Injustice III
Chapter 2

Copyright© 2017 by Uncle Jim

“Let’s go out on the front porch,” Thad suggested, before adding, “Bring that jug, Nick.” On the front porch, the jug was passed around a couple of times before Angus started questioning me.

“What can you tell me about Miss Calisa?” he asked, as Nick and Thad passed the jug several more times. I explained how I had met her through Jill and about the attack on her house, her move here with us, and her desire to return to her house. I also mentioned how she had changed after being alone for five months.

“Yes, I can understand that, especially if she was physically unable to leave the house,” Angus told me.

“Does she have a husband or other attachment?’ he asked.

“No, she is divorced. She has a cat for a companion,” I told him.

“My Sister always had a cat, but I haven’t been able to even look at one since she passed, as it reminds me too much of my dear Sister,” he told me in a sad choked up voice.

Nick and Thad were still passing the jug, and offered Angus and me some, but we passed on it to discuss what I had last been studying at his house. After a time, we noticed that Nick and Thad were having trouble with the jug, and Angus used a spell to remove it from their hands. On checking it, he discovered that it was well past half empty, and it was the fortified cider that I had sampled at Nick’s house back in the summer.

“There is a spell to sober them up. I’ll use it on them. They won’t be happy about that, but they don’t want to appear to be drunk at the meal,” Angus told me and cast the spell. I had studied it at his house, but had never thought that I would need to use it, especially here. I knew better now.

Both men threw up after Angus cast the spell, but a quick cleaning spell took care of things.

“What did you do that for?” Nick demanded angrily.

“You don’t want to be drunk for Thanksgiving dinner,” Angus told him in a kind voice.

“If your heads start to bother you, let me know, and I’ll use the hangover spell to help you out,” I told them as they grinned guiltily. Thad put the jugs in the basement when we went inside.

The first visitor to arrive was a man named Frank Reid who was Melany’s suitor. He is a thin man about 5’-9’’ or so tall with dark blond hair and hazel eyes. He is one of the O’Donnell Cousins, and lived in Franklin where he owned a shoe store. He seemed like a pleasant enough fellow and had a minor Talent. He was well known to the O’Donnells, and had arrived just past noontime. Melany managed to break loose from the kitchen for a short time and came out to see him. She gave him a very exuberant kiss.

He was followed about a half hour later by Roderick and Patrick, Thad’s Sons. They had brought some of their younger children who immediately took off for the kitchen to get some of Grandmother O’Donnell’s cookies. The Brothers both knew Frank, and they talked about a number of things.

Thad’s Daughters arrived shortly after 1300 hrs. with several of their younger children, but didn’t stay long, as they were still preparing their own Thanksgiving meals at home. Their children also went to get some of Grandmother’s cookies.

Thad had introduced the men to all of them since we were out in the parlor. His Daughters also met the visiting women when they went to the kitchen to see their Mother during their brief visit.

The meal was served at 1400 hrs. in the large dining room. Uncle Thad said grace before the meal started, giving thanks for the many things that had gone well that year. There was turkey, ham, mashed potatoes with two kinds of gravy, several kinds of vegetables, and pie for desert. Tea and water were the only drinks served. The clean up following the meal went very quickly, since all of the cooks knew Magic, and Jill had shared with them a number of spells that she had learned during our studies. It took longer to put the leftovers away than to clean the dishes, pots, and pans.

Most of the men watched football on the TV in the large parlor, while the ladies talked in the small parlor. The exception was Angus and Calisa. He had managed to sit next to her during the meal, and they had talked quietly together for a long time following it. I was quite surprised, as he had seemed less than anxious to be away from his house for long when initially invited to the dinner. Jill had noticed this also.

“They seem very interested in something,” she remarked to me in a whisper.

“Yes, they do,” I admitted.

“We’re going out to the barn to check on my cat,” Calisa told all of us just after 1630 hrs. before she and Angus left for the barn. It was still warm out as it had gone up to a bit over sixty degrees here today according to the large dial thermometer out on the porch. They were out there for some time before returning with not one but two cats. Uncle Thad was a bit upset, as he had a very firm no cats in the house rule. Angus just smiled at him, and he subsided with just a frown.

“Muffie came right up to me and rubbed up against me when we entered the barn,” Calisa told us with a huge smile.

“This other cat seems to have adopted me,” Angus told us holding up a young cat that was white with rusty colored stripes. “I haven’t been able to look at a cat since my Sister passed away, but this one seems very attracted to me,” he added in a warm voice.

