“Mr. Fogarty was real nice and helpful,” Thomas said. “I did not figure he would want to feel left out or helpless, so I let him go on and tidy up down here while I watched Joseph upstairs. That way, we were both helping while you rested.”
Rebekah draped her arm around her little brudder’s shoulder. “Is that the way of it then?”
“Yes. Mostly. I suppose I accidentally rested, too.” Thomas stared thoughtfully into the dark. “So, he also went on and fed the horse and cow and chickens, after he put the door back on. He said it was right genuine what you did to get Joseph moved inside.”
“Genuine?” Rebekah smiled. “Or ingenious?”
Thomas flashed her his trademark gap-toothed smile. “Yeah, that’s it. The second one.”
“Well, it sounds like he was very lucky that he was here to help you.” Rebekah gave his shoulders a squeeze. “I know that you are a blessing to me every day.”
“Really, schweister?”
“Jah. Really.”
Thomas sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “That really makes what I am about to have to tell you so much easier.”
Rebekah froze, the smile on her face would have fallen, but instead, it stayed plastered there, while she stared into the darkness and waited for the rest of Thomas’s spiel. “Oh?”
He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a tiny baby skunk.
Rebekah leaped backward, as much as her stiff muscles would allow. “Thomas…”
“Before you say no,” Thomas began, reaching into the other pocket. “There is one more.”
From that pocket, he produced another black and white baby, however, this one wore a mask.
“Thomas, really!” Rebekah scolded. “A baby skunk and a baby raccoon?”
“Sissy, it might be best to keep your voice down, just in case. I do not rightly know how old baby skunks are when they start spraying.”
Rebekah closed her eyes and tried to ignore her beating heart, which was beating faster and faster with each animal Thomas produced from his pocket. She thought back on the strange myriad of animals whose lives had been taken by the hailstorm, and then she knew at once where these infant babies had come from.
They were orphaned in the storm. She had seen their parents dead in the ice.
She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If you tell me you have a snake in there, I may just scream.”
Thomas’s face lit up. “Sissy, you are so smart! How did you know I caught a snake, too?”
Rebekah opened her mouth, but before any sound could come out, Thomas continued. “I went ahead and let him go, though. Little snakes are hard to keep ahold of and, really, I do not think they need that much parenting. And you are a good parent, Sissy. That is how come I knew I had to bring these babies home to you.”
“Bring them home?”
“Well,” Thomas continued, holding out the wad of baby raccoon to her, which she gingerly accepted, “they mostly were already home. They were under the porch. They were crying up a terrible storm, but you likely did not hear them since you were getting Joseph moved in and all.”
Something panged in Rebekah’s heart. Here she was, a sick fater, a sick mann, and mater to her sohn and mostly mater to her little brudder. She glanced down at the innocent little creature in her hand. It was curled up with its shiny black nose tucked between nimble little paws. She sighed. “Thomas.”
“Please Sissy, do not say no…”
“Thomas,” she said again, quieter this time. “Did you have these babies in your pocket the entire time you were sitting with Joseph?”
He nodded.
“And that is why you were so quiet and resting so soundly?”
“I expect so. I did not want to wake any of them up, you know.”
A tiny flicker of a smile crossed Rebekah’s lips. Before she could help it, the flicker grew into a full, fledged grin that barely contained a chuckle. “Oh Thomas, do you have any idea at all how hard the coming days and weeks will be?”
“Nope. I can sure say I do not really know anything about any of this.” He ran his thumb down the length of the sleeping baby skunk.
She stroked the tiny raccoon. It made a strange noise, like a kitten’s purr, only somehow cuter. “I suppose I do not know either. I only know it will be hard.”
“But I know what is right and what is wrong,” Thomas said. “And it felt wrong to leave orphaned babies to die. It was not their fault that their parents died in that ice storm.”
Thomas hung his head. “But if you think it is best to put them back under the porch…”
Rebekah clucked at the tiny raccoon, who responded by extending all her little fingers in a big stretch. “That is not what I was going to say. I was going to say it was incredibly good of you to take pity on little orphaned creatures. After all, God made them, too, did He not?”
“He did. He is really good at making cute young things, isn’t he, Sissy?”
She nodded. “Since these coming weeks are going to be hard anyway, a couple of extra little souls to take care of should not be impossible. Especially since they came to us from you doing the right thing and taking in the most helpless amongst us.”
“Does that mean you are proud of me?”
“Of course, it does.” Rebekah handed the tiny animal back to Thomas. “However, you have to be their primary caregiver. I will help you when I can, just like you will help me when you can. How does that sound?”
“Peachy!”
“Peachy?” Rebekah’s chuckle returned. “Where did you come up with such a silly word?”
“Well,” Thomas began, “Peaches are sweet, and everyone loves peaches. And, they have that neat little fuzz on them when they are just ripe enough to eat. So, I do not know, it made more sense in my mind before I said it.” He tucked his little animals into his pockets.
“I do that sometimes, too.” She reached and pulled shut the door. It did not boast even one little squeak. “So, in addition to taking care of your new little pack, will you be able to help me with Joseph and Dawson?”
“Yes.”
“How about running back to check on Ma and Pa from time to time?”
“I was already planning on doing that. After all, I am fast.”
“Of course. And you have all of your secret trails.”
“Yes, I do. And I cannot wait to introduce Ma to Blackie and Whitely.”
Rebekah wrinkled her nose as she steered them both toward the stairs. “Oh Thomas, surely you can come up with better names than that. How about we think on it and find just the perfect names for them.”
“How about Salt and Pepper?” Thomas looked thoughtful. “Or Stinky and Slinky?”
