CHAPTER 2
Mary Jo dozed on the back of Ol' Ned as he plodded down the narrow dirt road. Even the mule seemed bored with his exercise routine. Every day they traveled up the road two and a half miles - careful to stay shy of the Hudson place – and back again to the barn. They used to travel the road in the opposite direction, even though it came to an end in less than a mile. From that point they entered the serene beauty of Pa's 80-acre wilderness behind the house. But that was before Jim Bob died in a car wreck - before the forest was invaded. Now at the point where the road ended, ATV trails sprawled out like the legs of a spider, and two legged animals spun a web of evil deeds. Pa never was one to run people off of his land - not that he was home long enough to protest. The poachers were bad enough, but there were worse goings on in those hills of late. If Pa knew, he never let on. Maybe he thought it was safer for his family if he feigned ignorance.
She sighed. If the land was only hers…but it wasn't, and nothing was going to change as long as Pa was the only one earning money. Clarksville was only thirty miles to the south, but it might as well be a thousand for someone without a vehicle. Her only alternative was to move to Clarksville and get an apartment close enough so that she could walk to work. Of course, that would mean leaving Ma all alone on the mountain with Billy Ray while Pa was away for weeks at a time. Ma didn’t seem to mind. She liked the isolation – maybe mostly because Billy Ray was developmentally delayed. He was the third child, and the issue was something called the Rh factor. Mary Jo didn’t completely understand, but it was something about conflicting blood types. Ma was Rh negative and Pa was Rh positive. Billy Ray was Rh positive. Apparently it was rare to have such a severe case and they didn’t catch it because Ma didn’t go to the doctor during pregnancy. The hospital should have caught it, but they had Ma’s blood type recorded wrong. Pa was a carpenter and he traveled to where the jobs were. He barely made enough to put food on the table. Insurance was a luxury they couldn’t afford. That was the case when Ma was a kid and broke her leg. They didn't know it was broken. They just took care of her the best they could. Now she walked with a limp.