Many are the hearts that are weary tonight.
Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground by Walter Kittredge
He didn’t believe in bad luck in the same way that Hop Sing did, but his cook’s anguished words still echoed in his ears. The little man had exhausted himself helping to drag bodies up the muddied embankment and laying them out in rows with a nod of respect before turning for the next one. There was no guarantee that the people were even local as the floodwaters had hit the town without warning.
Ben rubbed at the deep ache in his shoulder as he sipped at the hot mug of coffee someone had shoved into his hands. He was beyond exhausted and the coffee was barely making a dent, but nothing would remove the ache that had settled in his chest. He heard footsteps behind him and he knew without turning that it was Hoss. Nobody walked quite the same way as his middle son.
“Sheriff’s identified the last one, Pa.”
Ben reached for another mug to pour his son a cup of coffee. He knew what was coming, but had prayed fervently that he was wrong. It didn’t matter who that child was – it was a tragedy, but he’d helped Martha Morris search for her brood hours earlier and there was still one not accounted for.
“The young’un was Sally Morris.”
Ben heard the despair in his son’s voice and read the distress on his face as he grasped at Hoss’ arm.
“We were too slow, Pa!”
“Hoss, we could not possibly save them all.”
Hoss hung his head as he scrubbed a hand through his hair. There were too many bodies that had now been moved over to the tiny schoolhouse for families to identify and he knew what his father said was true. Still, it didn’t do anything to shift the massive lump of guilt that clawed at his gut. Ogden would never look the same again. It may never recover from the flash flood that had claimed at least twelve of its citizens that they knew of and wiped out many of the smaller buildings.
“Where’s Joe’n Adam?”
Ben shifted and pushed himself to his feet, suddenly needing to find them. It was an irrational thought, but it had been too long since he’d seen his boys. Adam had been up by the railhead, trying to help drive out the corralled herds away from the rushing water while Joe had been ….. Ben felt his breath hitch as he suddenly realised he had no idea where Joe had been for the last few hours.
“Pa?” Hoss was on his feet as he saw the change on his father’s face.
“He was out with a couple of the hands, trying to warn people downstream.”
It would be another three hours before Ben had his family and crew all accounted for. He looked around at the exhausted, filthy men as they settled to sleep on the ground. A dark thought came to mind before sleep claimed him.
Many are the hearts that are weary tonight.
So fun to read through these again! (And some for the first time, it seems. 🤨) The range here is fantastic — it’s what’s so fun about the Pinecones, right? Trying out different things. Thx for posting, it was good remembering these!
Thanks for coming back to read them again. I have had so much fun writing these, trying to fit each prompt to a storyline so I’m glad others have enjoyed them.
Oh!! For the love of God!!! I am loving it!!!
But where is the sequence???
Excuse me, if I did not get it right, but my language is not English, is Portuguese!
I think I did not understand it very well…
Is this some sort of serial????
I need the sequence!!!
Hi Maria. This isn’t a serial. It’s a collection of Pinecone prompts that each stand alone. I hope that makes sense and I’m glad you enjoyed it even though I confused you.