“CLINT! Clinton! Welcome home, boy!” She gave me the usual huge hug and a kiss on the cheek, and turned to Jodi. “And this must be your Jodi! Welcome t’ the Hollow, dear. Come on in, come on in, you’re just in time for dinner!”
Adam clapped me on the back. “Quite a looker!” he murmured in my ear. “What’s she see in you, Clint?”
I stuck my tongue out at him and crossed my eyes the way we used to when we were kids. “Maybe someday I’ll tell you my secret. After I’ve got her safely tied down with a ring!”
Adam chuckled at that. The girls have always loved Adam. Standing six foot four and built like Conan the Barbarian, with the best of Mamma’s softer rounded features tempering the edges and planes of the typical Slade face, he practically had to beat the girls off with a stick. I glanced towards my fiancée, to find that Mamma had taken charge of Jodi—well, as much as anyone can take charge of Jodi—and had her inside already.
I noticed that the gate had now rolled across the entrance to the Hollow, and heard the faint change in sound from the generators. Someone—probably Father—had engaged the electric fence.
Father was in the big family room when Adam and I got in, trailing behind everyone else. He gave me one of his usual nods. “Clint.”
“Father.” I gave him a hug, which he returned, then clasped hands for a moment.
“Been a while.”
“Sorry, Father. I try to keep in touch.”
He nodded. Not angry. Just quiet, as usual. Father didn’t talk much, thought a lot, and acted when he had to. He was actually a tad shorter than me, but built as solid as the rock of the mountain; Father didn’t have an ounce of fat on him but still outweighed me by about thirty pounds. Still, almost no one paid him mind when they first met him, on account of his being so quiet.
A booming laugh momentarily silenced everyone else. Grandpa Marlon was Father’s opposite—he filled a room with his voice and his figure, standing taller even than Adam, with snow-white hair hanging to his shoulders and a rough-hewn face that reminded almost everyone of Charlton Heston. Evangeline, all long dark hair and pale face, was in the corner curled up on the padded armchair as usual, reading and watching. I didn’t see Nellie or Helen, but that didn’t really surprise me. Helen was going to be married herself soon, so she was probably out, and Nellie was trying to match her stride for stride, so to speak. Jonah was staring a bit too much at Jodi, but I remembered being fourteen myself, and in her New York getup Jodi was a pretty stareable sight.
I looked at Father again. “Road was out, Father. Down near Snake Rock.”
His lips tightened. “Not the weather for slides.”
“My thought, too.”
“Fence is up. Don’t worry for now.” He looked at the dining room and started to head in that direction.
Mamma noticed. “Zeke! Ezekiel Slade! No one at the table yet!” Father stopped immediately; you didn’t trifle with Mamma’s directions. “Evangeline, could you be a treasure and help me set the table?” She noticed Jonah. “And stop standing around like a lump, Jonah Winston Slade! You and Adam go out and get Clint’s truck unpacked and get their things to their rooms.”
Jonah shook himself, looked at me enviously, and then nodded. “Yes, Mamma.”
Jodi followed them out. “Whoa, boys, there’s special equipment in there!”
Mamma seemed to think about protesting that she shouldn’t do any work, but thought better of it. This was the opening I’d been hoping for. I went with Mamma into the kitchen to help her with the food—as usual, there was enough to feed an army. “Mamma . . .” I said, letting a warning tone creep into my voice.
She blinked up at me. “Something wrong, Clint dear?”
“The road was out. And it wasn’t no landslide, neither.”
She busied herself with the roast.
“You told me there wasn’t any of that going on.”
“Well, dear . . .” she said, in the voice she used when she was trying to get around Father, ” . . . there wasn’t any of that when I told you then. Just seems to have started in the last couple of days.”