flowers and a covered walkway to the Church so they could walk to the Church even in the rain and the snow and not get wet. Everyone one in the Ridge talked for months about the new Church and why did the Donoghues build a new Church when they had the St. Charles Church, what was going on?
The minister, Reverend Charles Andrews and his wife Sara and their two children, seven year-old Charlie and four year-old Helen came to the Ridge on May fifteen and Sean and his entire family were on Main Street to welcome them. They were very pleased to see so many people; Sara had tears in her eyes.
“You’re all so very kind to welcome us like this,” she gushed and Lizzie hugged her.
“Welcome to O’Brien’s Ridge, Sara, I hope you’ll be very happy here,” she told her.
The next Sunday the Church was filled with Donoghues and of course Ken, Emily and his family and a few curious people. Mike and Ben and their families came to check out the new Reverend so the place was filled nicely. Not as many as Sean would have liked but it was the first service so he was happy with the turn out. Sara played the organ and everyone sang one of those joyful songs Annie had liked so much and the sound of it filtered over to the St. Charles Church.
“What is that racket, I can’t hear myself talk,” Father Zucker complained and ordered the doors shut which made it hot inside and his long sermon even longer. The Freedom Church was over with in half the time and everyone gathered outside to socialize and laugh and talk with the new minister and tell how much they had enjoyed his sermon.
When the people got out of the stuffy St. Charles service and saw the others were gone, they were furious. How dare they be finished already!
“It must not have been much of a service to finish that quickly,” someone muttered and they agreed. But some of them thought that maybe they would check it out next week, after all, it was Church and they hated to go anyway. Who cared what Church they went to as long as they got it over with and got out and got on with their day, they might as well get it over with quicker than the long boring service at St. Charles.
The following Sunday the Freedom Church was even more filled as word about the delightful new minister was spread and people flocked to hear his joyous words about God’s love and of course those desiring a shorter service sneaked over. And the Donoghue women had been reminded about the miracle of the Tansy flower and their seeds and gossiped to every woman they could. So when Sean passed out a small bouquet of Wild Blue Tansy flowers to all of the women with an innocent expression, they all giggled and thanked him. He winked at Lizzie and took his seat. Ryan grinned at him.
“Way to go, Granddad, those priests won’t know what hit them,” he whispered and Sean just smiled.
Father Zucker was furious as he looked around his Church and saw that he had lost more than half of his flock. He gave that half hell, fire and brimstone telling them that the others who had left were sure to go straight to hell for leaving the one true Church and going to the imposter Church across the street. And Sean Donoghue was Satan incarnate walking around the Ridge tempting people to leave the one true Church and disobeying God’s word. He deserved to be burned at the stake until he was sent back to hell where he deserved to be.
“He sure is mad at Sean isn’t he?” Ed Carson said to his neighbor Pete Samuels who nodded. Ted Stevens glared at them.
“Sean Donoghue is the devil and should be tied to a stake and burned,” he snapped and they just shrugged.
“You’re just mad because he gave young Ken those emeralds so he could marry Emily, you should be ashamed of yourself wanting to marry that girl anyway, she was young enough to be your daughter,” Ed told him. Ted glared at him.
“You two are fools, Sean Donoghue is evil, pure evil, the Ridge was better without him,” he spat. Pete laughed.
“That’s not what you said when he gave you that rifle for a field of barley, then you liked him fine enough,” he sneered. “Face it you’re just mad about Emily.” Ted walked over to whisper something to Father Zucker and the two men walked into the back together. Ed glanced over at Pete.
“Someone ought to tell Sean about those two getting together,” he said with a sigh and the two of them rode up the slope to Sean’s farm to tell him.
Sean thanked the two men for their warning, watched them ride down the road and sighed. He turned to the two brothers on the porch.
“Why is it the men who preach the most about love are the ones who hate the most?” he asked them. Ryan shrugged.
“Those priests know nothing about love, they get no love from anyone and it makes them bitter men; that’s why they hate women so much, the women get the men they want,” he said and Sean had to agree, it sounded right to him.
The next day he took the first hundred gallons of whiskey from the aging room and mixed it all together and bottled it in the half-gallon bottles he had brought back from Ennis. He took the first sip and then handed the glass to Ryan who took a sip and handed the glass to Danny who took a sip and handed it to Annie who insisted she had to taste it too.
“That’s a damned fine whiskey, Granddad,” Annie said and coughed a little. Danny patted her on her back.
“Ah, lass, it is a very good whiskey, nice and smooth,” Sean said and the boys agreed. They took a case of it up to Jefferies while Sean took a bottle and a glass up to the cemetery to see Maggie, something he had been wanting to do for a long time and feared for just as long.
Her grave was well-tended, someone, one of the women obviously came up and put flowers on it, there was a bunch of wild flowers on it when he sat down on the grass in front of the headstone. His children had put a very nice stone on it; a rectangular one with angels on both sides. Margaret Butler Donoghue, it read and the date of her birth, June twenty-second, fifteen sixty-seventh, and the date of her death of course, May seventeenth, sixteen thirty-two, she had been sixty-five years old. Bobby had made it to seventy-two, he had had seven more years with him, plus he had met him when they were both younger. He had had fifty-nine years with Bobby and only forty-two with Maggie, it seemed unfair really, even to compare the number of years. He had loved them both equally in different ways.
“Hello, Maggie,” Sean finally got up the courage to speak. He looked around at the neat tidy little gravestones all lined up in a row and wondered if they did it that way on purpose.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, I know your body’s here but where your spirit is, well I can’t say for certain, lass,” he continued. “I hope to think that you and Bobby are upstairs in heaven and having a good laugh making fun of me and teasing each other. That’s what I’d be doing. I wish I had the courage to die and go up there and join you but to tell you the truth I’ve always been afraid of death, of not knowing what’s to come afterwards. Maybe that’s why I jumped in the Moon Pearl Pool, I don’t know but I’m glad that I did, Maggie or otherwise I would have never known you or loved you or had those beautiful children with you.”
Sean talked for several hours, telling her everything that had happened to him since he left the Ridge and he had several glasses of whiskey to ease his sore throat and it made him so sad that she couldn’t tilt her head like she used to, that he was just talking to a gravestone that he was finally silent. And Sean folded his head down to his chest and cried a little because he missed her so much, even after sixty-six years, just like he still missed Bobby after a hundred and eighteen years.
Sean wiped his eyes and noticed movement from the corner of his eyes and turned his head. A girl looking a bit like Susan Johnson smiled and waved at him. He smiled and waved at her and she came over and sat down next to him. She looked at the headstone and his weepy eyes and the bottle of whiskey.
“I guess you really are my great-great grandfather after all,” she said and Sean nodded.
“Whose daughter are you?” he asked her kindly although he didn’t like the hard glint in her eyes, she reminded him of Susan Johnson and that Marianne Hastings, two women he wanted to forget.
“I’m Marianne Johnson, your daughter Megan married Mike Jefferies and had my grandmother Joanie who married Adam Baxter who had my mother Ruth who married Jamie Johnson the third and they had me and my brothers,” she informed him smugly. And then she added, “I’m the only girl out of five children.” Like she was a princess or something, Sean figured they probably treated her like one at home. She looked like a lass who was used to getting her own way. He held out his hand.
“Well, nice to meet you, Miss Marianne Johnson,” he said and she giggled and batted her eyes.
“So how old are you really, you look like your twenty-one or something,” she said and Sean smiled.
“I’m a hundred and eighty-six,” he informed her and she gasped and clapped her hands with delight.
“That must be so wonderful, being that old and still looking so young,” she said, looking at him with a sly smile. “I’m seventeen,” she announced. He smiled again and wished she would go away.
“That’s a very lovely age, do you have a young man that you fancy?” he asked politely just to have something to talk about. Marianne made a face.
“All the boys here on the Ridge are so immature,” she gave an exaggerated sigh. “All they talk about is farming and hunting with those new rifles you gave them and all the women talk about is those damned sewing machines you gave them, it’s so boring I could scream,” she declared. Sean laughed.
“Don’t you like to sew?” he asked and she shook her head.
“Sewing is so boring, and cooking is boring and baking if so boring, all of that stuff boring as shit,” she said matter-of-fact and Sean felt like laughed. This child was definitely related to Susan Johnson, there was no doubt in his mind. He was having another one of those been here, done that sort of moments.
“So what sorts of things do you like to do, Marianne?” he asked gently and she shrugged.
“I like to draw and read, that’s okay, mostly I think about the Fairie Cave legend and how wonderful it would be to find a cave like there here in Anamylia, do you think there’s one here?” she asked eagerly. Sean shrugged.
“I don’t know, the only one I ever heard of was the one that I found back in the Fairie Mountains back in Hamish,” he told her honestly. She frowned.
“Would you take me to Hamish and show me where it is?” Marianne asked him with another one of those sly smiles. Sean looked confused.
“And why would I do that, lass?” he asked her softly. She looked surprised.
“So that you could jump in and swim around and turn the waters back white and then we both could jump in and be immortal together,” she explained. “Doesn’t it ever get lonely you living forever all by yourself, don’t you wish you had someone to keep you company?” she whispered and she put her hand on his knee. Sean was shocked. He was her great-great-grandfather for God’s sake. What she was suggesting was incest, well, sort of, but it disgusted him.
“Ah, lass, sure it gets lonely, but that’s why I have family around and friends,” he told her and carefully took her hand off his knee and put it on her lap. She seemed surprised that he would reject her and pouted.
“Besides I don’t think it would work for two people, jumping in the water like that,” he informed her.
“What do you mean?” she snapped. He grinned at her anger. He guessed she wasn’t used to rejection.
“If two people jumped into the water at the same time, then before they both hit the water, something, some little toe, would hit the water before the rest of the body and the person who it belonged to would get the gift and the other person would just be swimming in the water and keeping the first person company,” he explained and she nodded. At least she was quick; Sean had to give her that.
“And the second person would know right away that the first person got the gift and they would spend their whole lives trying to trick them into coming back to the cave and jumping into the water and giving them the gift,” Sean continued. Marianne nodded again.
“The first person would be forced to run and hide until the second person got old and died before they could have a normal life,” he added. Marianne frowned.
“Why would he do that, why wouldn’t he just kill the second person?” she asked and now Sean frowned.
“Well, if they went into the cave together, then they would have to be friends and friends don’t kill friends,” he said firmly. Marianne shook her head.
“But what about the second person trying to trick the first person back into the cave and trying to steal his gift?” she wondered. Sean shrugged.
“That would be jealously because he gets to live forever and the other man can’t, that’s why no one outside the family can’t know about me, they would torture all of you in front of me to try to get me to reveal the location of the cave,” he explained and her eyes lit up.
“Would that work?” she asked casually. Sean shook his head.
“Why not?” she asked, again oh-so-casually but he wasn’t fooled. He shrugged.
“I found the cave when I was just twelve years old, lass, I’m a hundred and eighty-six, its been so long and I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten where it was by now,” he told her seriously. She nodded.
“I can’t remember anything when I was twelve,” Marianne said and sighed. She said goodbye and left him. Sean sighed and turned back to Maggie.
“Her parents are going to have their hands full with that one,” he told her. Suddenly he heard a twig snap and he glanced around.
“Marianne is that you, lass?” Sean asked and he heard a rifle shoot and felt something hit him right between his eyes and then he felt nothing.
A few minutes later two pairs of feet came running up and a male voice spoke.
“Is he dead, did you kill Satan?” Another voice answered.
“I got the bastard; that will teach him to stick his nose in other people’s business.”
Then the feet ran away and the afternoon passed. Sean lain on the ground, his eyes staring up at the sky, but they saw nothing. Birds flew by and one landed on him and pecked at his nose and then flew away. Bees buzzed around, one landed on his face and then flew away.
A few hours passed and then Sean groaned and his hand went to his forehead and came away and he tried to sit up, but fell back down too dizzy. His head ached so badly and his eyes were dried and itchy, he blinked furiously trying to get them to tear. Eventually they did and he was able to see from them. He was still in the graveyard and it was night. The summer air was warm and there were bugs crawling on him.
“Fuck,” he exclaimed and brushed them away. Then he felt his forehead and damned if it didn’t feel like a hole or something there, it was all swollen. Did someone throw a rock or something at him? He staggered to his feet and walked to where he had left Sir William and the horse was still there tied to the tree. Sean gave him some water; if it was dark the poor beast had been there all day. Then he dragged himself onto him and rode slowly home taking the back way in case whoever threw the rock was waiting to attack him again. He’d give a thousand gilders that it was either that idiot of a priest or that stupid Ted Stevens, only they would be so stupid as to throw rocks at people.
Sean put Sir William in the barn and fed him, and then he stumbled up the slope and into the house. Everyone rushed to the door and gasped with shock when they saw him.
“My God, Sean, what happened to you,” Ryan exclaimed and he tried to help his Granddad to his chair. Sean waved him aside.
“I’ve got to pee really bad, lad, get me to the bathroom,” he instructed and they helped him there. Sean leaned up against the wall and told them what had happened.
“The priest threw a rock at you while you were visiting grandmom’s grave, that son-of-a-bitch, I’ll kill him,” Ryan exhorted and Danny agreed. Sean nodded.
“If I didn’t feel so bad, I’d help you, lads,” he said and grinned. He walked over to the sink and washed his hands and then splashed hot water and soap on his face. Then he peered in the mirror and got a closer look at his forehead and a wave of shock washed over him.
“Well, fuck me,” he yelled. Danny and Ryan looked shocked. Sean turned around.
“Look at this both of you and tell me that I’m not seeing a bullet in my head,” he demanded. Danny and Ryan looked at each other and then Sean sat on the toilet to let them get a better look. They both gasped with shock and outrage.
“Fuck, son-of-a-bitch fuck!” Ryan shouted.
“That cock-sucking bastard, I’ll kill him with my bare hands!” Danny shouted. Outside the bathroom the women heard all of this and looked at one another with wonder. What on earth was going on in the bathroom? The door slammed open the men helped Sean to the kitchen and sat him down on a chair.
“Sally, get the first aid kit please,” Sean asked softly and Sally rushed to get it. Bill who was standing by was instructed to run and fetch Lizzie and Douglas. He ran out. Annie who was standing there saw the shock and rage on her men’s faces.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice trembling. Danny hugged her.
“Someone shot Granddad in the head while he was in the graveyard visiting grandmom,” he told her as gently as he could. She had to sit down.
“Who would do such a thing, when you find him, I’m going to kill him with my bare hands,” she spat and they all laughed. Sally came with the kit and they had her make up a paste with the green leaves. She was glad to have something to do with her hands. Doug and Lizzie came and they both took a peek at Sean’s head. They both gasped with shock.
“Yep, that’s a bullet alright,” Doug said with wonder in his voice. Lizzie nodded.
“Who would do such a thing, everyone likes you, Granddad,” she said. Sean shook his head.
“I can name two people who don’t, in fact I was warned a few months ago to beware of them,” he informed them. “Ted Stevens and Father Zucker who’s been going around preaching that I’m Satan incarnate and I deserve to be burned at the stake. It seems that one or both of them decided to shoot me instead.” Everyone shook their heads.
“What is this country coming to when a man can’t visit his wife in the graveyard behind a Church for God’s sake without being shot?” Lizzie wondered. Doug patted her on her back. Sean gave instructions for Lizzie who was used to dealing with cuts and bruises to remove the bullet. Of course the head wound began to bleed very badly as head wound do, but they used towels and soon it stopped. Then Lizzie stitched it up and they put green paste on it and wrapped a bandage around Sean’s head.
“You’re going to have a headache for a couple days, Granddad,” Lizzie told him. “And you probably shouldn’t go into a deep sleep, you might not be able to wake up again, that’s what happened to poor Adam when he hit the tree. He just couldn’t wake up again.” Sean nodded. He didn’t tell them all that he had probably died out there on the grass for a while and then his body had come back, he didn’t want to freak them out.
So instead he ate the dinner that he missed and read for a while and told Ryan and Danny that he was going to go dig in the mine for a while.
“Do you think that’s safe, Sean, to go our alone?” Ryan asked, his face looking worried. Sean grinned.
“They think I’m dead, I’m safer tonight that I will be tomorrow when they find out I’ve got a hard head,” he teased and Ryan laughed.
“I suppose you’re right,” he admitted and then added that if Sean should get dizzy, he should stop digging and rest.
“I’ll be find, lad, I just have a bit of a wee headache, that’s all,” he told him and hugged and kissed them all goodnight. Then he dressed all in black, took his knife and sneaked up the back side of the trail and up to the Church. It was all dark, the good priests and his housekeeper were in their rooms, tomorrow was Sunday and they needed their rest for another long two hour sermon.
Sean sneaked into the Church, it was easy, no one locked their doors on the Ridge, who would? Everyone trusted their neighbors. There was a noise down in the cellar; he heard it as he crossed the rectory towards the living part of the Church. Curious, Sean crept down the stairs to investigate. He closed the heavy door on his way down, if the good Father was down there, he wouldn’t want anyone interrupting them.
Sean smiled when he saw it was indeed the good Father Zucker and he was counting gold coins and placing them in the hollows of fake books. So that’s how the Church moved their wealth Sean thought, fake books. Everyone wondered about that, he thought they dropped it into beer barrels but they put it into fake books and books were heavy so no one wondered about it, very clever. Sean purposely creaked the last stair and Father Zucker looked up.
“Fran, is that you, you know I don’t like to be disturb during meditation, please go back to bed,” he sounded irritated. Sean guessed killing someone made you very irritable. He breathed a little louder. Father Zucker gave a big sigh.
“Ted Stevens, how many times have I told you not to bother me at night like this, you’re a very rude man, now go home, I’m tired of hearing about you beating you wife, get control of yourself for God’s sake,” he snapped. Sean made a moaning sound. He heard the rattle of coins and then the sound of footsteps walking nearer. Sean smiled and then the priest rounded the corner and saw him.
“Hello, Father Zucker, how lovely to see you again,” he said cheerfully. The man gasped, his eyes got big and round and his hand moved to his mouth.
“You, you can’t be, I saw you, you’re dead,” he stammered. Sean smiled and moved closer. The pries backed up.
“So that was you in the graveyard this afternoon,” Sean said and he moved his finger back and forth. “Naughty, naughty priest, you shouldn’t go around killing people, it’s not nice.” The priest moaned.
“But I didn’t kill you, it was Ted, Ted Stevens, he’s the one who shot you,” he stammered. And he made the sign of the cross and picked up his cross, holding it out he shouted, “Go away, demon, I command you by God’s holy name.” Sean laughed and reaching out, plucked the cross out of the priest’s hand. Father Zucker moaned and he tried to run away, but Sean blocked his path.
“You cross won’t work against me priest and you know why?” he asked him. Father Zucker shook his head. Sean smiled at him and leaned forward.
“Because I don’t believe in your God, you have to believe in your God for the cross to work, didn’t they teach you anything before they made you a priest?” he teased him and the priest covered his eyes.
“Go away, Satan, go away,” he said and began to sob. Sean gave him the biggest eeriest laugh he could muster and then he pulled out his knife. The priest’s eyes went even bigger than before.
“Have you heard the stories about the cannibals on Topanga priest?” Sean asked him almost casually. The Father nodded. Sean laughed again. “Well, first I’m going to skin you like a deer, and then I’m going to slice you and eat you a little bit at a time and enjoy every bit because that’s what Satan does,” he told him and lifting the knife in the air, Sean walked closer. The priest screamed and then dropped dead. Sean kicked him and laughed.
“Well, that was easy, all I wanted to do was scare you and teach you a lesson; but dropping dead is good too,” Sean told the body. He climbed the stairs and sneaked out the way he came. Then he waited outside the tavern. If he knew Ted Stevens the man would be celebrating his victory tonight by getting drunk in Jefferies and that was one man he didn’t intend to scare, he was going to kill this one. This one had lifted his rifle, the one that Sean had been nice enough to give him, taken aim and shot him in cold blood, just like he was a deer or a squirrel. He deserved to die and from what he had heard from the priest the man was a wife beater, Sean was actually doing her a favor. No doubt she’d be relieved when he was gone.
Sean waited for over an hour but Jefferies finally closed and the drunks staggered out. The good decent men had already gone home to their wives and children. He watched and saw who they were, there were quite a few he wouldn’t have believed if hadn’t he seen it with his own eyes. Ted Stevens was one of the last.
“Go home, Ted, you’re drunk,” Stan shoved him out of the door and Ted staggered into the middle of the road. The other men laughed.
“Hey, Ted, you’re drunk,” Bob Early retorted. Ted snickered.
“So what, so are you,” he sassed back. All the men laughed again. Ted went around to the side of the building and everyone could see he was taking a piss. This made them all laugh again and Sean wondered how Stan could put up with them. If this was the price of being a barkeep, he never wanted to own a tavern, that’s for sure.
Finally everyone had staggered off and only Ted was left, he was half sleeping, leaning against the building, He didn’t even notice Sean approach until he was grabbed, turned around and shoved back against the building, a hand over his mouth so he couldn’t talk. His eyes widened with shock when they saw it was Sean, a Sean with a bandage around his head. He began to struggle but Sean hit him in his stomach and he went limp.
“Hello, Teddy, I guess you’re as surprised to see me as your friend Father Zucker was,” Sean spoke pleasantly. Ted gagged and made vomiting noises so Sean let go of him and let him throw up on the grass. When he was through he grabbed him and shoved him back against the building and held him by his neck.
“But you can’t be, you’re dead,” Ted stammered. Sean shook his head.
“I’ve been getting that a lot today,” he remarked. “And you killed me you son-of-a-bitch with the rifle I was nice enough to give you for a fucking field of barley, talk about gratitude, you rotten bastard.” Ted’s eyes got wide.
“How can you be alive, I killed you, I know I did,” he said weakly. Sean nodded.
“And I was for a minute or two or maybe a few hours, but then I came back,” he informed him then with a quick flick of his hand, he snapped his neck and dropped the body on the ground. He had been planning on tormenting the stupid bastard before killing him but he was bored with him already. So Sean put him on his horse, put his feet in the stirrups and smacked the horse on its arse and sent it off up the trail. If he was lucky it would run into a tree, if not then everyone would assume that Ted had gotten drunk, fallen off his horse and broken his neck.
Sean walked home by the back trail of course so no one would see him and crawled into bed. Getting killed and coming back to life made for a hard day, he was exhausted.

Chapter Two - Dead and Back Again

“Sean, Sean wake up,” Ryan’s loud voice woke him up in the morning. Sean sat up and looked at him like he was crazy. Ryan shrugged.
“You’re still in bed and its after six, I just wanted to make sure you were still alive,” he told him. Sean threw a pillow at him. Ryan laughed, caught the pillow and threw it back.
“Get out of bed, you lazy arse, it’s time for breakfast,” he said and walked out. Sean groaned and lied back down.
“Even getting dead and I can’t laze in bed around here,” he muttered and got up.
He was out in the field doing some weeding when Young Sean came racing out with the news.
“Hey, Granddad, did you hear the news?” he asked, practically jumping out of his skin with excitement. Sean grinned at him.
“No, I can’t say that I have, lad, what’s the news?” he asked him. Young Sean grinned. He loved being first with anything.
“Old Ted Stevens got drunk and fell off his horse down by the bend in the river, broke his neck and drowned,” he told him. Sean lifted an eyebrow.
“Well, that will teach him a lesson not to get drunk and ride at the same time,” he informed his great-great-grandson. Young Sean gave a great big laugh.
“That’s funny, but that’s not the best news,” he announced. Sean grinned down at him.
“There’s more news,” he asked. Young Sean nodded.
“Father Zucker died of a heart attack in the basement of his Church last night and everyone who saw the body said it looked like he’d seen a ghost or a demon or something, he looked so scared,” he exclaimed and was dancing around. Sean laughed.
“That’s what you get when you talk about Satan and burning people at the stake all the time, you get nightmares,” he told him and Young Sean nodded. Then he ran off to tell the old folks.
Sean continued his work in the fields, only seven people, the ones who knew what the two evildoers had done would figure out what he had done and they would probably want to give him a medal so he had nothing to worry about and he certainly didn’t feel guilty about it.
Reverend Andrews said a nice service for Father Zucker and all of the people started coming to the Freedom Church until the St. Charles Church sent another priest. Then there was a mysterious fire and the St. Charles Church burned down. Sean insisted he didn’t start it and he didn’t. But they never rebuilt it and every one was happy with the Freedom Church so no one minded. A few people came from the other Ridges to hear Reverend Andrews preach and soon Freedom Churches were popping out on all the Ridges. Sean had started a movement and the Hamish didn’t approve. His name went on a list of agitators.
Fall came and it was harvest time. Everyone worked long hours and when it was over they all gathered in Jefferies to relax. Sean was sitting at a table with his grandsons when the door opened and Todd Donoghue came rushing in.
“Soldiers, a dozen of them and a Major riding up Main Street,” he announced and everyone looked worried. Sean looked at Ryan and sighed. Soldiers on the Ridge were never a good sign. And if a Major was with them; that wasn’t a good sign either, Majors rarely left Portsmyth unless they planned on arresting someone. Otherwise they sent a sergeant or a lieutenant. Suddenly the door to Jefferies slammed open and the Major followed by ten soldiers, one of them a sergeant stomped in, in their arrogant, look at me, I’m an important Hamish soldier, you’d better beware, manner. The sergeants were always the worse. This one was the usual; his eyes scanned the men sitting at the bar and around tables like they were common criminals.
“I’m looking for Sean Donoghue, we were told that he was up here, where is he?” the sergeant barked and most of the men sighed with relief. Two men stood up. One was taller than the other, both with brown hair and dark, green eyes and they kind of looked alike.
“Well, which one of you is Sean Donoghue?” the sergeant asked rudely. Sean lifted his eyebrow and glanced over at his great-great-grandson.
“We’re both Sean Donoghue, Sergeant, perhaps you could be more specific in your questions about which Sean Donoghue you wish to speak with, we could be of more help,” Sean informed him politely and some of the men in the tavern laughed. The sergeant flushed.
“Oh, a real smart ass, are you?” he sneered. The Major cleared his throat.
“We’re looking for the Sean Donoghue whose been selling the rifles all over the Ridges,” he informed them in a bored haughty tone and using his hankie, wiped his nose. Some of the men wiped their noses on the sleeves of their shirts to make fun of him. He frowned at them, not getting it, but disliking their rude behavior. Sean glanced at his grandson.
“Sit down, lad, they’re looking for me,” he told him and the lad nodded, but Sean noticed he kept his rifle in plain view. In fact all the rifles his relatives had been carrying; were in plain sight, it did a man good to see it. Sean walked a couple of steps closer to the Major.
“And what can I do for the Hamish today, Major?” Sean asked politely. The Major tried to look down his nose at him but failed because Sean was at least three inches taller. The Major had to be satisfied with appearing superior.
“I’m Major Steinbeck and I was looking over my invoices the other day when it occurred to me that I had found not a single one with your name of it indicating that you had paid a single gilder in tax for any of those rifles that you’ve been selling up and down the Ridges,” he stated and then asked, “Just how many rifles did you buy and who did you buy them from Mr. Donoghue?” Sean nodded.
“I purchased three hundred rifles from Captain Gaston of the Ennis ship the Mermaid in the spring of sixteen ninety-six when my grandfather and I just arrived from Topanga,” Sean informed the Major liking the way the Hamish Army officer’s eyes flared up when he said Topanga. Behind him he could hear Ryan’s soft chuckle and he knew his grandson knew why he did it.
“So you admit you bought the rifles, Mr. Donoghue?” the Major said smugly. Sean nodded.
“Of course, how could I sell rifles if I never bought rifles, that would be impossible,” he informed him and a few men laughed. The Major did not. He did glare at those who did.
“So you admit that you smuggled them into the country and failed to pay the tax on them and therefore won’t protest too much when I have you arrested and tossed into jail,” Major Steinbeck smiled when he finished his statement. Sean shook his head.
“I didn’t pay any tax of the rifles because in March of ninety-six when I purchased the rifles, Major, there was no tax on rifles,” he informed him and then reaching around to his back pocket Sean pulled out some folder papers. The title on the first one read: Tax Code, March sixteen ninety-six. The Major snatched from his hands and began to read it. It contained a list of everything the Hamish taxed in that year and month and how much tax was owed. Nowhere on the list did it list rifles.
“This is obviously a forgery,” the Major snapped. Sean shook his head.
“No, Sir, it is not, the Hamish didn’t actually begin taxing rifles until June of sixteen ninety-six so since I bought the rifles in March, there was no tax on them,” he explained as patiently as he could. The sergeant snorted.
“You could have bought those rifles in July or August and you’re just saying you bought them in March to avoid paying the tax,” he stated and all the soldiers nodded. The Major smiled. Sean reached into his back pocket and pulled out another piece of paper and handed it to the Major.
“If you look here you will see this is my invoice for three hundred rifles and it is dated March seventeenth, sixteen ninety-six,” he told him and the Major read it carefully. Then he handed it back and glared at Sean.
“You mean to tell me you’ve been carrying those papers around in your pocket for two years now waiting for someone to ask to see them?” he snapped. Sean nodded.
“I knew that you Hamish would find out I was selling rifles and start looking for tax receipts and finding none would come to ask me why,” he informed them. “You may be slow but you’re the nosiest bunch of people I’ve ever met.” A lot of men laughed. The soldiers were not amused.
“You knew that there would be a tax on those rifles,” the Major snapped at him. “What you should have done, you and this Captain Gaston who sold them to you, was go to the purser’s office, tell him you had merchandise that wasn’t on the Tax List and ask him how much tax to pay. That would have been the responsible thing to do.” All the soldiers nodded, especially the sergeant. Sean shook his head.
“Now, Major, that sounds like a job for the Hamish and I’m not Hamish. I’m not one for sticking my nose into other people’s business and telling them how to do their jobs. That’s a job for a busybody and I’m just a simple farmer,” he explained and everyone in the room nodded.
“Yeah, we’re just simple farmers,” someone shouted. The sergeant glared at him. The Major looked around and noticed all the rifles. He frowned.
“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the five thousand rifles that disappeared from the Giovanni warehouse in Ennis would you, Mr. Donoghue?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. Sean shook his head.
“I’ve never been to Ennis, Major, I lived all my life in Topanga before I moved here to Anamylia,” he offered just to watch the man flinch again. Behind him Ryan chuckled again. The Major glared at him and turned to leave.
“Well, if you ever decide to go to Ennis, make sure you stop by my office in Portsmyth and let me know, Mr. Donoghue, I’ve got a feeling I should keep my eye on you,” he spat. Sean shrugged.
“As far as I know, Major, Anamylia is a free country and its citizens are free to travel anywhere whenever they want,” he informed him. The Major snorted.
“Maybe everyone else is, Mr. Donoghue, but you are not, report to me or I’ll have you arrested,” he snapped and they left.
“Well, I don’t think the Major likes me, do you, Ryan?” Sean asked as he took his seat. Ryan burst out laughing.
“Every time you said Topanga, I thought the poor man was going to have a heart attack, Granddad, you are a wicked, evil creature,” he chortled and the whole tavern broke into laughter.
“They do hate being reminded about that little uprising don’t they?” Sean commented and Ryan snorted.
“Uprising my arse, it was a God-damned revolution and a good one,” he sighed with pleasure remembering it. And of course everyone had to hear the story of it and how it came to be. Then someone in the back spoke up.
“It’s a damned shame what Count Parker is still doing to those Topangans on his plantation south of here,” Henry Rogers said and gave a big sigh. Sean and Ryan looked at each other.
“There’s Topangans in Anamylia?” Sean asked and went over to Henry’s table to get more information. When he got back to his table he told his grandsons they had to leave so they went home to talk about it.
“What are we going to do, Granddad, tell me we’re going to do something, we can’t just leave them here,” Ryan stammered. Sean patted him on his shoulder.
“Calm down, lad, we’re going to do something alright,” he assured him. “Fucking Hamish, Topanga’s been free for forty-two years. Those people should have been freed and sent home. This is barbaric even for them.” Danny didn’t understand why they were getting so upset over some slaves but if they wanted to do something to help, he was going to help them.
Sean left the next morning with Lonnie and Todd to scout out the Count’s plantation and what he saw appalled him. It was just like Queensland all over again, overseers in the fields with whips and women in the fields along with the men. And the people half-starved and half naked like they were no better than animals. Lonnie and Todd were appalled just like he was.
“Granddad, we’ve got to do something to help these people,” Lonnie whispered. Sean nodded.
“Ah, lad, we are,” he told him.
It wasn’t hard to figure out, all they had to do was find a ship, hire the Captain to take the people back to Topanga where they belonged. All they had to do was find a way to get them from the plantation to the ship. Then Sean thought of a way and he went to visit some old friends that he had helped once, the Malweenahs.
“Sean Donoghue, we remember your great-great grandfather, he helped us make a stand against the Hamish,” King Thunder Cloud said proudly. “He is the one who helped us build our great city. That is why we named it Donoghue. What can we do for his child?” he asked. Sean smiled.
“On a plantation south of the Ridge where I live there is a group of people who don’t belong in this country, they belong on an island country far from here,” he explained. “The Hamish have enslaved them and I wish to free them and return them to their home. My family and I will do the dangerous part; we merely need your people’s help in transporting these poor people through the forest to the ship. They will be weak and defenseless and unable to ride alone, they will need much help.” The King frowned.
“Do you think my men cowards, afraid to face danger?” he asked. Sean shook his head.
“I say nothing of the kind, Your Majesty, I merely want to keep your people away from the Hamish in case they are identified, the Hamish would be very angry with the Malweenah and might come here to the valley to harm you,” Sean explained. The King laughed.
“I have five thousand soldiers, white and Indian, let them come,” he declared. Then he smiled. “Let my people wear hoods during the rescue, then they will not be identified and the Hamish who cannot find their asses with both hands normally will not see them.” Sean laughed and promised the King five hundred rifles, a bullet press and gunpowder, which he was going to give them anyway, for their assistance. The King was most grateful.
Finding a ship was easy, Sean just offered him enough emeralds until the Captain said yes and left several of his men onboard to make sure he didn’t change his mind. Plus he kept the emeralds until the cargo was onboard. Now they just had to get it.
The Malweenahs were impressed that Sean could speak their language, especially since they had never seen him before and he used old words that weren’t used anymore. They sneaked in the forest and watched the guards. There were only four and they were stupid, they all hung around together, smoking and laughing. They were easy to sneak up on and knock on the head. Sean sneaked into the first filthy hut. The occupants looked up at him in horror. The woman gasped when she saw it was a white man.
“I am a friend, I have come to take you home to Topanga, I have friends outside to help, you are safe with me, please come quickly and quietly, please don’t make any noise,” Sean told them. They quickly got up and began to dress. They trusted him completely. Of course it helped that he had said the whole thing in Topangan. Sean led them outside and turned them over to the Indians who led them into the forest. More Indians took their place and Sean entered the next hut and did the same until all the huts were empty.
“Is this everyone, is everyone here?” Sean asked several people, everyone nodded. They made their way to the mules and horses that were waiting and the Indians helped them up. Some of Sean’s family was there also. Sean put two children on a mule and smiled at them.
“You’ll soon be in your country Topanga and free,” he told them in Topangan. They smiled at him.
They traveled through the night. Sean passed out rolls with meat and cheese and milk when they were a mile from the plantation. The people were staved and ate furiously.
“Eat slowly, you don’t want to get sick,” he told them. They nodded and tried but several were sick anyway.
“Those fucking bastards Hamish,” Douglas spat and Sean put his arm around him.
“Now you know how Ryan and I felt when we first went to Queensland, now picture a whole country like this,” he said and Douglas shook his head.
“No wonder they had a revolution,” he said and grinned. Some Topangans looked at them.
“What do you mean, what’s a revolution?” they asked. Sean informed them that they were returning to a free country. Queensland was no more, Topanga was a free country and they would be free when they got home. They all got excited when they heard that.
It took them four days to reach the ship and then another to put the people on, they went in the hold and into the cabins. Sean gave each of the families an emerald to cash in when they got there so they would have coin to start their lives. He told them to watch the Captain who was Ennish and should be alright but they had machetes and if he gave them a problem to just take over the ship and go to Topanga themselves.
“You don’t have to take any shit from white men again, you are just as free as they are,” he informed them and they grinned. They hugged him and the ship sailed.
The Malweenahs took their rifles and their mules and went home. Sean and his men took a different trail home; they didn’t want to run into any soldiers looking for the escaped slaves.
“We did a good thing here, Granddad,” Lonnie said with satisfaction in his voice. Sean nodded.
“We sure did, we freed some slaves, that’s always a good thing, Grandson,” he told him and they all smiled all the way home.
Sean decided to write a scathing editorial about the Hamish keeping the Topangans prisoners and slaves in Anamylia while their country was free. He didn’t pull any punches and made the evil bastards the evil bastards they were. Then he wrote one about the way they treated their peasants and how wrong it was for people to own people. He didn’t pull any punches there either. And then he wrote a third about the unjust taxes and the unfairness of them. With this editorial he included a little cartoon of a very large lady, obviously a Hamish noble sitting on a pile of poor common men, squashing them to death. The names of the men were the names of the six Hamish territories, Maryland, Pembroke, New Lennox, North West and St. Charles, he wrote them quite clearly so no one would miss the point. Another lady, this one tall and slender with the name of the Ennish territory, Andalusia, was standing on the side, pointing her finger at the Hamish lady and laughing at her.
Sean showed the editorials to Ryan and Danny and they had a good laugh over the cartoon.
“I didn’t know you could draw this well, Granddad,” Danny exclaimed when he saw the drawing. Sean shrugged.
I didn’t either until I started drawing her, then it came easy,” he remarked. Ryan grinned.
“She kind of looks like Lady Tabby,” he commented and Sean took another look at the drawing. Then he grinned.
“She kind of does now that I look at her again,” he said and laughed. Then they had to tell Danny about Lady Tabby and her sad ending. Danny sighed and looked at the drawing.
“Well, that’s what she got for raping little girls the fat bitch,” was his only comment. All the men agreed. Annie thought Sean was going to get into trouble for his editorials and his cartoon, especially since he signed it S.D. He only shrugged.
“How is the Hamish going to know that S.D. stands for Sean Donoghue?” he asked her with a mischievous grin. She glared at him.
“They have ways of finding these things out, you idiot man, trust my words, they’ll find out,” she predicted. Sean waved her aside and made his way to Jamestown alone. The brothers were awaiting the arrival of Danny’s latest great grandchild and didn’t want to miss him or her. Sean just grinned and kissed them and took Lonnie and Todd with him. The two men wanted to see Jamestown and wanted to protect Sean although the two threats against him had mysteriously died. But Sean enjoyed the company and the three talked while they rode. And they took a wagon with them, Sean wanted to buy some lead goods, he had figured out that was what the slugs were made out of and you couldn’t have enough slugs for the rifles.
Once in Jamestown the three checked into an inn and took a hot soak and shaved, got a hot meal and changed into fresh clothes, the regular routine that never changed, at least for Sean. Then they went off searching for lead products. They bought a lot of candlesticks and cups and bowls and stuff, Sean figured pewter would do nicely also. This took up a few days and then he left the men to it and one drizzly day he made his way over to the Chronicle and the editorial desk.
“These are very well written, however, highly flammable, the Hamish aren’t going to like these at all, are you sure you don’t want to put your name on them?” the editor asked him with a sly grin. Sean grinned back.
“I’ve already got a Hamish Major accused me of smuggling, I don’t need any more Hamish crawling up my arse but thank you anyway,” he told him wryly. The editor chuckled.
“I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you, even if you were smuggling, the Hamish couldn’t find their own asses with both hands,” he remarked dourly. Both men laughed. Then the man got curious.
“What is it that the Hamish think you’re smuggling?” he leaned forward to whisper his question. Sean thought this might the opportunity to meet some interesting people if this man knew any. Newspaper offices were where things sometimes got started. And the Chronicle was famous for their dislike of the Hamish and their practices. So he leaned forward to give the man an answer.
“Rifles,” he whispered back and the man’s eyes got wider. Sean grinned. “You know those five thousand rifles that disappeared from the Giovanni warehouse on Pine Street between Penrose and Broom Streets?” he asked him and the editor nodded. Sean continued. “Well, this Hamish Major thinks I went to Ennis and stole them from the warehouse before the Hamish army could get their little fingers on them, so now he says I can’t leave the country without his permission.” The editor looked shocked.
“But Anamylia is a free country, its citizens are free to travel anywhere they want, the Hamish can’t prevent you from traveling to Ennis if you want to,” he protested. Sean nodded.
“That’s what I told Major Steinbeck but he insists that I need his permission to leave the country,” Sean informed him and the editor looked angry.
“The Hamish are overstepping their authority too often these days,” he grumbled and assured Sean that his letters would be in the next edition of the paper, which would be out in two days. Sean paid what was due and left but he turned around for one final comment.
“I’ll be heading up the street to that nice coffee shop for some coffee and a sandwich if you have any trouble reading my writing and need to contact me,” he informed him and the editor nodded. Sean left and went up the street. If the man had any connections and if they were interested in ‘a concern citizen’ as he had signed his editorials, then now they knew where to get in touch with him. If not, maybe he would buy a printing press and start printing his own papers and passing them around and see who that brought up. Sean was tired of just smuggling goods onto the Ridge, he wanted to get rid of the Hamish before they got rifles and things could get really ugly. Already he could see the rifles leading to bigger and deadlier weapons. He himself was thinking of something that could fire big balls at ships to sink them. He had half an idea that was slowly turning into a whole one. That was what this trip was for also; he was going to get a lot of steel sheeting to make his barrel type object.
Sean sat in The Coffee Bean and ordered a pot of coffee and a ham and cheese sandwich and was just about finished with it and about to give up anyone joining him when he became aware of a group of men staring at him from across the room. He quickly ordered another pot of coffee and a piece of apple pie with that new thing on it, vanilla ice cream. The Ennis were really clever people, Sean thought to himself when the waitress brought it and he took one bite of the flavorful cold treat. He was going to have to stop at Portsmyth on the way home and try to pick up some of these machines. If not well, he was going to have to break down and pay the tax on one of the damned things, Ryan, Danny and Annie just had to taste this stuff. That’s where the real coin was, not in gold or diamonds or emeralds, but in the little purple power crystals that ran all of the machines the Ennish were inventing. And who knew what they were going to be inventing next. Sean was contemplating this when the men approached him. He glanced up and smiled. One of the men, the youngest of them, smiled back. The others just pulled up chairs and sat down. One of them, a man in his late thirties, early forties, glanced at the ice cream on Sean’s plate and smiled.
“Vanilla ice cream; a marvelous thing; the Ennish have given us don’t you think young man?” he asked. Sean nodded and took another bite.
“I was just thinking I just might have to pay the damned tax on one of those machines after all, that is, if I can’t persuade a ship Captain to overlook the tax,” Sean said with a sly smile. All of the men smiled back at him.
“Do you do that a lot, get a Captain to overlook the tax?” one of the men, a man about the same age, with blonde hair asked oh-so-casually. Sean shrugged.
“I find the Hamish tax laws a bit unjust and too confining for the average Anamylian,” he informed them just as casually. “There are ways of avoiding them if one is careful enough and if you have friends who are willing to help you.” The leader of the group nodded. He had a strong face and intelligent eyes.
“And you have such friends?” he asked softly. Sean nodded.
“A man is a very lonely man if he hasn’t got a few friends who are willing to stand with him against tyranny,” he said firmly. They all nodded.
“Our friend at the Chronicle tells us that you might be the man to talk to about rifles,” one of the men asked. Sean held up his hand.
“This really isn’t the place to be having that conversation, it’s a wee bit too public, maybe we should go someplace else,” he suggested. The leader nodded.
“Do you know Henderson’s Bookshop on Jessup Street?” he asked. Sean nodded. Talk about a blast from the past.
“Meet us there in an hour,” the man ordered and Sean nodded once again. The men left and Sean enjoyed his pie and ice cream which had melted a bit but was good anyway. And of course when he left the coffee shop they had him followed. It was the young one who had smiled at him at first. He was easy to spot, he wasn’t very clever. But Sean just met his two grandsons, he called them all grandsons now, all those great-greats were too hard to figure out. He told Lonnie and Todd he had a meeting to go to and sent them back to the inn to wait for him. They agreed; they were tired of buying lead and pewter knick-knacks.
Then Sean walked to Jessup Street and Henderson’s looked the same. He felt his heart stir up a bit when he thought of meeting Maggie there and for a minute he thought Jamie was by his side. Talk about having one of those moments. Then he entered the shop and found they had rearranged things so it wasn’t the same and of course the shopkeepers were different. He looked around for a bit and then the young one came over and pulled at his arm.
“Follow me,” he said and they walked upstairs to an office where the other five men were waiting. Sean was finally introduced. Neil Farnesworth was the oldest man, he was around forty-five, with black-gray hair which was thinning on top and small dark eyes, he was short and round and his eyes were jolly. Sean liked his sense of humor.
Henry Adams was the leader and the tallest of the men. He had thick curly brown hair and piercing green eyes and a mustache. He was very regal and Sean could easily see him as the first President of the new country of Anamylia. John Matthews was his best friend and the blonde gentleman. He had equally piercing blue eyes and a mustache, but it was thinner and he had no sense of humor and was a lawyer.
Walter Peyton was the coin man and in his late twenties; he handled the finances of the group and was a constant worrier. Sean could see he was a bit of a fuss-budget which every group needed and of course Kent Avery was the gofer, the one who ran all the errands. He was the youngest and about twenty-three or so. He must be the son of one of the older man’s colleagues to be included in such a group but every group needed a young man to reach the younger people and he looked pleasant enough.
“And what would your name be, young man?” Henry asked after the group was introduced. Sean smiled at them.
“My name is Sean Donoghue and I’m from O’Brien’s Ridge in the Maryland Territory,” he informed them. They all nodded. John rummaged through some papers on the desk.
“Sean Donoghue, I’ve heard that name,” he muttered and then with a grunt of triumphant he held up a piece of paper. “Here it is,” he announced and handed the paper to Henry who read it.
“So it is true, Major Steinbeck is convinced that you had something to do with the disappearance of the five thousand rifles from the Giovanni warehouse in Ennis and he’s requesting permission to put a family, name of Wilson on O’Brien’s Ridge for the purpose of spying on you so that they will lead them to the location of the rifles,” he said and Sean laughed.
“That’s going to be hard to do since most of the rifles have been handed out to Ridge men,” he informed them. The men all looked disappointed.
“Really, we were hoping that you still had them,” John said and the others nodded. Sean shrugged.
“There are ways to get more, it’s been two years, I’m sure the Giovannis have another five thousand in their warehouse just waiting for the Hamish army to pick up, wouldn’t it be a shame if someone were to steal them again?” he told them with a sly smile. Henry grinned.
“They’re going to be guarding these rifles themselves, how do you intend to steal this bunch?” he asked Sean who shrugged again.
“The Hamish couldn’t guard their own mothers properly, it would be easy to steal them, and the Giovanni brothers would agree to anything if given enough Topangan emeralds,” he informed them. Walter frowned.
“Why pay them anything if we’re going to steal them from the Hamish,” he said and then added, “Besides, we haven’t got any Topangan emeralds.” Sean wagged a finger at him.
“Now, lad, you don’t steal from the Ennish, they’re our friends,” he said firmly as if chastising a young child. Walter flushed and the other men grinned. “And you may not have any Topangan emeralds but I have a whole big bag of them and I would be happy to use them to buy more rifles, especially if it means the Hamish won’t be getting any,” Sean said. Then he turned to Kent. “Fancy a trip to Ennis, lad?” he asked and Kent looked surprised.
“You want me to come with you?” he asked. Sean nodded.
“These other gentlemen look too important for the Hamish to notice that they’ve disappeared for a year, but you’re a young man, they’ll never notice you’ve gone,” he said wisely. Henry and John both nodded.
So it was agreed, Kent and Sean would go to Ennis and try to steal the rifles from the Hamish. Kent rode home with the three Ridge men and of course Annie pitched a fine fit when she learned of another trip to Ennis. This time though she decided to come.