“Take him or her home if you want, we have plenty of cats,” Aunt Grania told him.

“Thank you, I believe that I will,” he told her with a smile.

“We need to feed them,” Calisa insisted following that.

“Not in the house. Take them out on the back porch,” Thad insisted.

“There are scraps in the refrigerator. They can have part of them,” Aunt Grania told them, and they left to feed the cats.

“Angus seems very happy,” Nick commented after the two of them were out of hearing.

“Yes, he was always somewhat sad when we were there studying Magic, though he did his best to hide it,” Jill remarked.

By the time 1730 hrs. rolled around, the sun had set, and Nick looked anxiously out the front windows.

“Maybe we should be getting home,” he said and looked over at Kaera for conformation.

“Yes, I believe you are right, dear,” she agreed, as both of them rose.

“Its been really good to have you here, Nick,” Thad told his old teacher, as they shook hands and slapped each other on the back. Aunt Grania and several of the other women came over and gave Kaera a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“What about Angus?” she asked, as they donned their coats.

“I’ll return him home after they have finished feeding the cats. It won’t be a problem,” I assured her.

When I returned to the farm from taking Nick and Kaera home, the cats had been fed, and Angus was in the small parlor talking to Calisa. They both seemed very happy the way they laughed and giggled during their conversation. I was glad to see this as both of them had spent a lot of time alone, and could use a friend. The two cats were in there with them and playing together. Jill smiled on seeing them when she joined me a few minutes later.

“Should we interrupt them?” she asked.

“I’m not sure how anxious Angus is to return home now. Perhaps I should ask him.”

“Yes, ask him but don’t push him into anything,” she agreed, just before we entered the room.

“Oh, you’re back,” Angus said in surprise on noticing us, but I knew that he could have detected my Talent when I returned. It was an indication of how absorbed he had been talking to Calisa.

“Yes, we were wondering if you would be staying the night?” I told him.

“Uncle Thad has plenty of rooms,” Jill assured him. Angus looked somewhat embarrassed on hearing this, as he turned back to Calisa.

“Calisa, it has been amazing meeting you, and I have enjoyed your company and talking to you tremendously. Also thank you for returning me to the enjoyment of having a cat again. I deeply appreciate it. However, I must return to my house and the books on Magic stored there. Will I see you again?” he asked.

“Nick invited us to his house for Christmas,” I told him before Calisa could answer.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yes, Kaera brought it up when I returned them home. We could pick up Calisa and bring her along also,” I told him.

“Would that be all right with you, my dear?” Angus asked in a quiet voice, almost like a teen asking a girl out for the first time. Calisa blushed big time on hearing him.

“Yes, I would be very pleased to see you on Christmas, Angus,” she replied.

“We’ll pick you up on Christmas morning, if that’s all right,” Jill told them.

“Yes, Nick will want to attend church for Midnight services,” Angus agreed.

“Yes, anytime is good for me. Will Kaera need help preparing the meal? I could help on Christmas Eve if she does,” Calisa told us.

“I’ll be helping Kaera prepare the meal,” Jill assured her. There was silence for a short time following that.

“I’ll be out in the hall when you are ready, Angus,” I told him, taking Jill by the hand and moving out of the parlor to allow them to say goodbye to each other.

Angus emerged a few minutes later with the cat that appeared to have adopted him. I had his coat ready for him, and he donned it before placing the cat in one of its large pockets. I could feel him use a small spell to calm the cat before we left the house. I transferred us to his house outside of Union City from the field in front of Thad’s house.

It was much colder there when we appeared on his front porch, than it had been at Nicks in Sneedville just a short time ago. It also appeared to have snowed again, as the snow appeared to be deeper around the shell.

“Max, thank you for the invitation to Thanksgiving dinner. Thank you also for having Calisa there. She is the most interesting person that I have met in some time. I will work on your transfer spell and see how far I can move with it. Thank you for that also,” he told me in an appreciative voice.

“Angus, for all of the Magic that you taught me, I should be the one thanking you. I’m glad that you have found someone who interests you. I’ll pick you up on Christmas Morning at 10:00, if that’s okay,” I told him.

“Certainly,” he agreed before transferring inside with the cat still in his coat pocket. I returned to Thad’s farm, for the better weather and warm parlor there.

On appearing in the field in front of the house, I found that the temperature had already dropped significantly, and there was a fine drizzle falling. I hurried inside to find Jill waiting for me. Calisa was nowhere in sight and neither was her cat.

“Everything taken care of?” she asked as I entered.

“Yes, Angus is home in his house. It appears to have snowed more there,” I told her with a smile. “The temperature here has dropped considerably,” I added.

