~~~
Ma gave a cry as I stumbled through the kitchen door with my burden. She swept the top of the work table free with one arm. As a bowl of rising bread and various tools clattered onto the floor, she demanded that I lay Pa down.
I put him atop the flour-dusted surface and stepped back to let my mother move to his side. Mud from the field flaked off his clothing. Dried blood thickened his hair.
"Sarah!" she screamed for my sister, but I moved to block the door when she rushed from the parlor in answer to our mother's call. I didn't want her anywhere near Pa before I could determine if she was complicit in the attack.
"I'll do this," I said to Sarah, and loudly enough for Ma's benefit, too.
Sarah frowned and tried to peer around me, but I put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at me. Upon seeing the fierce scowl I bent her way, she shrank back, taking in a quick breath.
"You stay away," I muttered at her. She backed up, looked at me again, and turned into the room, huddling into herself.
I closed the door, leaned against it for an instant, then pushed myself toward the table upon which lay my father. "What do you need, Ma?"
~~~
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