The journey to Ennis was on the Mermaid which was luckily in Portsmyth when they arrived. When Pierre found out they were going to Bismol again to steal more rifles he started laughing and laughed until tears came to his eyes. His crew thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard too and couldn’t wait to get there, especially when they found out that the Hamish army would be guarding the warehouse. They couldn’t wait to see what kind of plan Sean came up with to get the rifles out of the warehouse. And they loved the fact that he paid them three times what they normally earned for a trip across the ocean.
Danny, Ryan and the two younger men shared a cabin going over and Annie and her three granddaughters Marianne, Joanie and Cathy came along. They had never been off the Ridge and wanted to see a bit of the world. Sean took along six of the younger lads too, why not, since he was taking some of the girls. They all wanted in on the adventure. And they all worked at being sailors and agreed they would rather be farmers. He was relieved, he appreciated sailors and the jobs they did, he just didn’t want any of his lads to get shipwrecked and eaten by whales or cannibals. Although if a group of Ridge lads washed up on a cannibal island, that would be some sorry cannibals for sure. Most of the Ridge men he knew were killing bears at thirteen or fourteen, a group of them would wipe out a village of cannibals in no time.
When they reached Tibor they unloaded the ship and Sean put the ladies up in the Lighthouse Inn and left one of the older sailors in charge of them. He told Annie who was a spry seventy-two to keep her eye on Marianne.
“That one is a bit of a trouble maker,” he warned her. Annie snorted.
“You don’t have to warn me about that one,” she grumbled. Sean laughed.
“Nothing gets by you does it, lass?” he teased her and she laughed.
“I may be old now, but I was young once,” she said and they hugged.
The ship left Tibor and sailed around to Bismol and anchored near the Giovanni warehouse. Sean, Kent and the boys walked casually by the warehouse and saw that it was indeed guarded by about a hundred Hamish soldiers.
“We’ll never get the rifles past all those soldiers,” Kent muttered in defeat. Todd grinned at Sean.
“He gives up easily for an Anamylian doesn’t he, Granddad?” he asked and Sean grinned back.
“Ah, lad, cut him a break, he was raised in the city, not on the Ridge like we were,” he informed him and everyone nodded. Kent looked confused.
“What does that have to do with it?” he demanded to know. Sean put his arm around his shoulder.
“On the Ridge, there’s always more than one way to climb up a mountain,” he told him. “If one way doesn’t work, well, you find another trail.” Kent nodded. Then Sean noticed a gutter hole and he nudged Lonnie who nudged Todd and everyone nudged everyone until they were all grinning except for Kent who still looked confused.
“I wonder where this leads to?” Sean asked oh-so-casually and he walked down an alley until he found the manhole cover. Kent bent over and tried to lift it but it was too heavy. Sean pushed him gently pushed him aside and easily lifted the heavy cast-iron cover. Kent gasped with surprise.
“You’re very strong,” he said with admiration in his voice. Todd and Lonnie nudged each other and grinned.
“Someone’s got a crush on Granddad,” Lonnie whispered to his cousin. Todd nodded.
“He’s cute for a city boy,” he observed. Lonnie nodded. Then they joined the others down the hole and the sewers stunk.
“What is that stench,” Young Sean exclaimed loudly. Sean smacked him on his head.
“Say it a bit louder, lad, I don’t think the Hamish soldiers heard you,” he admonished him. Young Sean flushed red and closed his mouth. One by one they followed Sean as he led them, turning left and turning right until he stopped and looked up.
“I think this should be the place, lift me up, lads,” he ordered in a whisper and they lifted him up so he stood on Lonnie and Todd’s shoulders. “This is it,” he announced softly and he grinned down at them. And of course everyone had to be lifted up to see the feet of the Hamish soldiers to know that they were directly underneath the Giovanni warehouse. Sean marked the spot by piling garbage around it. Then they made their way back to the alley, piling garbage at the turns so they wouldn’t lose their way.
“God, you men stink,” Pierre remarked and held his nose when they returned to the ship. Sean grinned and poured himself a whiskey.
“You’d stink too if you’d been crawling around the sewers,” he informed his friends. Pierre lifted an eyebrow.
“What were you doing crawling around the sewers?” he asked.
“Finding a way into the warehouse of course,” he replied. Pierre laughed.
“Of course,” he said and offered his friend a bath.
The next day the Giovanni brothers took one look at Sean and quickly locked their door after he entered their office.
“No, no, you have to leave, you can’t have the rifles this time,” Maurice told him. “There’s a hundred Hamish soldiers guarding them and they’re taking them out in two days, there’s no time for you to get them.” The other brother looked equally nervous.
“I don’t care how many Topangan emeralds you offer us,” he told Sean. “The Hamish were so mad when you stole the last batch of rifles, they threatened to burn our factory down, so get out of here, you thief, get out.” Sean laughed and sat on the edge of their desk.
“Now you gentlemen know that I didn’t really steal those rifles, I paid for them in good faith,” he said smoothly and he took a pouch out of his vest pocket and jiggled it. They both started to sweat. “I paid you each twenty Topangan emeralds, very nice emeralds I should say.” Sean paused and opened the bag. They both seemed mesmerized by it.
“Now here in this bag are thirty Topangan emeralds for each of you and you don’t have to do anything,” he informed them with a sly grin. “The Hamish soldiers are guarding the warehouse now. If the rifles get stolen this time, it won’t be your fault at all, it will be their fault; how could they possibly blame you for it?” he said reasonably and they looked at one another and nodded. Maurice reached out for the bag. Sean held it away for a second. Maurice frowned.
“Same deal as last time,” Sean said firmly. “Extra casings, bullets and presses,” he added and both men nodded. Sean handed over the bag. Maurice spilled the contents onto the desk top and they both gasped.
“Make sure it’s all delivered today, if the rifles are leaving in two days, that doesn’t give me too much time to get organized,” Sean told them. He made Maurice give the order to his secretary before he left to make sure then he left the two men to drool over the gemstones in private. The secretary glared at him as he left and Sean just smiled at him.
Sean had men watching the warehouse to make sure the extras were delivered and they were. He used long boats and docked them at the end of the sewer system where they ran off into the water. Then he, his men and the sailors simply entered the sewer system from the long boats and found the pile of garbage. Using ladders they climbed up to the bottom of the warehouse and cut the floorboards. Sean carefully tapped to find a hollow spot; he didn’t want a stack of boxes coming down on them. They entered the warehouse and quietly sneaked the boxes down into the sewer and then into the boats. It was a time consuming job, especially because they had to be so quiet, but the guards outside were making so much noise stomping around, gathering around fire cans, joking and laughing that they didn’t hear them. The warehouse didn’t have any windows and they worked by the light of dim glows.
It took them six hours but the warehouse got emptied and they made their way to the ship and sailed with the morning tide. Sean gave all the men a hundred gilder bonus for a job well done and they loved him even more.
Back in Tibor, Annie was up in arms, Marianne wanted to marry a wealthy merchant who was twice her age. Sean took one look at the happy couple and approved the marriage. Annie was flabbergasted.
“You can’t be serious, Granddad, he’s a filthy old leech,” she screeched. Sean shrugged.
“Well, Marianne’s a filthy young leech, they’ll be very happy together and he’s very rich so she’ll be very happy,” he informed her. Todd and Lonnie laughed. And to her surprise all the young people agreed.
“Marianne will never be happy with any man on the Ridge, she’s always wanted to find a rich man,” Joanie told her grandmother and Cathy agreed.
“If you force her to go back to the Ridge, she’ll only make everyone miserable and she’s a bit of a bitch,” she said and everyone agreed with that statement.
So Marianne was happily married and they left Ennis without her. But they did leave with a thousand ice cream makers, a thousand toasters and a thousand coffeemakers so Sean was happy.
And when they arrived back in Anamylia they took everything up the river but instead of putting it all in the caves like the normally did, Sean put in the forest in deep caves he had them dig in the side of some hills and he lined the inside of the hills with logs and put boulders in front of the entrances and bushes so it looked normal.
“No one would even know anything was there, Granddad,” Douglas said, admiring the handiwork. Sean put his arm around his youngest grandson’s shoulder.
“Ah, lad, that’s the whole point of it,” he said with a grin.
Danny and Ryan were glad to be home.
“Any more adventures, Granddad, you’re going to have to go without me,” Danny said as he sat on the porch in his rocker. Ryan sat down beside him in his. Sean laughed at them both.
“Danny Donoghue, you’re only sixty-seven years old, you’re not dead yet, don’t act that way,” he admonished him. Ryan laughed and patted his brother’s hand.
“Really, Danny, I’m seventy and you don’t see me complaining yet,” he said with a sly grin. Danny glared at both of them.
“Well, screw you both,” he said and farted loudly. All of them laughed at that. Annie shook her head.
“Men are such idiots,” she told her great-great-granddaughter Leslie who was giggling. Sean picked the little girl up.
“Why don’t I show you how to make ice cream, would you like that, lass?” he asked her. Leslie frowned.
“What’s ice cream?” she asked. Sean tickled her.
“The most delicious thing in the world,” he told her. Annie smiled.
“Make some chocolate, that’s my favorite,” she called out as they went inside. Both brothers nodded.
“I like strawberry too,” Ryan remarked. Danny nodded.
“Peach is nice too,” he commented. They all agreed; there really wasn’t an ice cream flavor that wasn’t tasty and delicious.
Sean’s ice cream makers, toasters and coffeemakers hit Ben’s store and the Ridges went crazy. All ten Ridges rushed over to buy them and they made a fortune. Especially since they were only selling them for ten gilders apiece, but only at that price to Ridge folks. Ben kept people in his store who knew who how to identify the Ridge people from the city people and of course the Hamish was always easy to spot. They were so rude and haughty, talking down to the mountain folk like they were stupid, but they didn’t come up the mountains much, they sent their servants. And the servants were easy to spot; they tended to talk with their eyes lowered.
Once when Sean was in the store and a servant was in trying to buy a coffeemaker, Sean leaned down to whisper in his ear.
“You do know that here on the Ridge you’re a free man and you don’t have to go back to Portsmyth and your Hamish master,” he told him. The man’s eyes widened.
“I don’t?” he whispered. Sean shook his head.
“People are free on the Ridge,” he informed him. The man swallowed.
“But what will I do? I don’t have any coin?” he stammered. Sean grinned.
“You can stay with me and I’ll help you build you a house and give you five hundred gilders, you can have a farm of your own, get married, have a wife and children, you don’t have to be a slave,” he told him. The man gasped.
“Why would you do that for me?” he asked him with suspicion in his eyes. Sean smiled.
“I’m a man who hates slavery and I’ll do anything to get even one person free,” he explained and the man nodded. Sean took him home and in a month the man had his own home. In three months he was married to a nice Ridge girl. In a year they had their first son and named him Sean. The Hamish who owned him never did find out what happened to him, he just walked off, but they never sent another servant to the Ridge to buy anything.
Sean went into Jamestown to visit with his committee as he was calling them, to tell them the rifles were safely hid, although he knew that Kent Avery had already reported that. Kent didn’t know where they were though. The sailors had put them in the caves when they first arrived; it was Sean and his family who had moved them to the hills. And he had another idea; he wanted to start a fund for servants who wanted to get away from their Hamish masters. He took with him ten thousand gilders in gold.
“Sean, how nice to see you, how was your trip?” John and Henry who were partners in a law firm greeted him warmly. Sean smiled and sat in a chair facing them.
“I wouldn’t be talking too loudly about my trip if I were you,” he said softly but firmly. They both nodded.
“Sorry, but it was just us, I assumed it was safe,” Henry apologized. Sean nodded.
“You just never know who might be listening, it’s always best just not to mention certain things aloud,” he suggested and they both nodded, it seemed like sound advice.
“So what brings you to Jamestown?” John asked and he leaned back in his chair and lit one of those big smelly cigars. Sean wagged a finger at him.
“Those things will kill you,” he warned him. John shrugged.
“You have to die one day,” he said. Sean nodded. He lifted his bag of gold on the desk top where it made a delightful clank. The men looked interested.
“This is twenty thousand gilders,” Sean informed them. “Now five thousand is for our cause, the cause of liberty, or whatever you gentlemen want to call it.” They both nodded.
“That’s very generous of you, especially seeing on how you purchased the rifles,” Henry remarked. Sean shrugged.
“So make me a General, I’ve always wanted to lead an army and I think I’d be good at it,” he said with a grin. They both looked at each other and grinned. You had to like this kid; he had plenty of coin and the nerve to go with it. Then Sean continued.
“With the other fifteen thousand gilders I want to start some kind of fund to help servants here in the city, if they want to escape from their Hamish masters, then the fund will pay their way to the Ridges and help them start a farm of their own,” he explained. Now both men really looked interested.
“That’s a very good idea, I’m surprised that no one has thought of that before,” Henry stated and John nodded.
“The people on the Ridge are always willing to help people escape from the Hamish and they’d be willing to hide them and help them build houses and start them off and the fund will give them the coin necessary,” Sean explained further. “They all can’t come to O’Brien’s Ridge, we’ll have to split them up between the ten Ridges so they don’t get too crowded but there’s plenty of room for a lot of people on the mountains and down in the valley, plus down in the south near St. Charles.” Both men nodded.
“This is a very clever plan, you’re a very clever young man, has anyone ever told you that?” Henry asked him. Sean shrugged.
“I may have heard that a time or two,” he admitted with a slight smile.
He left their office and walked to the Chronicle to deliver his latest cartoon, this one a big arrogant Hamish Count whipping a group of poor half-starved peasants and slaves all bearing the names of the five territories while Andalusia, a women, stood by and wept. The editor looked at it and whistled.
“Oh, man, they’re really not going to like this one,” he said and grinned. Sean shrugged.
“The Hamish do have trouble with reality don’t they?” he asked dourly. The man nodded and Sean paid for his two editorials both on high taxes and the unjust treatment of the peasants and slaves, calling for the people of Anamylia to stand up to the Hamish and call for the release of the peasants and the return of the Topangans to their native home.
For a lark he checked out the price of the items he had purchased in Ennis and found them all selling for fifty gilders.
“Fifty gilders for a coffeemaker; are you insane?” he snapped at the shopkeeper who shrugged.
“I paid forty for it, I have to make a profit,” he told him weakly. Sean was furious.
“The damned things are selling for five gilders back in Ennis,” he informed him. The shopkeeper shrugged.
“It’s the damned Hamish taxes, they make everything so expensive,” he explained. Sean left the store, bought some paper and wrote another editorial denouncing the taxes and explaining the differences in prices between Jamestown coffeemakers and Ennis coffeemakers.
“Do you want to print this one instead of the other one?” the editor asked. Sean shook his head.
“Only if you don’t want to print the other one, otherwise print them all,” he told him and paid for the extra one. The man shook his head.
“I’ll print this one this week with the one about slavery and the other one the next week,” he decided and Sean nodded. Then he was too furious to enjoy Jamestown and picked up his wagons and went home to work on his cannon which was what he was calling his latest project.
Sean had Lonnie, Todd, Young Sean and a couple of other lads helping him build his cannon. They took a nice piece of steel sheeting, heated it by holding it over a Peanja wood fire and rolled it into a long tube just like a rifle barrel. Next they welded it closed using Peanja wood of course and attached it to two big thick wooden wheels. It looked pretty study to them.
“It looks good, Granddad, what are we going to fire out of it?” Young Sean asked with a big grin. Sean shrugged and lifted a big round boulder he had carved.
“I thought we’d try this and see how it works,” he said and they all nodded.
So, they poured gunpowder down the tube and shoved it in with a long stick that Sean had carved with a handle at one end to scrape it down to the end and then put in the rock. Sean had put in a long piece of string with the gunpowder to light it which he called a fuse. He lit it and they all ran behind the cannon and watched for the rock to come out.
“Holy shit,” Lonnie exclaimed as the cannon blew up instead. Sean whistled. The seams hadn’t held, the explosion was too much for them and the steel had bubbled in places. The rock had been totally obliterated and turned to dust; obviously they weren’t going to be firing rocks out of the cannons. And not going to be using steel for the barrels either.
“Back the drawing boards, gentlemen,” Sean announced and they all grinned. This was big fun; they got to blow things up, what lad wouldn’t like that? So they went into Jamestown to purchase some cast-iron.
Their next cannon was made of cast-iron and two inches thick. Sean made a wood mold for the thing so he could pour it in one piece and added a hole at the bottom for a short fuse. In war time one didn’t want to wait minutes for a long fuse, time was of the essences. For the cannon balls as the lads were calling them, they used the steel they had on hand and melted it into three inch balls. The lads loved tossing them around.
The next attempt was a little more successful. They poured the gunpowder in, stuffed it down and put the cannon ball in. Then Sean aimed it at the mountain and lit the fuse and the cannon actually went off and the ball hit the side of the mountain and went in. Everyone cheered and patted each others back.
“It worked, Granddad, it worked,” Young Sean exclaimed as he jumped up and down. Sean grinned.
“So it did, lad, so it did,” he said. The cannon wasn’t so lucky. The barrel had bubbled in several places and the hole was closed over. Apparently two inches thick wasn’t thick enough.
So they started over once more and bought more cast-iron and Sean made another mold making the cannon three inches thick now and taking cannon balls eight inches wide. They were so enormous two people had to lift them into the barrel and twice as much gunpowder had to be used. But when they lighted the fuse and blasted a big-assed hole into the side of the mountain the cannon rocked back but the barrel remained the same and the hole was fine.
“Holy God, think of what that could do to a Hamish warship,” Sean muttered and Lonnie put his arm around his shoulder.
“It will send those Hamish cowards back to Hamish where they belong,” he told him and everyone nodded.
“Lads, we have changed the face of war forever,” Sean told them seriously and they all nodded. Sean went to Jamestown to fetch his committee to show them his new invention. He melted gold coins to engrave the name: Donoghue Cannon, on the side of it.
“Holy mother of God,” Henry muttered when he saw the cannon ball hit the side of the mountain. The other men appeared to be just as shocked.
“Ah, lad, God has a mother now does he?” Sean asked, amusement dancing in his eyes. All of his family had been gathered to watch the demonstration.
“This is a powerful weapon, we must make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands,” John said with a big frown on his face. Sean nodded.
“It’s the only one so far, but me and the lads will be making more,” he informed them. Kent Avery shuddered.
“Why in God’s name would you even make this one?” he demanded to know. Henry and the others looked at him with surprise. Sean just shook his head.
“Ah, lad, did you think that all the talk was just that; talk?” he asked him softly. Kent looked confused. So did Neil and Thomas. John and Henry didn’t. Sean continued.
“Eventually when the talking is over and the people have gotten together and gotten organized, someone, a group of someone’s, are going to have to ask the Hamish very politely and in an official document of some sorts to leave Anamylia. We’re going to elect us a President, a Vice-President and a Congress full of Senators like we’ve been talking about,” he explained. “We’ll have our own Army and our own Navy. Do you really think that the Hamish are going to take that without giving us a fight?” Sean asked calmly. The six men shook their heads and sighed.
“Well be careful who finds about this thing, Sean, you don’t want the Hamish to know about it,” Henry said before they left. Sean thanked him for his advice and watched them leave. They were nice men but they sure did a lot of talking.
The Ridge men did some more firing of the cannon and found out that by putting in more powder and lifting the barrel up they could shoot a long distance, firing the balls way over the forest trees.
“I’m not going to look for that one,” Young Sean remarked as they watched it sail away. Frankie snorted.
“I bet that one landed in Gannon’s,” he said proudly. He and his twin brother Freddie raced to see who would find it first. Sean grinned at the lads.
“Okay, lets build another one and if we’re going to keep losing balls like that, we’re going to need more steel,” he said and they all cheered and clapped. They hid the cannon in a cellar under the chicken house. No way the Hamish would look for it there.
In Jamestown and in Portsmyth Sean and his family bought up every bit of cast-iron and steel they could find, renting wagons to get it back to the Ridge and then they traveled up to Andalusia and down to St. Charles to look for more. In fact, they went to all six territories buying up all the cast-iron and steel they could get their hands on and storing it by the river behind Sean’s farm. They had a mountain of the stuff when they were through, everything from cast-iron fencing to steel rods.
Sean built a foundry next on the other side of the river so they could melt it all down in private. It was a very large building with no windows so no one could peek in a see what they were doing. And he put a good cast-iron lock on the door so no one could get into it. He asked for volunteers for hiding the finished cannons under chicken houses and wasn’t surprised when everyone of his family did.


For January first Seventeen Hundred the Ridge had a big party and Sean celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday, actually he was a hundred and eighty-eight but no one knew that except for Ryan and Danny who were the only ones who had asked him. A few people were saying that the beginning of a new century meant the world was going to end soon and the St. Charles Church was spouting doom and calling for the burning of witches and their familiars, the cat. Suddenly anyone with too many cats came under the suspicion of being a witch and Sean had a good laugh over that one.
“If you don’t have a cat in the house, then your house will get overrun with mice and you’ll get sick with disease and filth, the St. Charles priests are full of shit as usual,” he told everyone down at Jefferies who agreed with him.
“Those priests get this from that stupid book they won’t let anyone but them read,” Stan remarked. “I wonder what’s in that damned thing anyway?” Everyone shrugged. Sean wondered that himself, they sure did make a big fuss over it; not letting anyone read the stupid thing.
Winter was bitter cold and the brothers stayed inside most of the time, they were sixty-eight and seventy-one and didn’t want to risk catching a cold. Annie who was an amazing seventy-four went to Church every Sunday and didn’t care.
“I’m too old to care when I die anyway, every day is a blessing now,” she grumbled as she hobbled out the door. Sean would carry her over the snow to the carriage so she wouldn’t have to walk in the snow.
Sean and his lads made three more cannons that winter; it was a long process and took several weeks. Then they rolled them out in early March and fired them towards the Keetiks, they had enough balls to spare, no one would run and fetch these balls. Let the Indians try and figure out what they were and how they got there, maybe if they were lucky, they would actually hit a couple of them.
“Fire cannon number two,” Sean yelled and Todd who had won the lottery lit the fuse. Cannon two fired and the ball sailed high into the sky and disappeared into the forest.
“Take that you Keetik bastards,” Young Sean who was now seventeen shouted and they all cheered.
“Fire cannon three,” Sean shouted and Young Sean lit the fuse and the ball sailed even further while they all cheered. Then cannon number four fired and sailed over the trees. They were joyous, they had four cannons and they all were successful. Everyone hugged and then Sean instructed them to hurry up and hide the cannons under the chicken houses he had selected. The men got the mules and harnessed them up and soon the clearing was empty. Sean took the supplies back to his barn and put them in the cellar under it and hid them. Then he went back to the clearing and used a shovel to move the burned earth around.
And not a moment too soon, as he was leaving he spied Harvey Wilson, one of the Major’s spies, who had been living on the Ridge for the past six months walking along the hill top over-looking the clearing carrying a fishing pole. His twelve year-old son was with him. Those Wilson boys sure did a lot of fishing, he grinned to himself and all of it within sight of his farm, fancy that. Sean walked home and harnessed up his plow. It was spring and time for the planting to begin.
“How’s the planting going on?” Ryan asked him as Sean sat down at the dinner table. Sean grinned at the three old folks.
“Ah, lad, you know me, I like digging in the dirt,” he said and they all laughed. Sally passed him a plate of half-raw meat they way he liked it cooked and he took a big piece.
“Sally, this looks delicious,” he said and sniffed it; she had used some of the new spices from Topanga on it. She flushed with pride.
“Thank you, Sean, its nice when someone appreciates my cooking,” she said and looked at her husband who rolled his eyes.
“Just because you put raisins in the rice pudding and you know I don’t like raisins,” he complained and the others laughed. Just then they heard the sound of horses racing up the slope, almost right to the door.
“What in the world?” Sean muttered and he got up to go to the door. Before he got there, there came a loud banging on it and he opened it to find the Hamish army on his doorsteps. Four soldiers came rushing in followed by a very angry Major Steinbeck who was waving a newspaper.
“I’ve got you now, you rotten bastard,” he announced. “It is against the law to write slanderous words against His or Her Majesty and if this cartoon isn’t slanderous than I’m the Queen of Ennis,” he said smugly and shoved the newspaper into Sean’s chest. Sean opened it to find his latest cartoon, this one of the Queen of Hamish, her royal highness Queen Anne sitting on a toilet and taking a crap on the people of Anamylia while the Queen of Ennis laughed. Sean almost grinned but he held it back. This was no time for laughter. He looked at the Major and put a look of confusion on his face instead.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Major,” he informed him calmly. The Major snatched the paper and pointed to the little initials at the bottom.
“S.D., see right there, there are your initials, S.D. for Sean Donoghue,” he yelled. “I’ve been reading these for weeks now and thought your taste in artwork crude and humorless but this time young man you’ve gone too far. You’ll get twenty lashes and five years in prison for this little cartoon,” he spat in Sean’s face. Sean shook his head.
“You can’t prove that this S.D. is me, this person could be Steven Douglas for all you know; I can’t draw anyway, there’s no way you can prove I drew this cartoon,” he informed him. The Major flushed.
“Sergeant, give me the pad,” he snapped. The sergeant reached in his bag and took out a drawing pad and a drawing pencil. Major Steinbeck shoved them into Sean’s hands.
“Now you sit down there at the table and draw damn-it and don’t try to mess up on purpose, I’ll be watching you,” he shouted. Sean shrugged and moved the plates on the table. The Major didn’t even apologize for disturbing their dinner, he just watched as Sean tried to copy the cartoon from the paper. It soon became apparent to everyone watching that there was no way he could draw, not every a tiny bit. The Major was furious.
“Is that the best you can do?” he yelled. Sean shrugged.
“I’m sorry, Major, I’m trying the best I can,” he apologized. The Major snatched the pad up and compared it to the cartoon in the newspaper. With a growl, he threw them both down and stomped out of the house. The soldiers followed him and they heard the horses racing away. Danny picked up the pad and looked at the drawing.
“Not your best work, Granddad,” he said with a grin. Sean put the dinner plates back into position and resumed his dinner. Annie stared at him.
“Aren’t you left-handed?” she asked. Ryan giggled.
“Well, now that you mention it, I think he is,” he said and they all laughed.
“You’re going to get your fool head in a noose if you keep this up,” Annie warned. Sean shrugged.
“I’d only be dead for a few hours and then I could come back as my twin brother Steven,” he informed them. “Just make sure the family claims my body and you don’t let them burn or bury me.” They all nodded. Sally looked shocked.
“Why would they burn the body, even the Hamish wouldn’t do that,” she said. Sean shrugged.
“Who knows what the Hamish would do next, it’s safer to be sure,” he said grimly.
The following week Mike O’Brien was called away to a special meeting at the Governor’s office and he retuned looking very grim. He called the entire Ridge to an important meeting.
“People I have a very important announcement to make,” he stood on the raised dais which was larger and higher than his great-grandfather’s had been. Everyone was silent so they could hear what he had to say.
“Governor Furbush had declared war on the Blackeyes Indians,” Mike said loud and clear. Everyone looked at each other and frowned. And for once no one made fun of the governor’s name.
“What does that mean to us, Mike?” a man in the crowd yelled. Everyone grumbled and demanded an answer. Mike held up his hands and the crowd settled down.
“Every land grant holder has been requested to raise an army of two hundred men, to arm them and supply them and to report to Pembroke no later than April thirtieth,” he informed them. “We are going to war, gentlemen, I’ll be asking for volunteers, first among the young single men with no wives or children and then the younger men. If not enough volunteers then I’ll draw by way of a lottery. It will be fair and I’ll be going to lead you, but go we must or we all lose our land. That’s what the Governor said. Oh yes, he also told me that the Hamish will be paying a ten gilder bounty on every Blackeyes ear that you collect from the dead Indians,” Mike said the last sentence with a look of disgust on his face. Sean felt equally disgusted. Leave it to the Hamish to turn a simple massacre into a blood bath.
Sean volunteered and most of his younger relatives without children. Young Sean wanted to volunteer but at seventeen fell six months short of the age requirement. Sean hugged him.
“Don’t worry, lad, you’ll soon be fighting the Hamish and that’s a war worth fighting, this is going to be a massacre pure and simple and not worth your time,” he told him and Sean had to be content with that. Sean led seventeen Donoghues down the slope on horses with mules filled with supplies. Mike greeted them on Main Street.
“Should I be worried about the men who are bragging about how many Indian ears they’re going to collect?” he asked Sean in a soft voice. Sean nodded.
“I wouldn’t turn my back on those men in the dark,” he told him and then added, “And I wouldn’t count on them to watch my back when I needed it watched.” Mike nodded. They set off for Portsmyth two hundred and six men, some of them eager but most of them resigned.
“I don’t see why the Hamish army can’t fight their own battles,” one of the older men complained as they rode. Sean laughed.
“The Hamish army couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag,” he retorted and they all laughed.
Once in Portsmyth they ran into men from O’Malley’s and MacDonald’s Ridges and the three Ridges sailed together to Pembroke harbor. Their spirits were high and they all made fun of the Hamish army. Sean’s comment about them not being able to fight their way out of a paper bag was repeated often.
“Tell us another one, Granddad,” Lonnie begged when they got bored. Sean grinned.
“Well, how can you tell when a Hamish is lying?” he asked them. They all shook their head.
“How can you?” someone asked him. Sean laughed.
“Because his mouth is moving,” he answered and they all laughed. Then he thought of a new one.
“The Hamish all talk like men with paper arse-holes who forgot to pay their fire insurance,” he told them and they all broke into peals of laughter. Todd patted him on his back.
“Granddad, you’re the best,” he said. Someone asked him.
“Why do you all call him Granddad?” Todd grinned.
“Ah, that’s just a family joke,” he told him. Soon everyone was calling Sean Granddad, they thought it was funny. He didn’t mind, he’d been answering to Granddad for so long, it felt like his real name.
When they arrived in Pembroke the army was camped north of the city in a huge tent city. Their General was a Hamish idiot named Westinghouse who didn’t know his arse from a hole in the ground and he had the men all helter-shelter all over the place. The Ridge men took charge of themselves and lined up in formation in the order they appeared on the mountain. Adam’s followed by Lamanski and down the line. The Hamish was very jealous that all of the Ridge men had rifles and they didn’t.
“Where did they all get rifles?” Major Buchanan asked the General as they watched the Ridge men walking around. The General frowned.
“I wasn’t aware that there were that many rifles in the territories,” he replied. They had both been just informed that the shipment of rifles that they had been expecting had been delayed once again. Someone in Ennis had stolen another shipment from the Giovanni warehouse and the Hamish hadn’t a clue as to whom. The soldiers in the territory who had to fight savage Indians were furious, how could they keep the settlers safe when those fools back in Ennis couldn’t even guard one little building. And with a hundred soldiers, those stupid fools in Ennis couldn’t guard their own mothers!
“Go send some men around and ask some of them where they got those rifles,” General Westinghouse said with a sly smile. The Major smiled and did so. They weren’t smiling when their men returned with the same story.
“He said he bought off some man off a wagon,” the corporal said and saluted. The Major threw down some papers with such force they flew off his desk. The General snorted.
“Some man off a wagon, they’ve been telling that same old story for years, what kind of fool do they think we are to believe such rubbish,” he said and took a sip of his coffee. Yet another corporal came in the tent and saluted. The Major glared at him.
“Don’t tell me, he bought it from some man off a wagon,” he sneered. The corporal looked uncomfortable and shook his head.
“Actually no, Sir,” he replied and the two officers sat up and looked interested. The corporal continued. “The man I spoke with said he bought three hundred rifles off a sea Captain in sixteen ninety-six, three months before the Hamish starting taxing them so he didn’t have to pay any tax on them. He seemed quite proud of that, Sir, and all of his men laughed,” he informed them. The General glared at him.
“What was this man’s name?” he snapped. The corporal fidgeted.
“His name was Sean Donoghue and he is from O’Brien’s Ridge,” he answered, not bothering to tell them that there was something about the tall man, a gleam in those dark, green eyes that had scared him to death and made him wish his father had decided to send him to the university instead of the army like his brother George. He was happy when the Major dismissed him and he could leave the tent. Being around officers made him uncomfortable.
“These damned Anamylians always whining about the taxes, just imagine how they would like it if there were no taxes to pay the army or the navy and the damned savages came into the cities and attacked them. Where would they be then?” the General snapped. The Major gazed out the tent to where the Ridge men sat around their fires with all their rifles and thought that perhaps thought perhaps they wouldn’t be so bad off after all. Then he dismissed the thought and went back to his paperwork.
They sat around the tent city for a week and then just as they thought they were going to run out of food, the army finally moved out. Sean had made a run into Pembroke for additional supplies so the Ridge men were well supplied. There were almost two thousand of them, all of them armed with rifles, bullets, swords and knives. All the army had were swords and knives but there were three thousand of them, plus another three thousand men from the other four territories. But they didn’t know how many Blackeyes they were going up against.
General Westinghouse divided the Ridge men into four groups because they were the only men with rifles. Sean and his group were under the leadership of Major Buchanan and went to the southern corner of the Blackeyes territory. They were two thousand men strong and he further divided them into four groups of five hundred to form four lines to march them in. Sean thought this awful silly and spread his group out so they wouldn’t be such good targets.
“You men, spread out, riding in a line like this, you can just get picked off one by one,” he informed them and they looked around at one another and agreed. At least the Ridge men did and instantly spread out over the trails. The soldiers looked confused and the other men looked at Major Buchanan who was riding with them for orders. The Major looked around and frowned.
“Hey, you, why are your men leaving the formation?” he asked loudly. Sean rode up to him.
“Why don’t you shout loudly, Major, I don’t think the Indians hiding in ambush heard you,” he retorted and some of the soldiers laughed. The Major was not amused.
“Get your men back into formation, who the hell are you?” he demanded. Sean frowned at him.
“You’re fighting Indians here, Major, not another army who rides in formation, the Blackeyes aren’t going to care if you’re neat and tidy and in formation, in fact they’ll like picking you off one by one,” he explained. “Spread your men out and look for the enemy, they could be anyway, even the trees, for God’s sake, think like an Indian not a white man,” he snapped and turned to the soldiers behind the Major.
“Spread your men out unless you want them killed, Captain,” he warned him. Then Sean rode back to his men and they spread out further. Sean told his men to watch in the trees also and they nodded. The other men following looked at the Ridge men and looked at the soldiers all neat in a row and spread out like the Ridge men. The soldiers looked at the Major who ordered them to stay in line, he yelled at them at the top of his lungs.
At that exact moment Sean noticed movement in the trees where they shouldn’t be movement. He lifted his rifle and shouted to his men.
“They’re in the trees men, shoot in the trees!” And then all hell broke loose as he took aim at an Indian was aiming a bow and arrow and fired his rifle. The Indian fell to the ground and other rifles fired. Sean quickly reloaded and took aim again. The Indians shouted and yelled and swung on vines at the soldiers and everyone was struggling for their lives.
Sean quickly loaded and fired again and kept doing so until a Blackeyes swung at him and he pulled his knife and killed him. The movement of him hitting Sean threw him from Sir William and Sean rolled on the ground and to his feet as quickly as he could. He picked up his rifle and loaded it and took aim at an Indian and fired. The Blackeyes went down. Then two were upon him and he pulled his sword out. A good swing took the head off of one and a good jab took care of the other. He saw one heading for Todd who was already fighting one, so Sean raced and headed him off.
Then as quickly as it happened it was over. Indians were lying on the ground, blood was all over, and men were moaning and groaning. Sean quickly took inventory of his family and found them all alive and well, not a scratch.
“If any of you take an ear, I’ll disown you,” he told them and they all frowned.
“God, Granddad, you don’t even have to say that,” Todd was insulted he would even think that of them. Sean grinned.
“I’m sorry, lads, I don’t know what came over me,” he apologized. Lonnie hugged him.
“We know you’re just all worried about us,” he said and kissed him full on the lips. The other men all patted him on his back and went to help the wounded.
The soldiers fared the worse of everyone. Riding in single file, all nice and neat like they had, the Indians had just aimed their arrows and let go. A lot of them were wounded. Sean had brought plenty of green leaves with him and they really needed them. Luckily for the Major he had found a nice safe spot to hide during the battle. They found him hiding behind a big rock when the battle was over.
“Here he is, the coward’s been hiding behind this big rock,” Scott Donoghue remarked casually as he helped Major Buchanan to his feet. The Major brushed off his clothes in an effort to retain his dignity.
“Is it over then?” he asked casually as he walked back towards his men. Sean looked at his grandson and grinned. All the Ridge men grinned. None of them had even been scratched.
“Of course your men weren’t hurt, they had rifles, all my men had were swords,” the Major yelled at Sean as they rode back to camp. Sean shrugged.
“I killed more Indians with my sword and my knife than I did with my rifle, Major,” he informed him. “The only reason a lot of your men were wounded was because they were riding in formation, I warned you about that but you didn’t listen. If it’s all the same to you; me and my Ridge men would prefer not to ride with you and your soldiers any more. You’re stupid and you’re going to get us killed trying to protect you.”
“You’ll ride with whom I tell you to ride with, Mr. Donoghue, is that clear,” Major Buchanan snapped at him and Sean sighed.
“The Hamish Major is going to get us killed for sure,” he told his men and they all agreed. Mike O’Brien went to the General to complain and was informed that Major Buchanan was a fine officer and the Ridge men were lucky to have him.
“The Major is a coward who hid behind a big rock until the battle was over General, all of the men saw him do that,” Mike told him. The General was shocked.
“How dare you slander a fine man like that, get out of my tent!” he ordered. Mike went back and said they were stuck with the idiot. Sean suggested that perhaps they should carry a big rock for the Major to hide behind. Everyone got a big laugh over that. They started to call the Major, Major Rochanan instead of Buchanan. When he found out about that he was furious.
“Those mountain men are barbarians, I was knocked off my horse by an Indian and was unconscious when they found me,” he insisted. The General patted him on the back.
“Those bastards are fools not to appreciate what a fine soldier you are, Steve,” he said.
The next day they left camp and headed south again with new soldiers to replace the old ones who had been wounded. The old ones watched Sean and his men and decided to do what they did despite the Major’s orders. They weren’t going to die just because their senior officer was a coward, they didn’t buy that unconscious story at all, they all saw him run behind that rock and hide.
Late in the afternoon they came upon a Blackeyes village that appeared to be deserted. The Major wanted to enter it and burn it down. Sean wanted to send men to surround it and approach it from all sides.
“You are my men you will do as I say,” Major Buchanan yelled. Sean sighed.
“Why don’t you yell a little louder and the Blackeyes hiding in the village might hear you clearer?” he suggested and his men laughed. Some soldiers looked at the village and shifted in their saddles.
“There are no Indians in that village, it’s been deserted,” the Major insisted. Sean shook his head.
“We don’t know that, Major; it could be a trap,” he informed him. “If we go riding into that village then we would be the ones surrounding on all sides by the enemy. But if we surround the village, then we’re the ones surrounding the enemy, we’ll have the advantage.” Everyone nodded; they thought it a good idea. The Major shook his head.
“That’s a stupid idea and a complete waste of time, I’m in charge, we’ll do it my way,” he said and ordered them to follow him. His soldiers didn’t like it but they began to follow him. Sean ordered some of his men to go right and some to go left so at least they would have three sides covered.
“This idiot is going to get his men killed,” he told Todd as they rode to the left. Todd nodded. The Major rode his hundred soldiers straight to the middle of the village and began to burn down the houses which appeared to be made out of animal hides. The Blackeyes hiding, thinking that these were the only forces, attacked immediately, coming out of the houses and hiding spots under blankets. Sean’s men rushed in and began to fire at the Indians and soon all hell broke loose once again and it was hand-to-hand combat. Sean fired his rifle as much as he could, it really was more effective than a sword or a knife, but when he was attacked in person, the sword was much handier.
“Don’t kill her, she’s a woman for God’s sake,” he grabbed the arm of a soldier who was going to knife a woman holding a baby. The soldier glared at him.
“We’ve orders to kill all the Blackeyes, even the women and children,” he spat at him. Sean sighed and helped the woman to her feet. His men rounded up all the women, old people and children that were left of the village. It was a small number, only about forty. The Major glared at him.
“What the hell are you doing, we’re supposed to kill all of the Blackeyes,” he snapped at him. Sean glared back at him.
“We’re not massacring innocent women and children, we’re soldiers not murderers. The Governor said he was going to put the woman and children on a reservation in the St. Charles and these are going,” Sean informed him firmly and the Ridge men glared at the soldiers. The Major looked at the rifles they were holding and swallowed nervously.
“Fine, they’re your responsibility,” he said and he walked away.
“Those murdering bastards,” one of the Ridge men exclaimed and the other men looked shocked. Sean sighed.
“What do you expect from the Hamish, we should have let the Blackeyes kill them before we killed the Blackeyes,” he suggested and more than one Ridge man thought that was an excellent suggestion.
When they brought their captives back to camp the General wasn’t pleased.
“I thought I told you not to bring back any prisoners,” he said to the Major who glared at him.
“Tell that to those stupid Ridge men, they’re the ones who insisted we couldn’t murder the innocent women and children,” he stressed the words murder and innocent. The General laughed.
“Did you inform them that these aren’t people at all that they’re filthy animals and that the women will just have more filthy savages that will grow up to murder them?” he said in a reasonable tone. The Major snorted.
“Try telling that to that Sean Donoghue and his men, they’re no better than animals themselves,” he whined. The General sighed.
“This war will be over with soon and those mountain men will go back to the mountains and drink beer like they like to and you and I will go back to civilized society,” he consoled him. The Major sighed.
The famous Blackeyes Indian war of Seventeen Hundred lasted a month and they collected well over eleven thousand ears before they were satisfied that the Indians were wiped out sufficiently enough. Two thousand women, children and a few old people were transferred to St. Charles for the priests to take care of on a reservation and the two territories of Pembroke and Northwest opened up tremendously.
Sean and his people all went home without a single injury. To those who didn’t take a single ear he offered a different bounty, two small emeralds and two gold twenty gilder coins, one to melt down to make earrings and one to pay the jeweler to make the earrings. When the other Ridge men heard about Granddad’s bounty they all rushed over to O’Brien’s Ridge to see if they qualified. Sean assured them they did, as long as they didn’t take any ears and they brought buddies with them to say that they didn’t and he handed out emeralds and gold coins to all of the men. Over fifteen hundred women the following year wore the earrings proudly as a symbol of her man’s bravery and courage in the war. And Sean figured that was fifteen hundred men he could count on to join him if he ever needed an army. And that was a handy thing for a man to have.
A lot of word of mouth had gotten around about Sean being the one to see about buying a rifle and O’Brien’s Ridge got a lot of travelers from the other territories all looking for the same thing, one of those rifles. Sean sold a lot of them for the bargain price of twenty gilders and he made sure to sell a press to a good man in every territory. He was out in the fields working when three men rode up and he grinned thinking he was going to make another sale. Bill went to greet them as Sean walked up the slope. He saw that two of the men were obviously nobles; they were too well dressed for common men. The third was a farmer; he looked like someone who worked in the sun. Sean gave Bill the signal and waved his head a bit at the third man, he was the only man to do the polite thing and get off his horse. The other two talked down to Sean and sneered at him.
“Are you Sean Donoghue?” the blonde one asked. Sean nodded.
“That would depend, there are four Sean Donoghues living on the Ridge,” he replied. The two men looked at each other and laughed.
“Why on earth would there be four Sean Donoghues living here?” the dark-haired one asked. Sean grinned up at them.
“Well, Sean’s an important name in the Donoghue family,” he informed them. He turned and waved at his house. “The first Sean Donoghue left Ennis in fifteen eighty-nine and came to Anamylia and settled here on the Ridge, married and built this house. Every generation that follows names a son Sean in honor of him.” The both laughed again.
“Well, how do you keep track of all of them?” the blonde asked.
“That’s easy,” Sean explained. “First there’s old Sean, he’s in his forties, then there’s young Sean, he’s in his twenties, then there’s baby Sean, he’s just a wee lad of six months old and then there’s me and everyone called me Granddad.” They both looked confused by that.
“Why do they call you Granddad, you look like you’re only in your twenties,” the dark-haired one asked. Sean nodded.
“They call me Granddad because I look so much like the first Sean Donoghue, we have a painting of him,” he explained and they still looked confused. Sean shrugged; figures that the Hamish was too stupid to get it.
“Well, we’re looking for the Sean Donoghue who’s got the rifles for sale, we want to buy a rifle to hunt with,” the blonde announced. Sean frowned.
“Ah, lads, you’re too late, I sold my last rifle last week,” he told them. The third man behind them looked disappointed and started to turn away. Bill grabbed his arm and whispered something in his ear. The man stopped and waited. The two men frowned down at him.
“Well, you’ve got a rifle don’t you?” the dark-haired man asked and Sean nodded. The man smiled. “Then sell me yours, I’ll give you five hundred gilders for it,” he informed Sean and smiled again. Sean shook his head.
“Then I wouldn’t have a rifle and I just got finished fighting in an Indian war, what if I got called up again and didn’t have a rifle to fight with, no, I couldn’t possibly sell you my rifle,” he informed them. The two men got angry.
“Do you know who I am?” the dark-haired man snapped. “I’m the son of Count Bentley and I demand that you sell me your rifle and that one of your relatives sell my friend theirs or I’ll have the soldiers up here inspecting your property faster than you can blink,” he threatened. Sean laughed.
“Sonny, you can bring the whole Hamish army up here if you want, we just fought with them against the Blackeyes and the Major we fought under was such a coward he hid underneath a big rock ever chance he could, we’d all love a big laugh,” he informed them. They looked angry and as if they’d like to run Sean over with their horses but then they noticed Ryan and Danny standing on the porch looking at them. Their hair might have been white, but there was nothing old about the rifles they were holding.
“I think you boys need to ride back to where you came from where daddy can protect you and give you every single thing you ask for,” Sean told them softly. “Up here on the Ridge is the real world and we don’t like the Hamish up here, now go on, go home little boys.” They looked around and suddenly noticed there were a lot of people watching them and a lot of those people had rifles in their hands.
“Maybe we should head back to Jamestown,” the blonde suggested. The dark-haired one glared at Sean.
“I’ll see you one day off of your mountain, Granddad,” he sneered. Sean laughed.
“You’d better hope not, sonny,” he told him. And watched them ride away. Then he waved at the family watching and went and sold another rifle.
The next day four wagons filled with rifles left the Ridge and headed to the Northwest territory, and then to Pembroke and New Lennox and St. Charles and finally Andalusia. And everywhere they stopped men remembered the Ridge men from the Indian war and the rifles because they had been so effective and so handy. Sean and his family were heroes for selling them so cheap. And he used the phrase ‘concerned citizen’ everywhere they went so they knew where the rifles were coming from. He knew that the odds were that some of the rifles would end up in the hands of Hamish sympathizers, but that most of the people were sick and tired of the Hamish and their outrageous taxes. The Hamish was making it too easy for the committee too for delegations of concerned citizens in every major city.
When the committee came to O’Brien’s Ridge and Henry made a speech about unity and forming a congress of delegates to address their problems to the Hamish, it was such a good speech everyone was impressed. Sean was very impressed. The community elected Mike O’Brien of course; he was the land grant holder and a natural leader. He asked Ben to go with him to Jamestown and then asked Sean if he wanted to go. Sean grinned at them both.
“I’m already invited, gentlemen, but thank you for the offer,” he told them and they looked confused. Sean leaned forward.
“Guess who is the General of the Anamylian Army?” he whispered. They both shocked.
“You’re the General of the Army; but we don’t have an Army,” Ben said weakly. Sean shrugged.
“Well, then, I guess I’ve been passing out all those rifles for the fun of it,” he said with a sly grin. They both nodded.
“So that’s what you’ve been doing with all those wagons and all those trips,” Mike said with admiration in his voice. Sean took a bow.
“Stock up on black dye in your store, Ben, I’m putting all the men in black coats when the time comes,” he informed him and Ben nodded.
Sean headed into Jamestown two days before the delegation from the Ridge left; he wanted to meet with the committee before hand. They were meeting in the bookshop this time but switched meeting places regularly so that the Hamish who had been hearing rumors of meetings and conversations couldn’t spy on them.
