Ashes of the Red Heifer Read online

Look at me, please. There was so much she wanted to tell him: how she’d earned honors and graduated at the top of her class, how she’d had her pick of jobs. She knew the very latest findings in genetics and nutrition.

  But all she ached to share with him would have to stay locked inside her. “I need your cows to finish the research.”

  Finally, he looked up at her, his face like granite. “You won’t finish the job. You ran away from here and left me, thinking that without you, I couldn’t survive. But I fooled you, didn’t I? Now that I’m a success, you come slinking back and tell me it was all your doing. So now you expect me to believe you’re some big shot?”

  He was trying to hurt her and she wouldn’t let him. “I can’t fake my way into finding a vaccine for BA 23. When they announce that Dr. Ann Grant has discovered the cure, you’ll understand that you made a big mistake about me.”

  Her father’s lips curled back. “I’ve never been mistaken about you. You were rebellious and prideful from the cradle. The Lord knows I tried to bring you into line.”

  Through the years he’d washed away the good—all the understanding and closeness—and replaced it with memories of conflict that had never taken place. There was no way to fix their ruptured relationship. She needed cattle. Right now. And she needed them from her father or the Corporation would make things worse.

  Her father stepped back from the heifer and made his way to the gate, giving her a wide berth. He still didn’t look at her.

  Annie followed him out of the gate and waited while he closed it. “BA 23 isn’t an isolated plague in Israel alone. This could spread to you.”

  He walked down the dirt aisle of the barn, but he stopped and turned to face Annie, squarely meeting her eyes. His face had the stern look she knew so well. “It is told to us that in the end times there will be pestilence, disease, and all manner of hardships. If God is cleaning his house of the sinners, who are you to interfere?”

  “A merciful God would want you to do all you can for others. In this case, the people in the land of Israel. Not just Jews, but everyone there and the whole world.”

  His bushy eyebrows joined forces at the bridge of his nose. “What evil has Satan put you up to?”

  Annie’s hands clenched into painful knots. She wanted to cry for him to love her again. “I need to buy six heifers. I promise I’ll never come back. But there are very powerful men who want the cows from your bloodlines and I can’t predict what they’ll do to get them.”

  He stared at her with repugnance, as if she were a dwarf calf he planned on shooting. “I won’t aid the devil in his evil plans.”

  “Please, Dad. If you don’t cooperate they might hurt you or Mom, or even Lizabeth.”

  His expression chilled her. He strode to the barn door. Annie ran after him. “You’ve got to understand. They’ll kill you!”

  He grabbed the latch of the barn door and jerked it open, letting in the bright sun. The light caught in his hair and seemed to set his head on fire.

  David stood just outside the barn door, his body tensed.

  Her father growled. “Get off this place and never come back.”

  Annie followed him out the door, pleading. “Don’t do this!”

  Her father ignored her and kept walking toward the house.

  David stepped in front of Annie to stop her. “You’ve had your chance. Now it’s my turn.”

  She tried to shove David aside. “I’ve got to make him understand.”

  David covered the distance between himself and her father quickly. “Mr. Grant, if you love God and you believe in Jesus, you’d better listen.”

  Her father whirled around, his face red, his eyes burning. “How dare you even speak the Lord’s name? Judgment will fall heavily on you and you will burn forever.”

  David didn’t back down. “Listen, this may be God’s plan or not, but if you want to survive, you’re going to have to help us.”

  Annie tried to think of something to say.

  Her father’s face darkened. “Infidel! You stand here and use the Lord’s name to try and trick me into sinning.”

  The two men faced each other with animosity virulent enough to crackle in the air. “Dad, you have to listen to me. You’re in real danger.”

  They didn’t acknowledge she’d spoken.

  David stood silent for a second. He spoke in a quiet voice. “Whether you believe Jews are evil or not, for whatever reason, you’ve been chosen by this group to deliver the cattle. Don’t do this for the Jews or Israel, do it to save your family.”

