Tree, Spare that Woodman by Dave Dryfoos5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() "Why did you tell Richard to stay outside, just now?" she demanded. Watching compassionately, Naomi was suddenly struck by the matter-of-fact way Ted examined the body. Annoyed-while the old man pulled a blanket over his head, turned his round face to the wall, and died. She'd been annoyed when Cappy failed to show up with the present he'd promised Richard. ![]() But they'd been laughing and singing in their own cabin only a mile away, celebrating Richard's fifth birthday. She and Ted could at least have been with him, if they'd known. And to have let Cappy die alone, in this strange world. ![]() She'd walked over with son and husband, expecting nothing more shocking than an ostentatiously stolen kiss. Her mouth had been set for a sip of his home brew, her eyes had pictured the delight he'd take in and give to her little boy. To her little boy, Cappy was a combination Grandpa and Santa Claus to herself, a sort of newly met Old Beau. She'd come to call on a friend, she reminded herself, a beloved friend-round, white-haired, rosy-cheeked lonely because he'd recently become a widower. After all his wire-pulling to get into the First Group, and his slaving to make a farm on this alien planet, dead in bed! Naomi's mind circled frantically, contrasting her happy anticipations with this shocking actuality. ![]()
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