“Gentlemen, I have very good news,” Sean said as he entered the room. The six looked up at him as he placed a very large leather pack on the floor.
“What is that?” John asked. Sean grinned at him.
“This is a hundred thousand gilder donation from our friend King Thunder Cloud whose only request for the committee is that you put Indian rights on the bill that you draft up to give to the Hamish when the time is right to demand your rights,” he explained. Walter gasped.
“There are one hundred thousand gilders in that pack and you’ve been carrying it around Jamestown by yourself. Are you mad?” he exclaimed. Sean patted his trusted rifle.
“I am armed, Wally, with my rifle and my Chervek sword, no one’s going to bother me,” he said with a grin and they all looked at him and nodded. There was something about the deadly gleam in those dark, green eyes that made men back off.
“Well, let’s get down to business, we have a lot to talk about today,” Henry said crisply and they all sat down at the conference desk to give their reports. Sean noticed that Neil’s hands shook a bit when he lifted his coffee cup to his lips and put it down to excitement or nerves.
“There was a memo on Major Stanley’s desk this week about a man with wagons of rifles running around Pembroke selling them for twenty gilders each,” Thomas the security man read. Everyone laughed. “The army has been called out and every wagon on the road is being searched. I’d be real careful if I were you, Sean.” Everyone looked at him. Sean shrugged.
“I’m finished selling rifles, don’t worry, I’ve still got two thousand left but selling them by wagon was a one time thing and risky, I wouldn’t risk doing it twice, the Hamish are stupid but not that stupid,” he said. They all nodded. Thomas continued.
“There was another memo on Stanley’s desk about an informant warning him about a big important meeting that was happening in Jamestown this week,” he read from his paper. Then he looked up “The Major will stop at nothing to find out where the meeting is and what it’s about gentlemen so we had better be really careful about meeting the delegates at the assigned places and getting them safely to the Church without raising any suspicion.” Henry started to say something but Neil interrupted.
“The Hamish have my son and if I don’t tell them where the meeting is they’re going to hang him and his friend Robbie for smuggling,” he blurted out and tears began to run down his face. The six men were shocked.
“My God, man, when did this happen?” Walter asked.
“What do they know about you?” John asked. Neil wiped his face.
“Don’t worry, they don’t know I’m part of this committee, I’m sure about that, its just the Hamish being typically Hamish and threatening me and the boy’s father with the same thing,” he explained. And then went on to tell the story of how his son Vaughn and his friend Robby had gotten the bright idea of going to Andalusia and buying fifty coffeemakers and a couple of barrels of coffee to sell to their friends at school. It was a dare thing really, just a harmless prank, they didn’t mean to make any coin off of the deal. All the college kids had put their coins together and the two boys had rented a wagon and gone over the border, bought the coffeemakers and come back. Only they had gotten caught and now the Hamish was going to make an example of them.
“They’re only nineteen years old, for God’s sake, it’s not like their common criminals, they’re college students,” Neil snapped and the others agreed it was unfair.
“This is exactly the thing we’re fighting against,” Henry said, slamming his fist down on the table.
“Its not going to be soon enough to help my son,” Neil said and choked back a sob. Sean leaned over and patted his hand.
“Which barrack are they holding them at?” he asked him calmly. The men looked at him with surprise. Sean shrugged.
“The Anamylian Army is about to attack the Hamish,” he said with a grin. They all smiled.
Later that night, about midnight, a drunken man was standing in front of Station Number Eight singing at the top of his lungs, holding a gallon bottle of whiskey and pissing in the street. Two soldiers were sent out to tell him to go home. He didn’t want to go home and took a swing, hitting one of them in the head with the bottle and causing injury. They arrested him on the spot and herded him into the jail.
“Sleep it off, Grandfather,” one of the soldiers spat and they threw the white haired old man into the cell. The soldier that he had hit walked in and kicked him in the ass.
“Hit me in the head with a bottle, you drunk old fool,” he snapped and they walked out laughed. Sean sat up and rubbed his bum.
“That hurt, you stupid Hamish bastard,” he said and stood up. The four men in the cell with him stared at him with amazement.
“Hey, you’re not drunk,” one of them accused. Sean looked at him and grinned.
“Fancy that,” he retorted. He looked at the other men. None of them looked young enough but he asked anyway. “Any of you lads Vaughn Farnesworth or Robbie Benson?” he asked. They all shook their heads. One of them pointed to the cell opposite them.
“I think one of them over there is named Robbie, he cries a lot,” he told Sean. Then he whispered loudly. “The Major likes him, if you know what I mean,” and he winked. Sean was appalled.
“Does this Major have a name?” he asked calmly, after all, one should know the name of the person you were going to kill before you killed them.
“Major Bronson,” another man spat.
Sean walked over to the bars and of course they were cheap cast-iron. A normal man wouldn’t have been able to bend them but he had no trouble. The men looked at him and whistled. He shushed them.
“You don’t want them coming down here now do you?” he whispered. They sat back down and were quiet. A soldier came to the top of the stairs.
“Settle down there, you don’t want me coming down there and throwing cold water on you, do you?” he yelled. The men were quiet. Sean walked over the next cell and bent the bars. The men in that cell were impressed also. Sean walked over to where two men were huddled together in the corner. One looked at him with wonder.
“Who are you?” he whispered.
“Are you Vaughn Farnesworth?” Sean asked softly. The young man nodded.
“I’m Sean Donoghue and I’m a friend of your father’s and he asked me to come and see if I could get you two out of here, he doesn’t much like the thought of you hanging and I don’t either,” he explained. A man on the bench laughed.
“I don’t want to hang either, can I come with you?” he asked. Sean nodded.
“You can all come if you’re quiet but once we get outside you’re on your own,” he told them. Everyone nodded. After that it was easy. Sean just bended the bars on the small window and they lifted one another and crawled out. The Hamish was so secure in their bars that they didn’t have a guard outside. The men all made for a nearby alley and so did Sean and the two boys. Kent was waiting with horses and they rode for the outskirts of Jamestown where the others waited. Vaughn and Robbie got to hug their fathers before Lonnie and Todd took them to the Ridge where they would be safe.
“Thank you, General Donoghue,” Neil said and they all laughed with relief. Sean grinned.
“The Hamish need to build better prisons but I say let them build them in Hamish where they belong,” he spoke firmly. Henry patted his back.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” he declared.
The first meeting of the Congress of the Republic of Anamylia was held in an abandoned Church on the northwestern edge of Jamestown and attended by a hundred and ten delegates from the six Territories. Even Andalusia was represented as they felt strongly that the Hamish noose was strangling the life out of the people of Anamylia. Mike and Ben were amazed to see that Sean was one of the seven men running the show.
“The mustache does make him look older,” Ben remarked as they watched Sean take his seat on the stage. Mike nodded.
Henry began the meeting with a passionate speech that fired everyone up. Then John spoke about human dignity and the injustice of slavery. Walter gave a report on finances and the gift of the Malweenah people to the New Republic. That shocked everyone and made more than a few people smile. Thomas talked about Hamish police actions and long prison sentences for light crimes, the cutting off of hands for stealing and hanging people at a whim. That fired people up again.
Neil talked about his son and Robbie being raped in jail and this outraged everyone. Then he talked about freedom of the press and how the Hamish wanted to silence and censor the Chronicle. That continued to fuel the fire.
Kent got up and talked about freedom of religion and women’s rights to choose the husband of their choice and not being forced to marry who their fathers choose for them. It was unfair to make a young girl marry an old man just because her father wanted her too. Men in the audience seemed split on that issue but they seemed to think that people should be free to worship God in whatever Church they wanted. Then it was Sean’s turn. Henry introduced him as General Sean Donoghue.
“Before I tell you gentlemen anything I have a little demonstration for you, please let us set outside for a moment,” he said and they all got up and followed his men who were standing at the door and directing them to the field out back. Henry and the others hid their grins when they saw the two cannons. The lads had shined them up real good and they gleamed in the sunlight. They were both pointed at the old minister’s house behind the Church. Sean walked over to his men and they saluted him, they all wore black jackets just like his.
“Fire cannon one,” Sean shouted. Young Sean lit the fuse.
“Firing cannon one,” he shouted. They stepped back and the cannon exploded. The men watching flinched and gasped with shock as the cannonball hit the house and demolished half of it.
“Fire cannon two,” Sean shouted. Todd lit the fuse.
“Firing cannon two,” he shouted. The men stepped back and the second cannon exploded. The rest of the house was obliterated. The men all gasped again.
“Well done, men,” Sean shouted and his men beamed with pride and saluted him. Sean turned around and indicated that they should all go back inside the Church. Everyone was talking and whispering back and forth. Sean stood in front of them once again.
“Our Army has five Donoghue cannons just like the ones you just saw and I’ve still got two thousand rifles left from the ten thousand I’ve been handing out to all of the Ridge men and the valley men and all of the men all over the territories,” he informed them. “Men like you and me who are tired of living under Hamish rule and just want them to go back to Hamish where they belong. Now we can all sit around and talk about how much we hate the Hamish and we hate the high taxes and slavery and injustice until we’re all blue in the face,” Sean paused and looked over the sea of men. “But the time to act is coming very soon because pretty soon the Hamish are going to have rifles just like we have rifles and the advantage that we have because we’re the only one with rifles is going to be gone and it’s going to be much harder to get them out of our country. Now I’ve seen first hand what a bullet can do to a body and so has the Hamish and let me tell you they’re not going to want to face eight thousand men with rifles. They’re going to run back to Hamish as fast as they can and they’re not going to come back until they have rifles. And that will give us time to make hundreds more of these cannons and line the shore with them. So that when the Hamish come back with their rifles to take the country back, we can blow them out of the water, that will shock the shit out of them.” Sean stopped and everyone laughed.
“Thank you for you time, gentlemen,” Sean said and bowed. Everyone stood up and clapped. Henry patted him on his back.
“Very good demonstration, General,” he told him and the others beamed.
The delegates talked for a week and it was finally decided that they would draw up some kind of formal Declaration of Independence and everyone would sign it and they would send it to the Governor to send to his Majesty King William the Fourth asking him to remove his troops from Anamylia because they wished to become one country instead of six Territories united under a President, Henry Adams with a Congress to rule them which would be elected by the people of the people and for the people. John, who had the best penmanship, wrote the declaration on two parchment papers, one to send to Hamish and one for them to keep for their records. They also wrote amendments giving women some rights, lowering the age of marriage consent to eighteen and giving the Indians and all people, no matter what color equal rights. It was a very pretty document and Sean was proud to sign it a month later on June nineteenth seventeen oh one.
Immediately after signing it and sending it to the Hamish Governor, the hundred and ten delegates and the seven members of the committee which was now the President, Vice-President and the President’s cabinet, went into hiding. They knew the Hamish would put them on a hit list right away. Sean went home to the Ridge to give instructions to his family. He and his Army would be hanging out in nearby Lamanski Ridge while the delegates from Lamanski would hide out in his home. The Hamish were so dumb they would never look on another Ridge for another Ridge man, they would tear apart Adam’s Ridge looking for Tom Adam and Scott Hamilton but they would never guess that the family living in their house was the Chervek Dennis Ferguson they were looking for.
“For God’s sake whatever you do, Sean, don’t tell them you’re Sean Donoghue,” Sean said to old Sean who looked at him like he was crazy.
“Well who do I say that I am then?” he asked. Sean shrugged.
“Tell them your name is Peter or Paul, but if you tell them you’re Sean Donoghue, the Hamish are so stupid they’ll likely arrest and hang you thinking you’re me instead,” he told him. Sophia his wife looked appalled.
“The Hamish can’t be that stupid,” she protested. Sean just looked at her. She turned to her husband.
“From now on your name is Peter,” she decided. Sean grinned and kissed her. He turned to the old folks.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be stopping by to check up on you, the Hamish can’t camp out here on the Ridge, they’re going to much too busy running and hiding,” he said. Ryan hugged him.
“I wish I was young enough to come with you,” he murmured. Sean kissed him.
“Ah lad, I wish you were too, what an adventure that would have been,” he whispered and then he was gone. The two brothers sat on the porch and talked about how they would get rid of the Hamish. Annie snorted.
“You’re both old fools,” she announced. They ignored her like they always did; she was getting crankier as she got older. Seventy-five was not an improvement on her disposition.
Governor Earl Furbush took one look at the Declaration of Independence and frowned. He called to his aide.
“Wayne get in here and read this for me would you?” he said loudly and his aide, a young handsome man he was having an affair with rushed in. Earl smiled at the sight of him. Wayne took the document and read the title and then he glanced at the letter that came with it.
“This is a Declaration of Independence,” he announced. “And it’s being sent to you by President Henry Adams of Anamylia.” The Governor looked confused.
“Who the hell is that, Anamylia doesn’t have a, what the hell is a president?” he yelled. Then he yelled for Benjamin Baker his assistant governor and General Westinghouse and Admiral York. Several hours later the four men and several Counts read the document and the letter and had a good laugh.
“You’re not actually going to send that thing to His Majesty?” Count Bentley asked and waved his hand at the parchment sitting on the governor’s desk. Furbush shrugged.
“I suppose I must, I think these gentlemen are serious and I think they mean to hold us to the one year deadline,” he informed them. They all snickered.
“In one year I’ll have all of the men who signed that document in my prison and we can send them King William so he can hang them himself,” General Westinghouse predicted and then he added, “Especially that Sean Donoghue, I knew there was something shady about him the first time I saw him during the Blackeyes conflict.” All the men nodded.
“What are the chances that the army will finally have some rifles to put down these rebels?” Count Reynolds asked. The General smiled.
“I have been told that we will have them in the New Year so this little rebellion will be nothing, a hundred and seventeen people against the Hamish army is laughable,” he snorted and they all laughed. Outside the office Wayne looked at his fellow clerk and frowned.
“They can’t believe it’s just only a hundred and seventeen men can they?” he asked him and the other man shrugged.
“They’re all idiots, I don’t know how you can stand sleeping with him,” he told him. Wayne shrugged.
“I want that house and he gives me presents I can sell,” he said and they both laughed.
They even printed the list in the newspaper and first on the list was General Sean Donoghue. Second on the list was President Henry Adams. He and Henry had a big laugh about that.
“Well, you did steal their ten thousand rifles, I only want the whole country,” Henry remarked philosophically. Sean laughed.
“I made them look foolish twice, they hate me more, the worse thing you can do to a Hamish is show the world how stupid they really are,” he told him.
Sean figured out a clever way pass messages along to his president and congressional members. He put a Malweenah Indian with each of them and simply wrote the messages in Malweenah. Even if the message fell into Hamish hands there would be no way in hell they would be able to decipher it. The Ennish had been working with the Indians for years to make their spoken language a written one and Sean who loved languages had no trouble picking it up. And dying his hair white and growing a beard kept him from being recognized by the Hamish and he was free to travel around the territories, as long as he stayed away from barracks eight that is.
The first month Sean and his men hung out on Lamanski’s Ridge living in Chester Lamanski’s house while he was living in Sean’s house with the Annie. Danny and Ryan insisted on coming with him while he was hiding out, they didn’t want to miss any of the fun. When the Hamish army came up the Ridge to arrest Chester they found young Sean, Todd and Lonnie with three old men sitting on the porch in rocking chairs.
“We’re looking for Chester Lamanski,” the Hamish Captain yelled at Todd who was working in the fields. All young men came walking up as slowly as they could while the Hamish soldiers sat on their horses and fumed.
“Are any of you men Chester Lamanski?” the Captain yelled. Todd stared at him with amazement.
“Chester Lamanski is thirty-six years old, do any of us look thirty-six years old to you?” he asked him. The Captain sighed.
“Well, where is Chester and what are you doing in his house, who are you anyway?” he snapped.
“Chester took off when he heard the Hamish were going to arrest him, he said we could have his house,” he told the Captain and then he added, “I’m Jamie Johnson and that’s my Granddad Herman, wave hello, Herman,” Todd yelled to Sean who waved at the Hamish Captain. The Hamish soldiers laughed.
“I’m Jack Johnson and that’s my Granddad Hector, waved hello, Hector,” young Sean yelled to Danny who waved. The Hamish soldiers laughed again.
“I’m Joshua Johnson and that’s my Granddad Hiram, wave hello, Hiram,” Lonnie yelled and Ryan waved. The Captain sighed as the soldiers laughed.
“Are all you mountain men such idiots?” he snapped. The boys looked at one another.
“Not any more than usual I reckon,” Todd said oh-so-casually and the Captain snorted with disgust and turning his horse around gave the order to ride away.
“That Hamish Captain called us idiots, I guess I should be insulted by that,” Todd told Sean as he watched them ride away. Sean laughed and got up from his chair with remarkable ease for such an old man.
“I wonder how much of an idiot the Captain is for letting the number one man on his little arrest list sit on the porch and laugh at him,” he commented and they all laughed. Ryan patted him on his back.
“My Granddad is number one on the list,” he said proudly. Sean bent down and kissed him on his forehead.
“It’s going to be a long year if the Hamish are going to be this stupid,” he predicted.
He and the boys slipped home the third week to make a cannon and check up on Annie but they left the fourth week before the Wilson’s could find out they were there and report them to the Hamish. They left the Ridge and went next door to Gannon’s. When a Hamish patrol came looking for Neil Gannon, it was a different Captain and different soldiers so they did their Johnson routine and got laughed at but it worked and the soldiers went away.
Switching Ridges worked out pretty well, whoever was at someone’s house did the work there so when winter came no one would go hungry or be without supplies. Sean did miss his beer and sent the boys home for a barrel, they sneaked in and carried it by mule over the mountains without a single problem. Danny and Ryan appreciated that.
“No one makes beer like you do, Granddad,” Danny sighed with pleasure as he sipped his brew. Ryan looked a little worried. Sean leaned forward so he could whisper.
“He’s been feeling tired lately,” Ryan whispered to him. Sean patted his hand.
“Danny’s sixty-nine, lad, he’s got a right to be tired,” he told him gently. Ryan frowned.
“But I’m seventy-two and Annie’s seventy-five and we’re not complaining about being that tired,” he complained, his face sad. Sean smiled. Danny looked at them.
“I know you’re talking about me,” he said and grinned. “And yes I’m tired, God knows I deserve to be tired, I’m sixty-nine years old and if I die in my sleep one night then I die in my sleep. There’s nothing you two can do to prevent it, so quit fussing about it like a couple of old women and let’s enjoy what time I got left.” Sean hugged him.
“I love you, Daniel Donoghue, I always have and I always will, lad,” he said and Ryan felt tears come to his eyes.
But the next day he felt better and everything was fine. It was Annie they found sick in bed when they sneaked back home to make another cannon and check up on her.
“Ah, lass, why didn’t you send word that you were sick, we would have come sooner had we known,” Sean said and sat on the edge of her bed. She glared at him.
“Those Wilson bastards have been watching the house since they heard I was sick waiting for you to show up,” she snapped. “I’m not going to be the reason the Hamish hang you.” Sean laughed and kissed her cheek, it felt cold and dry.
“The Hamish won’t know I’m here, I’m going to send the Wilsons a bit of a distraction,” he informed her. She looked interested.
“What kind of distraction?” Annie wanted to know.
“The kind that drives them off the Ridge forever, we’re going to burn them out,” Sean told her. “We’re tired of them spying on us, they can go to hell or back to Jamestown but they’re off the Ridge either way.” She nodded and went back to sleep.
That night as they lied sleeping the Wilson’s barn burned down. They ran outside to save their animals only to find the horses and mules safe outside and then turned around and their house was on fire. None of their neighbors came to help put it out but all of them stood by and watched. They were so confused; they thought the Ridge was supposed to be a friendly place.
The good Reverend and his wife brought over clothes and took them to their house and handed them five hundred gilders that was a gift from Sean Donoghue who always contributed generously to charity cases such as they now were. The minister then gently suggested that they use the coin to move back to Jamestown because people on the Ridge didn’t appreciate nosey people who liked to gossip to the Hamish about Ridge business especially when that business concerned Sean Donoghue who everyone knew and loved so much. The Wilson took the hint and left the Ridge the next day. The five hundred gilders were more than the Hamish had been paying them and besides the Hamish didn’t almost burn them alive. They were thankful whoever burned them out, burned the barn first.
Annie didn’t recover, she died peacefully in her sleep a few days after the fire and they buried her next to her husband who had died a good twenty years earlier. Danny and Ryan cried and held on to each other with dear life. Out of the fourteen grandchildren who had been alive when Sean returned from Topanga only six remained and Danny and Ryan were the most precious to him. He loved them all, but the two brothers were the ones he spent the most time with and they were the oldest so every day he had with them were special.
The third month they spent on the Ridge. Sean remained an old man with a full white beard and the three old men sat on the porch and everyone laughed every time the Hamish rode up the slope and the three boys went into their Johnson routine. And there were plenty of Johnson’s on the Ridge for the soldiers to talk to so when a stranger sneaked onto the Ridge and tried to be clever and ask about those three young men living in that house up on the slope everyone told them about the Johnson boys and their Granddads. Sean and the boys made three cannons that month. But they left in the fifth month because even the Hamish weren’t that stupid.
The fifth month they spent up in Pembroke and just for the hell of it, because they could and they had Indian friends, they freed the Topangan slaves of the Count of Pembroke and took them back to the Malweenah valley to live until they could get them on a ship to Topanga. The Indians greeted the slaves warmly and welcomed them to the valley. And the Topangans were amazed to find out that Sean and Ryan had lived on Topanga and spoke the language. Ryan had a ball talking his old language and it made him homesick for the island he had left behind.
“I wonder how Sam and my grandchildren are doing,” he asked Sean as they rode out of Donoghue village. Sean smiled at him.
“We could go back, take Danny with us if you want, lad,” he offered. Ryan shook his head.
“No, I made that decision and I’m sticking to it,” he said firmly. “I was born on the Ridge and I’ll die on the Ridge. You can take the boy off the Ridge but you can never take the Ridge out of the boy. Just like you can’t take one of my sons off of the island and bring them here and expect them to be happy,” he informed his Granddad. Sean grinned.
“Does that mean I have to move back to Hamish, say it isn’t so, Ryan or I’ll have to hit you and I’ve never had to do that before,” he teased him. Ryan laughed.
“No, I think you were born with the Ridge in your blood, you’re a Ridge man, Granddad,” he told him and Sean nodded. But later he got to thinking about the Fairie Mountains and how beautiful they had been and how wonderful it had been climbing the trails with his Granddad and their long conversations. Maybe that’s why he loved the Ridge so much, the mountains weren’t as high as the Fairies had been, but they were mountains and he did love mountains. They were in his blood.
All during their hiding Sean kept sending messages to all the delegates keeping them informed about Hamish troop movement and naval movement as the information came to him. He had scouts at all the Forts and by all the ports, who relayed the movements back to him. And of old fashioned bribery worked well also, there was always a corporal or a private who was willing to copy a memo or slip one out for a twenty gilder coin or two. The Hamish army didn’t pay well and corporals and privates got the dirty jobs and the worse hours and with the sergeants always yelling and shoving them around, they were easy targets. Sean expected a lot of them to come over to the Anamylian side during the conflict.
The sixth month was winter and they spent it in Jamestown renting a house near the port where they could watch the ships come in and where the large amount of traffic coming in and out of the house was common. The boys all got jobs at local coffee shops and Sean and Lonnie at a local dock tavern where all the sailor’s hung out and between all of them they heard all the news. Danny and Ryan shopped at the market and heard the old folk gossip; they also hung out at the St. Charles and heard all the rich old parents gossip about their sons and daughter. They heard all kinds of valuable tidbits.
One afternoon the two old men rushed into the tavern where Sean was pouring beers. He looked at their worried faces in alarm and rushed over.
“What’s up?” he asked. Danny huffed and Ryan leaned forward to whisper.
“Count Bentley’s mother was at the Church and she said that her son heard that one of the rebels was hiding out in a house on Franklin Street in the Garment district and they’re going to go door to door until they find him,” he told him. Sean frowned.
“Did the old bat say which delegate they found?” he asked. Ryan shook his head.
“You two go on home and I’ll take care of this, thanks, don’t hurry, you’ll draw attention to yourself and wrap up, its cold and I don’t want you getting sick,” he fussed and wrapped the scarf around their throats. Danny grinned.
“Yes, mother,” he quipped and Sean kissed him full on the lips. A bunch of men whistled.
“Is that your sweetheart, Peter?” one of them yelled. Sean waved him.
“That’s my Granddad, you fool,” he yelled back and yelled at Tony the owner that he’d be back in a minute. Tony yelled that his shift wasn’t over, get back here, but he was yelling at air, Sean was gone.
Sean walked to Franklin Street as fast as he could and no soldiers were there when he got there. It was the garment district so there were a lot of shops so the houses were apartment on the second floor of the shops. Sean sighed and started with the first apartment entrance and knocked on the door. When it opened and he didn’t recognize who answered it, he apologized and quickly went to the next. Sometimes one entrance had two doors, one on either side. He was on his seventh door when he recognized the man who opened it. Sean shoved into the room and not a moment too soon. A whole squad of soldiers came running around the corner.
“Soldiers are here, someone has ratted you out Mr. Delegate, I’m General Donoghue; do you remember me?” Sean asked him. The man looked frightened but he nodded.
“You’re the man with the cannon, of course I remember you,” he said. “You wouldn’t happen to have one with you do you?” he asked. Sean laughed and looked around the room. He started picking up papers and putting them into a valise.
“If you’ve got anything with your name on it get it quickly, they’re going door to door and they’ll be here soon,” he told him. The man quickly ran into the other room and came back with some papers which he stuffed into a bag.
“My gold,” he said and rushed back into the room coming back with another bag. Sean took all the bags and they climbed out the bedroom window onto the roof. It was very slippery and the man started to slide. Sean picked him up and carried him over his shoulder.
“You’re very strong,” the man remarked and Sean just grinned. He climbed over the roof to the building next door and kept climbing until they got to the end. He put the man down gently and then unhooked the fire ladder. Then he picked him up again and climbed down the ladder. He put him down and together they walked out of the alley and onto the next street and back to the house where Sean lived. He found out the man’s name was Monty Trenton and he was the delegate from Northwest Territory and elected
Senator which was what they were calling the delegates. Sean left the Senator with his people and went back to work.
“Where the hell did you go, Peter, you know you’re not supposed to leave the tavern, you’ll have to work an extra hour to make up for it,” his boss grumbled when he got back. Sean shrugged.
“I had an important errand to run and I came back didn’t I?” he told him. The boss sighed. The man was the strongest man he had ever seen, he could lift a beer barrel all by himself and was a good worker and the men all loved him, so he’ll cut him a break this time.
“Well, don’t do it again,” he snapped at him. Sean just laughed.
“What do you mean you couldn’t find him?” General Westinghouse snapped at Major Buchanan who fidgeted.
“We searched every apartment on Franklin Street, we did find one that looked abandoned and the landlord assured us that he had rented it to a gentleman from St. Charles who was in Jamestown on business, but no one was home when we searched it,” he informed the General. The governor sighed.
“That’s the man and somehow someone blabbed and they found out we were on to him and he got away,” he snapped. Count Bentley appeared nervous. He didn’t tell anyone did he, no he only mentioned it at breakfast and the only one there was his dear old mother and she wouldn’t have told a soul. He spoke up.
“It’s been six months and you idiots can’t manage to find a hundred and seventeen men in six territories, how hard can it be?” he said calmly. The General glared at him.
“First, its five Territories, the Ennish won’t let us search Andalusia and for all we know they’re all hiding there the cowards,” he said, wiping his nose with his hankie. “And the Territories are very large and cover a great deal of forest and mountains. Most of these men grew up on these mountains and are capable of living in caves for God’s sake. I say we stop fooling around with the men and start taking the wives and the children hostage and force the men to turn themselves in exchange for them. Or we’ll hang the women and children in their place!” he yelled.
“The people won’t stand for that you fool,” the Governor shouted. “This is not Hamish, you can’t get away with that here,” he declared. The General stood up and walked over to Furbush’s desk. He put his hands down on it and peered down at the man.
“I’m the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Army, don’t you dare tell me what or what not I can get away with, you pompous fool,” he said quite calmly. The Governor was quite scared. He nodded.
The General and the Admiral both agreed; it was time to stop playing with these Anamylians and teach them a lesson they would learn about the Hamish once and for all. They quickly wrote out arrest warrants for all of the wives and children of all of the so-called Congressional members and the grandfather of Sean Donoghue. He was the only one they knew of him, everyone else was back in Topangan.
“Aren’t there a lot of Donoghues on O’Brien’s Ridge?” Major Buchanan asked his Captain who shrugged.
“I don’t think they’re related to General Donoghue,” he told him. The Major frowned.
“Well, they sound like they’re related, pick up a few of them too,” he ordered and the soldiers hurried off.
When the people heard of the arrests they were shocked and appalled. A large number of them marched to the Governor’s office and protested. The Governor looked out his window and sighed.
“I told you they’d be unhappy,” he told the General who just smiled.
“Who cares, just wait until the newspaper comes out and they read the news, then those cowardly bastards will start turning themselves in and this whole mess will soon be over,” he said smugly. Outside the office the two secretaries looked at each other and sighed.
When the rebels got the paper and read the headline: Rebels turn yourselves in or we will hang you wives and children in your place, they were furious. When Sean read the names Donoghue, Douglas, Lizzie, Douglas Junior, Megan, Shannon, Benjamin, Roderick and Carla, he was furious.
“What did those bastards do? Just go to the Ridge and grab the first Donoghue family they found?” he asked Ryan and Danny with bewilderment. They looked equally confused. Danny shrugged.
“If you go up the slope, Doug’s house would be the first Donoghue house you would get to,” he reasoned.
Sean called all the delegates to the Church where they had all met before for the cannon demonstration.
“This is really dangerous, all of us meeting like this,” Neil said with a worried look on his face. Sean shrugged.
“We’ve got to meet if we’re going to figure out what to do next,” he reasoned. Everyone was angry. Some wanted to go to war, some wanted to kill every Hamish soldier they saw and some wanted to get the cannons and blow the Governor up. No one wanted to turn themselves in. President Henry Adams faced the Congress.
“I saw that this act of aggression means that the Hamish has declared war on us and we should declare war on them,” he announced in a loud firm voice. Every man stood up and cheered. Henry turned to Sean.
“General Donoghue, what is our next course of action?” he asked him. Sean marched to the front of the stage.
“Only the Hamish would be stupid enough to start a war in the middle of winter,” he remarked casually and they all laughed. Then he continued. “We now have twelve cannons and we will use them to drive the Hamish Army to the sea and from there back to Hamish where they belong.” Every one cheered.
“It may be the dead of winter but we are mountain people and we are used to the cold and the snow,” he informed them. “The Hamish are not, they are sissies and little girls and used to standing around nice fires and inside buildings so it’s going to be easy to pick them off. Especially with the cannons as we fire on their Forts and buildings where they gather. One cannonball up the arse and they’ll come running out into our rifles and the battle will be over in a hot minute. Its going to a very cold but very short war,” he assured them.
Three of the cannons stayed in Maryland, three went to Pembroke and two each went to the other three territories. Sean instructed all of the Senators to put their men in black coats or cloaks and sent men to all the Ridges to round up his army. The women were busy loading up supplies for the men and lots of Peanja wood for the fires. Snowshoes were made and lots of blankets were gathered. Sean made a few of his men Captains because he trusted they would follow his orders. No one seemed to mind that. When the other Ridges reported their Ridge became overrun with men and supplies but no one seemed to mind that either.

Chapter Three - Viva L'Revolution

Sean left the Ridge with three cannons and five thousand men. Two thousand and a cannon were sent to take the fort at Portsmyth under the leadership of Ivan Ferguson, the Chervek land grant holder, he knew the man was up to the challenge. He led the rest to Jamestown to take the Fort there and the Capital. Henry, John and the other members of the Presidential Party rode with him.
“I think we selected the right man for the job, don’t you John?” Henry murmured to his Vice-President as they rode protected on all four sides by black jacketed Ridge men, all wearing big grins and carrying rifles, swords and knives. John nodded.
“The Hamish aren’t going to know what’s happening,” he said and grinned.
The group made Jamestown the morning of February seventh, the day all hell should be breaking out all over the five Territories and Sean couldn’t have been happier. He sent a thousand men under the leadership of Chester Lamanski and a cannon to take the Fort at the Naval Base and he sent a thousand men to surround the town. Then he and a thousand men rode through the streets towards the Governor’s office where he knew all the Counts and important Hamish Senior Officers had their offices. He had a little surprise just for them.
“Oh, my God, we’re being invaded!” the citizens of Jamestown screamed and ran for their homes. Sean’s soldiers were very polite in telling them to get off the streets and return home until the fighting was over, they didn’t want the Hamish using anyone as hostages. Black-jacketed soldiers in groups of twenty stood at every street corner armed with rifles just waiting for a chance to fire them.
Sean and five hundred men surrounded the Governor’s office. He aimed his cannon and gave the order to fire.
“Fire the cannon, Captain Donoghue,” Sean shouted. Young Sean beamed at him.
“Firing the cannon, General,” he shouted back and lit the fuse. The soldiers stood back and the cannon exploded, tearing an enormous hole through the huge wooden gates of the Governor’s stately building and going through to the building itself and causing damage. Inside, the whole building shook with the impact. Governor Furbush looked at General Westinghouse and frowned.
“What on earth was that?” he said and his secretary rushed into the room.
“We’re being attacked!” Wayne screamed; his handsome face hysterical. The General got up and ran to the window and saw all the men in black.
“My God it’s the rebels!” he shouted. He and the Governor exchanged a worried glance.
“We’ll go out the back way,” Furbush decided and they rushed from the room.
“What about me?” Wayne wailed as they left him behind. Tony, the other secretary comforted him.
“Don’t worry, they rarely kill the secretaries,” he assured him but he didn’t look too sure about that. They sat at their desks and awaited the arrival of the enemy. They didn’t have long to wait. Within ten minutes, dozens of men in black jackets waving rifles were storming the offices. Both men stood up and held their arms over their heads. The soldiers stood them against the wall and checked the offices.
“All clear, General Donoghue,” one of them shouted. A tall, very handsome man walked casually into the offices and looked around. Wayne almost swooned he was so magnetic. He smiled at the two men.
“The Governor and General Westinghouse have sneaked out the back haven’t they?” he asked them in a teasing voice. Both men nodded. The General laughed. “They won’t get far,” he said. Then he turned to one of his men. “Tell President Adams that the building is secure and he and the others have their new offices.” The man saluted and hurried off. Sean looked at the two men who still had their arms in the air.
“Relax, put your arms down, gentlemen, you’re in a free country now,” he told them. “And you don’t have to go back to Hamish with the Governor if you don’t want to, anyone who wants to is welcomed to stay in Anamylia, we welcome all to our home of the free.” Both men put their arms down with relief and sighed. Wayne smiled at him.
“That’s a relief because I just bought a house,” he informed him and all the soldiers laughed. Just then four soldiers came in escorting the Governor and General Westinghouse who both looked rather rumbled.
“Look who we just caught trying to climb the back fence but couldn’t, they’re both way too fat,” Sergeant Donoghue said and they all laughed. Both men flushed red with embarrassment and the former Governor pointed his finger at Sean.
“I’ll see you hung for this, you General imposter!” he yelled. A calm voice in the doorway spoke.
“That would be rather difficult all the way from Hamish which is where we’ll be sending your fat arse,” Henry Adams informed him as he strolled rather majestically into the offices. Every soldier stood at attention and saluted him. Sean clicked his heels together.
“Former Governor Furbush, General Westinghouse, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the President of Anamylia, Mr. Henry Adams and his Vice-President, John Matthews,” Sean said formally. Both Hamish men frowned.
“The Hamish Crown doesn’t formally recognize Anamylia as a country, as far as we are concerned the five Territories are still Territories of His Majesty, King William the Fourth,” Governor Furbush said pompously. Henry shrugged.
“Oh, I’m sure King William will recognized us as a country when all of his soldiers and sailors come marching home with their tails between their legs and you finally hand him that Declaration of Independence that you’ve never bothered to send him,” he informed him. The Governor flushed.
“How did you know I haven’t sent it?” he sputtered and turned to glare at Wayne who shook his head.
“I didn’t tell him you never sent it,” the secretary denied. Henry laughed.
“You Hamish are so stupid, I knew you wouldn’t send it, but we decided to give you the year anyway, you’re the ones who turned the clock up when you kidnapped our wives and children. Did you really think we were going to meekly turn ourselves in to be hung? Who’s the idiot who came up with that stupid plan?” he asked and everyone turned to look at General Westinghouse who glared at them.
“It would have worked in Hamish,” he snapped. Sean smiled at him.
“But you’re not in Hamish, Westinghouse,” he informed him. “You’re in Anamylia where boys learn to kill their first bear at fourteen and you’ve been charging us two gilders a pound for coffee that costs a quarter a pound for in Ennis. Face it, Westinghouse; this revolution has long been overdue.” Both men looked shocked.
“This isn’t a revolution, it’s a simple uprising and as soon as we get some of those rifles, we’ll be back to teach you rebels a lesson,” General Westinghouse promised. Sean nodded.
“Take them away, Captain and let’s find a ship to put them on,” he ordered and his men hurried off to do his bidding. The secretaries were marched off also and the offices were left to the Anamylians.
“Do you really think they’ll be back?” John asked; a worried look on his face. Sean nodded and put his arm around the man’s shoulder.
“Of course they will, Anamylia’s too important and too rich for them to give up without a fight,” he told them. “But it will take them at least a year to get enough rifles and their ships and men together and by them we’ll have lots more cannons waiting for them. We’ll blow them out of the water before they can even hit the shores,” he promised and they both looked reassured. Henry laughed.
“Well, you’ve been right about everything so far, we’ve got no reason not to trust you now, General Donoghue,” he said. Sean patted him on his back.
“You two and your cabinet concentrate on running the country and leave the defenses to me,” he told them. “I won’t let you down.” They went into their new office and soon were followed by the other men of the original committee; there was hard work to do.
The transition from Hamish government to Anamylian government went very smoothly. The people were very happy. First went the high taxes to be replaced with a very reasonable five percent tax and only on merchandise not on food so no more tax on coffee or tea or sugar. The people were joyous. The price of coffee went from two gilders a pound down to twenty-five cents. And the price of a toaster went from fifty gilders to ten gilders. People went out and went shopping so the merchants were happy. And the government reimbursed them for the high Hamish taxes that they had to pay. All they had to do was bring their invoices on the merchandise they had in their stores and the government paid them back. This was Sean’s idea and it was a good one, it made the merchants happy and caused them to lower their prices and the people could now afford to buy their new inventions and made them happy. And when the people were happy, they loved their government. It was a good will gesture that insured that the new government was welcomed by all Anamylians.
“I was hesitant to do this but Sean was right about this tax reimbursement program, the people love us,” Walter gushed at a cabinet meeting. John agreed.
“He’s a very clever young man,” he informed them. They all nodded.
“Is your speech ready?” Kent asked Henry who was going to address his people on March first. Henry nodded.
“John helped me, its going to be a very good speech,” he told them. They all grinned.
“We’ve come a long way from a conversation in a coffee shop,” Thomas remarked. They all grinned again. Neil frowned.
“It’s not over yet, we still have the Hamish to beat again,” he was the worrier. Thomas waved his hands.
“Sean will take care of the Hamish like he did before, I wouldn’t worry about them,” he declared. Henry laughed.
“I think the Hamish have met their match when they met that young man,” he informed them and they all laughed.
The first President of Anamylia Henry Jacob Adams gave his first presidential speech in the capital of Jamestown to over ten thousand people on March first Seventeen hundred and two. It was a chilly morning at eleven and Sean bundled up Ryan who was seventy-three and Danny who was seventy so that they wouldn’t miss the speech. They had great seats in the first row and they beamed at their Granddad sitting up on the dais in his dress uniform as General Donoghue to the President.
It was a great speech talking about the long struggle ahead, the expected arrival of the Hamish, the freedom of the slaves and the return of the Topangans to their home island. It talked of liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the promise of a brave new world and the hard work it takes to build it. The education of their children and the promise of a better, brighter future for them, and of course all the new inventions coming out of Ennis and why not some of them coming from Anamylia for a change. At this all the people cheered.
After the speech there was a great ball at the new Presidential mansion. Danny and Ryan went home and took a nap so they could attend for a bit and then Sean took them home to the barracks at Fort Jamestown where he and the boys and his three cannons were now stationed. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Anamylian Army and it would be his job over the next year to prepare his troops for the invasion that was to come.
“It was a great day, Granddad,” Ryan said to him as they hugged goodnight.
“Ah, lad, yes indeed it was, I was real proud of Henry and the boys, they did a good job,” he said and hugged his two boys and sent them to bed. “Love you, Danny, love you, Ryan,” he called and they said the same and closed the door. Sean went down to the foundry and worked on his mold. He was building several and planning on building as many cannons at a time as he could. Young Sean wandered in.
“Night guard is on, Fort is secure,” he told him and sat down to watch. Sean smiled at him.
“You’re really liking this soldier thing aren’t you, lad?” he teased him. Sean grinned.
“Its fun for a while, but I’ll be glad to go back to the Ridge when we kick some Hamish arse,” he informed his Granddad. Sean nodded.
“I know what you mean, lad, all this marching around and saluting get old real quick don’t it?” he asked. Young Sean nodded.
“How did you learn how to do that?” he asked and waved at hand at the wood Sean was carving. Sean shrugged.
“I just picked it up and figured it out,” he informed him. “Why don’t you pick up a piece of log there and I’ll show you,” he offered. Sean grinned and he picked up a log. Soon they were both carving and the night went quickly. After that Young Sean and a few other Donoghues joined him and the molds went much faster.
General Donoghue sent out a call to the new country asking for cast-iron and steel to defend their new country against the Hamish invasion. The new country answered his plea and soon Jamestown was flooded with metal of all kinds. Cast-iron fences were the most common and the most welcomed. Cast-iron anything was the most welcomed. Ennis ships brought all that they could and miners worked twenty-four hours to meet the demand.
The foundry worked twenty-four hours a day putting out cannons and shots were fired off every day tested them. The citizens of Jamestown would flinch with pride every time they heard the boom of the cannons.
“There goes another one!” they would exclaim proudly as they cut meat in the butcher shop.
“My Billy’s on a cannon at the Fort,” one mother told another proudly at a dress shop. “He’s going to be stationed at Pembroke waiting for the Hamish to come back. He hopes to sink a warship.”
“You must be so proud,” the other mother gushed and hugged her.
Danny and Ryan sat on the battlement of the fort where they could watch the cannon testing going on. They loved to see the balls sailing off into the ocean. Sean had discovered a way to put the powder in little cloth bags instead of just stuffing it down the barrel, it was neater and you got a more concentrated boom. The balls went farther. So now they stuffed two, three or four bags down the barrels depending on how far they wanted the cannonballs to go. Sean put a bunch of old boats in Jamestown harbor with distances on them and targets for the men who were called cannoniers to aim for. The old men loved to watch them aim and try to figure out how many bags were used with each shot.
“Ah, that had to be a four bag one, that went three hundred yards,” Ryan said as he peered through his binoculars. Danny peered through his and nodded.
“He missed the boat though; he was too far to the left,” he muttered and they both laughed. Sean sneaked up behind them.
“Do you lads think you could do better,” he teased them. They both turned around and grinned.
“Don’t you go and spoil our fun, Granddad, we’re old men,” Ryan said. Sean laughed.
“I wasn’t going to spoil you fun, I was just teasing,” he told them and sat down on the chair next to them and sighed. It was the first chance he had all day to get out of the office. “And to think I used to think farming was hard work. Paperwork is damned hard work.” The two men laughed at him.
“Got a cramp in you hand, do you?” Danny teased. Sean grinned at him.
“If I sign General Sean Donoghue one more time, I swear I’ll scream,” he declared. Just then Young Sean came running up the stairs.
“Granddad,” he shouted holding up a clipboard. “You need to sign this so we can send a dozen cannons to Pembroke,” he told him and handed him the clipboard with papers on it. All three men burst into laughter. Young Sean looked confused.
“What?” he said. Sean just shrugged.
“Nothing, lad, here, I’ve signed away my life to you, now run off and get those cannons to Pembroke, it’s been a year and four months and those Hamish bastards should be showing up any day now,” he said and his Captain ran off. Ryan nodded.
“Do you really think they’ll come back?” he asked. Sean nodded.
“It was winter and cold so most of them didn’t get a real good look at my cannons so all they’re thinking is we go lucky and all we have is rifles,” he explained. “So they’ll go to Ennis and get some rifles, load up their ships with men and come back thinking with rifles the playing field is even and they’ll be plenty mad that we beat them so quickly. They’ll be back, but we’ll be waiting and we’ve got nearly a hundred Donoghue cannons waiting for them.” Sean leaned back in his chair and laughed. Ryan and Danny heard the roar of a cannon and lifted their glasses to see where the ball went. The boat at three hundred and fifty yards exploded. The two men cheered.
“Three hundred and fifty feet, that was a four bagger for sure,” Ryan exhorted. Danny giggled. Sean grinned and closed his eyes.
Sean was in his office signing paperwork a month later, it was hot August day, the fourteenth and the ceiling fan was working overtime. Captain Donoghue was pouting because his senior officer was making him do his paperwork too. Sean looked over at Young Sean and grinned. At twenty-one the lad was a handsome lad and the girls flocked to him like bees to honey. They were both bored today though. Suddenly the office door banged open and Corporal Kevin Donoghue raced in and rushed to Sean’s desk. He stood before it and saluted.
“Begging the General’s pardon but Major Jefferies wanted you to know that three ships are coming close to the harbor and they’re flying Ennis flags but he says they look like Hamish warships to him,” he said in a rushed excited voice. Sean and Young Sean quickly got up and picked up their hats.
“Thank you, Corporal, man you battle station, alert the Fort, we are under attack,” Sean informed him and Kevin grinned.
“Yes, Granddad,” he said and ran out. At the door he paused. “They sure took their sweet old time getting here didn’t they?” he asked with a big grin. Sean grinned back.
“That’s the Hamish for you, lad, they don’t do anything easy,” he informed him and they all left the office.
Sean took his position on the battlement and peered through the binoculars his Major handed him.
“Well, well, look at what we have here,” he said loudly so all his men could hear. “Three Hamish warships flying Ennis flags, do they really think we’re going to fall for that old trick?” All of his men laughed.
“They’re lowering long boats and those Ennish sailors are wearing purple and gray Hamish soldier uniforms, General,” Major Thomas Jefferies informed him. Sean laughed.
“Are the cannons prepared to fire?” he shouted. His question was relayed down the line to all eight cannons. Answers were relayed back. The Major turned to him.
“Cannons are loaded and ready to fire, General,” he answered. Sean nodded.
“All cannons fire on the ship that’s ahead of them, cannons one, two and three on the ship to their right, three and four to the middle ship and four, five and six to the one of left, Four bags gentlemen, let’s get them with one shot,” he ordered. The Major shouted the order. A minute later eight cannons fired with a roar that was heard in the President’s office. Henry looked up from his desk.
“That’s not a test, send someone to the Fort and see what’s going on,” he demanded of his secretary. The man nodded. Just then five hundred soldiers appeared in the street outside and quickly surrounded the Presidential office. Four soldiers appeared in the office.
“Mr. President, I’m Major Donoghue and General Donoghue sent me and my men to inform you that the Hamish have attacked and we are here to protect you,” he stated and saluted. Henry nodded. John came out of his office.
“What are all these soldiers doing surrounding the building, it’s like we’re under attack,” he asked. Henry nodded.
“The Hamish have arrived, John,” he informed him. “Sean has sent his men to protect us.” John grinned.
“I knew he’d be on top of things but does he really expect that many of them to make it to shore?” he teased. The Major shrugged.
“No, Sir, he does not, but Granddad likes to be prepared for anything,” he informed them and then asked them to stay in the building for now and he’d let them know when it was safe. He left soldiers guarding the doorways. The secretary smiled.