  Her father’s nostrils flared and he spoke to Annie. “Adam and Eve weren’t the only Adamites the serpent wanted to beguile. They were simply the first. Don’t let them turn you away from your own father. Look under that devil’s kipa. You’ll see his horns.”

  David’s jaw clenched. “It’s okay, Annie. I’ve faced hatred like this before. I imagine we’ll hear it until the end times.”

  The color in Matthew’s face paled slightly. “I have no fear of the end times. True believers will be raptured and spared catastrophes. We’ll return as Christ’s priests in his Millennial Reign. And you, killers of Christ, will burn in eternal damnation.”

  David nodded his head. “That’s right. Jews are nothing but a doormat for Christians to be raptured.”

  Annie stepped forward. “Let us buy the heifers and we’ll be gone.”

  Her father stuck out his chin. “In your heathen ignorance, you think it will save you. But you’re damned with or without the Red Heifer.”

  Her father’s eyes flashed with the force of his passion. “I tell you now, Christ has done away with the need for the Red Heifer. He’s the perfect sacrifice. To return to old covenant rituals is to crucify Christ anew!”

  “Quit worrying about Jews, Dad. We’re talking about guns and killing.”

  When he yelled, spittle flew through the air, glinting in the afternoon sun. “New World Order! The goal of the Zionist Organizational Government! ZOG!”

  David’s face turned red. “The Jews don’t want to rule the world. We’d like to worship at our Temple, that’s all.”

  Her father panted as if he’d run a long distance. “You lie, like the son of Satan you are. You believe when the Temple is rebuilt, the Messiah will come. But you’re wrong.”

  Her father’s breath came faster and sweat beaded on his forehead. He inhaled long and deep, with great effort. He ignored Annie. “If your Messiah wants a red cow, he can get his own, because they aren’t coming from me.”

  Annie grabbed her father’s hand. “Think of Lizabeth.”

  Her father pulled away and spit in the sand at David’s feet. He began to chant as if warding off evil spirits. “‘…Jesus Christ our Lord suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day he rose again according to the scriptures and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father.’”

  David raised his voice for the first time. “Give us the heifers and you can bring about the destruction of Israel and the meeting of the AntiChrist and Jesus.”

  Sudden shock hit Matthew’s face and it froze, color draining from it. His eyes flew open. “Christ was the tenth Red Heifer. Is it any coincidence the red heifer sacrifice calls for cedar and hyssop and red thread? Jesus was sacrificed on a cross of cedar, given vinegar on hyssop and ridiculed with a robe of red. He cleanses those who are sprinkled with his living water and those that sacrificed him, the Hebrews, are forever cast out of the Kingdom and will never be clean.”

  David took a step forward, his voice rising slightly. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Her father made choking noises and his eyes bulged. His right hand slammed against his chest with a loud slap.

  Alarm jolted Annie to action. She rushed past David. “His heart!”

  Her father’s eyes squeezed shut and he clutched his chest. He let out a loud moan and dropped to his knees.

  Annie found herself beside him, helping him to the ground. She shouted at Moshe, “Bring the pickup. Hurry!”


  Annie tore at the buttons on his shirt and shouted at David. “Get Mom. See if he’s got any nitro pills.” She turned to her father and leaned close to his straining face. “It’s okay, Dad. Breathe slowly.”

  David finally started moving. “I’ll call an ambulance.”

  “It’ll take too long to get here from town. We’ll take the pickup.”

  Her father winced and moaned, his eyes closed. Annie patted her father’s pockets looking for a pill bottle. When she didn’t find one, she felt his neck for his pulse and found it weak and erratic.

  The pickup door slammed and the engine turned over. Then the porch door banged closed followed by her mother’s wailing. Before Moshe could get turned around and drive next to them, her mother ran to them, dropping in the gravel by Matthew’s still form.

  Her voice came out in a series of squeaks. “Oh God. Don’t take him from me. Lord. Oh, Lord.”

  Annie cupped her fingers around her mother’s face and forced her to look at her. “Does he have any pills, Mom? Any aspirin?”

  Her mother sat back and rubbed her hands together, little panicked noises escaping from her mouth. There was no time to get her mother to respond.