Even though it was winter, and there were no crops to tend, the O’Donnells still went to bed early, but they didn’t rise quite as early as during the remainder of the year. The heat for the house was automatically turned down early as well. Jill and I washed up before going to bed and spent a very enjoyable night close together under the thick blanket and quilt on our bed.

Friday morning we were up a little later than the O’Donnells, so the house had begun to warm up. We had planned to go to Charleston that day to get Jill’s SUV since Boston didn’t appear to be a good place for pickups. We were therefore shocked when we heard on the morning news that the Boston area had received some three feet of snow overnight and more was expected. In fact, it had snowed all over New England and as far south as Trenton and Philadelphia, though they received only a few inches of snow.

“Well, there goes the idea of driving up to Boston next week,” I told Jill after the news broadcast was over.

“Yes, those northeasters can be brutal,” she agreed. “So what else is there to do?” she asked.

“Besides watching the weather report, not a lot,” I told her in a disappointed voice.

“We still need to get the SUV checked out, but I guess there is no rush now,” she said.

“We should probably check on your house and Melany’s. We may need to turn off the water. The residual from that storm will undoubtedly work its way south at some point,” I reminded her.

“Yes, we should check on the houses in any event. Neither of them have been weatherized for cold weather,” she agreed.

“I should get back to check on my house also,” Calisa told us, as she too had heard the weather report.

“Is it just me, or does it seem awfully early for that much snow, even in Boston?” Thad asked.

“It seems that Boston and the rest of New England have set record snow fall readings the last couple of years,” Jill told us.

“They are welcome to it. We get enough cold weather here to satisfy us. We don’t need their weather or snow,” Thad told us in an assertive voice.

We took Calisa and Muffie home later that morning. Her house while cool had the heat on, just set low. Jill’s house and Melany’s didn’t have the heat on, so we turned off the water coming into the house and opened the spigots through out the house so the water in the pipes wouldn’t burst them if it froze.

We also checked the area around all three houses, to find that they were all under surveillance. We weren’t sure who the observers worked for, but didn’t feel it necessary to question them. Let them watch, they wouldn’t see a lot. We also checked the area where Jill had her SUV stored, but there wasn’t anyone watching it. We returned to the farm following that.

Saturday was a very forgetful day except for two things. The first was the weather report. Boston and New England had received even more snow with temperatures in the low teens for most of the day. It had also been down in the upper teens last night here, but no rain or snow.

The second was a piece on the news that evening. Don Palladino’s funeral had taken place that day in Elizabeth N.J. One of those interviewed by a reporter following the burial was Don Giuffrida.

“Mr. Giuffrida, it has been rumored that it was the DeCavalcante Family who ordered the hit on Don Palladino. Do you have a comment on that?” the reporter asked when he approached the Don, as he left the burial sight in the cemetery. The Don smiled into the camera and moved up to the mike the reporter was holding.

“While it’s true that Mr. Palladino was a business competitor, and we aren’t sorry to see the reduction in competition, no one should die the way he did. It was a terrible thing, and the media should have been more discrete in their coverage of the event.

“However, let me state categorically that the DeCavalcante Family, and its associates, had absolutely no connection to this tragic event. I understand from several sources that the police believe it was the work of some fellow from the south, I think they said from Atlanta,” he finished.

“So you know nothing about who is responsible for this?” the reporter asked, trying to extend the interview.

“No, nothing. Now you must excuse me, I need to speak to the widow Palladino,” the Don told him, as he moved away from the reporter and the cameraman. The video clip ended there, as the Don’s two bodyguards blocked the camera’s view and the reporter’s microphone from further questions.

“It would appear that ‘Johnny Tin Ear’ is as good as his word,” Jill said after seeing the interview.

“You know that fellow?” Thad asked, as he had been watching the news program with us.

“Yes, we met him once for dinner but didn’t remain to eat. He arranged for us to see where Palladino had his operations set up, but that was all. He couldn’t afford to be involved in my revenge,” I told him.

Sunday we went to church in Aquone with the O’Donnells. The people there smiled to see us back with them. That afternoon, several people came by the house to visit and see what new spells might be available. While I didn’t have any new ones to sell or trade, it gave me the idea of setting up Magic classes for the O’Donnells and any of their neighbors who wanted to attend. I brought the idea up to Thad that evening. He was receptive if a little doubtful that most of his neighbors had strong enough Talents to get anything out of the classes. We finished up the turkey and the ham from Thanksgiving that evening also.

 
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