“I don’t know about you, gentlemen, but I feel a whole lot safer knowing they’re here,” he said. Henry nodded and he thought of maybe getting some kind of men on a regular basis after the Hamish war was over to guard the offices. Sean was right; it never hurt to be prepared for anything.
The first eight cannonballs hit their targets and the decks of the Hamish ships exploded with a fury as masts and men were tossed into the ocean like toys. The men on the battlements cheered. Sean nodded.
“Aim lower, gentlemen. Let’s sink those ships, four bags and fire again,” he shouted. His orders were relayed and the cannons roared once more. This time the balls hit the bows of the ships and big holes appeared as the ships were torn apart. There was no hope for them or the sailors on them as they quickly sank. Sean ordered his long boats put to sea to look for the wounded and survivors. Soon the fort was packed with men dying and getting patched up. Women volunteers helped the wounded and green-leaf paste was put on the wounded. All Hamish rifles were rounded up, they didn’t work once dipped in the ocean water but Sean figured once they were dried out they would be fine. He put the senior officers in the cells in the Fort and visited them with President Adams.
“You fired on friendly ships, you Anamylians are monsters,” General Westinghouse declared as he sat in his still damp uniform from his ocean trip adventure. Sean peered at him between the bars and laughed.
“General Westinghouse, you were a Hamish warship flying a Ennis flag trying to fool us into thinking you were friendly so you could land your soldiers on our shores to kill us, did you really think we were going to fall for that old trick?” he asked him softly. The officers behind the General had the grace to look ashamed.
“For all you know we could have been an Ennish trader,” the General insisted. Sean laughed.
“When we saw the long boats with the purple and gray soldiers; General; we knew you weren’t a friendly Ennish trader,” he informed him. The General flushed. A Major spoke up.
“What was that thing you were firing at us, that blew a hole in our ships?” he asked. The others nodded. Sean smiled.
“That, my friends, was called a Donoghue cannon and you’re looking at the man who invented it,” he told them. “It fires a steel cannonball up to five hundred yards and as you can see, can sink a ship. We have over a hundred of them guarding our coast and any attempt of the Hamish to land a force on our shores will be met with a greater force. You can tell that to King William when you get home. Anamylia is a free country and it will stay free.” President Adams nodded.
It took them a month to get enough ships to get the Hamish out of their country but once they were out they figured they were out for good this time. Sean handed the fort over to General Richard York who was a career soldier and happy to have five cannons at his command. Sean took his first cannon home with him as a souvenir and of course two of them as promised to the Malweenahs. He visited the President before he left Jamestown.
“I can’t believe you’d leave the Fort to go home to the Ridge but if that’s what you want to do, Sean, I’m happy for you,” Henry told him. John and the others couldn’t understand why the young man who was only twenty-seven would leave the public service to bury himself on the mountain but they had to let him go.
“Ah, lads, you can take the boy out of the Ridge but you can never take the Ridge out of the boy,” he informed them. “My Granddad is seventy-three and his brother is seventy and they have but a short time left. What I want to do is spend it with them and home on the Ridge is where we Donoghues belong. If the Hamish ever come back, well, you know where to find me, but I’m sure you’ll all do a fine job running this great country.” They all hugged and shook hands and he and his boys went back to O’Brien’s Ridge.
They made one stop on their way to the Malweenah Valley to drop off two cannons. King Thunder Cloud was very happy to see them.
“General Donoghue how nice to see you,” he gushed and immediately demanded a demonstration of the cannons. They fired into the mountainside and then of course had to blow up an old house. The Indians were very impressed.
“You do know these are going to stand here forever and no one’s ever going to fire them again,” Young Sean whispered to his Granddad as they placed the cannons into places the King had picked out for them. Sean nodded and thought it lucky that the King insist that they keep the gunpowder in the castle so that no one could fire the cannons without permission. They stacked the cannonballs in a nice stack and they did look impressive.
The King had a big dinner in their honor and Sean was seated across from an old woman who seemed familiar to him. She kept staring at him through out the meal and he couldn’t help but wonder if they had met before. Finally he asked her.
“Lass, I couldn’t help but wonder, have you and I met before?” Sean asked her. The old woman smiled and nodded.
“I met you once, Sean Donoghue, when you were an old man,” she told him and everyone looked at here with wonder. Her granddaughter patted her arm.
“My grandmother has the sight,” she informed everyone. Sean grinned at the old woman who smiled back. There was something in her smile. Then he remembered.
“It was at this table, at a dinner with King Red Cloud, you were but a wee lass and I was with my wife Maggie,” he said and she nodded. Everyone looked at them strangely. Sean continued. “You were sipping you drink and you spilled and instead of crying like most children would have, you laughed instead. Ah, yes, lass, I remember you, your name is Anjulie,” he told her and everyone gasped, especially her granddaughter.
“How did you know that?” she demanded. Sean grinned at her.
“I told you, your grandmother and I have met before, when I was an old man,” he said and the grandmother giggled. Afterwards he and the old woman took a walk on the veranda; he held her arm so she could walk easily. Her granddaughter followed behind.
“My granddaughter is looking for a husband,” the old woman told him. Sean smiled down at her.
“Ah, lass, is she now?” he teased her. Anjulie nodded.
“She’s not happy here, none of the braves suit her, she needs someone stronger, with a strong aura, you have a strong aura, just like hers, you would make her a fine husband,” she informed him. Sean grinned.
“Don’t you think your granddaughter should have something to say about this?” he asked her gently. Anjulie shook her head.
“She’s too stubborn to know what she wants and she’s already twenty-five, she needs babies now before she gets too old,” she insisted. “Just kiss her and see if you like her.” Sean shook his head but the old woman begged him to. The granddaughter was so embarrassed.
“Grandmother, why do you keep asking men to kiss me; have you no shame?” she snapped. Sean laughed at her.
“Maybe we should just kiss and get it over with and your grandmother will be happy,” he suggested. The granddaughter sighed.
“I have kissed so many strange men for this old woman,” she said and put her hands on Sean’s strong shoulders. Sean bent his mouth close to hers and closed his eyes. It had been eight years since he had kissed anyone so he wasn’t prepared for the spark that flew between them. They both gasped and looked at each other with shock. Sean spoke first.
“Let’s try that again, lass, and this time open your mouth a little like this,” he instructed and demonstrated. She obeyed and they kissed for the longest time, until they were both breathless. When they were finished they both looked stunned. The grandmother clapped her hands.
“I knew one time this would happen, if she kissed enough men,” she said, very pleased with herself. Sean held hands with the granddaughter.
“Would you like to get married, lass?” he asked her gently. She nodded. Then he grinned. “It would help if I knew your name,” he teased. She blushed.
“It’s Julie,” she answered shyly. The two women went off to inform their family of the marriage and Sean went off to inform his. They were quite stunned. Ryan and Danny were pleased as hell. They shook his hand and hugged him.
“We’re going to get a new grandmother, finally after all these years,” Ryan exclaimed and they all laughed. Young Sean grinned.
“You’ll be the first man on the Ridge to bring home a Malweenah wife, maybe I should bring home one too,” he said. Sean shook his head.
“Marry a woman because you love her, not because she’s an Indian or not an Indian, lad, love is the key to a successful marriage,” he informed them and they all nodded.
The next afternoon Sean took his third spouse in a lovely ceremony performed by Father Joseph and attended by the whole village, some ten thousand people. They rode out the following day with six wagons full of presents and another dozen wagons filled with Malweenahs who all wanted to come live on the Ridge. He was the happiest he had been in years. Julie was a very strong woman with a strong sense of her own personality; she spoke her own mind and didn’t mind telling him her opinion. She was the perfect mate for him. Not like those simpering girls on the Ridge who batted their eyelashes at him and gushed over his muscles acting like helpless little girls. What man wanted to marry one of those idiots? A man needed a woman at his side, not a silly little girl.
“Sean, this is a lovely house, why did you lie and tell me you were a simple farmer?” Julie asked when she saw the farm house. Sean laughed.
“That’s what I am, lass, just a simple farmer,” he said and the two brothers behind him broke into laughter. She grinned at them and looked at her grandmother.
“Anjulie, are you comfortable?” she asked. The old woman nodded.
“I am fine, Julie, these two men have been keeping me company,” she said. Sean helped them all down from the carriage and put them in rockers on the front porch. The grandmother was the same age as Ryan, seventy-three and very spry for her age. Now they had three old folks again.
Sally came rushing out of the house. A messenger had been sent ahead to tell her of their arrival and Sean’s new bride. All the Ridge had been buzzing for days.
“Granddad, you’re home,” she shouted and threw herself into Sean’s arms. He caught her and spun her around. If Julie thought it strange to hear her young husband being called Granddad she didn’t say, she was getting used to it; all of his men had been calling him that for days, all during the ride home. Then Sally was introduced to the two Indian women who she greeted warmly and Sean and his men unpacked and he sent them home.
“Come and see me any time, boys, we did have a great adventure didn’t we?” Sean said as he hugged them. Young Sean hugged him back.
“We sure did, Granddad, we sure did, but it’s great to be home,” he assured him. Everyone agreed with that and they all waved and went home. Sean showed his bride her new home and she oo’ed and ah’ed over everything and they decided where they would put the new things. She gasped when she saw the three paintings. Sean had put them behind glass to preserve them.
“Oh, my God, Sean, these men look just like you,” she exclaimed and she read the dates on the paintings. “Fifteen twenty-seven, fifteen ninety-six and sixteen fifty-seven; these men could be you,” Julie turned to look at him to compare him to the men in the paintings. Sean grinned.
“That’s why all my relatives call me Granddad, darling, because I look just like the first Sean Donoghue,” he told her and she nodded.
“All of these men are named Sean Donoghue?” she asked and Sean nodded.
“All of these paintings are of Sean Donoghue,” he said and she smiled.
“You’re ancestors are handsome men, I’m glad you look like them,” she said sweetly and her grandmother laughed and shook her head.
“Of course he looks like the men in the paintings granddaughter, he is the men in the paintings,” she told her. Julie frowned at her and led her to her bedroom.
“Don’t be silly, grandmother, for Sean to be the men in the painting he would have to be hundreds of years old and he’s only twenty-seven,” she said. The old woman laughed. Sean looked at the men in the paintings.
“You were a handsome man,” he told himself and wondered what on earth had persuaded him to wear that shirt with Bobby, it was an ugly shirt.
Julie and the other Malweenahs settled into life on the Ridge with ease. Everyone soon realized that they were just like everyone else except with darker skin. Soon mixed marriages between white and Indians became common; all it needed was a first, just like Sam’s marriage to Jeanie on Topanga.
Julie settled into the life of a farmer’s wife with ease. She was used to hard work and waking up at before six wasn’t hard at all. That first morning Sean woke up to go milk the cows she was surprised to find him getting dressed so early.
“Where are you going, it’s still dark outside?” she asked in a sleepy voice. Sean bent over and kissed her.
“I’ve got to meet Betsy and Daisy in the barn, we’re having an affair,” he teased her. Her eyes opened wide and filled with tears. Sean kicked himself, he really had to stop this silly joke; obviously he was the only one who thought it was funny. He took her hand and kissed it.
“They’re the cows, darling, I’ve got to go and milk the cows,” he told her. She smiled and threw herself into his arms.
“For a minute you had me worried, Sean Donoghue,” she said. “I thought I was going to have to kill you before we could get a painting of us to put next to the others.” Sean hugged her and laughed.
“Ah, lass, you’d kill me if I cheated on you?” he teased her. Julie nodded.
“You bet your sweet arse I would, now go and fetch the milk and I’ll start breakfast, I’m starving,” she retorted and he left the house whistling. Yes indeed, this was the wife for him.
It was late for fall planting but they did it anyway. The wheat, barley and corn looked good. Julie loved going down and sitting on the fence and watching her husband in the fields plowing with the mules, his shirt off and his strong back, shoulder and arm muscles gleaming in the sun. He was a fine looking man that husband of hers. The three old folks sat on the porch and watched her watching him.
“She sure loves to stare at him doesn’t she?” Ryan remarked casually. Anjulie laughed.
“If I was young and married to that, I’d love to stare at it too,” she chortled and they all laughed. Then she looked at Danny. “You wouldn’t fancy a bit of a tumble would you?” The two old men were shocked. She laughed.
“Why not, I’m not dead yet and if it still works, why not use it?” she said. Danny couldn’t figure out why not so they went into the house. Ryan laughed until tears came to his eyes and sipped his cold iced tea. Some grandchildren came up to the porch and wanted to hear about blasting the Hamish ships so he told them that story. He was almost finished with it when Danny came rushing out of the house and interrupted him.
“Wait a minute, Danny, I’m just reaching the end,” he snapped at him. His brother grabbed at his arm.
“I don’t think she’s sleeping, Ryan,” he snapped back and Ryan looked at him with surprise.
“Who’s sleeping?” he asked. Danny sighed.
“After we, you know, the old woman fell asleep but I don’t think its sleeping I think I’ve killed her,” he told him. The children all opened their mouths with shock.
“You killed the Grandmother, Granddad?” one of them asked. Danny nodded.
“Go and get Granddad from the fields,” Ryan told the oldest and she ran off yelled for Sean. He and Julie came rushing up the slope. He held up his hands to quiet the children.
“Okay, okay, settle down, Ryan, please tell me what happened, why does Danny think he’s killed Anjulie?” he asked calmly. Ryan nodded.
“Well, we were all sitting her talking about how much Julie loves to watch you work,” he began and Julie blushed. Sean grinned and kissed her which caused the children to giggle. Sean held up his hand.
“And then what happened?” he asked. Ryan cleared his throat.
“Well Anjulie said if she had something that nice to look at she would stare at it too,” he said and the children all giggled again. Sean sighed. Ryan continued. “Then the old woman asked Danny here if he’d fancy a tumble, just like that,” he informed them. Sean grinned and his wife gasped. All the children looked confused.
“What’s a tumble, Granddad?” the oldest girl asked Sean. He grinned down at her.
“Ask your mother, darling, she’ll explain it to you,” he told her. Julie slapped his arm.
“That’s not nice, Sean,” she said with a twinkle in her dark, brown eyes. Sean grinned at her. Ryan grinned.
“Anyway Anjulie said that she might be old but as long as Danny’s wasn’t broken he might as well use it so they went inside and used it,” he said and the children were confused again.
“Used what?” one of the boys asked. Sean grinned down at him.
“You’ll find out, lad, in about eight years,” he told him. Julie slapped his arm again. Ryan and Danny both laughed.
“Its true, lass, he will,” Sean defended his statement. She made a face at him.
“Then I was telling the kids the story about blowing the Hamish ships out of the water when Danny came rushing out to tell me that the old woman had fallen asleep afterwards but he didn’t think she was asleep at all, he though she was dead,” Ryan finished his story. Sean and Julie looked at each other with alarm. Sean patted her shoulder.
“You stay out here and I’ll check on her,” he advised and went inside. She nodded and sat down in her grandmother’s chair. The oldest girl looked at her.
“What did she fall asleep after, Julie?” she asked her, her dark, green eyes alive with curiosity. Julie smiled at her.
“Ask your mother, dear, she’ll be happy to tell you,” she told her and little Maggie Donoghue nodded. Sean came back out on the porch and took his wife’s hand.
“I’m sorry, lass, but your grandmother is dead,” he told her gently. Julie nodded and then she grinned.
“Well, at least she died happy,” she announced and all the children cheered and clapped their hands. Danny shuddered.
“I’m never doing that again,” he declared. Ryan patted his hand.
“I’m just glad she didn’t ask me,” he said solemnly and his brother glared at him.
They took Anjulie back to the Malweenah valley and cremated her according to the custom of her people. Sean thought it odd that two tribes of people an ocean away had the same custom of burning the body while the white man insisted it had to be buried in the ground as if the spirit was going to return and need the old bones again. His wife was sick on the way home and he grinned hoping that it meant what he hoped it meant. A month later she told him the good news.
“We’re going to be parents, I’m pregnant, Sean,” she announced at breakfast and everyone cheered. He took her gently in his arms and hugged her. Ryan and Danny couldn’t have been happier.
“If you’re my Granddad, does this mean the wee little one will be my aunt or uncle?” Ryan teased him. Sean grinned.
“Ah, lad, yes it does, but don’t go and confused the baby before it can talk now, be a good boy,” he teased him back. The old men giggled. Sean just hoped they were both around to see the birth of the new baby. They were both getting up there in years and Ryan had lived longer than any man had ever lived in their family, except for him of course. But the old man was still spry and had all of his facilities and his mind was still sharp. Of course in the dead of winter neither man left the house when it was bitter cold, they weren’t stupid like the women who insisted on going to Church no matter what the weather was. They made Reverend Andrews come to them on the Saturday before.
Seven months on a fine May afternoon after only six hours of labor Kalin Ryan Daniel Donoghue made his appearance into the world with a scream that his father swore could have been heard in Jamestown. He was a beautiful baby and a light gold color with dark brown hair and dark, green eyes. Julie felt her heart break at the sight of him nursing at her breasts.
“Isn’t he the most beautiful baby in the world?” she gushed to her husband who had tears in his eyes. Sean nodded and reached a finger out to the lad. He immediately latched on and held on tight. They both laughed.
“He’s a strong one just like his dad,” Sean said proudly thinking of his other six children who had all grabbed so eagerly for life. How we reach so eagerly for life and how we strive so hard to hold onto it for as long as we can, he thought to himself. After the baby was fed the two brothers were allowed in to see the sleeping boy who woke up and cooed to them.
“Ah, Granddad, he looks just like you,” Ryan gushed and he wiped tears of his own away. Danny did too.
“Hello, Uncle Kalin,” Danny whispered to the baby and Julie laughed.
“Oh, no, you don’t, enough with this silly nonsense, you might get away with calling my husband Granddad, but you’re not calling my son you uncle so quit right now before I have to hurt you,” she told them. Sean looked at them.
“You heard the lady, gentlemen, no Uncle Kalin, he’s just plain Kalin,” he ordered them firmly. They both nodded. But as they were getting ready for bed Danny turned to Ryan.
“Why doesn’t he tell her about the Fairie Cave and the Moon Pearl Pool?” he wanted to know. Ryan shrugged.
“Maybe he knows she’s not as strong as grandmom was and she wouldn’t believe him and she would think he was crazy and leave him,” he reasoned. Danny nodded.
“I guess some people just wouldn’t believe that story unless they found the cave themselves,” he said and they went to bed.
Back in Hamish someone finally found the cave Sean had found a hundred and seventy-nine years ago. It was a young couple from Lennox and they had been searching in the hills for four months when she saw the little ledge from the riverbank where they had been camped for the night.
“Look, honey, up there, isn’t that a ledge and a crack in the cliff face?” she asked him and he looked up and frowned.
“I do believe you’re right, maybe there’s a cave up there,” he suggested and they looked at each other and grinned. They both felt that out of all the others who had searched the Fairie Mountains and looked for the cave, they had the best chance; after all, her name was Tara MacDermot wasn’t it?
They climbed up the river side of the mountain and climbed down to the ledge and entered the cave. When they saw the tunnel to the right they grinned. He entered first and she crawled in after him. After forty feet, he hit the dead end.
“Oh, dear, it’s ended,” he said and she bumped into him.
“Why did you stop,” she yelled at his backside. He turned his head to look at her.
“I said the tunnel’s ended, we can’t go any farther, you’ll have to back up,” he told her. She made a face and started to back up slowly. Several times he stepped on her hands.
“Watch your feet, you’ve got my fingers again,” she snapped.
“Sorry, darling,” he apologized. They stood up in the cave and stared around at the cave moss and flowers growing on the walls with frustration. She kicked the back wall. It was solid.
“Shit, this isn’t it,” she spat. He cursed.
“When I saw that little ledge, I got this familiar feeling like I had seen it before, it was so familiar,” she fumed. He patted her on the back.
“Don’t worry, if your ancestor Tara found the cave, you’ll find it too and we’ll live forever the two of us,” he murmured. She put her head on his chest.
“Why did she get tired of living and come back here and turn the waters white again, why didn’t she wait for me and let me live forever?” she whined and began to cry. He shook his head.
“I don’t know, sweetie, I don’t know,” was all he could say.
Sean held his son and rode Sir William up to Stone’s store to pick up some dill for the potatoes for dinner. For some reason squirrels had carried off all the dill Julie had planted in the herb garden and she was furious and wanted him to shoot all the squirrels that came near the house. He had told her he hadn’t enough bullets to do that, it would take millions to kill all the squirrels on the Ridge and that hadn’t calmed her down so he had taken his three month old son and rode down the slope to buy her some more.
“Hey, Sean, pretty baby boy you’ve got there, hello Kalin,” Ben gushed as the two Donoghues entered the store. All the women rushed over to say hello to the baby who looked like he enjoyed the attention. Sean grinned at Ben. All you had to do was show up with a baby and he was a woman magnet.
“I don’t know why they’re fussing over a little half-breed,” Betty Simpson who used to be Betty Vernon spat. Her friend Patty Taylor looked at her with surprise.
“How can you call that adorable little baby that awful name, what’s wrong with you, Betty?” she asked her. Todd who was behind them knew the answer.
“She’s mad because Sean never gave her a second glance and married Julie instead of her, she’s just full of pure spite, that’s what’s wrong with her, Patty,” he informed her and he glared at Betty who glared back at him.
“I don’t know why he had to bring those filthy Indians to our valley anyway, we were better off without them,” Betty said and lifted her nose in the air. Todd snorted.
“Maybe you need to go back to Hamish where you belong, lass, because with that attitude you don’t belong on the Ridge with the rest of us,” he said and Patty nodded. Betty stormed out of the store. But she was joined by a few others and they eyed the Indians as second class citizens even though their constitution gave them equal rights.
They marched to Mike O’Brien’s office and demanded that the Indian children be sent to a separate school than their children and a separate Church be built for them and that all of their houses be moved to the far side of the valley away from the white houses. Mike laughed at their requests.
“If you people are so unhappy about living with the Malweenahs then I suggest that you move off the Ridge,” he told them. “If fact, move out of the country because the Malweenahs are free to live anywhere in Anamylia that they want and they are beginning to and the people are fine with it. And if they’re not, well that’s just too damned bad. That’s what equal rights means. It means the Indians have the same rights as the white people, so learn to live with it or move to a country that doesn’t have any people of color. I wouldn’t suggest Topanga because the people there are darker than the Indians. Ennis is out also because the Malweenahs have been moving there for years. Might I suggest Hamish?” he sneered at them and kicked them out of his office.
When Sean heard about the little committee he retaliated by going to the Malweenah Valley and bringing back five thousand Indians and spreading them all over the Ridges. He even brought back a dozen families of Topangans who had decided to stay in Anamylia after the revolution. They settled on O’Brien’s Ridge and were welcomed just as warmly as anyone else who came to the mountains. Betty and her little group were furious. They hated Sean Donoghue more than they had hated the Hamish.
“Just because he won the war he thinks he can do anything he wants,” her husband Vern Vernon spat. The others nodded. They were meeting in secret at his house. They were a small group only a dozen but they were joined by a dozen or so on every Ridge. Not everyone was happy to see Indians and Topangans living amongst them.
“Those dark people belong in the valley, what’s wrong with them living there and us living here?” Morris Townsend asked in a reasonable tone. Everyone nodded.
“Now they’re spread out all over the Ridges and we’ll never get rid of them, maybe we should move to their damned valley,” Herb Yonkers suggested and they all laughed. Betty sighed.
“Well, you can put dresses on them and pants and shirts but underneath they’re all filthy savages at heart,” she sneered and they all agreed. But they left their little meeting with no solution to their problem just another evening of making fun of the dark people and bitching about the high and mighty Sean Donoghue.
Fall came and Sean took young Sean hunting for deer. They had to go deep in the forest because of all the hunters but were nowhere near Keetik territory when Sean shot a big male buck right between the eyes as he leaped away. The other Sean was very impressed with the shooting; they had been almost two hundred feet away.
“Nice shot, Granddad,” he shouted as they raced to the buck. Sean laughed and they both reached it at the same time. The buck was definitely dead. He patted his grandson on his back and pulled out his hunting knife. Then he noticed movement behind them to the left and turned around. Five Keetik warriors stood there looking at them.
“Sean, is your rifle still loaded and ready to fire?” he asked him calmly. Young Sean turned around and saw the Indians. One was lifting his bow up. Sean loaded his rifle quickly as the younger man quickly lifted his up, aimed and fired. A hole appeared on the Keetik’s forehead and he fell over. The other Indians gasped with shock and looked at the while men with awe. Sean lifted his rifle up and fired it. A second Indian fell over dead. The remaining three Indians took off running. Young Sean fired and one fell over, a bullet had hit him square in the back of his head blowing it apart.
When it was over Young Sean’s face was a little gray but he had remained calm through the whole thing which was the important thing so Sean patted him on his back.
“You did good, lad, now help me with the bodies,” he instructed and they lined the bodies up against three trees and Sean calmly chopped their heads off and laid them at their feet. Young Sean was confused by this.
“Why’d you do this, Granddad?” he asked him. Sean grinned at him.
“Indians are real superstitious, lad, if you do this whenever you kill one of these Keetiks then they’ll think some kind of an evil spirit has invaded these woods and won’t come back,” he explained. “Maybe they’ll leave us alone. It worked sixty years ago, I don’t know if it’ll work this time, but it can’t hurt to try it. We don’t want to be running into them every time we hunt.” Young Sean grinned and they took their deer and went home.
When Sean told the brothers what he had done they laughed and agreed with him. Julie told him that now the spirits of the dead Keetiks couldn’t enter the happy hunting grounds and would wander the earth forever. The Keetiks would definitely stay out of those woods when they found the bodies like that, they wouldn’t want it to happen to them.
“You have a powerful spirit, Sean,” she told him as they got ready for bed. “Our son will grow up to be a mighty warrior.” He grinned and pulled her on top of him.
“Would you like to be on top tonight, darling?” he teased her just to watch her blush. She grinned.
“I think you like me to be on top,” she remarked. He reached up to cup her ample breasts. She moaned as he teased her dark brown nipples.
“It does leave my hands free for other things,” he murmured and she decided that yes she did want to be on top. She bent her face down so they could kiss too. She should have gotten married years ago.
Sean put out a warning to everyone about running into the Keetiks so that anyone hunting in the forest could watch out for them but a week later Todd came to the house with a worried look on his face and two crying women in his wagon. Sean looked at the women and sighed.
“Who went hunting and hasn’t come home?” he asked before Todd could say a word. Todd looked grim.
“Bill Patterson and Dwight Evans,” he replied. Sean nodded and said that there was nothing they could do in the dark but first thing in the morning they would send out search party, to have the people in front of his house at daybreak. Todd nodded and took the women home.
Danny looked at Julie with surprise.
“I thought you said the Keetiks wouldn’t come back to these woods,” he said. She shrugged.
“With Keetiks you never know, they are very strange people,” Julie told them. Sean nodded and held her close.
The next day he divided the men into two groups, one to search the woods for the missing men and one to surround the Ridge and protect the women and children. He didn’t want a war party using this as an excuse to sneak in a grab someone. Everyone thought this was a good idea.
“You’re a very clever man, General,” Mike O’Brien told him as they headed out. Sean grinned.
“I’ve heard that said about me before, Mike,” he remarked. A gunshot an hour later came from the northwest. Everyone rushed over there. Three men were holding one who wanted to fight a Malweenah who had found the bodies of the two men.
“Look what they did to them the filthy Indian bastards!” the man shouted as Mike and Sean approached. Sean took one look at the bodies and shook his head.
“Fred Walton did nothing to these bodies except find them,” Sean informed them. “He’s a Malweenah and a peaceful Indian, they don’t kill anyone and they certainly don’t eat the hearts of their victims. This was done by Keetiks,” he said firmly. Mike nodded.
“Sean and Sean told us all about the Keetiks they ran into the other day,” he yelled so everyone could hear him. “You were warned to watch out for Keetiks in the forest, this is what happens when you don’t listen to General Donoghue.” Everyone looked at Sean.
“From now on we hunt in groups of four,” Sean instructed. They all nodded and began to wrap the bodies in the blankets that Sean had brought. He had known when the men had shown up missing that it wasn’t going to be a happy ending. The man who had gone crazy apologized to Fred and they hugged. A few men wept openly for their friends.
“We’re going to have to talk with the other Ridges and see what kind of Keetik problems they’ve been having,” Sean suggested to Mike as they walked back to the Ridge. “If the Indians are starting to move west, maybe their enemies are pushing them and we’ve got a real problem on our hands.” Mike nodded.
They had a funeral the next day for the two men and everyone was sad, the men got together and discussed the possibility that the Keetiks might just be moving east because an outside force might be driving them. No one wanted that.
“Or it could just be that the strangeness of the white man has worn off and they’ve decided that we’re weaker than they are and therefore fair game,” Sean suggested. Mike nodded and someone in the back snorted.
“Oh, that’s great, we just got rid of the bastard Hamish and now we got the crazy Keetiks,” he spat. A few people grinned. Todd stood up.
“Well, we wiped out the Blackeyes and we got rid of the Hamish, I say we just march in there and take care of those bastard Keetiks before they start taking care of us,” he said and a few men thought that was a good idea. Sean nodded.
“That sounds good except we don’t know exactly how many Keetiks we’re dealing with,” he told them. “What if we show up with four thousand men only to find out they have ten thousand warriors, we’re going to look pretty stupid?” Everyone looked stunned.
“Well, what do you suggest General?” Mike asked him. Everyone looked at Sean who shrugged.
“I think I should take a group of men, probably about a hundred or so, good reliable men who know the forest and won’t have any trouble sneaking around and scout out the territory a bit and investigate a bit before we rush in there,” he suggested. A lot of people looked shocked.
“Who would be stupid enough to volunteer for that?” Pete Jamison asked. Young Sean stood up.
“I’ll go with you, Granddad,” he said. Immediately two hundred men stood up.
“I’ll go,” they all shouted. Sean grinned and looked at Pete.
“I think that answers your question, lad,” he said and Mike and Ben laughed.
Sean picked out a hundred men, mostly level-headed men in their late twenties that he had fought Indians with before. And to everyone’s surprise he didn’t take all of his family who volunteered. He only took half.
“If we run into a thousand Keetiks and get our hearts eaten, then the women will never forgive me if we all go and die, so only half of you can go,” he informed them and they all grinned. “So we’re going to have a lottery. He put thirty grains of brown rice in a can and thirty grains of white rice and the ones who picked the brown rice got to go. Everyone wanted the brown rice. Young Sean jumped for joy when he opened his hand to reveal brown.
“You’re not leaving me behind this time, Granddad,” he shouted and everyone laughed. Sean just shook his head.
“Lad, I can’t decided if you’re brave or stupid,” he teased him and Sean just saluted him.
“Captain Sean Donoghue reporting for duty, General,” he said smartly while his wife a Malweenah named Emily smiled proudly.
The hundred men left early the next morning. Sean kissed his wife and son goodbye and told his grandsons to watch out for them.
“Don’t be telling the wee lad any of your cannibal stories while I’m gone, Ryan, or I’ll spank you when I return,” he teased him. Ryan laughed.
“You’re the one out chasing heart-eating savages, I’ll be sitting on the front porch with my brother thank you very much,” he said primly and everyone laughed. He put his arm around Danny and they both grinned. Sean waved goodbye and felt his heart swell, he really was the luckiest man.
They entered the forest and kept to the well traveled trails for the first couple of hours. Sean spread them out over the trail like he had when they had been fighting the Blackeyes and his eyes continually scanned the trees. He noticed more than a few men looking at the trees too and knew they remembered the Blackeyes battles also. The first night they made small fires, heated coffee, put them immediately after and slept in shifts. Sean slept near Sir William because he knew that the horse would warn him if any strange men or bears approached. Young Sean and the others followed his example; they figured he knew what he was doing.
The next day he spread his men out even more and just for the hell of it, he had them wrap pieces of blankets over the horses shoes and legs so that the clink-clank noise the shoes made on the ground wasn’t so loud. Everyone looked at him with amazement, they would have never thought of that.
“General Donoghue is a very clever man,” Bill Tate whispered to his friend Peter Brown. Both men approved of this new thing. It would be easier to sneak up on the enemy if they couldn’t hear you coming.
They didn’t see any Keetiks that day or the next when Sean had them wrap their leather harness so that they didn’t jiggle and make noise. Later that day all that silence paid off when a group of about fifty braves rode right past where they were standing, and didn’t hear them. Everyone held their breaths and watched the fierce warriors, who made almost no noise as they rode on their horses with no saddles into the forest ahead of them. Sean waited about twenty minutes and then set off after them, following the tracks they made and riding very slowly.
“He’s following them back to their village,” Peter whispered to Bill who nodded. Suddenly up a head Sean came to a stop and indicated that they all should fall back. They fell back about a half mile and then they crept forward by foot until they came to the top of a mountain rise and looked out over the most beautiful valley they had ever seen.
“Holy shit, how many Keetiks do you think are down there?” Young Sean whispered. Sean took out his binoculars and looked around.
It was a beautiful valley, long and wide, with the highest mountains he had ever seen in Anamylia on two sides and a long river running down the middle. A huge waterfall fell to the left side flowing into the river made him think of the Fairie River back home in Hamish. On the right side of the river was the Keetik village, a beautiful place with all of the houses made out of some kind of stone. There were gardens everywhere. How did these people get from this nice place to eating the hearts of their enemies? He sighed and turned to his grandson.
“I’d say about five thousand, give or take a hundred,” he estimated. Everyone gasped. Then the General grinned and gave the order to fall back.
When they were back at their horses, they mounted up and as quickly and quietly as they could they made their way home.
Once home they called a meeting of the Ridge leaders. Sean told everyone what he had found in the Keetik valley.
“I don’t know if we want another Indian war,” Chester Lamanski tried to talk them out of it. Ivan Ferguson glared at him.
“We’ve been fighting the bastards for years, my Ridge is closer to them than yours, you haven’t seen what they do to a man, they cut the heart right out and then they take it home to that precious valley of theirs and eat it,” he informed him and Chester’s face paled. Everyone got silent. Sean stood up.
“I don’t see where we have any choice,” he told them. “The attacks are starting out small but eventually they’re going to come at us with more than just five or six braves. Do we want to risk the lives of our wives and children to these monsters?” he asked them. Every man shook his head.
The next day the leaders and General Donoghue and his men left for Jamestown to talk to the President. They couldn’t declare war on the Keetiks without his permission.
“What do you need from me?” Henry asked when they were finished. Sean grinned.
“Actually all we need is a few more cannons, we have enough men on the Ridge to take care of a few thousand Indians and of course we’d like to put them on a reservation in St. Charles when we’re done with them,” he informed him. John laughed.
“Those priests are going to love you,” he declared. “What the hell, it gives them something to do besides preach about this Messiah they’re still waiting for,” he said and they all laughed.
General York was happy to lend him three of his cannons and the men to operate them, and Colonel Johnson in Portsmyth lent him three more with men of course. They were happy to fire them again and didn’t mind the trip through the forest. The Malweenahs volunteered their two so Sean and his men took nine cannons with them to the Keetik valley. They wrapped the wheels in blankets and surrounded the village. The cannons could fire up to four hundred yards and they pointed them down towards the village. Sean waited until daybreak to give the order to fire. He had four thousand men with rifles surrounding the village.
“Fire,” he shouted and the cannons blasted in the day. The explosion blasted the valley away and houses and the ground exploded. People screamed, dogs barked and horses ran off. The cannons were quickly reloaded and fired again. The Keetiks ran around not knowing where to run to escape the explosions. The cannons roared again and the men on the mountain top flinched as a cannonball hit a group of people and blasted them into piece.
“That’s gotta hurt,” Todd said to Lonnie who shrugged.
“I’m sure it hurt a lot when they cut Bill Patterson heart out of his chest,” he remarked casually. Some of the men who had started to feel sorry for the Indians below stopped.
As the Indians came racing up the mountainside the white men began to fire their rifles and pick them off. Sean gave the order to just hit the men and round up the women and children until the women or children tried to kill them and then to defend themselves. A few of them actually did, pulling out knives or throwing spears so they got dead very quickly. The rest were gathered up and tied to trees so they couldn’t stab anyone in the back or run off.
Six hours later the village was empty and they walked around to survey the damage.
“We sure did make a mess of this place,” Young Sean observed. His Granddad nodded.
“It’s nothing that can’t be cleaned up when we move in,” he informed him. The others were surprised.
“What do you mean move in, Granddad?” Todd asked him and scratched his head. Sean grinned at them.
“Isn’t it real pretty here, with that waterfall?” he asked them and they nodded. “The Ridge is getting real crowded and we have to go a long distance any more for game. I think we should call this place the Donoghue Valley and this village should be called Sweetwater because that’s a really pretty waterfall, just like the one I grew up with back in Sweetwater in Hamish,” he explained. They all grinned.
“Donoghue Valley, I like the sound of that,” Young Sean declared.
They escorted what was left of the Keetiks to St. Charles and turned them over to the priests. Sean gave them twenty thousand gilders to help with their support. The priests loved him for that. Then they returned the cannons and men and thanked everyone for their use. The men really enjoyed being out in the field and getting to fire them at an enemy again and had stories to brag to all their friends. Sean stopped by to see Henry and tell them how he was taking the valley and they laughed.
“Go ahead, you deserve something for all you’ve done for your country,” Henry said and shook his hand.
Then Sean and his men returned to the Ridge and informed everyone there that the Donoghues were leaving the Ridge and moving a week away to Donoghue Valley and the town of Sweetwater. Mike and Ben were sad to see him go, they really liked the young man but they understood when he complained about the Ridge getting crowded. They were both surprised when most of the Ridge left with Sean. They had expected most of his family to go with him of course, but all of the Malweenahs, the Topangans and most of the men who had fought with him in both wars followed their General into the wilderness.
Sean took twenty wagons filled with supplies and furniture with him to the valley. He also took his grandsons Danny and Ryan. The two old men swore they were too old to run off to some god-forsaken Indian valley, he should just leave them back on the Ridge to die, but he just laughed and put them in their carriage and took them up the trail. Men with axes and mules to tear up the stumps widened the trail as they followed it to the valley. And they leveled it off as they went making a nice wide road.
“This is the most beautiful spot in the world, Granddad,” Ryan exclaimed as the three men stood on the rise over-looking Donoghue Valley. Sean nodded and kissed them both.
“See why I didn’t leave you back on the Ridge, look at those mountains,” he gushed. “They’re as high as the Fairie Mountains back where I grew up. We’re going to be very happy here, I can tell.” Ryan grinned and kissed him full on the lips.
“Ah, Granddad, they finally made a mountain high enough for you,” he teased. They went down to the valley.
For the whole first month they cleaned up the mess that they had made of the Indian houses. They found lots of pretty pottery, bowls and plates and things they could use and they women all gushed over them. These they stacked up on one side. What they didn’t gush over was the human heads, dried hearts and other disgusting evil things they found hanging in the pretty houses which they now decided they wanted no part of so they men tore them all down.
Sean knew they would have to use the nice square gray and white rocks in the building of their own houses so to appease the women, he and the other men washed the rocks in the river to ‘cleanse’ them of their evilness. This made the women happy and the men grumble.
“This is all a bunch of bull you know, Granddad,” Todd snorted as he climbed out of the river with another giant rock. All the men grumbled. Sean grinned at them.
“If it makes you wife sleep better in her new house it’s worth the trouble,” he told them. Young Sean grinned.
“Women can be the smartest creatures yet at the same time they can be the most foolish people on the planet,” he said wisely. Every man nodded. Sean grinned again.
“I know one thing,” he said. “When a woman makes up her mind about something, no matter how stupid or foolish it sounds to you she isn’t going to change it no matter what you say, so keep on washing the rocks, boys.”
Sean built a beautiful seven-bedroom mini-Chateau for his wife and family. It had three bedrooms downstairs, one for the baby, one for the brothers to share and one for him and his wife. There were four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs as well as a sitting room and a playroom for the children to play or study in. Downstairs was the kitchen, pantry, front room, study, sewing room and two bathrooms. Plus a music room for the piano they had dragged over the trail. Now all they had to find was a person who could tune it.
The barn was built out of stone too with a log roof. The stairs in the house were wood and the shutters and he brought glass from Portsmyth for all the houses, carrying it wagons stuffed with straw so the thick glass wouldn’t break. It would be a pain to take so long to travel to Portsmyth but he figured on building a boat and going by river, that might be shorter.
It took them all summer to build their houses and barns and by fall harvest they only had fall crops to bring in. Sean took a bunch of wagons to Portsmyth and found a Captain willing to make the trip by river and they found the valley in only two days, so by river, the trip was shorter. That made him more determined to build a boat.
Game was plentiful in the valley and they butchered two pigs and a head of cattle down by the river. Todd and Lonnie helped him so he split the meat with them.
“This is a big cow, Granddad,” Todd said as Sean led the cow out to the spot they picked out. Sean nodded.
“He looks pretty tasty to me,” he remarked as he picked up the big sledge hammer. All three men bowed their heads as Sean said a prayer. Then he lifted the hammer high in the air, brought it down quickly and the cow fell to the ground, it was dead.
“That was a good blow,” Lonnie said with admiration. Sean grinned.
“I’ve done this a few times,” he teased them and they laughed. They quickly chopped of its head and legs and gutted it and skinned it and stretched out the hide. Then they rolled the barrels over and began to expertly cut it up using their very sharp hunting knives. While they worked they talked about the coming winter and chopping woods and Lonnie had spied some apples trees and he wanted to spend the next day picking apples because he really liked apples. They were so busy they didn’t see the enormous black bear until they heard him growl. Then they looked up. Lonnie was the first to speak.
“Oh, he’s a big one, what do you think, thirteen hundred pounds, Granddad?” he asked casually and looked around for his rifle which was leaning against a tree too far away to be useful, so he got a better grip of his knife. Sean reached down and picked up the sledge hammer.
“I’d say more like fifteen hundred lad,” he replied just as casually. Todd nodded.
“Which one of us gets to kill it?” he asked and picked up his sword which he had dropped to the ground next to them. Lonnie remembered his and his eyes lit up. He walked casually over a few steps and picked it up. The bear which was now fifty feet away watched all three men as if he was deciding which one to attack first.
“Why don’t we let the bear decide,” Lonnie said and they all shrugged, that sounded reasonable to them. The bear gave a fierce roar and stood up on its back legs and showed its sharp fangs. The men grinned.
“Ah, lads, I think he’s angry, we’re not scared of him and it makes him mad,” Sean said in a teasing tone. All three laughed. The bear went down on all fours and charged Sean. The two men looked disappointed as he smacked the bear in the head with the sledge hammer and it fell to the ground with a loud thump. They rushed over and Lonnie kicked it gently with his foot.
“I think its dead,” he stated and Todd lifted a leg up and dropped it. It fell right to the ground.
“Oh, yeah, it’s dead,” he declared. Then he looked at Sean. “You’re going to share aren’t you because you know how much I love bear meat.” Sean laughed and nodded. The other men grinned and began to dress the bear. Sean went back to cutting up the cow. Oh, yes he thought to himself, those cannibals would have had a time on their hands if a boat load of Ridge boys had of washed up on their beach. And he could just picture what would have happened if three Hamish Counts and their sons were standing by a river and a big black bear had walked over to them. He would have eaten the one who ran the slowest while the others were screaming and running around. Sean remembered another bear attack in a field in Hamish and Sir William and the odious Richard betting on which poor peasant the bear killed. These Ridge boys would have made those two bastards pee their pants with fear.
The next day they picked apples, lots and lots of apples and peaches. And then they chopped wood and then Sean and a few men made a trip into Portsmyth to see what they could see and found the Mermaid in the harbor. Sean grinned and rushed aboard.
“Pierre, how wonderful to see you my old friend,” he said and hugged him. Pierre kissed on the lips and all the men smiled.
“General Donoghue, the famous rebel,” Pierre teased him. Sean laughed.
“Did you get General Westinghouse and all of his Senior Officers home safely?” he asked him. Pierre made a face.
“Did you know they tried to stiff me on their passage?” he told him. Sean grinned.
“I expected them to try, what did you do?” he asked as they sipped whiskey. Pierre grinned.
“I reminded them of the trade agreement between Ennis and Hamish and asked if they wanted to break it for a measly six thousand gilders,” he said. Both men laughed. Then Pierre looked at him.
“I hear that you have fought a new war against some rather fierce Indians and now have a whole new valley named after you,” he informed him rather smugly. Sean grinned.
“Where do you get your gossip?” he teased. Pierre grinned.
“So it’s true, you have a valley now?” he asked. Sean spent the next few hours telling him all about the war and his new home in the valley and his new son of course. Pierre had a new son also and had named him Armand after his father. Sean wondered if he would be a sea Captain too.
“I have something new to show you. We Ennis are so clever,” Pierre declared and took him down to the hold.
“What is it? Sean asked as he stared at the large square box his friend had shown him. Pierre grinned and flipped a switch on the top of the box. Immediately warm air began to come out of the front of the box where a fan blew it out. Sean was very impressed.
“It’s a room heater and they’re all the rage, no more chopping wood,” Pierre announced. Sean grinned. Then Pierre did another thing, he flipped the switch off and then flipped another switch and cool air began to come out of it. Sean gasped.
“Its’ also a room air cooler,” Pierre declared and Sean looked at the top of the heater when a knob could be turned to make the air cooler or warmer.
“My God, whoever invented this is going to be a millionaire,” he said. Pierre nodded.
“I have a thousand of them, how many do you want?” he asked. Sean grinned.
“How much are they selling for?” he asked. The Captain grinned.
“Fifty gilders, for you sixty, for the rest of Anamylia, seventy-five, I intend to get rich selling these,” he said and they both laughed. Sean bought three hundred at the seventy-five gilder price, enough for everyone in his valley to have at least four or five. He was going to keep ten for himself and keep his house nice and warm in the winter and nice and cool in the summer. This was the best thing to come out of Ennis yet and he paid full price because he didn’t want his friend to lose out on anything and he wanted so many of them. Pierre also had little boxes that told the time called clocks that could be hung on the wall or square boxes that could stand on tables or desktops. Some were very pretty and had nice designs.
Along with the air/heaters and clocks Sean bought coffee, tea, sugar and all the other things they needed for the winter and a general store. John Stone who was a descendant of Megan his daughter had moved to the valley and was going to build one in the spring. Sean had told him when he came that he would help him get one started so every trip he made to the city, he figured he’d buy stuff for the store and stock up.
“I’m glad you’re home, Sean, Julie’s been really sick while you’ve been gone,” Ryan greeted him at the door when he returned with the boats. Sean frowned. It was too soon for another baby. Kalin was only a ten months old. He went in to the bedroom where his wife was lying down.
“You’re back, I’m so happy,” she gushed when she saw him. Sean hugged her.
“Are you alright, Ryan says you were sick?” he asked. She laughed.
“I told him it was nothing, we’re going to have another baby,” Julie announced and threw her arms around his neck. “Say you’re happy. I know you wanted to wait two years but I couldn’t wait, I wanted to have one now.” Sean shook his head.
“Of course I’m happy, silly goose,” he teased her and kissed her. “I just want you and the baby to be safe, that’s all,” he told her and she smiled. She got up and he went out to help unload the boats shaking away the uneasy feeling he had. She was a healthy woman and Kalin was perfect. Maggie had had two babies in two years, there was no reason Julie wouldn’t be any different.
Everyone loved the room heaters and laughed at all the wood they had chopped but agreed that a nice fire in the fireplace was very romantic. And they all loved the air cooling part.
“Oh, man, I’m never going to leave my house in the summer,” Young Sean declared and everyone laughed.
“You and your family will starve real quickly that way,” Todd quipped and everyone laughed again.
“What will the Ennis think of next?” someone remarked and Sean shrugged.
“Next they’re going to replace our horses with something more efficient,” he predicted and they all laughed.
“Well, I wish they would invent something to make plowing more efficient,” Lonnie said and all the men nodded.
Now that they were all ready for winter and it was almost upon them Sean was free to begin exploring the mountains around them. He took off on his own mostly, occasional with Young Sean, Todd or Lonnie. All the men were searching around, trying to get the feel of their new home and looking out for any new dangers. They knew what was to the east of them and to the north and to the south was the great swamp but what enemy lived to the west?
