The Grove by John Rector Page B

looked up at him and nodded. “OK,” I said. “I’ll be there.”
    “Good,” he said. “It won’t be bad, I promise.”
    I followed him out to the porch.
    “Have you tried to get your tractor out of there yet?”
    “I’m working on it.”
    “My offer still stands. If I bring that winch by we’ll have it out in a couple minutes.”
    “Thanks, but I’ll manage.”
    Greg shrugged and walked down the steps toward his cruiser. He stopped halfway and looked out toward the grove.
    “What’s all that about?”
    I followed his gaze but I didn’t see anything unusual. “What do you mean?”
    “All those crows.”
    I looked again, and at first I still didn’t see anything. Then there they were, hundreds of them, black shapes lifting into the air then dropping down again like ash.
    How had I not seen them before?
    “I wonder what they’ve found.”
    I bit down on the insides of my cheeks. “I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t been out in while. Sort of lost interest.”
    Greg looked back at me and nodded. “I guess I can understand that. You’ve had a rough one.”
    I glanced over at the grove and the crows.
    “Those pills helping?” he asked.
    I made myself look away. “It takes a while for them to kick in.”
    “Well, it’s a start, right?”
    I raised a hand in the air. “I’ll see you on Saturday.”
    Greg waved back, then got in his cruiser and backed down the driveway to the road.
    I waited on the porch until he was gone, then hurried inside, grabbed the broom from the kitchen closet, and ran out the back door and through the field to the grove.
    Halfway there, I heard Jessica screaming.

CHAPTER 22
     
    The crows covered the ground around Jessica’s body like a fire. I ran in, swinging the broom and shouting.
    They scattered.
    I watched as they settled in the field and among the branches of the cottonwoods, encircling us, then looked down at the body. I felt something twinge inside.
    She looked the same.
    They’d been all over her, but there was no damage.
    It didn’t make sense.
    When I was a kid, I’d once come across a flock of crows tearing apart a small deer that’d been killed on the road beside my farm. I remembered seeing them come away with long red slivers of flesh hanging from their black beaks, one after the other.
    They’d eaten through the deer in an afternoon.
    But here, no damage at all?
    I felt the twinge again, and this time I pushed it out of my mind. We were lucky, that was all.
    I heard Jessica come up behind me.
    “It could’ve been a lot worse,” I said.
    She didn’t speak. She moved up slow, and when she saw the body she turned away, hysterical.
    I tried to calm her, but nothing I said did any good. In the end, I stood behind her and let her cry. After a while I put my hand against her back.
    “They’re gone. It’s OK now.”
    She didn’t answer.
    I looked up and saw the dark shapes in the trees, black eyes staring back. I’d never seen so many birds in one place.
    No damage at all?
    I turned back to Jessica and said, “What can I do?”
    “There’s nothing you can do.” She spoke through tears. “They’ll just come back once you leave.”
    She was right. Now that they knew she was here, they wouldn’t leave. I was surprised they hadn’t arrived sooner. Maybe they had.
    I looked up at the trees and said, “Then I won’t leave. I’ll stay out here with you. I’ll even sleep out here if you want.” I motioned toward the house. “I’ll have to go get a few things, but then I’ll come back and I’ll stay.”
    She came closer until she was right in front of me, then looked up and said, “You’d stay out here?”
    “I would.”
    “What if someone comes to the house? What if—”
    I stopped her. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” I said. “I’ll protect you. I promise.”
    Jessica stood for a moment, staring into my eyes; then she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips against mine.
    Her skin felt as warm and smooth