The Bennington Family

Mr. Bennington is a tall and burly man, clean shaven, always wears a paddy hat, has a strong Irish catholic demeanor, and believes in two things: God and family, in that order. During the day he works in the lead mines and after he finishes his shift returns home to spend time with his wife, Maggie, and his eldest son Richard, followed by James and the youngest is Daniel. On top of this, he spends quite a bit of time working in his cotton fields with his eldest boys, but he preferred to work in the garden, which he would say was his favorite chore, but if you were to ask the boys why he liked it then they would reply “because mom is there.” In the evenings, his favorite activity is to drink a single glass of Tennessee whiskey which he describes as the only kind of whiskey worth drinking and pairs it with a cigar, if he has one available.

This evening was one of those special ones, as he was sitting in silence on the front porch of his home enjoying the sunset with Richard. Father and son were taking delight in the colors of the evening and the shadows that were created by the setting sun while looking across the fields of white. A disturbance on the fields caught his attention, he saw two boys crossing at a fast pace. He recognized them as his son Danny and his friend Peter. Both Mr. Bennington and Richard sat in silence watching them run across the field, it seemed to them that Danny was helping Peter significantly. It didn’t surprise them since they were always running about and getting hurt frequently. Mrs. Bennington would always get annoyed with them because she was the one to clean them up and mend their wounds.

“Richard.” Said Mr. Bennington as he let the smoke out of his mouth. “Go help your brother.”

Richard got up and made his way towards his brother. He was a little taller than his father, had long legs and arms, lean but strong, with curly auburn hair. As he walks, his father notes that he does so with grace, doesn’t appear to be rushing, but he gained upon his brother quickly. Mr. Bennington notices that Richard is talking to them and suddenly turns around and runs back to the home.

As Richard approached the house he states “Father, Mr. Humphrey attacked Peter.”

Mr. Bennington takes a long draw of his cigar and lets it out before replying, “So you left Peter and Danny to help themselves back after I asked you to help them? Go back and I’ll talk to Peter.”

He watches as his son returns to the struggling younger boys. Richard picks up Peter and carried him back towards the house. “This is going to be a long night.” He thought. All Mr. Bennington wanted was to enjoy the little peace and quiet that is so rare these days, now he has to prepare a speech for the boys and brace for the tongue lashing from Maggie. “What did they do to pastor Humphrey? No, former pastor Humphrey.”

“Maggie.” He says as he opens the door of the house. “Looks like the boys have gotten themselves hurt again. Will you please bring the whiskey and the bandages?”

From deep inside the house there was a reply, “Lord Jesus this is not happening again. Why didn’t He bless me with a girl? No, I had to get another boy.” Quickened footsteps coming down the hall revealed a slender, short woman, with curly auburn hair. Based on her looks, there was no doubt that Richard was her son.

As she exited the front door, the boys were coming up the stairs, and she only said, “good thing I love you both or else you should have died with the plague long time ago. Let me look at what’s wrong with you this time.” As she grabs Peter to look him over.

She peers at the shoulder and gasps aloud. For the shirt itself was torn and ragged and soaked in blood. It looked as if the boy has been slashed with knives in multiple places. She pulls the boys into the house and towards the kitchen where there was better lighting. There she removed his shirt to see the wounds that were inflicted upon him. He had multiple deep cuts, four on the front of his shoulder and one on the back in symmetrical pattern, each cutting deep enough that it exposed the muscle under the skin.

“What on Earth happened here? And yes, Mr. Bennington, I did swear, and yes, I will be going to confession tomorrow for that.”

“Mrs. Bennington, I was at Mr. Humphreys hiding in his barn and something attacked me. We were playing a game and thought I would go there because no one would come looking for me there.” Replied Peter.

“Mom, he said that it was a scarecrow that attacked him, not Mr. Humphrey. I think Mr. Humphrey went crazy and attacked him.” Said Danny. “He even came to the edge of his farm to get him again. Something is wrong with him.”

Mrs. Bennington grabbed the whiskey and started to put it into the wounds of Peter. For each cut that he sustained she cleaned and closed each one. She used her sowing kit, that she normally used for fixing her husband and sons clothes, to suture Peter’s wounds. She knew it was painful for the young Peter, but all she could do was tell him to settle down and that the cows handled these types of things better than him.

“Good thing is,” she says, “that once I’m done with you then you can have a slice of chocolate cake that I just made. It was going to be a gift to your mother, but it seems like you could use a treat before James takes you home. He’s finishing some chores around the farm but should be back soon. Now, tell me about the rest of your day.”

Mr. Bennington sat in silence and listened as the boy told them the story. “We kept seeing him even when we got to your fields Papa!” As time passed, James returned, and the story repeated once more for him. At this, Mr. Bennington slowly got up and moved back to the front porch, returning to the activity that was interrupted, sipping the whiskey glass and smoking his cigar. He looks at the fields and for a moment he thinks that he sees another figure in the field, but just as fast as he saw it, it vanished from sight. “Just another trick of the shadows.” He says softly out loud. “Unless that Peter boy is telling the truth.”