Sean went exploring beside the waterfall one day and found worm-root growing which was a good thing in case they ever got a case of the Spotted Plague. As he was staring at the rushing water Sean thought he could see something dark behind it so curious he stood very close to the wall of the mountain and slid past the water. It hit the air around him but none of it touched him, he was walking behind the waterfall. The roar of the water echoed quietly in his ears and when he reached the middle of the falls he came to a ledge and a cave entrance. Sean grinned. He had discovered a cave behind the waterfall.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Sean said aloud as he glanced around the cave, it was a big one, about forty feet long, forty feet wide and forty feet high and there were three tunnels that the water had bore into the rock. Sean took the left one and walked down it. It was forty feet high in the tunnel at first and then went down to about ten feet and the tunnel got darker. Sean turned on his glow light and it pierced the darkness. When he came to a fork he went left again and then left again, the tunnel seemed to go on and on into the mountain. Sean decided to stop and dig. He took the spade he carried in his pack for digging up plants and herbs and got to his knees and began to dig. He only dug for about three or four minutes when his spade hit something that clinked like the emeralds had back in Topanga.
Sean automatically thought emeralds or diamonds, either one would be fantastic. He dropped his spade and felt around with his fingers and pulled out a whitish chalky stone which crumbled in his fingers.
“What in the world is this?” he whispered. This white crumbly stuff didn’t make the clink he had heard. He felt it with his fingers and the white stuff fell away to reveal a small purple rock that looked like an uncut emerald but smaller. Sean looked at it confused as hell until it dawned on him that this rock looked exactly like the purple power crystal that was in his cold box. And in his ice box and everything else he bought from Ennis. He looked at the glow light and wanted to take it apart and compare the two crystals but then realized that would leave him in the dark.
So instead Sean dug until he found more chalky white stuff and felt around for more purple crystals and sure enough he found a lot of them floating around in the chalk. He was so excited he could barely contain himself. This was much better than gold, diamonds or emeralds or all the three combined.
Sean filled a bag half way with crystals and then kicked the dirt away and followed the route he had come to return to the cave entrance. Then he went home. He decided not to tell anyone until he compared and checked the crystals out. Julie greeted him at the door and made a face when she saw him.
“You’ve been digging in the dirt again,” she teased him. Sean grinned and made to hug her. She squealed and backed up. Kalin laughed and Sean picked him up instead.
“Sean, you’re going to get the baby filthy,” she protested and held out her hands. Sean kissed the baby and handed him over. Kalin cried in protest and Sean grabbed him back.
“I’ll go and change my clothes, come with me, darling,” he cooed to his son who laughed. Ryan and Danny who were sitting in their chairs in the front room grinned.
“That boy’s a happy baby,” Danny said and Ryan nodded.
“My Sam was like that, he came out laughing and hasn’t stopped since,” he told his brother. They talked about their children until Sean came back with his and then it was dinner time.
Sally and Bill sat the platters on the table and they all sat down. Conversation was mild, what they all did that day, the women sewed new curtains.
“I don’t know how we did it before sewing machine,” Sally said, her eyes sparkling. “We did curtains for the kitchen and front room in just five hours.” All the men smiled. Julie was quite pleased with herself.
“We’re going to do the bedrooms tomorrow, starting with your room,” she said looking at the two brothers who frowned.
“What’s wrong with the curtains we have, we like them, we don’t want new ones,” Danny told her. Julie pouted and Sean wondered briefly how he ever thought she was a strong woman; she and her grandmother had sure pulled the wool over his eyes. But she was a good woman and a good wife and mother so he wasn’t unhappy with his marriage. But still he wouldn’t have married her if he had known she was the kind of woman who pouted to get her way. He could see Ryan watching her and then looking at him and knew what he was thinking. He looked at the lad and shrugged. Ryan grinned.
“Okay, lass, we’d love new curtains, wouldn’t we Ryan?” Danny gave in and Ryan nodded. Julie smiled and everyone was happy. Sean picked up a spoon and gave his son a big spoonful of mashed potatoes and gravy, another happy meal at the Donoghues.
After everyone had gone to sleep, Sean eased out of bed and went into the kitchen. Julie never noticed when he left the bed. Unlike Maggie and Bobby who had liked to sleep with their heads on his chest she slept all curled up on her side of the bed. He opened the bag of purple crystals and put the glow light on the table.
“What are you up to, Granddad?” Ryan asked from the doorway. Sean looked up.
“What’s the matter, can’t you sleep?” he asked, worry in his voice. Ryan shrugged.
“I had a late nap this afternoon and I just got up to pee,” he informed him and sat down. He waved his hand at the bag. “What’s that?” he asked. Sean opened it wider. Ryan’s eyes got big. “Are those what I think they are?” he asked and picked one up. Sean shrugged.
“I think so, that’s what I’m looking to figure out,” he told him and took apart the light to expose the little box that held the crystal. It was a tiny one, barely bigger than the eraser on a pencil. Sean sighed.
“I don’t think I’ve got one this small,” he said. They searched through the crystals but they all were too big and wouldn’t fit in the box. Then Sean had an idea. He went and dug out his emerald cutting tools. Then he took a small crystal and very carefully cut it in half. Ryan watched in wonder.
“I’ve always wondered how you did that,” he said. Sean grinned.
“I’ve done thousands of emeralds lad, one little crystal shouldn’t be too hard, but what I was worried about was that it might explode when I cut into it,” he told him. Ryan looked nervous.
“If you had shared that with me, I could have backed up,” he snapped. Sean laughed. He put the crystal he had just cut into the little box and replaced it the light and then put the light back together. Then he looked at his grandson.
“Now if these are energy crystals, this glow light will work and we Donoghue will become the richest men on the planet,” he said. Ryan sighed.
“Then turn the damned thing on, I’m not going to live forever,” he teased. Sean flipped the switch and the light came on. They both grinned and clapped their hands together softly.
“Where did you find them?” Ryan asked.
“There’s a cave behind the waterfall,” Sean whispered. Ryan grinned.
“What is it about you and caves?” he asked him. “Everywhere you go; you find a cave that’s filled with something good. A Fairie Cave, a gold mine, an emerald mine, another gold mine and now a purple crystal mine. Granddad, you are the luckiest bastard I know,” Ryan declared. Sean took his hand and kissed it.
“Ah, lad, I’ve had you in my life for the past seventy-five years, I can’t be any luckier than that,” he told him and Ryan nodded. Sean walked him to bed and tucked him in. Kissing him on the forehead he wished him sweet dreams.
“I love you, Ryan Donoghue,” he whispered.
“I love you too, Granddad,” Ryan whispered.
The next day it snowed and everyone stayed inside because it was a heavy snow. Sean played with his son and then played cards with his grandsons and when everyone had lied down for a nap he took apart the glow light to see how the little box and the crystal actually worked. He saw that when you flipped the switch it caused these little wires to come down and touch the crystal. The little wires weren’t made of gold or silver these he knew. And they weren’t lead, pewter or steel, they were reddish. He compared them with several items around the house and determined that they were either copper or bronze. So he melted copper and bronze down and rolled it into thin wires and compared them to the wires of the light and determined they were definitely copper. Then it was time to clean the table for dinner and the whole afternoon had gotten away from him.
Danny and Ryan were very interested in his experiments and he cleaned off his desk and continued them after dinner. The brothers helped him as he took apart the light to reveal more copper wires leading up the little bulb that went from the energy crystal to the bulb itself.
“Let me get this straight,” Danny said, almost to himself. “The copper wire touches the crystal and feeds the energy from the crystal through the wire to the bulb which lights up when you flip the switch.” Ryan and Sean nodded.
“That’s very clever,” Danny exclaimed.
“And very simple,” Sean announced. He proposed that tomorrow they take apart something else to see how it worked. The two brothers seemed very interested in that. Sean decided to invited some of his men too and move the experiments out to the barn.
Julie thought the men very silly.
“Why do you want to take apart everything?” she asked him as they got ready for bed. Sean grinned at her.
“Because if we see how everything works, then we can maybe invent some things of our own,” he explained. She laughed.
“What kinds of things do you want to invent?” she teased him. Sean shrugged.
“Ah, lass, I don’t know, maybe something to help us plow the fields better, I don’t know, but we won’t know until we try,” he said and she shrugged.
“Well, if it makes you happy and keeps you from getting bored this winter, you boys go and have your fun,” she said and curled up and went to sleep. Sean decided to read for a while.
The next morning after breakfast he gathered Lonnie, Todd, Young Sean and the two brothers in the back end of the barn which they cleaned out and put in two big plank tables. On it Sean placed a toaster, a coffeemaker, an ice cream maker, a table clock and one of his precious new heaters. They all looked shocked at the last one.
“You’re not going to take apart the heater are you, Granddad?” Todd asked with disbelief. The others seemed to agree with him. Sean shrugged.
“How are going to figure out how it works if we don’t take it apart?” he asked them. They didn’t have a good answer for that so he showed them the light first.
“So that’s how it works,” Young Sean muttered as Sean touched the wires to the crystal over and over. The other lads smiled.
“Very clever people the Ennish,” Todd remarked. Sean smiled.
“Well, we built the cannon, so we can be clever too,” he informed them and they all grinned.
The first thing they took apart was the toaster and they first took of its cover and Sean pulled the little lever down and they watched the little coils get red and hot and figured out quickly how that worked.
“No wonder it always looks like a little fire in my toaster, it’s the coils getting hot,” Lonnie exclaimed and they all laughed.
Next came the coffeemaker and that had coils that got red hot also. The tricky part to that was how they got the water to leave the bottom of the reservoir to flow down the grounds. Then Sean slapped his head.
“The water comes to a boil and flows right over it, lads,” he exclaimed and they all went, “Ah.” And laughed some more.
The ice cream maker was the most interesting because it had things called gears that fitted together and spun around to make the paddle spin around really fast to mix the milk and ingredients together. And there was the cooling element that got really cold when the wires touched it that encircled the pot at the bottom. But the gears that spun the paddle really fascinated Sean. He couldn’t get enough of watching them spin around and around.
Finally they came to the heater and it was more of the same hot coils and cooling coils and a nice motor with gears that spun the fan around to blow the hot air or and cool air into the room. Tearing apart the machines became a fascinating thing to do and a lot of the men of the valley came into Sean’s workshop as they began to call it to watch the gears spin round or the coils get hot over and over again.
“You know we might be able to invent something that could help us plow,” Sean suggested one day late in December when the original six were sitting around watching the gears spin round.
“What do you mean, Granddad?” Young Sean asked playing with his son Tommy who was two and cute as hell. They had part of the room separated for the wee ones to play in. Sean took out some paper and a pencil and started to draw. The others bent over to watch.
“We could make a little wheel like this with little claws on them like this to tear up the soil just like the plows do only better,” he drew what he meant and they all nodded. Tommy reached for the pencil so Young Sean put him in the play area with the toys. The child reached for some soldiers and played. Sean continued.
“We could put the wheels in a box like this and put a motor on top that would hold the crystal, or better yet, we could build a bigger box and put in a dozen wheels that would tear up more soil at one time,” he drew another drawing. They all nodded. Then Sean frowned.
“What we would need would be something really big like a wagon that we could sit on that we could steer but small enough that we could turn the corners,” he said and drew a bigger box with a seat that sort of looked like a coffin with four wheels and a seat in the front. Young Sean grinned.
“I thought we were plowing, Granddad, not dying,” he retorted and they all laughed. Sean ruffled his hair.
“Well, maybe shorted and fatter then,” he said and drew another picture. They all liked this one better.
“How would you get it to run and how would you steer it?” Lonnie asked with a big frown on his face. Sean frowned too.
“It would be easy to get the wheels for digging up the dirt to move, just put on a motor like the paddle motor for the ice cream maker,” he informed them and they nodded, they could all see that. But how to get the whole thing to move, that was the hard thing.
“You could put a motor on the big wheels to make them go around to make it move,” Ryan suggested and Sean looked at him with surprise. The old man grinned.
“I’m old, Granddad, I’m not dead yet,” he chortled. Sean grinned and ruffled his hair too.
“Maybe not all the wheels,” he decided. “We don’t want it to go too fast, maybe just the back wheels and we’ll steer it with the front wheels. Put them on a rotating separate axle so that they move differently than the back.” Everyone grinned. Then Todd groaned.
“How are we going to get all the crystals for all of this, they cost a fortune and even you don’t have that kind of coin, Granddad,” he told him. Everyone frowned except for Sean and Ryan who both grinned. The others looked at them strangely.
“No, I don’t, grandson; but what I do happen to have is a purple energy crystal mine,” Sean informed them with a sly smile. Ryan laughed. They all looked surprised and then laughed.
“Where on earth did you find one of those?” Young Sean asked; his eyes alight with curiosity. Sean grinned.
“Behind the waterfall, left tunnel, two turns left, but the whole cave could be full of them for all I know,” he said and they all patted him on the back. Danny laughed.
“What are we going to make these things out of and what are we going to call them?” he demanded to know. Sean shrugged.
“I was thinking steel and I have no clue, grandson, no idea,” he said.
For the rest of the winter they worked on the design of their mechanical plow as they were calling it. They decided that the first four rows of claws would tear up the earth while the second two rows would start churning them into rows and the last two sets would actually form rows with a nice little furrow down the middle in which to drop the seeds.
And that got them working on an attachment to hook on the end when you were finished tearing up the earth, you had to make at least two trips with the plow to get the dirt ready. Then you put the attachment on which deposited the seeds and turned the dirt over them. This would be done on the second trip. This made them all very excited. Planting a field of crops while sitting down, it would change the face of farming forever. They couldn’t wait for spring when they could start building a foundry to melt the steel, which they needed to run into Jamestown to buy. Sean whose wife was expecting had to send his three grandsons to buy it but he trusted them, they would go by horseback and return by river.
Julie’s second labor didn’t go as well as the first and she was very sick afterwards. She had bled too much and the midwife Barbie, a Malweenah had been very afraid she was going to die. The baby, another big healthy boy was fine, he came out screaming like his brother and Sean decided to name him Bobby after the man he had loved for so many years. He didn’t know about Julie until the midwife came out to tell him that he’d better come and say goodbye in case there wasn’t time later. He handed the baby to Sally and rushed into the room. He was horrified by the amount of blood on the bed and the floor.
“Ah, lass, I thought I told you I wanted a wee little girl just like her mother,” he teased her gently and held her in his arms. Julie gave him a weak smile.
“You need many strong warriors to follow you into battle,” she whispered. He kissed her softly.
“I need you at my side to love me,” he told her and she smiled. He picked her up and carried her to the window while they cleaned the mess up. Four women rushed to wipe up the blood. Sean sat in the chair and held his sleeping wife. When they were done he took her into the bathroom and gave her a bath and they dressed her in a clean night dress and he put her in bed.
Julie didn’t leave her bed for almost a month. They had to get a wet nurse to feed Bobby but found a Malweenah who had a baby and a lot of milk who didn’t mind living with her and taking care of two children. Sean hired two more women to help with the baby and to care for his wife. He tried to spend as much time as he could with her because it was spring and there was planting. He brought her out into the front room and even built a bed out there she could lie on but she complained it was too noisy with the children and the old men and she couldn’t rest so he would carry her back to their room.
The trouble with that was she wanted him to go with her to keep her company and he didn’t want to be stuck in the bedroom with her. He wanted to out in the front room with the boys and the old men. She whined and pouted but he wouldn’t give in.
“Someone has to spend time with our children, Julie, if you won’t then I have to, they’re our children, not Sally’s and Carrie’s, ours,” he said firmly and walked out of the room. Ryan and Danny looked at him when the book she threw hit the door.
“She doesn’t want to come out to the front room?” Ryan asked. Sean shook his head and crawled onto the floor where Kalin was playing with blocks. The little boy saw him coming and laughed. He held out a block and Sean took it and put it on top of another and the little boy put another on top of that one.
“What’s wrong with her, she used to like being with us, now she acts like we’re a nuisance or something,” Danny said, a bit of worry on his face. Sean saw it and patted his legs.
“I don’t know what her problem is, old man, but its her problem and not your fault so don’t you two start thinking that if you weren’t living here she would be happier,” he said firmly and they both looked guilty. He knew that’s what they had both been thinking. Carrie came out of the bedroom with Bobby. Sean held out his arms and she handed him to him. Sean smiled down at the happy baby and Bobby moved his little arms and legs like he was glad to see him.
“You know she hasn’t even held Bobby yet,” Sean informed them and they both looked startled. Sean continued. “Her own son is over a month old and she hasn’t even held him or talked to him,” he told them. “And she hasn’t said a word to Kalin except Mommy’s tired please go find Sally.” The two old men were shocked.
“Maybe she’s sad because you told her you don’t want to risk her having any more children,” Ryan said. Sean shrugged.
“What else could I do, Ryan, she almost bled to death having Bobby,” Sean said reasonably. The two old men nodded.
“You don’t know women though, Granddad, they don’t feel useful unless they’re having babies,” Danny said wisely. Sean nodded.
So he went in and told his wife that maybe in a couple of years when she regained her strength, he would reconsider his decision about no more children. To his surprise she said she didn’t want any more children and that wasn’t the reason she was sad. She was sad because she wanted to go home to the Malweenah Valley, that’s where she wanted to live and raise her children.
“But, Julie, lass this is our home, this is where my family lives, where I want to raise our family,” he said gently and she began to weep.
“But I want to live with my people,” she wailed. “This is the valley of the Keetiks and a valley of death. I don’t want to stay here, you must take me and our children back to the Malweenah Valley and live with us there. I demand that you do!” she snapped. Sean just shook his head.
“Now you’re being silly, lass, this is a beautiful place to raise our children,” he told her firmly. “You are suffering from some kind of sadness from childbirth, some kind of melancholy, it will pass and you’ll see that I’m right.” And that was the end of it as far as he was concerned. But his wife continued to fight him almost every night when he came home for dinner but Sean refused to give in to her demands. He was not leaving this beautiful valley, his valley and the little town he was building just because she was homesick. In time he figured she would get used to it.
“She might not ever get used to living here you know,” Ryan said wisely at dinner one night three months later, it was summer and after the harvest. Sean looked at him and sighed. She still refused to come out of her room and join the rest of the family. He was sick and tired of her and her pouting.
“Then she can go back to the Malweenah Valley for all I’m beginning to give a rat’s arse,” Sean remarked sarcastically and Kalin laughed even though he didn’t know what it meant, just that his dad had said the word arse. Sean grinned at him. He was two years old and cute as hell. He leaned over for a kiss and got one. Ryan and Danny beamed. Then of course Bobby had to have one too. There was usually a lot of kissing and hugging going on in the Donoghue house. Except of course between Mr. and Mrs. Donoghue, they slept in the same bed, but she remained curled up on her side and glared if he came an inch over his.
“Julie, darling, we can’t go on living like this, why can’t you be reasonable?” Sean asked her gently that night as they got ready for bed. She turned her back to him.
“Are you going to take me and my children home to the Malweenah Valley to live, husband?” she asked him rudely. Sean sighed.
“No, lass, I’m not,” he said gently. She gave a great big exaggerated sigh and got into bed, keeping her back facing him. Sean climbed into bed and placed his hand gently on her shoulder, she stiffened.
“But if you want to go home to the valley and live with relatives I’ll let you and give you coin to support yourself,” he informed her. She rolled around to face him, a big smile on her face.
“You will let me take the children and leave here?” Julie asked and then frowned when he shook his head.
“You can go back to the Malweenah Valley, lass, if you want to, but you can’t take my children with you,” he told her. “My children stay with me. You’re the one who wants to leave me, so leave me, but my children stay here,” Sean spoke firmly. She began to cry.
“You would steal a mother’s children from her, what kind of monster are you?” she wailed. Sean laughed.
“What kind of a mother are you?” he demanded. “Bobby is five months old and you haven’t even held him or kissed him or even touched him once. And you never bother with Kalin anymore, you never hold him or kiss or hug him, you ignore them both and hide here in the bedroom all day and night You may as well not exist as far as the boy’s are concerned so don’t give me the good mother routine.” She looked insulted.
“I cannot touch them here in this Death Valley; it would bring them bad luck,” she informed him in a haughty tone. “I must take them home and cleanse their spirits.” Sean shook his head.
“If you take my children from me, I will go after you and bring all of you back here and make you live here for the rest of you life, lass,” he said. “You are my wife and you will live with me, even if you don’t like it.” He turned around and went to bed while she cried. Sean felt bad but if the choice was her and the children or no children at all, well she was going to have to get used to living in this valley. Didn’t he cleanse the damned rocks for God’s sake? All the other women loved living in this beautiful valley, Julie was just acting like a spoiled little child instead of woman, she was twenty-eight, why didn’t she act like it?
A month later Sally came running out to the field where he was wedding, yelling and waving her hands. Sean dropped his hoe and ran to her, afraid that something had happened to one of the boys or his grandsons.
“Granddad, she’s gone,” Sally screamed when he reached her. Sean took her hands in his.
“Calm down, lass, and tell me what has happened,” he told her calmly. She nodded and took a deep breath.
“Julie has taken one of the horses and she’s taken both boys with her,” Sally told him. “We don’t know what time she left but Danny and Ryan lied down right after supper and I put the babies down right about then so she must have taken them about that time. I went to check on them a few minutes ago and they both were gone and I thought that was strange so I asked the old men if they had them cuz sometimes they wake them up and play with them but they didn’t have them and when we checked on your wife she was gone and Bill checked the barn and his horse is gone.” Sally’s voice had risen to almost hysterical by the time all the words rushed out. Sean hugged her.
“It’s alright, lass; it’s not your fault. I should have known she’d do something like this and put a guard on the boys,” Sean said. They walked very quickly to the house. Sean sent Bill to fetch Lonnie and the men and began packing a travel bag. Ryan and Danny both insisted on coming with him and he didn’t have the heart to refuse them so they harnessed up the carriage and brought out the mattresses for the old men.
They tried to track Julie through the forest and catch up with her but she had a good four hour head start and with the carriage they were limited to the main trails. He didn’t say a word to his grandsons though; Sean didn’t want them to think they were a burden to the rescue mission.
It took them three weeks to reach the Indian valley and when they got there they were greeted by representatives of King Thunder Cloud which confused them.
“The King wishes to see you in the great hall, Mr. Donoghue, and your grandfathers,” Theo, the greeter informed them as they got off their horses. Sean nodded and the six men followed him into the castle.
“General Donoghue, how pleased we are to see you once again,” King Thunder Cloud’s voice boomed from his throne and the six men bowed low with respect. His wife Singing Moon sat next to him and sitting next to him was Sean’s wife Julie wearing a smug smile. Sean didn’t like the looks of this one little bit. Ryan and Danny exchanged a worried glance. Chairs were brought and the men sat in a half circle in front of the King who looked at them with a frown.
“My wife has told me of your situation and it is a troubled one indeed, General indeed,” he said. “Is there no way that you would consider moving to the Malweenah Valley and raising your children here in a peaceful place?” he asked him. Sean raised an eyebrow.
“My home, Your Majesty, is in Sweetwater in the Donoghue Valley and my wife and children belong in that home,” he said firmly. “I fail to see why you would be interested in my affairs.” The King frowned down at him.
“Your wife is my wife’s cousin, General, our families are united and as head of the family it is up to me to decide what is best for the children,” he informed him. All of the white men appeared shocked. Julie gave them another smug smile. Sean could see he was going to lose this battle and his children, which he could never allow.
“I have talked with my medicine men and with Father Vincent and they all agree that the massacre of the Keetiks which happened in your valley cannot be over-looked, it makes the valley a source of evil and all who live there will be affected by that evil,” King Thunder Cloud said solemnly and Sean wanted to laugh. If that was the case, then no one would be able to live anywhere. Something bad could have happened anywhere on the planet for God’s sake, even in this so-called peaceful place.
“Your wife wishes to remain your wife and live with you, General, but only if you remain here in this valley with her. If you abandon her and your children Father Vincent will give her a divorce and she will be free to marry again,” the King continued. “You will be free to marry again and have more children with another woman but these children of my family will remain here with their mother in the Malweenah Valley.” Sean almost got up and hit him but he restrained himself. Sean stood up and slowly shook his head. They all looked confused, the King had spoken and his word was law.
“As much as I respect, Your Majesty, my spirit would surely die without my children,” Sean informed them. Julie almost laughed at him. Then Sean continued.
“In fact, if you were to shoot me in the head with a rifle and kill me, I would die and stay dead for several hours and my spirit would leave me,” he explained. “But when it got to the Spirit World and searched around for my children and couldn’t find them; it would return to my body and I would come back to life, because my spirit cannot live without my children.” Sean spoke so earnestly that the King wanted to believe him but Julie and the Queen laughed.
“Don’t be absurd, no one can die and come back to life, it’s impossible,” Julie sneered and the Queen agreed with her. Sean looked at them both and smiled. Then he turned to the King.
“I want one of my men to shoot me, Your Highness, and kill me,” he told him and everyone gasped. “Then I want you to keep my body here on the floor so my spirit will know where to return to. When my spirit searches the Spirit World for my children and doesn’t find them, it will come back to my body and I will come back to live. Will that prove to you how much my children mean to me and that they should come back with me and live with me?” he asked him and the King nodded. Julie and the Queen looked shocked.
“You can’t be serious, he’s fooling you,” Singing Moon exclaimed. The King waved his hand at her.
“My medicine men will make sure he is really dead and telling the truth,” he declared. Lonnie, Todd and Young Sean tried to talk Sean out of it.
“Granddad, I know you’re immortal but coming back from the dead, can you really do that?” Young Sean asked. Ryan laughed.
“Your Granddad did it once before,” he informed them with a grin. They all looked shocked. Sean smiled.
“Ryan will tell you all the story after you shoot me; now who wants to do it?” he asked them. No one wanted to so they did odds and evens and Lonnie won, or lost as he groaned.
The medicine men were called and Father Vincent came of course and Sean stood on a nice red blanket and Lonnie stood at the end of the hall and nervously aimed his rifle.
“Are you ready, Granddad?” he called out. Sean waved at him.
“Just shoot me in the forehead, lad, don’t take out an eye or my nose,” he called back and Lonnie trembled. But he took careful aim and hit his Granddad right on the forehead almost directly between his eyes.
“Great shot, Lonnie,” Todd said with admiration as they watched Sean’s body drop to the floor. Everyone rushed over and rolled him over. His sightless dark, green eyes looked up at the ceiling.
“Oh, yes, he’s dead alright, nice shot, Lonnie,” Young Sean beamed up at him. They laid Sean gently on the blanket and put a pillow under his head and all of the medicine men and Father Vincent examined him and proclaimed him dead. Julie, of course, had to come over and listen for a heart beat. She cried when she realized her husband was dead.
“I can’t believe you killed him. Murderer!” she screamed at Lonnie who looked uncomfortable. Todd patted him on his back.
“She’s a real pain in the arse ain’t she?” he asked his cousin and they all laughed nervously. Ryan took them over to the table and they were served food and coffee while they waited for Sean’s spirit to come back. Ryan told them all about Father Zucker and Ted Stevens shooting their Granddad in the graveyard when he was visiting Maggie’s grave.
“No wonder that old priest looked so scared, he saw Granddad come back from the dead,” Todd said and they all laughed.
The hours passed slowly as they all paced nervously around the body. The Indian medicine men examined it often and shook their heads.
“He is dead and he is not coming back to life,” they told the King solemnly after four hours. Ryan giggled and they turned to stare at the old man who was seventy-six.
“Let’s give him a couple of more hours,” he suggested. “The Spirit World is an awful big place and he’s searching for little children.” The all nodded and the wait continued.
Julie walked around alternately weeping and laughing saying “I’m free, I can marry again,” and “This is all my fault, I drove him insane when I took his children.” They all though she was batty as hell and avoided her.
Finally after five and a half hours, the body twitched. Ryan pointed and shouted.
“Look, he’s waking up.” And they all ran over to look.
Sean’s body twitched again and he sat up and took a deep breath. Then he raised a hand to his head and groaned and looked around him. His eyes blinked furiously and Young Sean realized his eyes were dry so he ran forward with a cup of water. Sean threw the water on his face and grinned at his grandson.
“Where are my children?” he asked in a loud voice. The Malweenahs gasped and Julie fainted. Todd and Lonnie helped Sean over to the table and the medicine men examined him carefully and the bullet was removed from his head, stitched up and he was bandaged. The King beamed.
“Your spirit is a strong one, Sean Donoghue, and your need for your children has brought you back from the dead just as you said it would,” he said solemnly. “Your children will be returned and you may take them with you. Your wife will be free to go with you if she wishes or she can remain her with us.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Sean said and they boys were brought out. They both were screaming but when they saw Sean they stopped and began to laugh when they were in his arms. Sean kissed them both and turned to his men.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, lads,” he told them and they all rushed out of the great hall. Todd looked back.
“Aren’t you going to ask your wife if she wants to come?” he asked. Sean shook his head.
“That woman can go to hell for all I care,” he muttered and climbed on Sir William with both boys in his arms. They rode out of the valley as fast as they could but once it was behind them they slowed down.
“Daddy missed you, Kalin, Bobby, give me a kiss,” Sean cooed as he rode. Both boys seemed fine and they were sure happy to see him. And Sean was happy despite having the biggest headache he’d had since the last time he’d been shot in the head.
Sally and Carrie were happy to see the babies when they returned home and everyone was appalled at what Sean had to do to get his sons home. They didn’t tell any of the regular people the truth just that it had all be a trick they played on the King and his people. Sean had pretended to be dead. They all believed this, of course, because after all, people didn’t actually come back from the dead.
The finished the work on the plower and it was a beautiful sight but it didn’t work right; the wheels couldn’t grip the ground and just spun around.
“They’re too smooth, we need to put something on them to make them grip the dirt that won’t interfere with the way it makes the rows,” Sean said frowning.
“We could try deer hide or cow hide,” Young Sean suggested. They did but it didn’t work right, it slipped too much. Materials of all kinds didn’t work either. Then Ryan had a clever idea.
“What about that material they used to make the sandals out of in Topanga,” he suggested and looked at Sean. Sean thought about it.
“You mean that rubber stuff from the rubber trees,” he said and tilted his head to think about it. “You know that just might work. We could melt it and shape in into any shape we want, put grooves on it to grip the ground.” He grinned. So he took his boat and his sons because he couldn’t bear to be a day without them and of course the old men had to go along to, and went to Portsmyth to look for a ship that was going to Topanga. And his boys, Lonnie, Todd and Young Sean had to come along for the ride in their boats. He figured they just wanted an excuse to use their boats but they took their wives so they could go shopping so it was a fun trip.
They found a ship going to Topanga and gave the Captain a few emeralds to bring them back a whole bunch of rubber. Then they loaded up on mangos, pineapples, kiwis and other tropical products, plus of course coffee, tea and all the regular stuff they needed. Sean carried his boys everywhere and women were attached to him like flies to shit, as Danny put it. The old men got a real kick at seeing their Granddad curse under his breath as yet another woman stopped to coo at the cute little boys.
They were in a bookshop buying books for Sean’s latest idea. He wanted to build a library in Sweetwater when the three men overheard two ladies in the next row having a conversation. They couldn’t help but hear it, the whole shop could hear them, the one lady was practically shouting.
“No, I don’t want a divorce, Aunt Grace, I don’t want the husband I’ve got why would I want another one?” she snapped, her voice full of impatience. The three men exchanged an amused look. They heard the other women sigh.
“Just because you picked one bad man doesn’t mean they’re all that way,” she tried to console her. The other woman laughed.
“Anyway it’s a moot point, William wouldn’t give me a divorce even if I asked him for one, I’m stuck with him for life,” she said. “What I ought to do is find a nice man with a couple of children since I’m barren and live in sin with him.” The other women gasped as did several of the bookshop’s patrons. Sean lifted his eyebrow. Now here was a woman he could appreciate. He decided to have a look at her and moved slowly to the end of the row. Ryan nudged Danny and they both grinned. Sean glanced around the corner of the shelf and nodded. The older woman was nice to look at but the younger woman was quite stunning and a redhead to boot. He’d always had a thing for women with red hair. They both noticed him staring and he grinned and ducked back around the shelf.
“You can’t mean that, Claire, even you wouldn’t be that reckless,” Aunt Grace snapped. Claire laughed.
“Well, at least I’d be doing the same thing William is doing,” she snapped back. “And don’t tell me you believe that blonde woman he’s got living with him is his cleaning women, for God’s sake, even you’re not that stupid.” A few people in the bookshop laughed and Claire waved her hand.
“See even they know the truth,” she said and the older women sighed.
“Well, just because William had decided to commit adultery doesn’t mean you should, dear,” she said weakly. Claire snorted.
“Why not, I’m over twenty-one and I’m barren and can’t have children, why shouldn’t I have some fun, it’s the Eighteenth Century, for God’s sake, women do have rights you know, they’re just not the property of some man,” she spat and Sean wanted to clap his hands but they were full of children so he merely stepped into the row instead.
“Good for you, lass, show some spirit, tell that bastard William you’re not going to take his shit anymore and go out and live your own life,” he told her. Both women looked at him with surprise on their faces. Claire recovered first.
“I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” she said. Sean bowed.
“I am Sean Donoghue and these are my boys, Kalin and Bobby, and we’re very pleased to meet such a strong woman with such spirit,” he informed her and grinned. Ryan and Danny quickly walked around the shelf and bowed. Sean smiled at them.
“These are my grandfathers Ryan and Danny Donoghue,” he introduced them. “Gentlemen, this is the very spirited Claire and her Aunt Grace,” he told them. Both women blushed realizing that everyone in the bookshop had overheard their conversation.
“We’re delighted to meet you nice gentlemen and sorry that you had to overheard our private conversation,” Aunt Grace said with as much dignity as she could. Sean shook his head and looked at Claire with admiration in his eyes.
“Ah, lass, don’t worry, it was a wonderful conversation,” he informed them. He turned to Claire. “And if you’re looking for a man to live in sin with, may I be happy to be first in line, lass. I have two sons here needing a gentle women’s touch and a wife who’s left me and if we both get a divorce and if we like each other well enough, then we can get married,” he said with a big grin. Claire looked at him and the two cute little boys while her Aunt grabbed her hand.
“Don’t be absurd, young man; that’s the most shocking thing I have ever heard,” she snapped at him. When her niece didn’t answer right away Grace was appalled. “Claire, don’t be ridiculous, what will you Uncle say, what will William say; what will he do to you. He’ll probably beat you.” Claire threw back her head.
“What’s was your name again?” she asked Sean. Sean grinned.
“Sean Donoghue, lass,” he told her. She nodded and turned to her aunt.
“Tell Uncle George that I’ve run off to live in sin with Sean Donoghue,” she said and her aunt and several ladies in the bookshop looked like they might faint. Claire laughed. Sean gave her his elbow and they started to walk off. Her aunt came back to life.
“But what about your clothes?” she asked her. Claire paused.
“Oh,” she said and looked at Sean who grinned again.
“I’ll buy your new clothes, lass,” he told her. She threw back her head again.
“He’s buying me new clothes, Aunt Grace,” she told her aunt who gasped again.
“But where are you going, Claire, where are you taking my niece, Mr. Donoghue?” she wailed. Ryan turned back towards her.
“The town of Sweetwater in the Donoghue Valley, that’s where we live and that’s General Sean Donoghue,” Ryan informed her and everyone in the bookshop looked at them with wonder.
“That’s General Donoghue, oh, my God, he’s the one who saved us from the Hamish and he was here in my bookshop.”
They left the bookshop and immediately went shopping for new clothes for Claire and he rushed her through it before she could change her mind and go home. But she seemed determined to live in sin with someone and took her time picking out nice dresses and skirts and blouses. When she noticed that he didn’t look at the price tags, she threw caution to the wind and didn’t either and he never minded anything she selected. Claire liked this man, William always fussed about every gilder she spent and it was her coin.
Everyone was surprised when Sean and the two brothers came back with no books and a woman but anything he did they accepted so they set off for home. She was very impressed with all of the boats and the many bundles of things on them. She sat in the middle holding Bobby on her lap. He was a year old and very cute.
“Your sons are very cute, where is their mother, Mr. Donoghue?” she called out, he was steering the boat with a long stick. Sean smiled at her.
“Please call me Sean, lass, since we’ll be living in sin and all,” he suggested and she blushed. “Their mother is a Malweenah Indian and she went back to the Malweenah Valley to live, she didn’t like living in Donoghue Valley.” She frowned.
“What’s wrong with Donoghue Valley?” Claire asked. Sean shook his head.
“Nothing’s wrong with the valley, lass, it’s a very beautiful place, it even has a waterfall you can see right from your front door,” he informed her and she nodded.
“I don’t see how she could leave such beautiful children behind,” Claire remarked and she smiled down at Bobby who laughed and pulled at her red hair. She laughed and flicked some into his face causing him to giggle. Sean smiled at this.
“She didn’t leave them, she took them with her, but I went to the Malweenah Valley and asked for them back,” he explained and she frowned.
“And she gave them to you?” she asked and he nodded.
“She sounds like a very strange woman to me, if they were my children you would have to kill me to take them away from me,” she declared. He nodded.
“That’s exactly how I feel, lass,” Sean said.
They camped that night on the Ridge where everyone was happy to see them. Sean made a big fire and the women cooked over it. Claire helped but obviously had never cooked before and laughed at herself. Sean liked her spirit.
“She’s a pretty one,” Ryan remarked as they sipped coffee. Sean grinned at him.
“My last wife was pretty too and look where that got me,” he said. Danny snorted.
“Yeah, but this one’s got gumption, too bad she’s barren, why would you want a barren wife?” he asked him. Sean shrugged.
“There’s more to marriage than children, lad, and I like a woman who will stand up to me and not pout and whine to get her way,” he explained. Ryan nodded.
“I like this girl, but how are you going to marry her when both of you are already married?” he wondered. Sean shrugged.
“I can get a divorce from Julie because she abandoned me,” he reasoned. “And this William sounds like the kind of man who would appreciate the sight of gold. He can use the same excuse to divorce Claire and then if she’s willing, we can get married.” It sounded like a good plan to him. Both brothers nodded.
After dinner they slept under the Peanja trees. Sean tied a rope around the boys waist and then to himself. Claire thought that strange.
“Why do you tie them up like that?” she asked; a hint of disapproval in her voice. Sean grinned.
“Ah, lass, the wee ones tend to wander away at night and camped near the water like we are; I’m afraid of them falling in and drowning. I don’t want to wake up in the morning and find one of them floating dead in the water,” he explained and she shivered.
“That’s a good idea,” she decided. They all went to sleep and she wondered what on earth her rash behavior had gotten her into this time. Oh, well, she decided she would stay a couple of days, a week maybe, enough time for William to realize how much he loved her and then he would rush to find her and take her home.
The next day on the water the scenery was so beautiful she forgot all about William and her great plan. And when they reached Donoghue Valley and she saw the waterfall, Claire gasped with awe.
“Oh, my God, its so beautiful here, why on earth would anyone leave?” she asked as he helped her from the boat. Sean smiled down at her.
“I wonder that myself, lass,” he said. He walked her to his house and she was amazed at the size of it.
“My God, you must be rich,” she exclaimed and then blushed because that was rude of her to mention. He grinned again.
“I do alright,” he informed her and they went in and he introduced her to Sally, Carrie and Bill. The two women welcomed her warmly and fetched coffee and took the babies from Sean. Bill followed him out to help unload the boat. Then everyone was busy taking baths and putting stuff away and she was shown to a nice room on the second floor and all of her new clothes and things were brought up.
“What a lovely view,” Claire looked out her window at the waterfall and the houses below. Their house was up high and she had a marvelous view. Then she remembered that the grandfather had called Sean, General Donoghue and she grinned thinking she was living with a real live hero. William was going to be shocked and amazed to find out his wife had run off with the hero of the Revolution. Claire changed her dress and went down to dinner.
Dinner was a happy event with both children in chairs and seated around the table and the help sitting with them, which Claire had never heard of but she thought it was nice. She had never heard of putting the food on serving platters and bowls and putting them in the center of the table and then passing them around but it worked fine so she just smiled and passed the food like everyone else did.
“What is a library anyway, Granddad?” Sally asked when the serving was finished and they were eating. Everyone looked at Sean which confused Claire, she thought the woman was talking to one of the old men. Sean smiled at her confusion.
“All the people call me Granddad, Claire, don’t worry, you’ll get used to it, it’s a family thing,” he explained and she nodded. Then he looked at Sally.
“A library is a building that has a lot of books in it like a bookshop,” he informed everyone. “Only instead of buying the books, you borrow them; check them out by filling out a little card and giving to the person in charge of the library. Then when you finish reading the book you take it back and the librarian takes the card with the book’s title and your name on it and crosses your name off. And then you can find another book and check that one out.” They all nodded. Then Ryan frowned.
“Well, what happens when a person doesn’t return the book and they keep it?” he asked. Sean nodded.
“When you don’t return a book, say in two months, then the librarian knows who checked that book out and when. They just come to your door, it’s a small town and they ask you for the book back,” he told them. “And of course you have to pay a fine for the book being late. If you can’t find the book, if you’ve lost it or if the book’s been damaged, then you have to pay for it, because then the library has to buy another copy of the book to replace it.” They all nodded, it sounded reasonable to them.
“What a marvelous idea, did you think of that yourself?” Claire asked him. Sean shrugged.
“I read about it in a book and thought we should have one here, everyone’s been donating all of their old books and I’ve bought a hundred more, now all we need is a librarian,” he said. She clapped her hands.
“Oh, I want that job, can I be your librarian?” she begged, forgetting in the excitement that she would be leaving shortly. He shrugged.
“Ah, lass, if you want the job, it’s yours,” Sean told her and she smiled. He grinned.
“We’ll start building the shelves tomorrow and you can start categorizing the books as soon as we get them all in here,” he informed her and she grinned back.
“I love books,” Claire spoke with enthusiasm. Sean nodded.
“That’s two of us, darling, I love a good book myself,” he said and the two brothers beamed.
After dinner it was time to get the boys washed up and ready for bed. Sean did that, he loved the bath; both boys loved to splash around and get him wet. Then it was diapers and a story and off to dream land. Sometimes he would just sit in the rocker and hold them in his arms breathing the scent that only wee little ones had. They were only this small once and he knew just how fast the years raced away.

Chapter Four - A New Wife and A New Start

When he returned to the front room everyone had retired to their rooms so he turned off the lights, leaving one night light so no one would trip in the dark going to the bathroom and went to his room. He had taken a bath earlier so he didn’t need another so Sean settled in with a good book and was lying on the bed enjoying it when he heard a little tap on his door and it opened a bit. Thinking it one of the brothers coming in to talk he didn’t look up but merely called out.
“Come on in, lad, I’ll be with you in a second, let me finish the page,” he said and kept on reading. A woman’s voice replied.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you, maybe I should come back another time,” Claire said and started to close the door. Sean was off the bed in a shot and opened his door wider.
“Ah, lass, don’t leave, I didn’t know it was you, please come on in,” he said and she walked in, bold as she could be. He admired her spunk.
“Mr. Donoghue,” she began. He held up his hand.
“I thought you were going to call me Sean, darling,” he said charmingly and she blushed. Then she began again, pacing a bit.
“Sean, I think we have a misunderstanding here,” she informed him. He raised his eyebrow.
“We do?” he asked calmly. She nodded.
“I like my room, it’s a very lovely room,” Claire said but then added in a firm tone, “But I was under the impression that we were going to be living in sin. How much sin can go on with me sleeping upstairs and you sleeping down here?” Her green eyes sparkled with a challenge Sean couldn’t resist. He held out his hand and when she took it tentatively with her own, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. She gave a little whimper. Sean smiled down at her.
“You’re absolutely right, lass, I’ve neglected you shamelessly, please forgive me,” he said softly and he bent down and lightly brushed his lips to hers. She closed her eyes and groaned. Her arms came up and wrapped around his strong neck and he kissed her again and again until she began to swoon. Then he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to his bed. Claire didn’t even feel her clothes being removed, or his, just the hot touch when their naked flesh touched and then she gasped with the wonder of it.
“Oh, my, I never felt like this with William,” she sighed. Sean laughed.
“Whose William?” he teased. She shook her head.
“Who cares, do that again,” Claire implored and he did. When his head moved down to the soft red curls at the top of her milky white thighs she gasped with shock. Surely he didn’t mean to kiss her there. Her body arched with pleasure when Sean’s tongue found the spot that no man had ever touched before. She thought she would surely die from the thrill of it and the old men in the room next door heard her cries.
“Sounds like the two young people are getting better acquainted,” Ryan remarked as he rolled over in the dark. Danny snorted from his bed.
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” he said and giggled. Ryan giggled too.
“You do notice that they’re in his room so she must have slipped down the stairs and knocked on his door,” Ryan said in a pleased tone. Danny nodded.
“I noticed that too. I like that in a woman, its boring when you have to be the one who’s always asking for sex, makes you feel like you’re begging sometimes,” he commented. His brother nodded.
“Chris and I made love every single night we were together,” Ryan bragged. Danny snorted.
“Of course you did, you both were men, men are always horny,” he stated. “It’s the women who are the ones who are always too tired or it’s that time of the month.” They both shuddered at that thought.
“I’m so thankful God made me a man,” Ryan declared. Danny agreed.
“Me too, Ryan, me too,” he said and then he asked, “I’m cold tonight, why don’t you come over here and snuggle with me?” Ryan nodded and he climbed out of bed and climbed in with his brother. It was something they’d been doing lately, whenever one of them was cold, they would snuggle up together like they used to when they were wee boys. They liked the feel of another body in bed. After being married for so many years sometimes it was hard being alone, especially in bed.
“Goodnight, Ryan.”
“Goodnight, Danny.”
In the other room, Claire laid with her head on Sean’s strong chest, his dark brown hairs tickling her nose, sweat gleaming on both of their bodies, both feeling quite pleased with each other and grinned.
“My God, why didn’t anyone tell me sex was like that,” she exclaimed. “I’ve been doing it all wrong,” she declared and giggled. Sean laughed.
“You’ve been doing it with the wrong man, darling,” he informed her and rolled over to kiss her passionately. She kissed him back with equal passion.
“William never did that,” Claire blushed, “You know, what you did to me.” Sean grinned and brushed the hair from her face.
“William sounds like a perfectly dreary man to me, you should divorce him and marry me and stay here and be the mother to my two boys,” he said and she smiled.
“You’d really marry me?” she asked him shyly. Sean nodded.
“I don’t do that, you know,” he teased her and she giggled. “To just any woman,” Sean told her. “Just to the women I fall in love with in bookshops.” Then he rolled her over until she was on top of him. “How would you like to be on top this time, darling?” he asked her with a sly grin. She grinned down at him.
“You mean we can do it again?” Claire asked with delight in her voice. Sean grinned back up at her.
“Who needs to sleep?” he asked and she shook her head.
“Not me,” she replied and bent her head to kiss him.
They did fall asleep but it was much later. And when Bill went to milk the cows in the morning, he thought it odd that Sean didn’t show up to help. Sally thought it odd to that Sean didn’t show up to help with breakfast like he usually did but he did get up when the babies cried. He was sleepy-eyed though and Claire came out of his bedroom sleepy-eyed as well and took Kalin from him and they both looked like they needed lots of coffee. Sally hid her grin and poured them a cup.
“Good morning, Granddad, good morning, Claire,” she said cheerfully. They both looked at her and then each other and grinned.
“Congratulate us, Sally, we’re going to get married as soon as we both get a divorce,” Sean announced and Claire blushed. Carrie, Bill and Sally all congratulated them.
“That’s wonderful, Sean, how nice for you, Claire,” Bill said and he kissed her on her cheek.
“So that’s why you didn’t answer when I knocked on your door this morning and called you to breakfast,” Carrie teased her and Claire blushed. Sean leaned forward to kiss her. Both boys had to kiss her too. Ryan and Danny came out of their bedroom.
“You’re going to have to move the study and our bedroom,” Ryan announced as they sat down. Sean nodded but looked confused. Danny winked at him and Sean got it.