  Moshe pulled up next to Annie and jumped out of the pickup, running to her side.

  Annie reached under her father’s shoulders while she waited for Moshe to get his feet. “Mom, listen to me. We’re taking Dad to the hospital. Go get Lizabeth. Have her drive you to the hospital. Do you understand?”

  Her mother lifted a trembling hand to her mouth and turned red-rimmed eyes to Annie.

  Together she and Moshe lifted her father to the backseat. He looked gray and lay motionless.

  Her mother stood and moved away from the pickup, her eyes never leaving her husband.

  Annie squeezed in next to her father. He couldn’t die now. Moshe slammed her door shut and ran to the driver’s side. He jumped in and started the ignition.

  David raced from the house, a pill bottle in his hand. He wrenched open the driver’s door and said, “I’ll drive. You stay here and wait.”

  Moshe slid out and David jumped in. He tossed an aspirin bottle to Annie, put the pickup in gear and peeled out. “I’m sorry, Annie. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  Annie settled her father to lie in the seat and she knelt on the floor. “Just drive. Drive fast.”

  TWENTY

  It took an hour to drive the eighty miles to the hospital. The facility was little more than a clinic, but it served a hundred mile radius. If possible, patients were transferred to a larger hospital sixty miles west, but in emergencies, the staff did what they could.

  The nurse and doctor helped Annie and David load her father onto a stretcher and take him out of the warm sunshine into the too-cool artificial air of the hospital. Annie watched helplessly as they rushed him down the narrow corridor and through windowless swinging doors that crashed closed behind them. When she tried to follow, the nurse left Matthew’s stretcher and directed Annie to the small waiting room.

  The waiting room might have been cheery with one wall a bank of windows showing an empty field of waving prairie grass. Instead, it felt uncomfortable and cold, its chrome and vinyl benches and chairs arranged to view a television bracketed to a corner close to the ceiling. Reader’s Digest and Guideposts magazines shared a second-hand book shelf with a couple of jigsaw puzzles and a handful of picture books.

  Annie paced the small waiting room, her boots clacking on the waxed linoleum. David sat forward on a chair, resting his forearms on his knees, watching Annie as she moved from the door to the windows and back. It had been more than an hour since they’d wheeled away her father. Her insides felt as if she’d swallowed a shot of acid.

  Commotion in the hall signalled Lizabeth’s arrival. She hurried into the waiting room followed by her mother. Lizabeth’s face looked drawn, her eyes angry. “Where is he? I want to see him.”

  Annie shook her head.

  Her mother seemed to have shrunk in on herself. She didn’t make a sound as she crossed the room. She glanced once at Annie, a look of fear and anger swirled in her tear-filled eyes. Her mother huddled sideways in an olive green vinyl chair, her purse clutched in her lap. She kept her back to the room and stared out the window.

  Lizabeth pressed Annie. “Where is he? Haven’t they told you anything?”

  David stood up and walked behind Annie. It felt good to have his support. Her mother seemed so alone. Annie wanted to put her arms around her, but there didn’t seem to be any way to get through the wall. She tried to focus on Lizabeth. “He was breathing when we got here, but barely. His skin was the color of spoiled hamburger. I don’t know how he is. They took him through those doors and kicked me out. And so far, nothing.”

  Lizabeth put her hands on her hips and gave Annie a disgusted look. “You can leave now. We’re here.”

  “He’s my father, too. I’m not leaving. We’ve been here alone for the last hour.”

  Lizabeth lowered her eyes and glared at Annie. “Melvin was out checking windmills. We had to find a place in town to leave the kids.” She stopped and glared. “I don’t have to justify myself to you.”

  Annie didn’t want to fight. “I’m sorry. I’m worried; I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

  Melvin stomped in with heavy footsteps. He wore filthy denim overalls and a plaid western shirt with the sleeves cut out. Sweat rivulets ran down his weathered face and bald head. He took one look at Annie and scowled. He directed his words to Lizabeth. “Where’s he at? Let’s go see him. I got stuff to do before it gets dark.”