“We’ll do it when the boys lay down for their nap,” he said and winked at Bill who looked confused. Bill looked at him and then at the two old men and then understanding came and he grinned. Fortunately the ladies didn’t understand and they kept on talking about curtains.
Sean took Kalin to the fields with him to do some weeding and Claire kept Bobby with her to go to the store to look at material for new curtains, she hated the ones Julie had put up. Sean showed her where the coins were and told her to help herself since there were engaged, his coins were hers. He kissed her passionately and the boys laughed. She blushed when he suggested they take a wee nap after supper when the babies lied down.
“I thought you were going to move furniture,” she whispered. He shrugged.
“I’ll take you against the wall, it won’t take long, lass,” he whispered back just to see her turn as red as her hair. She shoved him out the door.
“God, Sean, the things out of your mouth,” Claire said. He laughed and Kalin laughed because his dad did.
Kalin was a great help in the field and pulled up every weed his dad pointed out and several stalks of wheat he didn’t, but Sean didn’t yell at him, just gave him two balls to throw around to keep his hands busy. The little boy threw them and chased them while Sean worked and then sat down to watch some bugs and squash them with his fingers. Sean watched him laugh while he did that.
“That’s good, Son, squash the bugs,” he told him and Kalin nodded and laughed. The more bugs the lad squashed, the less that would eat his wheat Sean figured. When the lad got tired, Sean took him into the house and laid him on the couch with his brother.
“They are the cutest little boys, I wish I wasn’t barren, I wish I could give you a son,” Claire said softly as she gazed at them. Sean shook his head.
“Even if I had no children, lass, I’d still marry you,” he informed her and she was surprised. They walked to the door together.
“William said that if he had known before he married me that I couldn’t have children, he wouldn’t have married me,” she said with bitterness. Sean hugged her.
“William is an arse,” he said firmly and she giggled. Sean looked her straight in the eyes. “I’m marrying you because I love you and I’m marrying a woman not a cow or other farm animal. Children are nice but not the only reason to get married. You marry someone because you want to spend the rest of your life with that person and when I overheard you in that bookshop, I knew I wanted to spend the next fifty years listening to you bitch,” he teased and she laughed.
“Oh, go pick some weeds or something,” she teased him and he kissed her again.
“I sure love kissing you, Claire,” he whispered. She nodded.
“I sure love kissing you, Sean,” she agreed. He lightly slapped her backside and went back to work. She laughed and went back to her curtains.
The following week the family traveled to the Ridge to get a divorce from Reverend Andrews who was shocked that Sean’s wife had abandoned her husband and two children and returned to the Malweenah Valley.
“Is there any hope that she’ll come back to you, Sean, and you’ll be reconciled?” he asked him gently. Sean shook his head.
“She refuses to live in Sweetwater Reverend and Bobby is over a year old and she’s never even picked him up once the whole time she lived in the valley, only when she took them and left me,” he informed him. The good Reverend was shocked.
“And you can’t see it in your heart to move to the Malweenah Valley so that your family can be intact?” he then asked. Sean shook his head.
“My life is with my family in Sweetwater in the Donoghue Valley Reverend, it’s where I want to raise my children and where I want to live,” he said firmly. Reverend Andrews nodded.
“Well, since she abandoned you and your children, I guess that leaves me little choice but to grant you a divorce, but I don’t like this one little bit, Sean. A compromise should be reachable. The two of you should be able to sit down and talk this over, maybe you should both come in and let me council you,” he suggested. Sean shook his head.
“Julie wouldn’t agree to that, Reverend,” he told him. “She refuses anything except that I move to the Malweenah Valley.” The Reverend shook his head.
“And you refuse to do that,” he said with hope in his eyes. Sean shook his head.
“I’m not leaving Sweetwater,” he stated firmly. The Reverend sighed.
“What I’m seeing is two stubborn people,” he said and shook his head. “Perhaps if you gave it some more time,” he suggested. Once more Sean shook his head.
“All I want is a divorce so that I can move on with my life and that Julie can move on with hers,” he explained and the Reverend had no choice. He drew up the document, signed it and Sean signed it. Because it was a case of abandonment, Julie didn’t have to sign it for it to become official. Sean gave the Church a donation of a hundred gilders and left.
“I hate to see a marriage end in divorce,” the Reverend said to his wife who agreed.
“It’s so sad, especially when they are children involved,” she said.
The family went home to await the arrival of William Thompson and he arrived in a fancy carriage three weeks later with Aunt Grace and Uncle George who looked around them with awe at the beautiful valley and waterfall.
“It’s really quite lovely here, if you like living in the wilderness,” Grace remarked as she stepped down from the carriage. William sniffed.
“It took us nine days to get here and not an inn to stay at along the way, poor Claire must be going batty, she’ll probably beg me to take her back,” he said smugly. George glared at him.
“Well, remember we have a deal,” he snapped. William grinned.
“Yes I know, two thousand gilders and I take the little bitch back and no one knows of her little indiscretion,” he said and taking out his hankie, he wiped his nose. Grace slapped his arm with her fan.
“Don’t you dare call my niece a bitch, you son-of-bastard,” she snapped. “This is all your fault! If you hadn’t taken up with that little blonde whore, Claire wouldn’t have been so rash to fall for this Donoghue’s offer.” William sighed.
“I’m so sick about hearing about poor little Claire,” he whined. “I’m the one who will never have an heir. What about me? I should divorce her and get a real wife,” he snapped. But they all knew he couldn’t do that of course. Then Claire would get her dowry back and he would be a Duke with a title and no coin. George rolled his eyes and walked into the store. A few minutes later he came out and pointed to a very large, very beautiful house at the top of the mountainside.
“The chap in there says that General Sean Donoghue lives in that house up there,” he informed them and they all turned to look. Grace gasped.
“My God, it’s a mansion,” she said with awe. William whistled.
“Well, Claire did pick a rich one didn’t she?” he teased and the two older people glared at him as they got into the carriage and started up the hill.
In the Donoghue house they had just put the boys down for their nap and the two old men had decided to go sit on the front porch for a while. Sean grabbed Claire by the hand and headed for their bedroom. Claire laughed.
“In the middle of the day?” she protested weakly. Sean gave her a sly grin.
“We won’t have to waste a candle so I can see you properly,” he teased and she blushed. They rushed to the bedroom and began kissing, laughing as they tore at each others clothes. Then a loud knock came at the door.
“Go away we’re busy in here,” Sean called out and she giggled. On the other side of the door Sally laughed.
“Sorry to disturb you, Granddad and Claire but I think you should know there’s a carriage full of people coming up the road and they’re headed for our house,” she called out. Sean groaned and fell on the bed. Claire fell with him.
“That bloody William has lousy timing, I should kill him and make you a widow,” he declared. She laughed and pulled him up by his arms.
“Then they’ll hang you and I’ll be your widow before I’m your wife,” she informed him. “Straighten out your clothes or my Aunt will know what we’ve be doing.” He laughed and they tidied up and went out to the porch.
When Aunt Grace saw Sean she wagged her finger at him.
“Young man I’m very angry with you,” she informed him with an angry glare. “When you told me you were taking my niece to Donoghue Valley you didn’t tell me it was in the wilderness. It took us nine days to get here, nine days of sitting in that carriage, I’m exhausted.” Claire rushed forward and helped her down. The men got down on their own and they were all invited in.
“Nice place you’ve got here, old chap, you must chop down a lot of wood to keep it warm in the winter,” William said as they took seats in the front room. The room was remarkably cool for the summer. Sean smiled at them.
“We don’t have to chop wood, we’ve got these room heaters and air coolers in every room,” he informed them and they all looked shocked.
“Those things are expensive, they’re selling for a hundred gilders in Portsmyth,” George said with a frown. Sean nodded.
“Yes, but they’re worth it, after working in the fields all day, its nice to come into a nice cool house,” he said. Both William and George were shocked.
“Working in the fields, but I thought you were a General?” William asked, his eyes taking in all the expensive surroundings. Sean nodded.
“I’ve been a general and a gold miner and I invented the cannon that was used to defeat the Hamish. Right now my family and I are working on a few other inventions,” he explained. “But through it all, I do a little farming and of course I make beer and whiskey.” George frowned.
“It sounds like move around a lot, you’re not stable,” he snorted. “My niece needs someone who’s more stable like William here, he stays in one place.” William beamed while Claire rolled her eyes. Grace slapped her niece with her fan.
“Don’t be rude, your uncle is talking,” she snapped. Sean got up, walked over and gently took the fan from the older woman’s hand while she gasped with shock. He placed in on the table in front of her.
“A fan is to be used for the fanning of one’s face when one is over-heated, kindly refrain from using it as a weapon in my house. If you strike my fiancée one more time, Aunt Grace, I shall remove you from my house and make you sit on the porch,” he said softly. Claire smiled and wanted to kiss him. It was the first time anyone had ever defended her before. The three nobles were shocked. Uncle George cleared his throat.
“How can my niece be your fiancée when she is William’s wife?” he asked and nudged William with his elbow. William almost spilled his coffee.
“Oh, yes, about that,” he said wishing he had been the one to defend Claire against the old bat. She’d been hitting people with her fan for years and he’d been wanting to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine forever. He’d love watching the mountain man make her sit on the porch. He looked at Claire and noticed for the first time how really lovely she looked, she had lost that pinched worried look she always wore. William cleared his throat.
“Claire, I forgive you for cheating on me, I want you to return home and we can start our marriage again,” he said as firm as he could. Claire and Sean looked at each other and then to the three noble’s complete surprise Claire threw back her head and laughed.
“Uncle George, really, how much did you have to pay him to say that?” she asked in a teasing tone. George looked offended.
“I didn’t pay him anything, William loves you, don’t you, William,” he said and glared at the man. William nodded. Claire stared at him.
“Really, William, you really love me?” she asked and he nodded again. She smiled. “Then if you really loved me then you would give me a divorce so that I could marry Sean because I really love him,” she informed them and gave them a radiant smile. Grace gasped.
“You can’t mean that, Claire, he’s not one of us, he’s a mountain man,” she said, horrified at the thought. William laughed.
“He must be really good in bed,” he sneered. Claire nodded.
“Oh, he’s much better at it than you were,” she told him and he almost fainted. The two older people looked like they were ready to faint. Sean laughed.
“You don’t tell a man he’s lousy in bed, lass, it hurts his feelings,” he said and grinned at her. She shrugged.
“He told me how lousy I was, he said I was frigid and he wasn’t going to have sex with me anymore because he was afraid his prick would freeze and fall off,” she informed them all and Grace choked and had to be given water. Sean glared at William.
“Well, then, lass, I guess he deserves to be told how lousy in bed he is then,” he said and she grinned at him. George had enough.
“Who cares how lousy in bed he is, she’s his wife and I demand that she come home with him right now,” he snapped. Sean looked at William.
“I’ll give you ten thousand gilders if you get a divorce so I can marry her,” he said and William looked interested.
“You’d give me ten thousand gilders for that frigid little girl?” he asked in a haughty tone and Sean wanted to make her a widow. Claire put a hand on his arm and shook her head. Sean nodded.
“I’ll give you ten thousand gilders to stay married to her,” George countered. Grace nodded and sat up higher. Sean sighed.
“Fifteen thousand and that’s my final offer and you’d better take it, lad, because if he counters and you accept his offer the lass is going to be a widow,” he said calmly with a gleam in his eyes that made William very nervous. He swallowed and decided that fifteen would be lovely and he really wanted an heir and she was frigid, so what the hell.
“Fifteen thousand gilders would be nice,” William said firmly and didn’t even look at George or Grace. Claire grinned at them.
“I should report you to the authorities,” George snapped as they turned to leave. Sean shrugged.
“Your niece is over twenty-one and she wants to marry me, what right have you to interfere with her life, you pompous arse,” he said calmly. George flushed and he turned to Claire.
“You’re making the biggest mistake of your life, young lady,” he snapped at her. Claire shrugged.
“And it’s my life, Uncle George, so I’ll have to live with it won’t I?” she told him. They refused Sean’s offer to stay the night and left immediately. Sean sent Lonnie and Todd with them to make sure they got back alright and to bring make the divorce degree so he and Claire could get married right away.
“They always ran my life,” Claire said as they rode away. “I never wanted to marry William but they thought I should so I did.” Sean laughed.
“Well good for me that you did, and then he wouldn’t have cheated on you, you wouldn’t have gotten so mad you jumped at me and we wouldn’t have fallen in love,” he said and she grinned.
“I guess it did work out for the best,” she decided. Then they went back into the house to finish what they started but the babies woke up so they had to wait until after dinner but the anticipation made it better.
Two weeks later the men returned with her divorce degree so the whole family got together and traveled by boat to the Ridge so that the happy couple could get married by Reverend Andrews. He looked at the two documents and frowned.
“So this is why you didn’t want to work things out with your wife,” he said grimly and looked at Sean who shook his head.
“There was nothing to work out with Julie, Reverend Andrews,” he informed him. “She was never going to change her mind about where she wanted to live and I was never going to change my mind about where I wanted to live. You can’t have a marriage when the two people in it want to live in two different places. I would have divorced her even if I hadn’t of met Claire. Now I have met Claire and she loves me and I love her and she loves living in my house in Sweetwater and she doesn’t want to live anywhere else and she loves my two boys. I don’t see a problem here so why are you making one.”
“The problem here is that the two of you have wrecked two marriages just so that you can be together and that’s just wrong,” Reverend Andrews voice rose, he sounded angry. Sean shook his head.
“Ah, lad, you’re wrong, my marriage was over and Claire’s husband was committing adultery on her so her marriage was over,” he told him. “What we have here are two people who were in bad marriages who have found each other, fallen in love and made a good marriage out of them. If you won’t marry us, then we’ll go into Jamestown to your superior and have him do it.” Reverend Andrews sighed.
“I’ll marry you, I have no reason not to and maybe you’re right, I just hate to see a marriage break up, much less two,” he said with sadness. Claire sighed.
“My marriage was over and I love Sean, please be happy for us, Reverend,” she said and Sara smiled at her.
“We are, dear, aren’t we, honey,” she said to her husband who nodded.
Despite the Reverend’s personal feelings he performed a beautiful ceremony and the love that shorn in the happy couple’s eyes did make him feel better about the two divorces. And the two little boys did deserve a mother to help raise them. They left Ridge and headed home amazed that they had once lived in this crowded place.
“How can people live on top of one another like this?” Todd asked his wife who shook her head.
“I don’t know, I like the valley much better,” she declared.
The Ryan and Daniel Donoghue Library opened a month later and everyone came out to honor the two men it honored. They both beamed as they cut the ribbon that was draped over the door. Everyone cheered and they took a bow. The Valley threw a big party and it was a great day. It was close to fall and the leaves were turning orange, yellow and brown
“It’s so lovely here,” Claire gushed as they walked to their carriage after the party. Sean carried the little ones while the two old men hobbled behind them. They were all tired but happy.
“I’m so happy you’re letting me work in the library,” she added as they rode up the hill. Sean laughed.
“I’m not letting you, darling,” he said. “You’re a grown women and you can make up your own mind how you want to spend your time. I’m your husband; I’m not your master.” She nodded.
“But still, most husbands wouldn’t like their wives working,” she declared. He nodded and put his arm around her.
“I’m not most husbands, darling,” Sean informed her and kissed her. The boys giggled. Ryan and Danny sighed.
“If you keep stopping the carriage to kiss her, we’ll never get home,” Danny complained. Sean turned around.
“What’s the matter with you, old man, you got a hot date?” he teased him. The boys laughed again. Ryan grinned.
“Yeah he does, with his pillow,” he retorted and they all laughed.
Winter came and the valley was washed with snow and it became a magical place. Sean took the boys who were now three and two outside to play in it and they had a great time. He decided that in the spring he would head into Jamestown and get a minister for their valley, going to the Ridge was a pain and he was tired of Reverend Andrews’s sanctimonious speeches. The fact that the man had wanted to refuse to marry him and Claire had shocked Sean, what right did he have to tell them how to live their lives? It was outrageous.
December came and one morning he was handing his wife a cup of coffee when she tried to take a sip of it. Claire’s face turned gray and she stood up very quickly and raced to the bathroom. Everyone looked at her with surprise.
“What’s the matter with her?” Sally asked and Sean shook his head. He got up and followed her. When he got to the closed bathroom door, he softly tapped on it.
“Claire, darling are you alright?” he called out. He heard the sounds of retching. Surprised he opened the door and entered.
“Don’t come in here, I’m being sick,” she snapped and retched again. Concerned he ran cold water over a wash cloth and handed it to her. He knelt down beside her.
“I think it was something I ate,” Claire said as she wiped her face. Sean stared at her.
“Ah, lass, you haven’t eaten anything yet,” he told her. She frowned. Then she noticed his stare.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she wanted to know. Sean shook his head.
“If I didn’t know you were barren, Claire, I would swear you were pregnant,” he declared and a little hope came into her eyes.
“But I was married to William for six years and I never got pregnant,” she protested weakly. He shrugged.
“Have you thought that maybe that was William’s fault and not yours?” Sean asked gently. Claire shook her head.
“When was your last monthlies?” he asked and she frowned at him.
“You’re not supposed to ask me that, that’s rude,” Claire snapped and he laughed.
“I’m your husband, darling, I can ask you that,” he teased. She shrugged.
“I don’t know, a couple of months ago, but I’ve never been regular, I’ve skipped before,” she informed him. Sean nodded.
“Well, let’s wait a while and see if your stomach starts to get a little bigger, like a wee rounder and then we’ll know for sure,” he said and she nodded. He got up and pulled her with him and hugged her.
“It won’t be the end of the world if you’re not, darling, so don’t get your hopes up, let’s just wait,” he said wisely and she nodded, but it was hard not to see the hope in her eyes.
For breakfast Claire skipped the coffee and drank tea instead and found tea didn’t make her nauseous like coffee did. She also found that she liked milk more than before and soon was drinking it at every meal. Sally looked at this and wondered but didn’t say anything; after all, everyone knew Sean’s second wife was barren.
For Winter Solstice everyone gathered in the foundry because it was the biggest building and it was cold outside. They all sang Church songs and Sean made a little speech about unity and community spirit and how he was going into Jamestown to get them a real minister. Everyone liked that idea. And he approached the subject of a Community Hall where they could all get together indoors on special occasions such as this and use it for meetings. Everyone liked that idea and decided to build it in the spring.
“You’re just full of ideas aren’t you, Granddad?” Young Sean declared as they packed up to go home. Sean grinned at him. Claire smiled and wrapped the furs around the two old men so they’d be warm on the way home.
“I try to keep busy while we’re waiting for that rubber,” Sean stated. They all laughed.
“Why do they all call you granddad, Sean?” Claire asked as they got ready for bed. Her husband grinned at her.
“You know those old paintings in the front room?” he asked her and she nodded and smiled.
“You mean all those Sean Donoghues who look just like you?” she teased and he nodded.
“That’s why they call me granddad, because I look like the first Sean Donoghue,” he said and she laughed.
“That’s the silliest thing I ever heard,” Claire declared. “What would have happened if you looked like Maggie Donoghue, would the silly people call you grandmom?” she teased and he grabbed her and rolled her on top of him.
“I guess they would have, lass,” he teased her and she rested her elbows on his chest.
“You’re a fine looking man, husband,” she told him and eased a hand down to encircle his hardness. He closed his eyes and moaned. She seemed very pleased with herself. Sean slapped her firm backside and she laughed.
“You’re pretty delicious yourself, wife,” he declared with a sly smile. She looked confused.
“Delicious, how can I be deli, oh, Sean, you wicked man, I swear you say these things just to make me blush,” Claire said as she turned red. He laughed as he rolled her over and spread her legs apart. She tensed with anticipation. He blew some breath on her curls and she shivered.
“Ah, lass, you have the prettiest red hair I ever did see,” Sean said and he meant it, Claire’s hair was an entirely different shade of red than Maggie’s had been. He bent his head to give her his full attention and she loved him for it.
January came and they waited for Claire’s monthlies and they didn’t come and she began to cross her fingers. She played with the boys and pictured having one of her own with her red hair and Sean’s dark, green eyes and took to staring at her still flat stomach whenever she was naked. Sean ignored this and tried to remain optimism. If it happened he would be happy, if it didn’t, he was still happy. He was afraid that she wouldn’t be happy if it didn’t though.
February came and still nothing and now she was beginning to get impatient. He smiled and made her play cards with him and the brothers to take her mind off of it.
“What’s the matter with Claire, I’ve never seen her act so nervous; you two ain’t fighting are you?” Ryan asked one day in the middle of the cold month. Sean shook his head.
“No it’s her time of the month if you know what I mean,” he whispered and both old men nodded and were nicer to her. She smiled at them and thought them the sweetest old men ever.
By March she had given up even though she hadn’t gotten her monthly time yet.
“Let’s face it, Sean, I’m barren and you’re stuck with me,” she said miserably and threw herself in his lap. Sean brushed the hair from her face and kissed her.
“I married you knowing that lass. I love you, Claire Donoghue, don’t you forget that darling,” he told her and she grinned.
“Why don’t you show me how much?” she whispered in his ear and they ran off laughed into the bedroom. Danny and Ryan laughed.
“That’s the only thing I hate about getting old, you only use it to pee with,” Ryan remarked and made a face. Danny grinned at him.
“Sometimes mine doesn’t want to work for that,” he informed him and Sally who was knitting in her chair giggled. Bill choked back a laugh. The two old men turned to him.
“Just you wait, one day you’ll be old like us and your won’t work so good either,” Ryan informed him. Sally shook her head.
“I hope I’m too old to care about that,” she remarked and they all laughed.
One morning the second week of April Sean woke up and kissed his wife before he headed out to milk the cows.
“Good morning, darling,” he whispered and she yawned, rolled over and kicked the covers off.
“I might as well get up and help Carrie with the boys,” she said sleepily. Sean grinned and glanced down to admire her body, she had such a lovely one. Then he blinked.
“Are you getting fat or is that my imagination?” he asked and put his hand on her round little belly. She glanced down and frowned. Then she got out of bed and stood up to look at herself in the mirror. Then Claire looked at him with hope in her eyes and he grinned and nodded. She was definitely pregnant. She squealed and jumped into his arms.
“Oh, my God, you were right, Sean, I’m not barren after all; it was William and not me!” she yelled and kissed him. He kissed her back and held her tight, they were both trembling.
“Ah, lass, I’m so happy for you,” he whispered. “I know how much you wanted to have a baby.” She had tears in her eyes and he wiped them away.
“We’re going to have a baby,” she whispered and he nodded and looked down at her belly.
“A big one too by the looks of things,” he teased and she grinned. Then he went off to milk the cows and she got dressed and hurried off to tell Sally and Carrie.
Breakfast was a joyous occasion with everyone laughing and talking all at once, Kalin and Bobby were very happy about the arrival of a new baby and took to patting Claire’s belly and shouting my baby. Claire would beam at them and nod.
“Yes, Kalin, that’s your brother or sister dear,” she told him and he grinned.
“Brothers,” he informed them with a big grin and they all looked confused. She looked at Sean and nodded.
“Well, my grandmother was a twin, so we could be having twins, sometimes they skip a generation,” Claire informed her husband who grinned.
“Twins run in my family too, lass, wouldn’t that be something, two wee little lasses that look just like their mother?” he said and she grinned now. Danny snorted.
“Kalin said they were brothers, you could always name them after their dear old grandfathers,” he hinted and everyone laughed. Sean wagged a finger at him.
“You already have a grandson named after you, Danny Donoghue,” he told him. Danny shrugged.
“But I haven’t got a great-grandson named after me and neither does Ryan,” he counter with. Claire thought that a lovely idea.
“If we have two boys, we’d love to name them Ryan and Daniel,” she beamed and the two old men who were seventy-seven and seventy-four beamed with her. Sean rolled his eyes.
“What will we name them if they’re two lasses?” he asked his wife. She thought about it for a minute.
“Katherine and Bridget for your grandmother and mother,” Claire announced and he loved her even more.
“Ah, lass, we already have too many Bridgets in this family, how about we name one of them after your grandmother too?” he said softly and she nodded.
“Katherine and Rebecca,” she said and he nodded.
“What if they’re and boy and a girl?” Sally asked and they both frowned at her. She blushed.
“They’ll be two boys or two girls, I know that,” Sean declared and it was settled. He didn’t want to think of the arguments of trying to decide to pick Ryan or Daniel, one of the old men would be heartbroken and he knew it would be Daniel because as much as he tried not to pick favorites, Ryan was his favorite and everyone, even Danny knew it.
Now that Claire had decided to show she was indeed pregnant she blew up like a whale and soon forgot what her feet looked like. She loved every minute of it and bloomed like a rose. She giggled through every moment of her pregnancy and made everyone around her happy. No one had heard of the man being barren, only the woman and this caused more than a few heads to turn. Sean figured that William may have slept with a whore and gotten some kind of disease that had caused his seed to rot. Or maybe a childhood illness had caused it.
“He did have the measles when he was sixteen and was deathly ill,” Claire informed him one night when he was rubbing cocoa butter on her belly to prevent those little stretch marks that women sometimes got when their bellies swelled up.
“Maybe that’s it then, he got a really high fever when he had the measles and his seed burned up and now he can’t produce children,” Sean said as a little light went off in his head. Claire nodded and she sighed with pleasure at his touch.
“You have magic fingers, darling,” she gushed and moaned a little when they went lower. She laughed
“Are all husbands and wives this happy?” she asked, her green eyes dark with passion. Sean shook his head and bent his head to kiss her.
“Ah, lass, only the very lucky ones,” he kissed her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. The babies in her belly chose that moment to kick furiously. Sean laughed.
“Go to sleep you little rascals,” he yelled at them while she laughed. He looked into her eyes. “They’re definitely lasses, they have the worse timing,” he teased and she bit his lips. He grinned.
The twins arrived on a hot July afternoon and Sean was present for their births, his wife insisted she couldn’t do it without him. He was more than happy to help her, Sean had always wondered how babies were born and now he could get first hand knowledge. He was very impressed with the strength women processed and knew that if men could do it and couples took turns, all families would be limited to three children. Because the men would only do it once and then never do it again, it was that hard.
“Sean, you’re never touching me again,” Claire insisted as yet another contraction came and a baby didn’t pop out. Sean wiped the sweat from her face and nodded.
“I’ll never touch you again, darling I promise,” he swore and winked at the midwife, Mrs. Jefferies, his great-great-granddaughter who laughed.
“They all say that, Granddad and I don’t blame them, childbirth hurts like hell, but it will be worth the pain once the wee babe is in her arms,” she spoke cheerfully and Claire glared at her like she wanted to kill her.
“She’s laughing, Sean, tell her to stop or kill her,” she snapped and Sean swore he would. Patsy put a frown on her face then, but looked away to hide her grin and Sally who was helping covered her mouth to hide hers. It went on for several hours and then the first of the babies, a wee little boy with Claire’s red hair and Sean’s dark, green eyes arrived, head first and who could tell who was screaming more, the babe or the mother and the first one was over.
“See the wee little boy, ah, lass, he’s beautiful,” Sean cooed to her and Claire laughed.
“It’s over, oh, thank, God, Sean, I thought I was going to die,” she sighed with pleasure and then looked down at her body. “Why’s it still big, why didn’t my stomach go down?” she asked with panic in her voice. Sean patted her hand.
“Because there’s still another baby to be born, Claire, remember, you’re having twins, lass,” he explained to her gently. She didn’t look too happy.
“You mean I’ve got to do that again?” she asked, almost hysterical and shaking her head. “I can’t do that again, Sean, you can’t expect me to do that again,” she began to cry and he wiped her eyes.
“Ah, lass, I’d do it for you if I could, but you’re stronger than you think,” Sean told her and then whispered in her ear. “Just think how jealous William is going to be when you show him your two sons, darling.” She looked at him and her bright green eyes gleamed with the challenge.
“That bastard called me barren, I’ll show him whose was barren,” she snapped as another contraction hit her, she was ready and began to push. Sean held her hands and the second baby came out feet first screaming as loud as the first one had but his mother was too exhausted to scream, she only grunted.
“It’s another boy,” Patsy announced as she held up the little one with brownish red hair and bright green eyes. Sean beamed and kissed his wife.
“We’ve got a Ryan and a Daniel, I’m so proud of you, Claire, you’re a brave, lass,” he told her and she demanded to see her boys. They made her wait until they cleaned her up and rinsed her out with red-leaf water and cleaned up the bed. They washed the babies with red-leaf water and wrapped them Ryan in a green blanket and Danny in a blue blanket although they were identical you could tell them apart. Ryan’s hair was redder and his eyes were darker green while Danny’s hair was darker and his eyes a brighter green. They were absolutely the most precious babies Sean had ever seen, he had never had twins of his own before and now he had four boys. He couldn’t have been happier and wished his dad Sam Donoghue was alive to see this, he would have been ecstatic.
Kalin and Bobby who were four and three loved the new brothers and gazed at them with wonder in their eyes.
“My babies,” Kalin announced and everyone laughed. Because there were two babies to feed Sean had gotten a wet nurse a very nice woman named Emily Brown who had just had a little girl named Wendy. Her husband Wayne and their four year-old son Henry moved into the mansion, what everyone was calling their house these days, a few weeks ago so they had a whole house full of people but it was a house full of love and happiness so no one minded. Between the two women, all three babies were kept full and happy and no one went hungry.
“My Aunt would be appalled I was breast feeding the boys myself,” Claire remarked proudly as Ryan latched onto her breast with fierce determination. Sean eyed this and laughed softly. He held out his finger and the wee little one grabbed it and held on with strong fingers.
“He’s a strong one,” he said with admiration in his voice. Claire beamed at him.
“Just like his dad,” she gushed and they kissed. Wendy walked into the room.
“I’ve feed this one and changed his diaper, he eats like a horse,” she said and giggled. Sean held out his arms and she laid Danny tenderly into them. Sean gazed down at his sleeping son and kissed him tenderly on his forehead.
“Hello, Danny, lad,” he whispered. Claire felt tears come in her eyes.
“I am the happiest woman in the world,” she whispered and they kissed. The two older boys sneaked into the room. Sean grinned at them and they crawled up into his lap. Wendy smiled at the picture they made, the beautiful man and wife and their four handsome boys.
“The Donoghues are the nicest people,” she told her husband later that night. He nodded with agreement. He was learning a lot about making plowers and the factory was making gears and wheels in anticipation of getting the rubber.
The rubber arrived in July and they brought it down from Portsmyth and Sean dyed some of it black like the tires of the bicycles he had seen in Ennis. They melted it and poured into the molds he had made forming circles with grooves on the outside to grip the ground. Then they put them onto the four wheels of the plower and everyone turned out to watch Sean ride the plower.
“Well, let’s see if this works,” Sean called out as he sat on the seat and he pressed the foot pedal and the plower jerked a bit and then took off down the road. Everyone gasped and cheered as it worked. Then Sean steered it with a turn of the steering wheel and entered a field. He flipped a lever and instantly all the wheels began to spin and began to eat up the dirt. Sean moved the plower slowly across the field and everyone walked next to him exclaiming and pointing to the neat rows of dirt left behind the steel contraption. It worked, it actually worked. Every man on the field wanted to be the one driving it.
Sean tore up two rows and then let every man watching tear up two rows. It was the funniest thing they had ever done and before they knew it, they had a giant field. Then granddad announced they were going to plant strawberries in the field because you never did get enough strawberries and everyone loved them. So they started from the beginning and added the seed attachment and the one that covered up the seeds and began again. Sean did two rows and they all gasped when it did what it was supposed to.
“My God, it works, he just planted two rows of strawberries,” Young Sean was delighted. Then every man got to do two rows and when they finished they had an enormous field of strawberries to weed but they didn’t care. The plowers worked and they had the parts to make more. Sean’s amazing invention was going to change the face of farming around the world and put Donoghue Valley on the face of the map. Sean threw a big party and they celebrated.
“My husband the great inventor,” Claire gushed and threw her arms around him. He spun her around and she threw her head back and laughed.
“Just wait, darling, I’m not through yet,” he bragged. She giggled.
“What are you going to invent next?” she teased. He shrugged.
“I’ll figure it out,” he promised.
Sean turned over production of the plowers to his great-great-grandsons Freddie and Frankie Donoghue, they were the ones most interested in them and by the following spring every man in the valley had one for the spring planting. They accomplished that is days instead of weeks and were all amazed at how easy it was. A big field of wheat only took hours to plant instead of a week.
“Granddad, this is the best invention ever,” Young Sean insisted. Sean ruffled his hair.
“Come on up to the workshop, lad, and see what I’m working on now before you say that,” he offered and the three men grinned and followed him. Sean had a new barn which they all called his workshop where he fiddled with parts and tools and stuff. His two older boys spent a lot of time in there with him helping him play around with things and he had an area blocked off where they could safely play.
“What in the world do you call that, Granddad?” Todd asked, his dark, green eyes gleaming as the three men approached Sean’s latest invention, what he was calling a motorbike. They eyed the two-wheeled contraption with interest and he could tell they were dieing to sit on it and take a spin.
“I call it a motorbike and I got the idea from riding on the plower and of course from riding the horses,” Sean informed them and they all nodded, they could see that. Sean was ready for a test drive and he wheeled it outside and climbed onto it. All three men watched with excitement.
“How does it work?” Todd, the reasonable asked. Sean pointed out the features of the bike.
“You steer it with the front wheel like this,” he showed them how it moved and they all nodded.
“This lever here, you grip and move in a circle and the back wheel spins to move the bike,” Sean demonstrated and the motorbike moved up several inches. “If you want to go faster, you turn it more and if you want to slow down, you turn it the other way,” he said and showed them.
“That is so cool,” Young Sean’s voice was filled with awe. Sean had even put little foot braces to put his feet on.
“How do you stop it?” Lonnie asked; a frown on his face. Sean grinned at them.
“Now stopping was a bit of a problem,” he admitted. “I tried putting the brakes, that’s what I call the stopping things, like the brakes on a wagon, on just the back wheel, like the plower. But on the bike, you can’t do that, the bike will lock up and the front wheel leaves the ground and you lose control and fall down,” he explained and they all nodded. A horse did the same thing. If it stopped only using its back legs, the front ones lifted in the air and the rider would fall off.
“So I put the brakes on the front but that didn’t work either, then the damned thing rolled over and that wasn’t much fun at all,” Sean said and they all laughed. “So I had to put the brakes on both wheels and you have to be real careful to press on the brakes levers a little at the same time to get the bike to stop slowly, you don’t want to stop real fast or you’ll tip over,” he warned them. Then while they watched with fascination, Sean slowly sped up and took off down the road.
“Oh, man, I’ve got to get me one of those,” Young Sean murmured and they all nodded. Every young man who saw Sean riding his new motorbike said the same thing and soon another factory was built and another foundry to meet the demand. Young Sean wanted to take over the manufacturing of the motorbike but Sean shook his head and turned it over to Chris and Billy Donoghue instead.
“I’ve got something even better for you, Lonnie and Todd, lad, trust me and I’ll let you help me with the prototype,” he promised and Young Sean nodded and trusted him, after all, he was his granddad and he would never steer him wrong.
When they had a hundred motorbikes and a hundred plowers the next year, they took them into Jamestown and demonstrated them and sold them instantly. People were stunned at the brilliance of Donoghue’s new inventions and the orders poured in. Several were shipped to Hamish, Ennis and Topanga and Sean’s men went with them to open factories there. Every man in the valley had a piece of the action and they were all going to be rich. People flocked to the valley to work in the new factories and be a part of the excitement. Almost overnight the population quad-tripled to ten thousand and when copper was found with the steel, everyone cheered, the former Keetik valley was the place to be.
Sean didn’t like the crowded valley where his house was so he and his family built new larger mansions higher on the mountainside over-looking the valley below. Claire was impressed by the fact that these rich men got together and built their new houses themselves. Sean laughed at her.
“We know what we want to live in and we can do a better job than anyone else can, why wouldn’t we do it ourselves, lass?” he asked her in a teasing tone and grabbed her to kiss her. All the boys laughed. He stuck his tongue out at them and of course they returned the gesture. She frowned at him.
“Sean, you’re teaching them bad habits, stop that,” he slapped his arm and he grinned.
“Well, someone’s got to teach them bad habits,” he reasoned and she groaned while Kalin and Bobby giggled.
“You’re as bad as a little boy yourself,” she teased him and he picked up the twins who were now two and the most adorable boys in the world in his arms and kissed them. Kalin and Bobby came over so she could wrap her arms around them.
“Now that the house is finished, maybe we could take the boys into Portsmyth and show them off to my Uncle and Aunt,” Claire suggested and then added, “Before I get too big with this one.” Sean grinned. Kalin looked up at her.
“Are we going to have another brother, Mommy?” he asked her, he was six and remarkable sharp for his age. Sean grinned.
“Nothing gets by you, lad, does it?” he commented and his eldest son grinned. Bobby giggled.
“I want a sister,” he declared and Claire leaned over to kiss him.
“Me too, a little girl is just what this family needs,” she informed him and they both nodded. Sean nodded too.
“A wee lass with your red hair and you stubbornness would be very nice,” he said and she stuck her tongue out at him while the children all laughed at her. She shrugged.
“If you can’t fight it, you might as well join in,” Claire said philosophically. Sean grinned at her and kissed her.
They traveled to Portsmyth by boat and took Sally, Bill and Carrie to help with the children and the old men who were eighty and seventy-seven and insisted on coming along. Ryan was looking forward to Sean’s two hundredth birthday coming up in two years and planning a big celebration for the event. Sean was just happy that his grandsons were still alive, every day they had together was a blessing and the old men tinkered with him in his workshop and came up with some helpful advice.
They settled into a very nice hotel and sent word around to the relatives that they would like to visit which was the polite thing to do and got a card back inviting them to tea the next day. Claire refrained from telling them about the twins, she wanted them to be a surprise. And of course Ryan and Danny insisted on coming with them to introduce their namesakes. Kalin and Bobby insisted on taking their new puppies Betty and Willie whose name had caused their mother to burst out with laughter.
“Of course Willie and Betty can come, you can play with them in Uncle George’s back yard,” she told her sons who grinned. Sean raised his eyebrow. Claire raised hers.
“Well, while we’re having tea, the boys won’t have anything to do and playing in the back yard will be perfect,” she defended herself and Sean laughed and hugged her.
“I never argue with a pregnant woman,” he said and went out to help everyone into the carriage.
“Oh, my God, she’s brought an army with her,” Grace exclaimed when she saw all the people getting out of the carriage in front of her house. She turned horrified eyes towards her husband who shrugged.
“We haven’t seen Claire for three years, we can put up with a few people for the privilege,” he remarked, but he wasn’t prepared for the avalanche of children, dogs and old men who marched into his house and ran about.
“Aunt Grace, Uncle George, how wonderful to see you again,” Claire gushed as they hugged and kissed. Then she introduced her family. “You remember my husband Sean don’t you?” she asked as she held out her hand and pulled him forward. They both nodded.
“Sean, how lovely to see you again,” Grace said graciously. George shook his hand, a rather damp, limp Hamish noble handshake. Sean grinned at him. Claire then introduced the two old men.
“These are Sean’s grandfathers, Ryan and Danny Donoghue,” she said with pride and chairs were brought for the two old men who beamed with the pride of old people who had reached a grand old age. The two nobles were impressed to find out Ryan was eighty years old.
“Eighty, that’s very impressive,” George remarked and Ryan nodded.
“Sometimes I only feel seventy,” he quipped and everyone laughed. Then Claire introduced the two older boys.
“This is Kalin, he’s six and Bobby whose five and they have new puppies, tell Aunt Grace your puppies names,” Claire said to them. Both boys beamed with the pride of ownership.
“My dog is a lass and her name is Betty,” Kalin announced and smiled revealing that one of his front teeth was missing, knocked out in a fight with his brother the previous week. Aunt Grace admired the cute yellow dog.
“She’s a very pretty little dog,” she said but refused an offer to pet it. George looked at the big ears and paws of the puppy.
“She’s going to be a big one,” he remarked and Sean nodded. Then George looked at Bobby. “What’s your puppy’s name, little boy?” he asked him. Bobby frowned at him.
“My name is Bobby and my puppy is a lad and his name is Sir William just like my dad’s horse but we call him Willie for short,” he declared in a loud voice the two nobles looked surprised.
“Willie huh, that’s a very interesting name,” George said and to his great relief the two older boys were excused to take their puppies into the back yard.
“Keep them out of my flowers,” Grace told the servants who grinned and nodded. That left two little boys left which puzzled the nobles because of their ages; they appeared to be too young to be Sean’s children from his first marriage.
“Aunt Grace, Uncle George these are our twins, Ryan and Danny, we named them after Sean’s grandfathers,” Claire announced proudly as she took a son from Bill and Sean took one from Carrie and they held them on their laps. Grace looked at the two little boys and then at her niece and her husband and gasped. It was obvious that the two boys were their children, the resemblance was too clear. She and George exchanged a confused look.
“But they’re your children, Claire, yours and Sean’s, how can that be, you’re barren,” Grace sputtered. Claire grinned at her.
“Obviously it was William who was the barren one and not me,” she informed her smugly. Grace nodded and held her hands out for the little boy Claire was holding. Claire put Ryan into her arms and Grace almost wept with joy.
“Oh he’s so precious, which one is he?” she asked.
“You’re holding Ryan,” Claire told her. Grace smiled into his face and Ryan reached out and grabbed her shiny beads. They all laughed. Then Ryan pursed his lips and wanted a kiss. Claire giggled.
“Just like his dad, he wants to kiss a pretty lady,” she said proudly. Grace kissed him on his cheek and then had to hold Danny who also wanted a kiss.
“They’re very affectionate,” George remarked as he rocked Ryan on his knees and the little boy demanded a kiss from him. George quite liked that.
“They’re being raised in a house filled with love and laughter, of course they would be that way,” Sean informed him. George nodded. Just then a servant came in and announced the arrival of Duke Thompson and his wife Louise. Everyone frowned.
“You still see William?” Claire asked her aunt and uncle who both looked uncomfortable.
“We’re still friends with him, of course, society is small here in Portsmyth, dear, you know how it is,” Grace told her. Claire nodded and then a sly look came over her face. William and a tall, gorgeous, blonde woman were shown in. He took one look at the Foster’s visitors and laughed.
“Well, if it isn’t Claire and her mountain man come to visit her aunt and uncle,” he announced and took a seat on a little couch with his wife. “Have you gotten bored in the valley of yours yet, dearie?” he asked in a snide tone, taking out a hankie and wiping his nose. Claire laughed at him.
“William, how lovely to see that you haven’t changed a bit,” she said cheerfully. “No, I’m not bored at all; our little valley is brimming with excitement these days. No, we’ve just come to show off our children to Aunt Grace and Uncle George,” she told him with a smug smile. He looked at the two boys for the first time. Louise looked at them too with a confused look on her face. It was obvious to the two newcomers that the twos belonged to the two people holding them. Louise turned to her husband.
“I thought you said your first wife was barren like I am,” she snapped and William looked confused. He glared at Claire.
“She was,” he insisted. “We were married for six years and she never got pregnant. How could these children possibly be your children, Claire?” he asked her rudely. Sean grinned at him.
“Ah, lad, hasn’t it ever occurred to you that maybe you’re the one who can’t have children and not the lasses?” he asked him in a calm tone. William flushed and his new wife gasped. They hadn’t thought of that, but here was the evidence in front of them. She stared at the two precious little boys with envy in her eyes. Then she looked at Sean who at thirty-four with his little beard and mustache was a remarkably handsome man and compared to William, well, there was no comparison.
“I suppose you wouldn’t want to give me a couple of sons like you gave her,” she asked him in a haughty voice. Claire wanted to gouge her blue eyes out. Sean patted her arm.
“I couldn’t possible do that, Lady Louise, because I love my wife with all my heart and I would never break my marriage vows to lie with another woman,” Sean informed her as Claire beamed with pride. William snorted.
“No man loves a woman that much,” he commented and his wife stared at him with surprise.
“You don’t love me as much as he loves her?” she asked him, her eyes filling up with tears. William patted her hands.
“Of course I love you, sweetheart,” he assured her and kissed her hand. “But all men would break their marriage vows if given the opportunity,” he declared. Sean shook his head. William snorted again. George looked surprised.
“I’ve never broken my marriage vows to Grace, only a cad would do such a thing,” he said and Grace beamed at him. Sean nodded.
“I’d be afraid to break my vows to Claire,” he informed the room who all looked shocked. Claire giggled. So did Ryan and Danny.
“Why would you be afraid, old chap?” William asked him, his handsome face confused. Sean took one of his wife’s hand kissed it.
“Ah, lad, she must not have loved you like she loves me,” he told him. “Claire would surely kill me if she caught me cheating on her. Wouldn’t you lass?” he teased her. She looked him straight in the eyes.
“You bet your sorry arse, Mr. Donoghue, I’d be a widow before daybreak and they’d be one less whore in the world,” she declared and her aunt gasped and choked on her tea. The men all laughed except for William who looked shocked.
“You never felt that way about me,” he whined. Claire shrugged.
“You heard the man, William, I never loved you the way I love Sean,” she informed him and then she frowned and looked down at Danny she was holding. “I think our young son has pooped in his pants. Danny looked up at her and laughed.
“Danny you’re supposed to tell Mommy when you have to poop,” Claire said gently. He shrugged.
“I forgot, Mommy,” he said. She smiled and started to get up. Sean got up instead and reached for him.
“I’ll get him and take this one to the bathroom, if one goes the other will too,” he said and they both laughed. The little boys laughed and the old men did too. Carrie put a bag around his neck and Sean left the room. Grace frowned.
“Shouldn’t the servant do that?” she asked her niece. Claire shook her head.
“Sean’s teaching them how to use the toilet and he says it’s better for a man to do it, he’s got the same thing and can show them how to use it,” she told her and her aunt almost fainted. Louise giggled.
“Now there’s a room I wouldn’t mind being in,” she commented and Claire grinned at her and made a measuring motion with her hands and grinned. Louise giggled. Luckily Grace didn’t see it or she would have surely fainted. George and William both saw it and thought it a rather vulgar gesture.
“Really, Claire, how common,” William remarked and Claire laughed.
“Its how I got pregnant again, William, the next baby’s due in November,” she informed them and they all congratulated her. Everyone stayed for dinner which was a noisy affair. They allowed the children to be present at the table and everyone talked at once, George rather liked it and told his wife later.
“I liked all the chatting and laughter at the table, it was very lively,” he remarked as they got ready for bed. She agreed.
“Claire seems very happy with her mountain man, much happier than she ever was with William,” she said. “And three children and to think we all thought she was barren.” George reached out and hugged her.
“Poor William,” he said. “Do you know that Sean thinks it’s because he had the measles when he was sixteen and the high fever might have cooked his seed so he couldn’t bare any children,” he told her. She nodded.
“That might be it, I feel sorry for Louise, he’s been yelling and screaming at her for three years now calling her barren and blaming her for not giving him an heir and all the time it was his fault,” she laughed. Then she frowned. “Do you think he cheats on her like he did on Claire?” George nodded.
“He has a redhead on Baker’s Street he’s been seeing for about a year now,” he informed her. She shook her head.
“I’m glad Claire’s rid of him, he’s a bastard and I like Sean much better, even if he has those two little half-breeds,” she stated. George agreed with her.
They left Portsmyth and returned to their valley, happy with the way their visit had gone. Production of the plowers and motorbikes which were now being called motorcycles to distinguish them from bicycles were going strong. And the Donoghues and their families were getting richer and richer. Sean put barrels of gold gilders into his cellar. He had more coin than he knew what to do with. And he wasn’t through inventing things.
His next invention was a motorized wagon for hauling things and Lonnie, Todd and Young Sean as well as the two brothers helped him with the development of it. They called it a hauler at first but didn’t like the name at all. They tried all kinds of names from motorized wagons which was too long to wheeled wagons which was stupid. Ryan finally suggested truck. Which they had never heard of before but the wheels were called tires now so why not trucks.
“That’s a very clever name, Grandson,” Sean told him and Ryan beamed.
The truck was a little harder to build than the plower because they wanted to put a place for the people driving it to sit out of the rain, that way they could deliver stuff and not get wet. And Sean wanted lights in the front and the rear so people could see them coming up the road. They were going to be moving fast and he didn’t want anyone getting run over. For this reason they had to have a horn. And they needed windows for the driver to look out of and window wipers to wipe the rain away for them to see. And of course they needed heaters and air coolers for summer and winter driving.
Sean made the back tires the moving part of the trucks but all four tires for breaking just like the motorcycles, he wanted the trucks to be able to stop quickly. And he made all four tires able to rotate individually so that steering would be no problem. He didn’t want anyone getting the damned things stuck and not able to get out.
It had two gears, going forward and backing up, unlike the motorcycles and plowers which could only move forward and that was really tricky to do.
While they were fooling around with building their truck, Claire gave birth to another son who they named Zach. She was thirty-three when he arrived and declared she was giving away her maternity dresses and her dreams of a daughter. She was finished having children. Sean agreed with her.
“Five boys are enough children for any woman, Claire, we have a fine family. Let’s devote some time on the boys and ourselves,” he said and she smiled at him.
“You’re a good man, Sean,” she declared and kissed him. A lot of men would have insisted that she had only three of them and made her have more but not him. She loved him more every day. And she was very impressed with his ability to dream up inventions and make them real.
“How do you do that, think up stuff, draw them up and then make them real?” she asked him one day as she watched him and his men tinker around the truck in the workshop. Their sons played with little miniature trucks Lonnie had made them out of scrap metal, the little tires in them actually rolled around.
“I don’t know really,” Sean said with a big grin. “I guess if a man can think of something, he’ll figure out how to make it work eventually.” Todd gave a shout.
“The window shield wipers work now, Granddad,” he announced proudly and Sean grinned again.
“See what I mean,” he said and kissed her. Ryan and Danny who were three covered their eyes and giggled. Bobby who was six rolled his eyes.
“You guys are always doing that,” he complained. Sean ruffled his hair.
“Be grateful you little brat that you have parents who love each other,” he told him and Bobby grinned.
“Ah, I am, Dad,” he informed him. “But kissing a girl has got to be disgusting, it sure does look disgusting to me,” he told him and all the men in the room laughed. Kalin made a face, he agreed with his brother.
“You’ll find out when you’re older, lad, kissing can be fun with the right lass or lad,” his father told him. Both boys nodded and giggled. Claire looked worried.
“Should you be telling them about kissing lads?” she whispered. “After all the fuss the Church is making about people being Fey?” Sean frowned.
“The Church is always making a big fuss about something, there’s nothing wrong with being Fey, it’s just as natural for two men or two women to get married as it is for a man and a woman. You can’t pick what you are or what God made you for crying out loud,” he explained and she smiled.
“I love you, Sean Donoghue,” she said and to their older boy’s disgust they kissed again. Both boys rolled their eyes.
When the truck was ready to show off to the people, Sean drove it down to the road which had been paved for the motorcycles and everyone watched with amazement as he drove forward and then backed up. His team beamed with pride as the windshield wipers worked and the heater and air coolers blew hot and cold air. Everyone wanted one. Sean let more than a hundred men take a test drive around the town before it was too dark, the headlights and taillights worked great. Then he turned the project over to Lonnie and Todd for production and grinned at Young Sean who looked disappointed.
“Ah, lad, I’ve got another project in mind for you and Scott,” he said and Sean perked up.
“Better than the truck?” he asked with hope in his eyes. Sean nodded.
“About the same line, but its going to be better,” he told him and they went back to work. It took them a year to come up with the automobile or the car, as old Ryan named it and it was a beauty. Young Sean was very happy he had waited for the car.
January first seventeen eleven the family threw a huge two hundredth birthday party for Sean and while his wife and children didn’t get the joke, after all, they thought he was only thirty-six, Sean was touched by the gesture. He was even happier that his two grandsons Ryan who was eighty-two and Danny who was seventy-nine were still alive to celebrate with him.
“I can’t believe you’re two hundred years old, Granddad,” Ryan said when Sean sat down next to the two brothers at the party. Sean grinned and kissed him. Then he kissed Danny.
“I don’t feel a day over ninety,” he teased them and they laughed. Ryan sighed.
“I never thought I’d live to see eighty-two,” he said softly. “Do you know it’s been sixteen years since my Chris died?” Sean nodded and patted his hands. Danny sighed.
“My Elizabeth been dead for eighteen years,” he remarked sadly. Sean patted his hands next. “I can’t believe we’ve had these sixteen years together, us two brothers, we’ve been very lucky,” Danny added. Both Ryan and Sean nodded.
“I remember my brothers,” Sean told them. “I can still see their faces clearly in my mind. There was Charlie, he was a thinker that one, always working things out in his mind. Then there was Kevin, he was a rascal, always in trouble, he never stood still, always on the go. And then Brian, the last one, Annie spoiled him rotten but he was the nicest of all of us. Everyone liked him, but he used to play pranks like putting spiders in the girl’s bathrooms just to hear them scream,” Sean laughed just to remember them. Now both men patted his hands.
“Since you can draw so well, Granddad, maybe you should draw your family and friends from all of your lives, so you don’t forget what they looked like, before you get too old and forget them,” Ryan suggested gently and Sean looked surprised.
“I don’t think I could ever forget anyone, Ryan,” he told him just as gently. But then he nodded. “That might be a good idea anyway,” he said and kissed them.
So Sean got some really good, thick drawing paper and some good colored pencils, they called them pastels and began drawing his family and people from his past and putting them in leather books. He started with Hamish and when he was a lad growing up with his granddad Kevin and his grandmother Katherine and was surprised that he had to concentrate on her face to get it to come up. Maybe Ryan had been right, maybe he would forget some of the people.
Drawing his mother Bridget made him cry, so did Megan at eight. He drew several sketches of the village of Sweetwater and was surprised that it made him homesick. So did the ones he drew of the Fairie Mountains. The ones he did of Count Marley and the odious Richard made him hate them again and he was glad to put them in the book. But the ones he did of the townspeople made him smile as he remembered each and everyone. Sean started putting words on the back of the sketches of who the people were and how he knew them so he would know who each was when he was older. Just in case he forgot them.
He hid his new project from his wife knowing how difficult it would be to explain it to her. How could he explain who all these people were, especially when she saw the dates he wrote after each name? How could he explain knowing a shopkeeper named Ed Mason in fifteen hundred and twenty-four when he wrote about buying broken jars from him? It would be impossible.
The following year they rolled the car out and everyone gasped with excitement when they saw it.
“Oh, my God, Sean, what have you boys invented now?” someone yelled. Sean stood on a chair so the crowd could see him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is the Donoghue automobile or the car as we like to call it and it’s going to make the horse and carriage obsolete,” he declared and they believed him. They especially believed him when he got in and drove it around the town. Then everyone begged him to ride in it and drive it themselves. Young Sean and Scott built a huge factory on the top of the west hill and started production immediately. Everyone was demanding a car of their own.
That summer a fleet of a hundred trucks rolled into Jamestown and astonished the citizens. With horns blasting they scared all of the horses and carriages out of the streets and took over the town. At the President’s offices, they looked out the windows and saw the strange looking contraptions racing up the streets.
“President Adams, come look quick, General Donoghue is driving up in one of those strange motorized wagons they’re calling the Donoghue Truck,” his secretary Beatrice called him from the doorway. Henry went to his window and watched with amazement as the strangest thing he had ever seen came moving down the driveway and came to a stop in front of the building. Sean Donoghue got out and looking up, waved at him. Henry laughed and waved back. He walked out of the office followed by his guards, the Security Chiefs.
“Sean, you old bastard, what have you invented now?” Henry and John greeted him and stared at the truck with complete amazement. Sean grinned at them.
“This, gentlemen is going to make wagons pulled by mules obsolete,” he informed them. “This is the crystal powered Donoghue truck and soon everyone in Anamylia is going to be driving them so if I were you I would order a couple of billion tons of that new stuff called concrete from the Tolvski’s and start paving the roads because the future is here.” They both looked shocked.
“You think this thing is going to replace the horse and wagons?” John asked with disbelief in his voice. Sean nodded and he leaned forward.
“And wait until you get a look at my automobile that’s going to replace horses and carriages,” he informed them and winked. They were both astonished.
“Just what are you people doing in that valley of yours?” Henry demanded to know. Sean grinned.
“It’s the Eighteen Century, gentlemen, you have to learn to keep up or get left behind,” he told them and offered them the chance to drive the truck. They couldn’t pass that up so they did and found out soon he was right, this was the wave of the future.
“That is the most clever man I have ever met,” Henry remarked to his best friend as they watched Sean and his new truck drive away. John nodded.
“And to think he started with taking apart toasters,” he said with awe in his voice. They both went back to work and marveled at it all. Henry decided to start a department of transportation right away to begin paving roads. If Sean said they needed to be paved, well then, they needed to be paved. He had been right about so many things; Henry wasn’t going to start doubting him now.
The following year a hundred cars rode down the streets of Jamestown and the people went wild. Here was something for everyone not just for the man who wanted to haul stuff. It had four doors and could seat a family of six comfortably and could be had for the low price of two hundred gilders. Everyone wanted one and young Sean and his partner took a thousand orders that week they debuted it. Production in their factory went to twenty-four hours a day and they became millionaires, building big mansions on the hill next to Sean’s.
The Ennish retaliated the following year with the crystal powered ship that could make the journey across the ocean in three short months and suddenly sailing ships were a thing of the past and big steel ships were common place.
The Cherveks, not wanting to be left out of the transportation race developed the train, a big steel car with seats that held many people at one time and ran on steel tracks. It would transport people and goods long distances from town to town and the transportation race was on. Every country trying to out-do the next. The poor Hamish couldn’t keep up; all they could do was mine the purple crystals necessary to run the machines everyone else was inventing.


Meanwhile back in the little town of Sweetwater in Hamish the peasants were not happy. The Count, another Sir William Marley, a demented bastard was starving them as usual. There were potatoes, squash and cabbage in the fields but they all knew he was planning on selling most of them after he took enough to feed his family and his soldiers for the winter and it just wasn’t fair. There were over two thousand peasants in the village and not enough food in the swamps and forest to feed them all. And to add to their misery, poor little Jimmy Murphy, only nine years old had been caught stealing green leaves from the Count’s precious Peanja trees because his poor mother was sick.
They all gathered in the Village Square the next afternoon when the Count’s men dragged poor little Jimmy out and the wagon with the blood-stained stone was wheeled out. An angry murmur rose through the crowd, more than one man carried his small but very sharp axe. The Count and his family sat on their raised dais and looked at the peasants and grinned, although his wife appeared to be bored by the whole affair. A woman in the crowd noticed this.
“Lady Gloria looks bored doesn’t she?” she whispered to her friend who nodded.
“She was going to be fitted for a new dress today to wear to the Humphrey’s ball, she’s probably trying to decide what color it will be,” the friend sneered and everyone who heard it hated the Lady.
“Look at little Richard, the bastard is smiling because poor Jimmy is going to lose his hand,” a man muttered and they all got angry.
“Stealing leaves shouldn’t be a crime, there’s millions of leaves, the Count’s doing it just because he likes to,” someone else shouted. And they all got even angrier.
“He’ll cut off my son’s hand over my dead body,” Sean Murphy spat and clutched his axe in his hand. His friend Ryan Murray stood beside him.
“I’ll be with you, Sean,” he declared and several men behind them nodded. They were sick of it. It was one thing to cut off a man’s hand, but to cut the hand off of a nine-year old lad, that was too far. The Count stood up and began his speech. Sean interrupted him.
“When are you going to start giving us food to eat, Count Marley?” he shouted. The Count frowned. What did that have to do with stealing and cutting off hands? The crowd murmured.
“Why should I give you food, you can grow your own food,” he yelled at them. This seemed to make them angry.
“When can we do this when you’ve got us working fourteen hours a day in your fields?” another man shouted. The Count shrugged.
“I don’t really care when you do it, your time is your own,” he told them and they all gasped with shock.
“We have no time you cruel bastard you work us to death and now you’re starving us to death, have you no mercy?” a different man came forward and shouted. Lady Gloria laughed and they all turned to glare at her. She frowned and looked at her nails. The Count laughed.
“Why is it every time you’re sick or starving, it’s my fault? Can’t you people take any responsibility for yourselves?” he sneered at them. Sean stepped forward.
“Because it is your fault, you sick fuck,” he yelled at him. “You’re the one who works us to death, who denies us green leaves when we get sick and sells us crap in your store. You’re the cause of all the misery in this village. Sweetwater would be a really nice place to live if it weren’t for you and your whole demented family,” he declared. The Count laughed.
“Sweetwater is my town and don’t you forget it. You’re all my peasants and I can do with you what I will,” he snapped. Then he turned to his soldiers. “Take that one’s hand for stealing my precious leaves and take his father’s tongue for calling me a sick fuck,” he ordered. Then he turned around and faced the crowd.
“You’ll all learn a lesson from this, I’ll get you respect or you’ll lose your tongues,” Count Marley said, quite pleased with himself.
But as the soldiers approached Sean Murphy they were surprised to find the man didn’t yell or scream or try to run away like they expected him to. And his friends next to him didn’t back up either. When the soldiers were close enough, the men rushed them and before they knew it the four soldiers were dead, killed by the small axes the men were allowed to carry. Sean grabbed a sword from one of the soldiers and raced to the wagon.
“Get away from my son, you bastard!” he yelled and surprised the soldier did just that. The crowd rushed forward and the dais was overrun with them. They chopped the Count, his bored wife, the odious Richard and two daughters to pieces as well as the soldiers who didn’t have the sense to run away. The overseer Jeffrey locked himself in the castle with the house servants and they left him alone. Instead they turned to the fields and took every potato, squash and cabbage and kept it for themselves.
When the oldest son Henry who was called Harry returned from Lennox two weeks later, everyone had calmed down. Jeffrey told him his parents and siblings had left for the city and the boy who was seventeen and in college seemed relieved.
“That’s good, my father does yell a lot doesn’t he and things seem pretty quiet when he’s gone. Not that I don’t love him but I do like the quiet,” Harry said with a big sigh and took a book into the living room to read. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
A week later it was time to reorder merchandise for the Count’s store and since the Count hadn’t returned from the city yet, the chore was left up to Sir Harry. He took one look at the cheap prices and gasped.
“Surely this can’t be right for coffee, Jeffrey, I bought coffee in Lennox and it costs more than this,” he informed the bailiff with a frown. Jeffrey nodded.
“Your father gets really cheap coffee for the village, Sire, it usually comes with bugs in it,” he explained and Harry made a face.
“Maybe we should get better coffee this time and not tell Father,” Harry suggested. “Maybe he won’t even notice.” He looked at Jeffrey with hope in his eyes. Jeffrey could have told him that if the Count had been alive, he would have surely noticed, he noticed everything. But since he was dead, well, he couldn’t notice anything, anymore.
“I don’t’ think he’ll notice if we get better coffee or tea, My Lord,” he told the young man who grinned.
The villagers were quite pleased when the new coffee and tea came and there were no bugs in it and it was quite good. Jeffrey told them about Count Harry ordering the good stuff for them.
“He’s not a bit like his father is he?” someone commented and they all agreed.
The next week Harry had another suggested.
“Jeffrey,” he called the bailiff in.
“Yes, My Lord,” he said and bowed which caused Harry to laugh.
“I guess since my Father is away I am the Count but it seems funny to here you call me that,” he teased him. Jeffrey smiled.
“You wanted something, Sire?” he asked him. Harry nodded.
“Since Father and Mother are still gone and that stupid Richard isn’t here to rat me out, I want you to tell all the villagers to hurry up and run to the grove and pick as many green leaves as they can,” he ordered and grinned. “Hell, pick them all, it’s almost fall and they’ll fall off the trees soon enough.” Jeffrey grinned and practically ran out of the great hall. The people were going to love this one.
And they did, especially little Jimmy Murphy who picked three big bags worth.
“Count Harry is a nice man,” he remarked to his dad who smiled at him high in the tree he had gotten caught in.
Then Harry had another idea and called for Jeffrey.
“I don’t suppose my father will miss a few heads of cattle do you, Jeffrey?” he asked with a sly grin. Jeffrey shook his head.
“I don’t imagine he would, Sire,” he replied.
Twenty head of cattle were driven to the village where they were butchered and the meat divided amongst the people so that they would have enough meat to last the winter. They were also informed that they could hunt deer if they wanted to as the deer population was too many.
“You are a very generous man,” Jeffrey said to Harry at dinner. Harry shrugged.
“I don’t like to see people going hungry,” he told him. “I know my parents don’t care and a lot of people don’t care. I have seen a lot of it in the capital, starving people on the streets, it’s very sad and if something isn’t done about it very soon, there is going to be a tragedy.” Jeffrey nodded.
When the first snows came and his family still hadn’t returned Harry decided that they must have decided to winter in Lennox and he was much relieved.
“Mother does like going to the plays during the winter and there’s all those parties,” he told Jeffrey who nodded. Then Harry added, “There’s no need for the men to shovel the road, I’ve always thought that was silly. Who shovels a road? I don’t want to ride in the cold, I’d much rather stay inside and read.” Jeffrey nodded and went to tell the villagers who were much relieved.
When Argue Fever broke out in January Harry was appalled when the Village Council informed him.
“What can I do to help?” he asked them. They looked surprised at his question.
“A tea made from the bark of the Peanja tree will cure Argue Fever,” Ian Richards told him. Harry nodded and told his Captain to get them some immediately. The Village Council was stunned. Every year the fever struck the village and they came to the castle to beg for bark and every year the Count laughed and refused them. This was the first time they had been successful.
“Thank you so much, Your Grace,” they said and bowed. Harry waved them away.
“If you need anything else, just come back and ask, anything I can do for my people before Father comes back, I will,” he informed them.
“Lucky for us his father will never come back,” Joe Green said and they all grinned.
The bark did the trick and no one died that year for the first time anyone could remember. They all loved the new Count.
Things in other villages went going as good as they were in Sweetwater. Peasants were dying of starvation and disease while the Counts and nobles partied and danced uncaring in their castles. The people watched as tables loaded with food were wasted while they starved a mile away and grew very angry. In Dover when his baby died of starvation while his Count threw a lavish party, a man got angry enough to do something about it. He gathered his neighbors and when the party was over they marched on the castle and murdered everyone in it, all of the soldiers and the Count and his family. They took the food and lived for the rest of the winter in the castle turning back all of the visitors saying that the Count had gone to the city to visit the King.
The King had his own problems. The starving population of the capital had begun to riot, breaking into warehouses to steal the food stored there and there were so many of them, his soldiers couldn’t stop them. They stole food, clothing, blankets, heaters, toasters; anything they could get their hands on. And in groups so large, thousands of them at a time, no one could stop them.
“Why can’t you stop them, what kind of soldiers are you,” he snapped at General Westinghouse who looked at Major Buchanan and shrugged.
“It’s hard, Your Majesty, to stop a thousand people running over you at the same time, you can’t,” the Major protested. The King sighed.
“Well, we have to find someway to stop them, they’re hooligans,” he announced. “I can’t let my city be taken over by a mob.” The soldiers both nodded and swore they would find a way to stop them.
Meanwhile in the country, things were really getting ugly as more and more villages were revolting and the Counts and their families who could escape the angry mobs ran to the city for protection. The whole country was in chaos and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
Back in Sweetwater it was time for spring planting and Sir Harry dropped the days to eight hours and took the women out of the fields because he said field work was too much for women. Instead he got them sewing to do which they could do at home sitting down. He ordered more merchandise for the store, stuff that was better quality and they could actually use. Harry was feeling his power and trying to change as much as he could before his father got back. They had all heard about the unrest in other parts of the country and maybe his father had gotten caught up in it and would be a long time coming back. Or at least he hoped so.
He also told the people that half of what they planted would be theirs to keep, after all, they needed to eat too and they were the ones who planted it. They were astonished and cheered for him. Harry was pleased by their reactions and blushed.
“They never cheered for my father did they, Jeffrey?” he asked the bailiff who shook his head.
“No, Sire, they didn’t,” he informed him with a big grin.
When Harry heard about the villagers in the nearby villages revolting and killing their Counts, he was appalled but could understand why. He immediately wanted to arm his people in case the deranged people came to Sweetwater although it was at the edge of the country so why they should come this way, he didn’t know. Jeffrey wondered why he wanted to arm peasants which was against the law. Harry looked at him.
“We don’t have enough soldiers to protect us, Father must have taken most of them with him,” Harry informed him. “What if the Cherveks attacked, my people would be defenseless. What if these deranged villagers come here and attack us, my people would be defenseless, we must arm them, Jeffrey. My people are peaceful people, they’re not deranged like these other villagers; they could be harmed.” Jeffrey hid his smile and nodded.
“Swords will be found for everyone, Sire, don’t worry, your people will be protected,” he assured him and the people were all armed.
When the people were informed how their Count was concerned about them, they were touched.
“Ah, the wee lad isn’t a bit like his father, that bastard never cared when the Mauraiders came in and murdered us all,” someone said and they all cheered for the new Count.
“We won’t let any harm come to Sir Harry,” Patrick Duffy announced and they all nodded.
When a group of five hundred peasants from Sir Humphrey’s Castle approached the village they were met by armed villagers who turned them away.
“We came for Sir William Marley, let us have him and we’ll go away,” one of the men shouted and they crowd yelled for Sir William.
He’s not here, he’s in Lennox,” Ian Richards informed them and they all looked disappointed.
“Well, we’ll kill his wife and children,” another man shouted and the crowd cheered. Ian shook his head.
“They’re all in Lennox, you’ll have to walk there,” he told them and they walked away disappointed. Harry was relieved.
“I hope they’re alright, I know that Father and Mother can be mean sometimes but I would hate to see anything happen to them,” he said to Jeffrey who promised to send someone to Lennox to check on them. Harry nodded.
“Just go to South Hampton and sit around for a month,” he instructed the two soldiers he had picked for the job. They nodded and grinned and rode away. He gave them enough coin for them to have a good time and when they returned a month later, Jeffrey gave Harry the sad news. Harry took it well.
“Oh, dear, well, that’s what happens when you treat people so badly, eventually they get tired of it and strike out at you,” he said philosophically. “The nobles in Hamish have been treating the peasants terribly for years and this is what happens.”
After the peasants marched to Lennox and chopped off the King’s head, the nobles all began to listen and reform came to the land. The prince who had escaped to Ennis came back and was sworn in as King Henry the Sixth but given very little power as a new government was formed and the people voted in a Parliament instead. Counts and other nobles no longer owned their villagers and the people were freed and no one who had killed anyone in the revolution was ever brought to trial. It was a brand new day for Hamish.
In Sweetwater, Sir Harry, drew up plans to separate his great estate into little farms and gave each of his peasant families their own farms. It took them five years to build everyone a house, barn and other buildings they needed but they did it. It also took a great deal of coin and left him almost broke but it was worth it to undo the damage done by years of tyranny and abuse. His new wife Caroline, the second daughter of Count Reynolds who had been in Lennox during the revolution and escaped the killing of her family thought so too.
“We have enough to live on for our lifetime and this lovely castle to live in, Harry, we’ll be fine,” she said and they took a lovely walk up a trail on the south side of the spring. When she spied the little cave near the two Peanja trees, Caroline begged to explore it.
“What if it’s the Fairie Cave and we miss it because you won’t go in?” she teased him and Harry gave a little laugh.
“You really don’t believe in that silly legend do you, darling?” he teased her back but let himself be led into the cave. He stumbled immediately over a rock.
“See, I almost broke my ass,” he grumbled and bent to pick the rock up. Caroline giggled.
“Well next time look where you’re going, dear,” she said wisely and looked at the strange look on his face. “What is it, Harry, what’s wrong?” she asked. He grinned.
“I think you’ve discovered a gold mine,” Harry informed her and showed her the gold nugget he had tripped over. She squealed and looked at it and sure enough it was a gold nugget laced with silver. Together they looked around and found several more just laying on the ground. Harry dug in the wall with hands and came up with another one.
“I’ll be damned,” he exclaimed. “And to think this was here all the time just waiting for someone to discover it,” he said and kissed her.
“I am the luckiest man in the world,” Harry announced. “I have a beautiful wife who discovers gold mines.” She laughed and kissed him back.
It was the year seventeen fourteen when Harry and his bride discovered their gold mine and Sean discovered something new in his purple energy crystal mine. He was digging on night in June, he hadn’t been tired so he came out to dig like he often did and was in the left tunnel, the one he preferred when his spade hit a rock that tinkled instead of clinked as usual.
“That’s an odd sound,” Sean remarked as he dropped the spade and used his fingers to dig around in the white chalky matter. He pulled out a solid bit and broke apart the white to reveal a piece of black crystal instead of the purple he was expecting. He grew very excited by this and dug some more. In the four hours he dug he managed to find two bags of it, some of it the size of small oranges. Sean decided to keep the discovery to himself until he figured out what made it different from the purple.
The next day he took the two bags to his workshop. Ryan and Danny were sitting on the front porch in their rocking chairs as he left the house.
“I’m going to the workshop, you lads want to come along for a bit?” he asked them. They both shook their heads.
“We’re going to sit here and enjoy the sunshine,” Ryan remarked and Sean bent down to kiss his forehead. The old man was now eighty-five and as spry as ever. Then Sean kissed Danny who was eighty-two.
“I love you lads very much, you have a good time in the sun,” he told them and walked away. Ryan gave his brother a glance and they both laughed.
“You know he says that every time he leaves us like he thinks it’s going to be the last time he sees us,” he remarked casually and his brother snorted.
“Still its nice hearing him say it,” Danny commented and they both nodded. Then Danny and Ryan their namesakes who were seven came out and wanted to hear about the time they stole the rifles from the Hamish soldiers in Ennish and then blasting them out of the water in Jamestown harbor. That was an old story but a good one and little Zach who was four came out to play with his little metal cars and trucks. They were made by Ben Donoghue who was making a fortune selling them to the children. Everyone in the valley was getting rich off of Sean’s inventions.
After supper the two old men decided to lay down, it had been a long day and they were tired. Claire kissed them like she did Zack and they liked it.
“You two have a good nap and we’re having trout for dinner, you like that I know,” she told them with a smile. At thirty-eight she was still a stunner. Ryan grinned.
“As long as you get all the bones, I don’t like bones in the fish,” Danny complained. Claire laughed.
“We’ll get all the bones, Granddad,” she told him. They both stretched out for a minute and then Danny looked over at his brother.
“I’m cold, do you want to come over,” he asked and Ryan nodded.
“That’s strange cuz I was just thinking the same thing, I’m cold too,” he said and shivered. Ryan climbed into bed and under the covers. They lied with their heads on the same pillow and joined arms.
“Its strange how cold it is for June,” Danny remarked and Ryan nodded.
“Maybe we’re cold because we’re so old,” he said and his brother nodded.
“We’re had a good time these years haven’t we?” Danny asked. Ryan nodded again.
“Yeah, I really missed you when I went to Topanga, I loved Chris a lot, but he wasn’t a brother, no one is like a brother,” he told him. Danny agreed.
“Yeah, you were always the fun one,” he told him. “Colin was always Mr. Know-it-all and no fun at all and Adam was too young and then, well, he hit the tree and never woke up. Poor Mom, that really broke her heart. She wanted to write to you and ask you to come home but you had met Chris by then and were in love so she couldn’t.” Ryan sighed.
“I really miss Chris, I can’t wait to see him again,” he said softly. “Do you think when we get to heaven we’re old people or do you think our spirits can be any age we want?” he asked. Danny thought about it for a moment.
“I think our spirits can be any age they want to,” he spoke firmly. “They’re spirits; they can do anything they want.” They both smiled at that thought.
“Good, because I want to be young again with Chris, he was so handsome and he had the most beautiful blonde hair, he lost that when he got older. Of course I still loved him,” he said. Danny nodded.
“Betsy lost her teeth, her six front ones when she fell down, but I still loved her. Would be nice to see her smiling with all of them like when she was younger though,” he agreed. They both drifted off to sleep.
Some time later, both of them, one at a time, Danny first and then Ryan, gave a surprised little gasp, took a deep little breath and then died peacefully in his sleep. They were still clasping hands when it happened. And both had little smiles on their faces.
Sean smelled fish first thing when he opened the front door.
“We’re having fish for dinner, Ryan will like that,” he told his wife as he kissed her. His son Ryan made a face.
“I will not, I don’t like fish, I like steak,” he informed them. They both grinned.
“I meant Granddad Ryan, silly goose,” his dad told him and Ryan grinned, he’d known who he meant. They all looked at the set table.
“Where are the old men?” Sean wanted to know. Claire made a face at him.
“Don’t call them that, its rude,” she said and he grinned. Ryan and Danny laughed.
“I’ll get them,” Kalin offered and off he went. They sat down at the table and began to serve. He returned a few minutes later and they looked at him.
“They’re really sleeping hard, I shook them but they didn’t wake up,” he told them and laughed. “They’re both snuggled up in Danny’s bed; they look so cute; I didn’t want to disturb them.” Sean nodded.
“Let them sleep, we’ll save them some for later,” he suggested and they continued with dinner. Sean felt a deep twinge of fear when his son said he couldn’t wake them up but he didn’t say anything, what was there to do? It was dinner time anyway and if they were dead, that wasn’t going to change by the time they finished dinner so why interrupt everyone. Claire did notice her husband was quieter than usual.
“Is everything alright, you barely talked during dinner?” she asked as they got up. Sean nodded and kissed her.
“I think the granddads are dead,” he whispered in her ears. She gasped in shock.
“Oh, dear, do you really?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears. Sally noticed and came over.
“What’s wrong?” she asked and put her hand on Claire’s arm.
“Sean thinks the granddads are dead,” Claire whispered. Sally gasped and looked at Sean.
“Are you sure, Granddad?” she asked softly. Sean nodded.
“There’s only one way to fine out for sure,” he said and walked towards their room. The women watched with worried eyes and Carrie and Bill noticed and came over. They heard him gasp and now the children wanted to know what was happening. Bill went with Sean who was now bending over the bodies and he had seen enough bodies to know what he was looking at.
“Are they?” Bill asked from the doorway. Sean nodded and he waved him over.
“Look how they’ve got their hands clasped, isn’t that the loveliest thing you’ve ever seen?” he asked him in a tender voice, tears running down his face. Bill nodded and put his arm around his shoulder.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Sean,” he told him. Sean nodded.
“I had eighty-five years with my Ryan, that’s the longest I got with anyone, I was a very lucky man, he was so special,” he whispered. “Danny too, eighty-two years I had him. I can’t believe they’re gone.”
The boys were all sad that the two old men were dead and impressed that Kalin had touched a dead body. He was the man of the hour.
“How did it feel was it cold and gross?” his brother Bobby asked. Kalin shook his head.
“It was kind of stiff but I didn’t know they were dead so I didn’t take notes,” he said. All of the cousins were impressed though and the girls who had thought the young Kalin Donoghue cute before now flocked to him more than ever. Sean laughed about it, his wife shook her head.
“Why they all think touching a dead body something to brag about is beyond me,” she snorted. Sean grabbed her and sat her on his lap.
“That’s because you’re not a ten or eleven or twelve year old child,” he informed her. “Now think back for a minute when you were, now don’t you think that would have been slightly cool?” he asked her and she tilted her head for a minute.
“Yeah, you’re right, Kalin is cool,” she admitted and he tickled her. She laughed and they kissed. Zach came into the room and of course had to climb up and get kisses too.
They laid Danny to rest beside his wife Elizabeth in the Ridge cemetery and put a nice stone with the dates and, Beloved husband of Betsy on it and then Sean oversaw the cremation ceremony for Ryan. Everyone was shocked that this is what the old man wanted but if granddad said it was then they believed him. When Reverend Andrews found out, he tried to stop it but he was days too late and just raised a fuss.
“How dare you desecrate that old man’s body like that, my God, I can’t believe that he would want that done! What kind of savage Topangan ritual is going on in this valley?” he shouted and Sean just stared at him.
“For one thing, Reverend, you aren’t the minister in this valley, Reverend Peters is and he and Ryan talked about this a few times so he knows about it and he attended the service,” Sean informed him while the good Reverend gasped with shock. “Ryan and Chris both wanted this done to their bodies so that they could be buried together and made me promise to carry out their wishes and I have done so. You have no right coming in here and telling me what my granddad wanted, I know what he wanted because he told me. Now you need to go back to O’Brien’s Ridge and mind your own business.” Sean spoke calmly but firmly. Reverend Andrews stood up and pointed his finger at him.
“You are a heathen, Sean Donoghue, and one day you will burn in hell for your sins, you are Satan incarnate on this earth,” he declared in a loud voice and trembling in anger he walked out of the house. Sean looked at his wife and sighed.
“Not this again,” he said with disbelief and she looked confused. So he had to explain about Father Zucker and Ted Stevens who had said the same thing about him when he and Ryan had first returned from Topanga.
“First the St. Charles Church and now the Freedom Church, my goodness, Sean, you really have a way of making holy men anger,” she remarked and giggled. He hugged her and laughed.
No one was laughing the next year when both the St. Charles Church and the Freedom Church both announced that they would no longer perform marriages between two men or two women as such unions were against God because no children could naturally come from them. An outside force was necessary to produce a child and therefore bigamy, adultery or some other sin was necessary to produce a child in a Fey union. They didn’t come right out and say that being Fey was against God but everyone knew that’s what they meant. Sean was furious.
“What right have those priests and those pious bastards to tell anyone else how they should live their lives, they can’t have any children so now Fey people can’t?” he yelled. Claire shook her head.
“It’s the Church, Sean, you can get mad but you can’t fight the Church,” she reasoned. He tried to think of a way but he couldn’t so he did the next best think, he stopped supporting it and he stopped going. And his entire family did and all al their friends. And the people who worked for them did, when Sean Donoghue spoke, the people listened. Soon the Freedom Church in Sweetwater had only a few people every Sunday and Reverend Peters didn’t know what to do. He had heard the rumors about Sean Donoghue disagreeing with Church doctrine but he could hardly believe that one man could make such a difference.
But it did and it spread to the Ridge where Church attendance dropped to an all time low. And Sean wrote editorials to the Chronicle and signed his true name and they printed them because he paid for them and they loved controversy and this was a good one. Church attendance everywhere began dropping as Fey people and their friends began to protest. Huge crowds gathered outside the Cathedral in Ennis where the Cardinal gave his speeches every other Sunday holding up signs and chanting things like, ‘the Cardinal is Fey’ which pissed him off, mainly because it was true.
Sean organized marches in Jamestown which he could now drive to in only four hours and blasted every Church service out every Sunday through the summer with the horns in his cars and trucks. The people in Jamestown were quite amused and went out and bought horns so they could help. The Bishop of the St. Charles Church and Reverend Daniels of the Freedom Church were not quite as amused.
“What is Sean Donoghue’s problem, the man is married and has five son for God’s sake, why does he care if Fey people can get married or not?” the Bishop snapped. Reverend Daniels sighed.
“I don’t know but if those blasted horns honk through another one of my sermons, I swear I’ll marry every Fey man in Anamylia just to shut them up, I don’t care what the Cardinal says anymore, I hear those damned horns in my sleep,” he sounded like he wanted to cry. The Bishop sighed. His five priests looked at him and sighed.
“Maybe we should ask him to stop,” one of the priests suggested. The Bishop glared at him.
“I sent him a letter and he sent one back demanding that I marry two men he knows in that valley of his who want to be married,” he snapped at him. The priest frowned. They couldn’t think of anything.
Then the next Sunday came and it was the Sunday heard all over the world as people in Hamish, Ennis, Chervek, Tolvski and Anamylia all got together and during the Sunday service blew their horns. The Cardinal was blasted out of St. Charles Square and the horns blared all afternoon until he couldn’t stand it anymore. They ran for nine days until the Church announced a revision of its earlier decision and said that it would marry anyone, straight or Fey who wanted to get married. The world celebrated with a big party and home in Donoghue’s Valley Sean was the happiest.
“You’re not even Fey, Dad, why’d you stick up for them like that?” his twelve year old son Kalin asked him. Sean looked down at him.
“Every man or women deserves the right to marry the person they’re in love with and to bring children into that union if they want to and no one has the right to tell them they can’t,” he explained. “And the minute you let someone take away the rights of someone, even if you’re not that someone, what makes you think they won’t be taking away your rights the next time?” Kalin nodded.
“You’re very clever, for an old man,” he teased him. Sean grabbed him and hugged him. The other boys, thinking this was time to wrestle, ran over and soon they were all over the floor while Claire watched and sighed.
“Why couldn’t at least one of you be a girl?” she asked. Ryan grabbed his twin.
“Danny wants to be a girl, Mom, put him in a pink dress, he’ll look really cute,” he told her with a sly grin. Danny laughed and grabbed his twin around the neck.
“You’ll die for that you Hamish pig,” he declared and they dropped to the floor while Claire laughed.
“Not even a dress would make either of you two a sweet little girl,” she said.
The next five or six years passed happily for the family on the mountainside. The valley churned out trucks, cars, plowers and motorcycles as fast as they could and people bought them just as fast. The barrels of gold in the basement stacked up
Then a Tolvski from an Orthodox religion suggested that everyone put their coin into banks and the government issue a paper currency called money in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, fifty and hundred dollar bills that would be easy to carry in wallets and purses and wouldn’t be as heavy as gold. The economy would run more efficient and the government would back the money up by depositing the same amount that was out in paper in gold in a depository.
Thus, the department of Treasury was born and money was invented. Henry Adams of course was on the one dollar bill and John Matthews on the five dollar and the hero of the famous Battle of Jamestown Harbor, General Sean Donoghue was selected for the twenty dollar bill. Luckily for him, they used his picture from the painting of the younger more dashing hero. Sean almost refused them, but figured that in the years ahead, hairstyles and all would change and not many would recognize him. Besides he was fooling everyone anyway so why not everyone. And his family loved the idea of their granddad and father on a twenty dollar bill.
The money when it came out was green with pretty colors. His bill had a picture of Jamestown Fort with the harbor behind it. It was very impressive. He contributed two barrels of coin to the treasury so they would have enough gold to print the money. Everyone who wanted money went to the bank and purchased it with gold and soon it was all the rage and everyone agreed it was easier to carry than gold and silver.
Coins were also minted to replace the old ones and Sean found himself again on the dime, his majestic face on one side and Jamestown fort on the other. He bought six rolls of them and put them away along with fifty twenties and fifty of each bill. One day they would be worth a fortune if they were still being used in the future. He put away six rolls of every coin, pennies, nickels, quarters, half-dollars and silver dollars.
Of course some people preferred the old gold and still used it but more and more people began to use currency and it began to become more common. Banks became more common also and things like checking accounts began being used. You put your money in a bank and they gave you checks to write to the dress shop or store. The store took your check to the bank and the bank gave them the money. Usually the store had an account at the same bank and they just put the money from your account into the store’s account without actually touching the money. It was the wave of the future.
Sean could see some trouble in that, people writing checks with money they didn’t have, but if the banks wanted to trust people, that was his business. He was busy playing with the black crystal he had found in the cave behind the waterfall.
It wasn’t an energy crystal, that much was clear but it did make a nice sound whenever he touched it with a copper wire. The only problem was what could he do with that? He tried putting some of it in a box but it rang horribly and he didn’t like that at all, so he put it away for a couple of years.
Then a man in Tolvski, they were calling themselves scientist now along with being inventors, invented a process while he was playing around with carbo-oil, that produced a flaky item that when melted became very hard like metal. He called it plastic and it immediately became very popular. It could be melted and shaped into many different things from cups and bowls to spoons and forks and baskets and plates and anything you could imagine.
When Sean found out about it, he traded a barrel full of energy crystals for a ton of the stuff and brought it to his workshop.
“What have you got there, Dad?” sixteen year-old Kalin asked as he wandered into the workshop on a Saturday morning. Sean glanced up and grinned.
“This is something from Tolvski, it’s called plastic and I’m going to invent something with it,” he informed him. Kalin nodded and sat across from him.
“What?” he asked as he eyed the little black balls. He picked one up and studied it. His dad shrugged.
“I don’t know yet, but I’ve got these black crystals that I found in the mine a few years ago and they make a sound when you touch them with copper wire and I’m going to make a box out of the plastic and put one into it and see what happens,” Sean explained. Kalin nodded and he stood up. He patted his dear old dad on his back.
“Well have fun doing it, I’m going to ride my motorcycle down to the track with the boys,” he told him and Sean nodded.
“Make sure you wear your helmet or your mother will hear about it and you’ll never stop hearing about it,” he warned him and they both grinned.
“Ah, I will, I don’t want my head exploding like a melon,” his son said wisely and he left his father to his task. A few minutes later Zack wandered into the workshop but he was nine and didn’t have much to do so he stayed to watch and lend his dad a hand.
Together they melted the plastic and formed a nice little box with a lid and then rolled some copper wire really thin. They glued a little black crystal into the box and attached a copper wire to it and it made a nice sound. Sean had the idea of punching holes in the lid so the sound could get out and they could hear it better. Zach picked up the box and talked to it and the sound immediately sang back to them. They were both shocked.
“Do that again,” Sean ordered and Zack picked up the box.
“Hello, box,” he said.
“Hello, box,” the box said. They looked at each other and grinned.
“That’s very clever,” Sean told his son who beamed. Sean thought about it for a minute then began to draw. Zach grew bored with that and left. Sean then made another plastic model but this one was a long thing that had two boxes, one on each end and a wire that ran through it. He attached a crystal to each box and put the wire to each one and when he spoke into the mouth box, he heard it come out of the ear box. It was amazing. He had invented something but he didn’t know what it was or what he could do with it. But he did notice that the big crystals he had dug out hummed when he talked to the little ones.
Sean worked on his telephone for the next three years and his family was amused by his dedication to the project. His wife always enjoyed listening to stories about his tinkering as she called it and his children thought him funny, the way he carried about in his workshop. Sean had men to do his plowing and field work for him now, he was rich and working on his phone took all of his concentration, he didn’t want to be disturbed when he was on to something this important.
Still he took time out to take his sons fishing and hunting although the noise of the factories drove the game away and his boys weren’t that interesting in shooting things, they’d rather be riding their motorcycles or driving cars around the tracks or taking them apart. They were a different breed of mountain men than his previous sons. This was an industrial age and everyone was interested in how things worked and building better things to make the old tasks easier. Trains and cars got them there faster than mules and horses ever did and people worked in factories and bought their produce in markets and the day of the farm was passing. Sean spent so much time in his workshop he didn’t see the world changing on him.
His wife did, she organized women who wanted the right to vote and people began to leave the six territories which were becoming very crowded and move westward.
“Here, take this and when it rings in a few minutes pick it up and answer it,” Sean said and handed his eldest son a small black box. The five boys were sitting around the table waiting for pie to come out of the oven. Sally had promised them apple pie and ice cream and it was almost done.
“How do I answer it?” Kalin asked. Sean grinned.
“Just pick up this, this is the receiver, put this part in your ear and you’ll hear my voice and talk into the mouthpiece and I’ll hear you,” he instructed. “Now don’t pick it up until it rings or I’ll get a busy signal, okay.” The boys nodded and their dad left the kitchen.
“What do you think he calls this?” Bobby asked. The others shrugged. A few minutes later it ranged, quite loudly.
“Well, pick it up,” Ryan shouted. Kalin glared at him.
“I’m going to, hold on a minute,” he snapped. It rang again. He picked up the receiver.
“Hello,” he spoke hesitantly into the mouthpiece; a big grin appeared on his face. “Oh, my God, it’s Dad, I can hear Dad on this thing,” he announced and then he handed the thing to Bobby, “He wants to talk to you.” Bobby took the receiver and listened for a minute.
“Oh, my God, it’s really Dad, it works, hello, Dad,” he said and listened for a minute and then handed the receiver to Ryan and then it went to Danny and then to Zack and then back to Kalin and then it got hung up and then Sean came back into the room. They were all excited.
“How did you do that, Dad?” they all asked when they saw him. Sean hugged them.
“It’s my new invention, I call it the telephone and with it people are going to be able to talk to people all over the country and not even leave their house to do it,” he bragged and they all beamed.
“Oh, my God, this is so cool, how does it work?” they wanted to know and he told them about the black crystals which he was now calling communication crystals and putting them together with energy crystals. He looked at his sons.
“This is going to be yours to handle, Sons, this is going to make you richer and more famous than anyone of the face of the planet, you are going to be more powerful than the King or the president,” he informed them and they were shocked.
“With a telephone?” Bobby asked and he nodded.
“Every single home in every country and every single business in every country is going to want one of these,” he informed them. “And you’re going to be the men to give it to them. And they’ll all need numbers so they can call each other to talk so you’ll have to print books with names and addresses, and some won’t want their names in the books but you’ll have to have them to give them a phone, and you’ll charge extra to keep the names out of the books.” They looked pleased with that. Sean continued.
“You’ll have to have hundreds of people working for you, all over the world, from the people making the phones to the people fixing them when they get broken, and the people delivering them and printing the books and delivering them,” he explained. “This is going to be the most important invention ever made, communication always is and instant communication is the most important. Think of being able to tell your parents that you want to get married right when you ask the girl. Or you want to call your friend Pete and ask him if he wants to go fishing before you leave the house. Or your grandfather dies and you want to call your sister in Jamestown to tell her. People are going to want this I guarantee it and the Donoghue Telephone Company of Donoghue Valley is going to give it to them.” All the boys cheered. Then Sally wanted to know what all the fuss was about and the pie was ready so they all ate pie.
When Claire found out about the telephones she was intrigued. When she found out first hand how they worked and used one she was ecstatic and kissed her husband.
“Why didn’t you tell us what you were working on in the workshop, this is wonderful,” she gushed. She got lost when he tried to explain how it worked but she loved it. Especially when he drove down to the town store and called her on it and it still worked.
“I can’t believe that you’re all the way down at Jack’s and still talking to me,” she gushed and he put Jack on the phone so she could talk to him. Everyone in the store then had to talk to Claire and they had a great time, they couldn’t believe they were talking to her when she was up the mountain in her house and they were down in the store.
“That Sean Donoghue is so clever, what will he think of next?” someone asked and they all laughed.
They built a huge factory on the mountainside and Sean’s two oldest sons immediately came to work for him.
“The main problem we’re going to have is making enough numbers so that everyone has a number that’s unique for them and no one else has the same number,” Sean informed them. They both nodded.
“Right, Dad, if they dial one number, they can’t be reaching two people,” Bobby said and his dad smiled at him.
“That’s right, Son,” Sean praised him. “The way we do that is we start with a Territory code first, a set of three numbers that identify the Territory, like one oh one for Maryland Territory,” he suggested. They both nodded and wrote it down. Then Sean continued.
“Next we have a town code, like for everyone living in Sweetwater, we use a town code three two three and three two, two, so every number begins that way,” he said and they again nodded.
“Last we used a four digit number because mathematically that gives us the most numbers to play around with, with three digits, you run out of numbers really quick and we want a lot of numbers to play with,” he told them. “So my home phone number here in Sweetwater could be one oh one, three two three, four oh four two, see how it works?” he asked and they both grinned.
“Oh, yes, but how come it has to be nine numbers, that’s a lot of numbers to remember?” Bobby asked and Sean nodded.
“Yeah I know, but we have to think of the future and how many people are going to be using these telephones later,” he informed them. “Besides when you’re dialing someone who lives in your Territory code, you don’t have to dial it, just the town code and the last four numbers.” They both sighed.
“That’s easier,” Kalin said.
So while Sean worked the production lines and helped the workers make the phones which everyone called them, the boys and their teams made up the lists of numbers for all the Territories and towns and small cities. It was a lot of work and it took them over three years but they finally had enough to start with.
They began selling them in Sweetwater and Sean and his boys put up a tall Communication Tower high on the top of the mountain and had a ribbon cutting ceremony. Both of his sons were married that year, Kalin to a nice girl named Jenny and Bobby to a nice girl named Annie so Sean was very grateful that everything was happening like it was.