  Lizabeth turned from Annie and walked to Melvin. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on his mouth. “Annie won’t tell us where he is.”

  Annie felt like throwing up. She opened her mouth to snap at Lizabeth.

  David put his hand on her arm. “Let it go. Come on, I’ll buy you a soda.”

  David led her to a soda machine in the hall. He put in some change and a can rumbled to the opening. He popped open the top and handed it to Annie. She took a sip, but didn’t taste anything. The soda slithered down her throat and hit her stomach. “What if he dies?”

  David ran his hand along the back of her head, smoothing the braid. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t make him have a heart attack.”

  Annie had no words, just the flinty edge of self-reproach that scraped her heart.

  David dropped his hand. “Will you be all right for a second? I’ve got to find a bathroom.”

  She nodded, noticing she still held the cold can of soda. “I’m fine. I’ll stay here.”

  He gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

  Annie watched him walk away. She rested her forehead against the wall, closing her eyes and sending positive thoughts to her father—her form of prayer.

  “Don’t let that Jew-boy fool you. It is your fault. Make no mistake.” She hadn’t heard Melvin come up behind her.

  The sound of his voice was as abrupt as a slap. She wanted to ignore him. But she opened her eyes and rolled away from the wall. “What do you mean?”

  Melvin studied her from her face slowly to her feet, then back to her eyes. “Sixteen years in this family, I heard talk. I know how it was between you and Matthew. You were always his favorite and he doted on you. He spent all his time teaching you about the ranch, taking you with him. Everything for dear little Annie.”

  She wanted to punch the smirk off Melvin’s face. “It wasn’t like that.”

  He licked his lips and grinned, dirt in a ridge along his front teeth. “What were you and Matthew doing out there together all alone?”

  What scum he was. How could her father have chosen him for their family? “Only the sickest kind of mind would think that.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, it ain’t just me. I’m repeating what your very own sister and mother have to say. Why do you suppose he was so anxious to get you married off to a fine Christian fellow such as myself? I’m thinking i
t was to remove temptation from under his roof.”

  Lizabeth and her mother thought that, too? The foundation of Annie’s childhood crumbled beneath her. “You’re all fools. Dad never felt that way about me.”

  Melvin chuckled. “So you say. But the fact is you ran. You didn’t stick around to see what would happen to him. He was never the same after that. You broke him.”

  She wouldn’t take that responsibility. “That’s shit. After I left, the ranch hit it big time. You guys are more successful than you ever dreamed. Don’t tell me a broken man did that.”

  “You want the credit or the blame? He had these notebooks and he’d show me where you’d planned something and then he’d tell me how we were gonna get there. It was all for you and you weren’t even here.”

  Annie sank back to the wall and closed her eyes. How had this all gone so wrong? She should have been spending her life there, working alongside her father. The only obstacle had been her father’s god. He always tossed in his divine monkey wrench.

  Melvin’s voice reached icy fingers around her throat. “Don’t you dare flash teary eyes and say how sorry you are. That may work on Matthew, but it won’t get far with me. I want you to git your ass away…”

  David’s angry voice interrupted Melvin. “What the hell is going on here?”

  Annie opened her eyes to see David put a hand on Melvin’s chest and shove him. Melvin stumbled backward, but righted himself, stuck out his chest and balled his hands into fists. “Come on, Jew-boy. Let’s finish this.”

  Annie pushed herself from the wall.

  A dark-haired nurse in her twenties, wearing green scrubs burst through the swinging doors at the end of the hall. She scurried to the waiting room, her rubber soles squeaking on the spotless floor. Annie charged after the nurse, who made her way to Arlene.

  Lizabeth had been standing at the windows and she put a hand to her mouth, waiting to hear the news. Annie stopped in the middle of the room and held her breath. Her mother’s face looked like a plaster mask.

  The nurse smiled. “Mr. Grant is stabilized and alert and really anxious to talk to you. He’s tough as nails, as you probably know better than we do, and pretty darned stubborn. But he must love you a lot. He called out your name at times when he should’ve been completely out. The most amazing thing I ever saw.”