The telephones sold like hotcakes to starving people and soon every house and business in town had one, even the Freedom Church and the St. Charles Church, both places who had sworn never to speak to Sean Donoghue ever again. And Sean was right, some people and business paid extra not to be included in their telephone book which came out two weeks after the last phone was sold with the people listed in white and businesses in a separate section divided by the people with a piece of thick red paper. And in the front of the book, Sean listed the numbers of the police and fire departments so people didn’t have to look up their numbers.
Next they moved their phone service to the Ridge and built another tall communications tower with a big black crystal on top and people were astonished that they could talk to people who lived hours away. They sold out in the first day.
It took Sean and his company five years to put telephones in every house and business in Anamylia but unfortunately when they sent one to Ennis, they couldn’t hear a damned thing. But the people in Ennis could hear one another so they purchased all the phones the factory could make and they worked twenty-four hours a day for the next hundred years to keep the world talking.

Chapter Five - Deja Vu

“Did you hear about the new Indians they’ve discovered living west of here?” Zack asked at dinner one night in May. Sean glanced at his nineteen year-old son and the only one living at home.
“No, I haven’t, Zack, what are they?” he asked him and Claire his wife of twenty-three years frowned.
“I hope they’re not some fierce savages like the Keetiks were, remember how we had to get them out of this valley?” she said with a shudder. Sean smiled and patted her hand. Zack grinned.
“These are called Omahas and they’re supposed to be great warriors of the desert that’s beyond this mountain range and they don’t like the people that have been crossing it to get to the mountains on the other side,” he informed them. “They attack the wagon trains that they find and murder everyone on them and carry off the children to sacrifice them to the Great Spirit.” He seemed quite pleased to inform them of that. Sean frowned at him.
“Don’t repeat rumors that you’ve heard, you don’t know what the Indians do with the children they carry off, maybe they just adopt them,” he said and Claire shuddered.
“Sacrifice, adopt, who cares, think of those poor children, alone without their parents, after seeing them murdered, how horrible,” she said.
“President Matthews should do something to protect the people heading west,” Bill declared and everyone nodded except for Sean who shrugged.
“They knew the risks when they left the Territories,” he said. “They knew there would be a chance of hostile Indians out there. Even if they make it across the desert and to the mountains, what’s to say there aren’t more hostile Indians in the mountains like the Keetiks were here?” he asked reasonably. Everyone had to admit he was right. Claire sighed.
“I guess we’ve been living with cars and money and coffeemakers for so long that we’ve forgotten that it was only thirty years ago that we were fighting hostile Indians ourselves,” she said. Sean grinned at her.
“I guess a little civilization goes a long way, darling,” he told her and they kissed.
Two years later they celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and had a big party. All of their friends and family came and the ex-president Henry Adams was in town so he came.
“So how many grandchildren do you and Claire have now?” his old friend asked Sean as they sipped Sean’s excellent beer. Sean grinned at him.
“Well, let’s see,” he had to think. “Kalin and Jenny have two, Bobby and Annie has two, so that’s four. Ryan and Melody have one and Danny and Marie have one so that’s six. And now Zack and Petra have one so I have seven. Four lads and three lasses, I’m a very happy man, Henry, I can’t complain.” Henry laughed and patted him on his back.
“You’ve invented the cannon, the plower, the truck, motorcycle, car and the telephone,” he said. “You’re the richest man on the planet, I’d say you can’t complain, you lucky son-of-a-bitch,” he told him. Sean laughed.
“Ah, lad, but I was never President,” he teased him. Henry shrugged.
“Yes, but you were the General who won the war, that’s better than President, your face is on the dime and the twenty dollar bill,” he said. Sean put his arm around him.
“Well, your face is on the quarter and the dollar bill,” he told him and they both laughed.
“This is really good beer, I can’t believe you find the time to make beer, when do you have any spare time?” Henry asked him. Sean shrugged.
“The five boys run the phone company, I have a lot of spare time,” he said and they both grinned.
“Oh, yes, as we get older the sons want us out of their ways,” Henry murmured. Sean shrugged.
“I don’t blame the lads, if I was a young man, I wouldn’t want some old fart looking over my shoulder all of the time either,” he told him. “I like to putter around in my workshop anyway and making beer is relaxing. And spending time with Claire is more fun that going to work.” Henry nodded.
“Is she still working on that women’s voting thing?” he asked and Sean nodded.
“Yes she is and I’m proud of her, women should be allow to vote, they should have equal rights just like every other person,” he declared. Henry shrugged.
“They won’t not as long as John is in office, you know how he feels about it,” he said and made a face. He hadn’t liked when his vice-president had beaten him out of the last election. Sean shrugged.
“Our friend John is starting to forget he’s an elected official and thinking that he’s the King of Anamylia,” he remarked and Henry laughed until tears came to his eyes.
“You’re absolutely right, my old friend,” he said. “But you’ve forgotten the old rule,” he told Sean. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Sean nodded and they went off to search for the women.
The following week his wife and her committee asked for his help in getting the vote for women, after all, he helped stop the church when they wanted to pick on the poor fey people and he wasn’t Fey. Why wouldn’t he help women get the vote, especially when he believed in it so much?
“I’d be very happy to help you lovely ladies and I do feel very strongly in women being able to vote,” Sean told them as his wife beamed proudly. Some of the other women’s husbands just laughed at them.
So Sean wrote a bunch of editorials and put them in all of the newspapers in every major city in Anamylia as well as some very clever cartoons depicting women as slaves to men and workhorses. Some of them had women as brood mares worth little more than animals capable as only baring children and cleaning house, cooking and sewing and working the new ironing machines and washers and dryers. It enraged the women and the men who loved them although some men liked them and thought they were accurate.
“Sean, these are so sarcastic and cruel, I never knew you could draw like this, you are a man of many talents,” Claire gushed as she watched him work. Her husband grinned at her.
“So I’m of more use to you than as your bed slave huh, darling?” he teased just to see her blush. Her hands flew up to her face.
“Really, Sean, the things out of her mouth,” she exclaimed. He laughed and put his arms around her waist.
“I’ll let you enslave me tonight if you want, lass,” he said with a sly grin and she grinned back.
“Okay but finish the cartoon first,” she instructed with a sly grin of her own.
“Your wish if my command,” he teased and she slapped his arm.
“You’re such a bad little boy sometimes, it’s hard to imagine you’re fifty-six years old,” she teased and went to get him a cup of coffee. Sean grinned and went back to work.
People began to write to their Senators and march in the streets. Sean organized protests in Jamestown and the horns came back out. The Church protested, women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, it would hurt their brains they said. Women started boycotting church and they kept their children out. Men who loved and supported them stopped going also. Church attendance dropped to an all time low once again and of course the Fey supported the women also. And when church attendance dropped so did the offering and they lost money.
“Women will never get the vote as long as I’m in office.” President John Matthews was quoted in the Jamestown Chronicle. Sean wrote an editorial denouncing the President’s statement
“Maybe President John Matthews has forgotten that he is an elected official of the people, for the people and by the people of Anamylia and not the King of Anamylia as he is obviously thinking when he makes such statements. Maybe the people of Anamylia should start writing to their Senators demanding that the women of Anamylia deserve the same equal treatment under the constitution that all free people deserve, or are they the peasants of Anamylia and the men the Hamish?”
General Sean Donoghue’s words brought the country and the men to its knees and people began writing to their Senators demanding that women get the vote. The Senate voted for an Amendment to the Constitution, the Fourteenth and it passed a hundred and fifteen to two. John Matthews had no choice but to sign it, which he did on September twenty-second, seventeen thirty-two and the women of Anamylia went to the polls the following year and voted John Matthews out of office. Sean lost a good friend over the whole issue, but Henry and the other men still talked to him and he and John had never really seen eye-to-eye so he put him out of his mind and went on to his next issue.
That year Senate put forth another Amendment, the Fifteenth, limiting the Presidential term to two terms of four years so that no president could lead the country for more than eight years. This was another one of Sean’s ideas and he wrote several editorials on the subject which he paid for and were published under his name.
This issue split the political party which was united into two parties. There were the men who were the Conservatives and usually attended the St. Charles Church and there were the Liberals who usually attended the more liberal Freedom Church and of course the Orthodox which everyone was suspicious of who had money and used it to influence the vote.
Sean considered himself a Liberal mainly because he couldn’t stand the hypocrites of the St. Charles priests who kept trying to tell people how to live, but the Freedom Church tended to do that to, so he guessed he was a liberal Liberal. This made Claire laugh.
“You are your own man, Sean, you don’t like anyone telling you how to live your life, you like doing things your way because you think your way is the right way,” she teased him. He shrugged and kissed her. Then she giggled. “What’s the funniest part is that most of the time, your way is the right way.” He grinned.
“Ah, lass, you’re just saying that because you’re my wife and you have to,” he teased her back. She grinned.
“Do you know we’ve been married for thirty years?” she asked him and he nodded.
“Thirty wonderful years, lass,” he told her and she made a face. Sean frowned.
“They haven’t been wonderful?” he asked her. She shook her head.
“Ah, no, they’ve been wonderful sweetheart, but our youngest son just had a baby and I’m a grandmother nine times and I want you to take me into the bedroom and make love to me,” Claire said and she blushed like a bride, her red-gray hair the only thing giving away her age. Sean picked her up and she laughed.
“Don’t throw out your back, Sean, you’re going to need it,” she teased him and he laughed.
“You’re a brazen hussy, Mrs. Donoghue,” he teased her as he carried her to the bedroom. They passed Sally who grinned.
“In the middle of the afternoon, on a Tuesday?” she teased and they just laughed. Sally, who was fifty-seven, the same age as Sean decided to go look for her husband, if they were going to, why not her and Bill.
While his sons were busy working at the telephone company, Sean decided to make something fun for his grandchildren so he went off to his workshop with Sean who was five and David who was six and built a couple of motorized remote controlled cars and trucks for them.
They were bigger than the little metal cars that they had been playing with and he built a little box with a lever to turn them on and a switch thingy to make the cars go back and forth and turn the front wheels left and right. It wasn’t hard to do at all and the boys loved them. So did all the other little boys who saw them and the older boys and their fathers. Zack loved them so much he quit the phone company and built a factory to just make the little cars and trucks. Sean let him, after all, anyway the lad wanted to make money was fine with him and there was big money in children’s toys.
“Do you feel this little lump here in my breast, Sean?” Claire asked him one day in December of seventeen thirty-three, she was fifty-seven years old. Sean frowned and put his fingers over hers on her left breast and pressed down. Sure enough there was a little lump or bump on the inside of her breast. Sean met her worried look with one of his own.
“I feel it, I have no idea what it is though; does it hurt?” he asked her. She shook her head.
“No, but this one under my arm does when I press down on it,” Claire said and showed him one under her left arm. Sean felt it and she flinched a little.
“Maybe we should take you to the doctor in Jamestown and let him have a look at you,” Sean said firmly and she nodded.
They drove down that afternoon and checked into the Forrester hotel, a very nice hotel in the nice part of Jamestown. Everyone recognized Sean and called him General Donoghue and he had to sign a few autographs which he never minded. Jamestown had a big, new hospital and a school of medicine. Sean, for once, used his popular name to get them an appointment with a leading doctor. He examined Claire with a nurse present and then saw them both in his office. He had trouble meeting Sean’s eyes which Sean took as not a good sign. Finally Dr. Benson cleared his throat.
“I’m very sorry to tell you both but I’m afraid your wife has an illness we are starting to call cancer, more specifically cancer of the breast,” he informed them in a solemn voice. Both Claire and Sean looked at each other and clasped hands. Claire’s eyes filled with tears and Sean handed her his hankie to wipe her eyes.
“Is there anything you can do for her doctor? Is there any treatment?” Sean asked him. Dr. Benson shook his head.
“We don’t even know what it is or what causes it,” he told them. “We’ve seen it in many people, it’s a growth where they should be no growth and it just gets bigger and spreads until the person dies. We’ve tried several times to cut it out, but our surgery technique is very primitive and most patients don’t survive or when we open them, we find the cancer has spread to much for the surgery to be of any use. If the lump were just in your wife’s breast we could try surgery, but if it has already spread to below her arms, then surgery would be pointless. It is too late, there is nothing we can do except pain medication to make her more comfortable so that her death will be as painless as possible.” Claire began to cry. Sean put his arms around her and wished the doctor could be a little gentler but he guessed the man was used to dealing with death and dying all the time.
“Do you know how long she has to live?” Sean asked. Dr. Benson sighed.
“It’s advanced and spread, it could be a few months, maybe six, not a year,” he informed them.
“Thank you, Dr. Benson,” Sean stood up and shook his hand and the man sighed.
“I’m very sorry, General Donoghue, Mrs. Donoghue, very sorry,” he told them and they left the office. Outside it was cold and looked like snow. Claire shivered in her fur coat and held onto him like she was drowning like he imagined she felt like she was. He put her in the car and drove back to the hotel and they didn’t say a word.
“I want to go home, Sean, right now, tonight,” Claire said when they arrived back at the Forrester. Sean nodded and left her outside in the car while he went in and packed their things and checked out. She wouldn’t say a word on the five hour drive, just kept staring out the window at the white snow and the scenery.
When he parked the car in the barn she just sat there and stared off into space. He sat there patiently and held her hand.
“I don’t want to tell the boys right now, Sean, I don’t want them treating me any differently,” Claire said firmly. She looked surprised when he shook his head.
“Why not?” she sputtered.
“You’re their mother, lass, they have to know so they can spend more time with you and have the grandchildren spend more time with you,” he told her gently. “It’s precious this little time that you have left and you don’t want them to waste it and then regret the time they didn’t have to spend with you, it will eat them up for the rest of their lives and they’ll hate you for it not telling them.” She nodded.
“You’re right, but damn-it, I don’t want them pitying me,” she exclaimed. He nodded.
“They’ll do a little of that, they’re human, they won’t be able to help it, but I’ll tell them to try to watch it in front of you okay,” Sean said and she nodded.
“I guess you and I won’t grow old together after all,” Claire whispered. Sean kissed her hand and she began to cry. He pulled her into his arms.
“Ah, lass, you go ahead and cry, but remember how much I love you, Claire,” he whispered. They sat there for the longest time and then he took her into the house and she went to lie down.
Sean gathered Sally, Bill and Carrie to tell them the sad news and like expected both women burst into tears. Carrie who had never married seemed the most upset.
“Poor, Claire, Granddad, won’t the green leaves help?” she asked. Sean shook his head.
“We can’t cut her open and put green leaf paste on the cancer, Carrie,” he informed her sadly and she nodded.
“I’ve never heard of this cancer, how can this doctor be sure that’s what it is?” Sally demanded.
“The doctors have been cutting up people who have died from it and looking at it for years, Sally, they know what they’re talking about,” Sean told her. She nodded and cried some more. Sean let them cry for a few more minutes and then told them they had to be strong for Claire’s sake. They couldn’t be weeping and crying in front of her and to put on some smiles or otherwise she would be forced to spend the rest of her life locked in her room just to get away from them. They all nodded and he went to his study and called all his sons and told them to come to dinner tonight, no excuses, it was an order.
Dinner was a lively affair with five sons and their five very different wives and nine grandchildren all yelling and laughing. It was very noisy and a very happy meal. Several times Sean and Claire looked at one another and grinned, this was what life was all about, spending time with your loved ones. Sean blew her a kiss and she pretended to catch it. Little Bridget who was three years old saw this and had to be blown a kiss too. Everyone laughed.
After dinner the children were taken to the play room by Sally and Carrie and the adults went to the parlor for coffee and cake. All the wives took seats on the right side of the room together and chatted about the children while the men sat in chairs on the left. Surprising everyone Sean and Claire sat together on a settee facing everyone. Ryan and Danny exchanged a worried look.
“So, what’s up, Dad, why the summons to the great house?” Kalin asked cheerfully as he sipped his coffee. Bobby stretched out his long legs.
“Yes really, Annie and I had plans to go out with friends tonight, why did you make us come here, did you invent something new?” he teased Sean who slowly shook his head.
“Maybe you boys should sit with your wives tonight while we talk,” Sean suggested gently and Claire nodded. The smiles and laughter left the room as everyone rearranged themselves.
“What’s wrong, Dad?” Ryan asked softly as he held his wife Nancy’s hand. Sean smiled slightly.
“Your mother found a lump in her breast recently and another under her left arm so we went to the doctor in Jamestown,” he informed them solemnly. The women all gasped with shock. The boys all drew in their breaths. Kalin recovered first.
“What did the doctor say, Dad?” he asked. Everyone looked at Sean’s face trying to read his expression.
“The doctor says that it’s a disease known as cancer, specifically breast cancer and because there’s a lump under her arm too, that its spread too much for them to be able to do anything for it or for her,” Sean said as calmly as he could. They all nodded.
“What exactly does that mean, Dad?” Zack asked. Sean nodded.
“I was coming to that next, Son,” he told him. “The doctor says your mother is going to die and very soon, probably within the next six months and it’s probably going to be painful so she’ll need our support and lots of pain medicine.” The five women began to weep into their handkerchiefs. Kalin and Bobby got up and walked over to their mother and hugged her. She began to cry too and soon all of her boys were hugging her. Sean was so proud of them. He hugged them too. Then the girls got up and everyone was hugging Claire.
“We need to spend as much time with Mom as we can, lads, and send the grandchildren over as much as you can,” Sean told them and they all nodded.
The family reacted to Sean’s plan of spending as much time with their mother as they could by moving into the mansion. They all moved back home with their nurse maids to help with the children and the house was full of children and people. Claire couldn’t have been happier.
Sean made a tea of green leaves from the Peanja tree for her to drink for the pain and it worked in the beginning and it was made stronger as the months passed. When it stopped working he got some herbs from the Malweenah Indians that worked great but knocked her out too much so they lessened the dosage so that she could bare the pain and still function.
“You’re a young man still, Sean, you could marry again when I’m gone,” Claire told him one day as she was lying on the little sofa bed he had made for her in the front room. Sally, who was knitting in the chair, looked up, startled at the statement. Bridget and Faith who were both four played with their dolls on the rug next to them, Sean sat in his chair reading aloud to his wife. He peered over the pages of the book at her. Her beautiful hair was in a long braid and she was in her green night gown that matched her eyes. The illness had taken some of the zest out of her but her green eyes still sparkled with life.
“And do you have any suggestions as to who the next Mrs. Sean Donoghue should be?” he asked her dourly. She nodded.
“What about Carrie, she’s never married, I think she has a crush on you,” Claire said. Sally giggled. Sean raised an eyebrow.
“Carrie is fey, Claire and the reason she hasn’t married is because she has a crush on you,” he informed her and his wife looked shocked. She glanced at Sally who nodded.
“Oh,” Claire said weakly. “Well what about Rachel Jefferies?” she asked him. Sean shook his head. “Why not?” she demanded.
“Rachel Jefferies is my fourth cousin, or my third cousin, I forget, but the lass is related to me, I couldn’t possible marry someone related to me, that’s incest,” he declared and she made a face.
“Maybe first or second cousin but not third or fourth,” Claire protested. Sean shook his head.
“I’m not marrying my cousin, lass, forget it, it would be disgusting, wouldn’t it Sally?” he turned to ask her. Sally nodded. Claire sighed.
“What about Myrtle Green, she’s nice,” she suggested. Sean looked appalled.
“Nice and fat,” he snapped. “She’d roll over in bed and squash me dead, do you want me to go to heaven that fast and join you, lass?” he demanded and Claire giggled.
“I guess she could never be on top, could she?” she teased him. Sally raised an eyebrow. Claire stuck out her tongue at her.
“Well, what about?” she began and her husband interrupted her.
“I’m perfectly happy with the wife I’ve got, Claire,” he said firmly. “And after you leave me I’m going to be so heart-broken that I’m not going to be able to look at another woman for at least twenty years and then I’m going to be too damned old to remarry so please stop trying to marry me off.” Claire looked surprised and then pleased.
“Just twenty years?” she asked softly. Sean dropped the book and came over to sit next to her.
“That’s just to look at another woman to say hello,” he said softly. “I’ll always love you, Claire, forever and ever as long as I live.” He bent to kiss her and the two little girls giggled and had to climb up on the bed for their kisses.
“God, Sean the pain, I can’t stand the pain,” Claire wept one night in April. It was three in the morning and everyone in the house was asleep. Sean sat up and held her.
“Let me get the medicine,” he said and got up out of bed. She shook her head.
“I don’t want any more of that crap, it doesn’t help anymore. It just puts me to sleep for an hour and then the pain wakes me up,” she snapped. Her thin body trembled as pain wrecked her body. “I can’t take the pain anymore, why can’t I just die, why won’t it kill me!” Claire began to sob, big heart-wrenching sobs. It made Sean’s heart ache to see her like this. He mixed the medicine and brought it to her. Claire saw the glass and knocked it out of his hand.
“Sean,” she grabbed his hand and looked into his eyes. “If you really loved me, you’d help me,” she said. He looked confused.
“Help you, lass; of course I’d help you. I’d do anything for you, Claire, I love you, darling,” he cooed. She nodded and kissed his hands.
“Then take away my pain, Sean, please,” Claire said softly. Sean frowned.
“I’ll make more medicine,” he said and she shook her head.
“I told you the medicine doesn’t help, Sean, not anymore, nothing helps,” Claire said firmly. Sean looked confused.
“Then how can I help you, Claire?” he whispered and she looked at him some more and then his eyes widened. “Ah, lass, you don’t mean that,” he said and she nodded.
“Oh, yes, Sean I do, please, I’m dying anyway and the pain is so bad, it won’t go away and it hurts, it hurts so much. I can’t live like this. This is not way to live, Sean. Lying here hour after hour in constant agony, taking the medicine that knocks me out, only to wake an hour later in such pain that I scream from it,” she told him and he brushed the hair from her face. “Please, darling, I’d do it for you, you know I would.”
“Ah, lass, I know you would,” Sean said and kissed her forehead gently. She flinched, even that light touch hurt. “Do you want to say goodbye to the kids again?” he asked her softly. She shook her head.
“I already said goodbye when we said goodnight,” Claire said and smiled. They did every night, just in case she died before they woke up the next day. Sean smiled down at her.
“We’ve been so happy together haven’t we, lass?” Sean said and she nodded.
“I love you, Sean,” she whispered. He kissed her lips gently and heard her gasp slightly.
“I love you, Claire,” he whispered against her lips and then he snapped her neck as quickly as he could so it wouldn’t hurt so much. He heard her gasp again but then he knew the pain was over when her body went limp. Sean laid her head on the pillow and brushed the hair from her face with gentle hands. She had been right, this was no way to live, battling pain hour after hour drugged up so much she hardly knew when her children were in the room holding her hand.
Sean sat in the chair all night, dozing and sitting with her remembering all the happy times they had had together. The first time they had met; how defiantly she had marched into his bedroom demanding they start living in sin. How ecstatic she had been when she discovered she was pregnant, how smug she had been telling that bastard William her first husband. So many happy memories they had together and five wonderful boys they had raised. And now those boys were strong men with children of their own. They were going to be so sad tomorrow when they found out their beloved mother was gone. Sean decided that he would put that on her stone, she would have liked that. Claire Donoghue: Beloved wife and mother.
The next morning Sally came in to see how Claire was doing and found him sleeping in the chair. He woke up when he heard her.
“How was her night, Granddad?” Sally said softly and glanced at the woman sleeping peacefully in the bed. Sean shook his head.
“She’s gone, Sally, Claire died around three,” he informed her and she looked shocked. He took her hands in his and she nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I’m going to bathe her, could you change the sheets for me?” he asked and she nodded. Sean picked up his wife and took her into the bathroom. He heard Sally crying behind him. He gently washed Claire; her body was so thin; the illness had wasted her away to almost nothing. Then he took her back into the room and put her in her pink dress, the one she had selected and brushed her long, silky hair. Carrie was in the room now and she helped braid and wrap it around Claire’s head and put flowers in it. Sean hugged her.
“I know you loved her too, Carrie,” he whispered and she nodded, crying softly. Then he went outside and picked armfuls of flowers from the garden and the ladies put them into vases so the whole room smelled like flowers. Sally lighted candles which gave off a nice glow. Then they had a cup of coffee and waited for the boys to get up. Bill milked the cows and Sean had a big cold glass of milk.
Kalin, Jenny and their three children Sean who was seven, Faith who was four and George who was one were the first ones down for breakfast. Jenny took one look at the sad faces and knew. Kalin was slower but his dad smiled at him and then he knew.
“Mom?” he asked softly and handed the baby to his wife.
“Last night around three, it was painless, she didn’t feel anything,” Sean told him. Kalin nodded.
“Can I go in and see her?” he asked and Sean nodded.
“What’s wrong with Kalin?” Bobby asked as he and his wife Annie and their three children, David who was eight, Bridget who was also four like Faith and James who was two came into the kitchen. Sean put his arms around his son.
“Your mother died this morning around three, Bobby, I’m real sorry, Son,” he said softly and Bobby nodded, tears filling his eyes. Annie put her hand on his arm.
“Is that where Kalin went to go and see her?” Bobby asked. Sean nodded.
“You can go too, Son,” he told him and Bobby walked away. He passed Zack and his wife Brenda in the hall. Zack was carrying his two year-old son Joseph. He saw his brother crying and knew.
“Mom’s dead?” he whispered to his dad who nodded.
“Around three this morning, the boys are in there, why don’t you join them?” Sean suggested and Zack left the kitchen.
“No running in the kitchen,” Ryan yelled as three year-old Derrick came racing into the large room. Sean caught him and the little boy giggled. Sean laughed and put him in a chair. Ryan came in holding the twins, three month old girls, Tracey and Stacey. Sally took them and Ryan frowned at her face. He looked at his dad who nodded.
“Mom?” Ryan asked.
“At three this morning, your brothers are in there, why don’t you join them, lad,” Sean said softly and Ryan rushed away. He passed his twin carrying his twin sons, Timmy and Tommy also three months old. Danny took one look at his brother’s face and handed the boys to his dad. He rushed away without a word.
Sean kept breakfast as normal as possible for the children, they would know soon enough their beloved grandmother was gone to heaven and be sad. But children bounced back quicker than adults did and once they were told she was in heaven and that they would see her again when they were old and got to go they would be fine. The boys would miss her longer and of course Sean would miss her for the longest, for he would be around the longest.
Sean put off going into the bedroom as long as he could but eventually he had to join his sons and went in. They were all seated in chairs around the bed and all looked like they had been crying. Sean sat on the bed next to his wife and took her hand; they all looked shocked that he would touch her.
“Was it painful, at the end?” Bobby asked hesitantly. Sean shook his head.
“No, the pain went away just before she passed, she smiled at me and then she took a breath and then she just died,” he said softly. They all seemed to like that.
“That’s good, the pain was eating her alive,” Kalin said and they all nodded.
“She looks so peaceful, like she’s sleeping,” Danny remarked and they all nodded again.
“Does dying hurt?” Zack asked suddenly. They all looked at him and then at their dad. Sean shrugged.
“I suppose it depends on the way that you die,” he told them. “My mother was killed when a Chervek Mauraider slashed her throat with his sword, I suspect that had to have hurt.” They all flinched.
“I want to die like Mom did, peacefully in my sleep,” Danny declared and they all nodded. Sean wished that they all died peacefully in their sleeps and not wracked with pain like poor Claire begging someone to kill them to end their misery. He stood up.
“I’m going to build a coffin if any of you want to help, but you should bring your children in to say goodbye and your wives too,” Sean suggested and they all nodded. He went out to his workshop and got the Peanja wood he had gathered for this occasion and began to build his third special coffin. Sean thought of the three people he had shared his life with and wondered how many he would before he got tired of building coffins. He put that thought out of his mind and concentrated on Claire, this was her time and he needed to think only of her.
They laid her in the graveyard that afternoon, it was summer and you couldn’t let a body lay around in the heat. Reverend Thomas did a nice service and many people came out to pay their respects, she had touched so many people. But at the grave site Sean could see speculation in some people’s eyes, after all, he was only fifty-eight and a man, he could still have twenty years in him. And many a widow in her fifties cast a lonely eye at the newly widower. His sons were appalled.
“Mom’s only been dead a day and you could have seen how Myrtle Green was looking at him, it’s disgusting,” Kalin declared as they gathered at the house. Bobby was equally appalled.
“Helen Vernon actually asked me if Dad was planning on waiting the whole year before he started seeing anyone, after all, he’s not getting any younger and at his age, the Church will over-look the year of mourning and let him get married faster,” he informed them. They all snorted.
“You don’t really think Dad would get married again do you?” Ryan asked; his face covered in doubt. Danny shook his head.
“Dad would never do that to Mom, never in a million years,” he said firmly. They all nodded.
“What about Carrie, should she be living here with Mom gone?” Zack asked. His brothers laughed; the first they had done all day. He looked confused.
“Carrie’s fey, Zack,” Ryan took pity on him.
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” he said. Their father walked over.
“Quick hide me; I think Myrtle Green is looking for me,” he said with panic in his voice and they put him in the middle. The woman in question walked in the room, looked around with a frown on her face and then walked out. Sean let out a big sigh.
“Your mother’s not even cold and the whole town is betting on who I’m marrying next,” Sean said and taking the drink from Kalin’s hand, took a big sip. The boys all frowned at him.
“You’re not thinking,” Bobby began. Sean looked at him with shock on his face.
“Good God, no,” he interrupted. “I’m going to spend the next twenty years playing with my grandchildren and crying because your mother’s not here to do it with me. I have no intentions of getting another wife, I’m still in love with the last one and she’s not replaceable.” The boys looked relieved. Sean grinned.
“I would have thought you boys would know me better than that,” he said and they all looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Bobby was the first to apologize. They all did and Sean hugged them.
“God, I miss her already and it’s only one day,” he whispered and they hugged him back.
They got rid of all the guests and the next day he got rid of them telling them they had to go back to their own lives and let him get back to his. They didn’t want to but he made them. Then Sally, Carrie and him went through Claries stuff and gave all her clothes to charity except for her old pink robe which he wanted to keep, it smelled like she did. Then they split up her jewelry amongst the granddaughters and Sean spent a few weeks sketching Claire. Drawing after drawing and of course he moved on to the boys when they were babies and as they got older. And the people of Donoghue Valley until his book was filled. He never wanted to forget any of them.
The boys began coming to dinner, one day a week one of them would bring their family and eat dinner with Sean and that was really lovely. The grandchildren came around to the workshop when they weren’t in school and helped him fiddle with things but he couldn’t figure out what to invent, he was all invented out. So he began to sit on the porch and watch the town with Sally, Bill and Carrie. And they played cards and games at night. It was fun but extremely lonely, especially at night when he didn’t have Claire to talk and laugh with and share his day with and listen to her day.
But a couple of years went by and he celebrated his sixtieth birthday with a big party and all of his friends and family came to the mansion. Henry Adams had died the previous years with all of the other members of the committee except for John Matthews who he heard was writing his autobiography and he wouldn’t come to the party because he still hated Sean’s guts.
“Ah, who cares, the lad’s probably lying in the book too,” Sean said and everyone laughed. Myrtle Green and all the other single fifties ladies hung around the dashing General all night but he stayed with his family who all glared at them so no one got the opportunity to ask him to dance.
“Look at him, he’s still got all of his hair,” Myrtle moaned to Joan Clark who nodded.
“And all of his teeth,” she snapped. “She’s been dead for two years now, how long is he going to grieve, we’re not getting any younger.” Another lady broke in.
“Do you think he can still, you know?” she asked timidly. All three stared longingly at the long, lean, muscular body and sighed.
“With a body like that you know he can,” Joan said firmly and they all agreed.
Annie heard the conversation and went to report back to her sisters, as she called her sisters-in-laws.
“Do you think that Dad still gets urges to, you know?” she asked them and they all giggled. She sighed. “I think it’s unfair of the boys to make their father stay unmarried when he could have a wife who can give him comfort at night. Mom’s gone and men have needs, we all know that. He must be so lonely in that big house all alone.” They all looked surprised but then they nodded.
“I never thought of that but you’re right, Annie, Dad is a man too,” Nancy said. They all looked over at Sean who was laughing at something Todd was saying. The four men Todd, young Sean, Sean and Lonnie were standing together, talking and laughing.
“Dad sure is handsome isn’t he, I hope Ryan looks that good when he’s sixty,” Melody said and they all nodded.
“Have you all met Jake the new man Dad hired to help Bill?” Jenny asked them. They all shook their heads. Jenny smiled, she loved being first with the news.
“He’s about forty and very handsome, not married and is living in the house because the room over the barn isn’t fit to live in. Everyone loves him and Bill is Dad’s age and not able to milk the cows like he used to,” she informed them smugly. They all rolled their eyes.
When the party was over, the help they hired cleaned up and then left. Sally and Bill went to their room and Carrie went to theirs. The new man Jake went to his room which was right next door to Sean’s.
Sean went to his room and sighed with relief, they were family and he loved them, but he wished once, he could turn sixty or seventy or some milestone birthday without a big party. They were so exhausting. He heard a noise behind him and smiled.
“You’re not too tired are you, Sean?” Jake asked as he wrapped his strong arms around him. Sean leaned back and laid his head on the younger man’s shoulders. At six feet five inches, Jake was three inches taller than he was.
“I’m never too tired for you, Jake,” he told him and Jake’s hand moved down to slip inside his pants.
“Well, look what I found,” Jake whispered and Sean laughed.
“I hope you know what to do with that now that you’ve woken it up,” he teased. Jake turned him around and bent his head to lick Sean’s neck sending shivers of delight up his spine.
“Oh, I can think of a few things,” he whispered and they moved to the bed.
After they undressed Jake admired the other man’s body.
“I swear if I didn’t know your were sixty, I’d swear you were much younger,” he said as his hands caressed his lover’s strong muscles. Sean trembled and he rolled over until he was on top. Lifting Jake’s legs to his shoulders he grinned down at him.
“I’m still young enough to give you what you love best, darling,” he said and they kissed.
They next morning at breakfast they were both sleepy-eyed but so was everyone else.
“That was a great party, Granddad,” Sally remarked as she served the pancakes. Sean winked at Jake.
“Yes it was, darling, it wore me out, I’m exhausted,” he declared and everyone nodded, they were all exhausted. Jake choked on his coffee and they all looked at him.
“It was hot and I took too big a swallow,” he explained. Sean lifted an eyebrow.
“You got to be careful what you swallow,” he teased and Jake flushed. Carrie looked at them suspiciously but then decided nothing was up and went back to her eggs.
The next thing Sean invented was an intercom system for the mansion so they didn’t have to shout from room to room. Zack immediately wanted to produce them in his toy factory so his Dad handed them over to him. They sold out like all of Sean’s inventions and everyone swore he was the smartest man on the planet.
“Where do you get the ideas for all of these things?” Kalin asked one night at dinner. Sean shrugged.
“I was just upstairs one day and Sally was downstairs yelling up at me and I thought wouldn’t it be nice if she could just talk to me like through a box or something like the telephone,” he told him. Sally grinned.
“I like that I was your inspiration, Granddad,” she beamed. Jenny smiled and patted her hand.
“I don’t know what Dad would do without you Sally, you and Carrie have been wonderful to him all these years,” she gushed. The two women beamed.
The next day Sally’s husband Bill was working in the basement when Toby the cat brought him a mouse that he had caught. The old man who was fifty-eight, two years younger than Sean bent down to pick it up.
“Hey kitty, caught another one have you?” he teased and the huge cat, a descent of the original Toby purred. Then Bill threw the mouse in the trash and felt a sharp pain in his right arm and gasped. He staggered to the work bench and sat down and died, sitting up. The cat rubbed against his legs and meowed and then raced upstairs. He found Sean sitting in his study working on some invoices for the house and jumped up on them and meowed very loudly. Sean laughed and scratched his head.
“What’s up, Toby, come to help me work have you?” he teased but the cat didn’t want to be petted, he kept meowing and looked quite agitated. Sean didn’t know what to think of that.
“What’s wrong, kitty; is something wrong?” Sean asked. He stood up and the cat hopped off the desk and rushed to the door and looked back at him and meowed again. Sean nodded and followed him. He followed him though the house and down the basement stairs to where Bill was sitting. Sean felt tears come to his eyes, it has started once again.
“Oh, Bill,” he said with a big sigh. He bent down and scratched Toby under his chin. “Thanks, kitty, you did a good job bringing me down here,” he told him. Toby purred. Sean picked the dead man up and carried him up the stairs. Sally gasped when she saw her husband in Sean’s arms.
“Oh, my God, Sean, you shouldn’t be carrying him,” she said. “Bill; honey are you alright, Granddad, is he alright?” she asked with a worried look in her eyes. Sean shook his head.
“No, Sally, I think it was his heart that gave out, he’s gone, darling,” he told her and she began to cry. Carrie came running and she cried too. Now their household was down to four.
The next day they buried Bill and everyone who was over fifty-five began to look around at one another and began to speculate on who was going to die next. Sean had played this very game twice before, in Ennis and back on the Ridge and it wasn’t much fun and he really wasn’t looking forward to playing it again. But he had lived and laughed with these people for forty years now and he felt that he owed it to them to be there for the end of their lives. It was only fair. They had loved him and trusted him and given him their loyalty and to abandon them or desert them when they were old and afraid would be cowardly. So he smiled and hugged his family and prayed with them and wondered who would be the next to go to heaven and say hello to Bobby, Maggie and Claire whom he knew were all waiting for him and having the best time talking about him.
Over the next fifteen years all of his relatives died one by one, heart attacks, cancer, pneumonia, one died when he cleaned his rifle and forgot to take the bullet out and the damned thing back-fired and blew half of his face off. They had a closed casket for that funeral. A few had accidents and fell down breaking their necks, one woman was stupid enough to climb up on a chair to clean the top of a cabinet and fall off and break her neck. She should have known better at eighty-seven. Everyone died until all that was left was Old Sean, Young Sean and Lonnie and they all lived in the big house with Jake the hired hand and two young women, a Fey couple named Rose and Faith to look after them. They were seventy-five, sixty-eight, and seventy-three and all of the Valley loved them and watched anxiously for the next of them to die. All three men laughed and knew it would be either Young Sean or Lonnie because they knew granddad was going to live forever but they appreciated him growing old with them.
“Hey, Granddad, did I ever thank you for giving me the cars?” Young Sean said one day in August as the three men were sitting on the front porch and watching the activity going on in the valley below them. Sean grinned as he sipped his iced tea.
“Only about a million times, lad, but I never get tired of hearing it,” he teased and they all laughed. Rose came out with some crabby cheese balls she knew the men liked and they all grinned.
“Oh, lass, you’re spoiling us,” Sean gushed and she grinned.
“That’s what you pay me for, Granddad, besides I love you old geezers,” she teased and Lonnie patted her backside while they all laughed. “Watch your hands, old man, or I’ll call Faith out here to spank you.” Young Sean giggled.
“Don’t do that, lass, he might like that,” he teased back and they all laughed again. Young Sean sighed.
“I knew when I saw the carriage with you and Ryan pulling up to the house on the Ridge that something wonderful had come and I was right,” he told them. Lonnie nodded.
“Oh, yeah, we had heard all the stories of the Fairie Cave and the Moon Pearl Pool and Sean Donoghue who was going to live forever and had left the Ridge to go live in Queensland but who one day was coming back but we never really believed until that day you did come back,” he said. Sean nodded.
“I wouldn’t have believed it myself either until I saw it for myself,” he told them. “I never believed that part of the legend either; I knew the strength of a dozen men was true because I got that right away. I could pick up stuff I could never have picked up before so that was true. And the invincible part was true when that Mauraider hit me in the head with a mace and it didn’t kill me, so that part of the legend was true,” he said. They both nodded.
“When did you realize that the forever part was true?” Young Sean asked. Sean sighed.
“When Bobby made a comment about my baby face,” he told them. “I went to the mirror and realized that although I was supposed to be twenty-five I still looked like I was twenty or could even pass for nineteen and he didn’t like that so I grew my mustache to make me look older and that worked for a few years. Then in about ten years I had to grow the beard because he made another comment about my baby face compared to his older looking one. And then when he got gray hairs I began to dye my hair gray to match his and I kept it up over the years dying my hair gray and then white to match his.” Lonnie grinned.
“And he never noticed?” he asked. Sean shook his head.
“None of them noticed except for Maggie, she noticed that I dyed my hair and even pointed out one night that I had missed a spot,” he said. They both laughed. Sean sighed.
“She was a smart one my Maggie, I miss all of them, some days I can’t decide which one I miss the most, I loved them all so much,” he told them. Both of the men nodded.
“I miss my Emily,” Young Sean said wistfully. Lonnie sighed.
“And I miss my Sarah, she had the most lovely brown hair, the exact color of honey,” he told them. Sean grinned.
“That’s very romantic, Lonnie, I hope you told the lass that a time or two,” he said and Lonnie blushed and nodded. Young Sean grinned.
“I hope you did more than tell Sarah her hair looked like honey, I hope you used some honey and got creative in the bedroom,” he teased just to watch his cousin blush. Sean laughed. Just then a car came racing up to their driveway and another Sean Donoghue, his grandson, his youngest son Zack’s son came running out. He waved at them.
“Hey, did you hear the news, some guy in Ennis just invented the radio and Dad just bought ten thousand of them and they’re on their way up the river,” he informed them. “Pete and Doug are going to build a radio station and start playing music and stuff for everyone to listen to.” Sean grinned.
“Ah, lad; those Ennish are clever bastards,” he declared and everyone laughed. Young Sean shook his head.
“Let them invent all they want, but they’ll never beat the telephone, the car, the truck or the plower,” he told them. Sean grinned.
“No one is ever going to beat the telephone,” he declared and they all agreed and laughed.
“I like the car the best, Granddad, I would die without my car,” his grandson Sean told him earnestly. Sean nodded and reaching into his pocket pulled out a handful of cash and handed it to the lad.
“Here, lad, take your lad to the hall tonight and dance away the night on me,” he said and Sean’s eyes lit up.
“Hey, great, Granddad, thanks,” he gushed and Sean got a hug and a kiss for his generosity. The lad who was about seventeen hopped in his car and drove off, beeping his horn and waving. The other two men laughed because they all kept a big wad of cash in their pockets for the very same purpose. All of their grandkids and great-grandkids knew they could always depend on the three old men for a cash advance and a great story.
Lonnie was the first to go and Young Sean howled like a baby when his cousin went to sleep one hot August night and didn’t wake up in the morning. Sean held him in his arms.
“Ah lad, it’s going to be okay, he’s in heaven with Sarah and the angels,” he whispered and Young Sean nodded, tears running down his face.
“I know, Granddad, I know, it’s just me now, I’m the last one left,” he cried. All the kids looked confused but Sean kissed him and Young Sean rested his gray head on his granddad’s strong shoulders. Sean rubbed his back like he would a baby’s. Kalin and Bobby smiled thinking of all the times their dad had done just the same thing to them and then to their children.
At the funeral Sean could see everyone looking at him and then at Young Sean and wondering who would be next, people were so predictable. Young Sean laughed about it later when the two ‘old folks’ were sitting in their rockers on the front porch.
“Everyone’s betting on you, Granddad,” he told Sean smugly. Sean just lifted his left eyebrow and sipped his beer. Young Sean grinned and added. “Cuz, you’re like a good ten years older than me, so you’ll have to go first,” he smirked. Sean chuckled.
“Actually, I’m about two hundred and thirty years older than you, lad, I turned two hundred and forty-one my last birthday,” he said with a big grin. They both burst out laughing with that and Young Sean choked a bit and coughed. Betsy came out of the house to smack him on his back.
“Slow down, you fool,” she admonished. They both grinned. She shook her head. “A couple of old fools are what you both are,” she muttered as she walked back into the house. Sean laughed.
“Remind me to give you a raise, lass,” he shouted and both men laughed again.
That winter sixty-nine year-old Sean Kevin Donoghue, still known as Young Sean by his family died peacefully in his sleep. He didn’t even get sick. Sean went to wake him up for breakfast and found him dead, a small smile on his face, the right side slightly twisted, much like Bobby’s had been, so he knew his heart had given out. He sighed and kissed him.
“Ah, lad, you were the last and the best, like my Ryan, I’m really going to miss you, sweet boy,” he whispered and felt suddenly older than his two-hundred and forty-one years.
The next week another grave was dug, hard to do in the snow but they managed. Then Sean gathered his sons, wives, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, everyone and once again, feeling remarkable old and tired, told the family history story, shaved, and washed his hair and became young once again.
“Oh my God, Dad’s dyes his hair,” Bobby exclaimed and all of his sons rushed the sink. Kalin shook his head.
“My God, Dad, you look like my son,” he said with disbelief,” his green eyes hurt and angry. Sean smiled and hugged him. This son would be the hardest to convince.
“You’re two hundred and forty-two,” Ryan asked weakly. Sean nodded and they all looked amazed.
“Did Mom know?” Danny asked. Sean shook his head.
“Claire never guessed, or Bobby, Maggie was the only one who suspected,” he informed them. Zack laughed.
“So what are we going to do now, who are we going to tell people you are?” he asked. Sean grinned at him; Zack was always the one who believed in fairy tales.
“We’re not telling anyone,” He said firmly. They all looked shocked.
“But why?” Bobby asked. Sean shrugged.
“Who would believe?” he asked and they all nodded. “Besides, I’d have to be someone’s bastard child and who’s wife is going to volunteer to be the one who got cheated on?” he asked and all five wives looked askance.
“Not me, Robert Donoghue,” Annie retorted and then grinned. “I’d cut something off that you’re fond of if I ever even catch you thinking about that,” she said and everyone laughed. Sean shook his head.
“I’d imagine you’re pretty fond of that thing too, lass,” he remarked and everyone grinned as the fifty-something woman blushed. She rolled her eyes.
“God, Dad, the things out of your mouth,” Annie murmured and her husband hugged her. Their kids grinned. Jenny, Kalin’s wife raised her hand and grinned, her blue eyes sparkling.
“Me, Dad, I’ll be the cheated wife,” she volunteered as all the other women looked shocked. Kalin laughed and hugged her. Sean shook his head.
“Now why would you want to do a silly thing like that, sweetheart,” he said and she giggled, which at sixty was quite a sound.
“Last week that awful Lizzie Johnson said that half-breeds weren’t that good-looking and that it’s a good thing that ‘plain’ women like me and Annie had married Kalin and Bobby or otherwise they would have had to have been fey,” she informed them. Both men looked amused while Annie looked offended.
“I’m not plain, that bitch,” she spat. All the kids laughed. Sean wagged his finger at her.
“That’s a quarter for the swear jar,” he teased and she shrugged.
“For Lizzie Johnson, it should be free,” she rebuked, “She is a female dog, Dad.” And everyone laughed. He hugged her.
“Okay, for calling you plain and my sons half-breeds, you can get one free,” he consoled and everyone smiled as she looked pleased. They discussed it for two hours and it was decided that Sean would be the bastard child of Kalin and some woman he met in Portsmyth and had a brief fling with when his mother died. In the spring, Sean and his great-grandson Joe, Kalin’s son Kevin’s youngest, eighteen and full of piss and vinegar, reminding Sean a hell-of-a-lot like Ryan which made him both happy and sad, along with a thousand young people left Sweetwater and the Donoghue Valley in a long caravan of trucks, wagons, horses and mules for Las Naga and the west coast. He kissed all of his kids, grandkids and great-kids goodbye and Sean started out for his fifth life optimistic and sad once again. To leave behind all of his family once again, but to take a small part of them with him was over-whelming. But the two-hundred and forty-two year-old man rode at the head of the wagon train on a three year-old black stallion named Sir William and waved goodbye until he couldn’t see anyone. Joe honked his truck horn and stuck his head out the window.
“You don’t have to worry about whales on this trip, granddad,” he teased, his green eyes flashing. Sean laughed until tears came to his eyes.
“No, lad, I guess not on this trip,” he admitted and turned to face the trail. The lad was definitely a Donoghue. He grinned thinking of cannibals, bears, Counts and Donoghues. This was going to be a good trip.

Impressum

Texte: Patricia C Hanan
Lektorat: Patricia C Hanan
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 25.09.2012

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