McDaurn Family Farm

Lewis County, WA, USA

TIME/DATE STAMP ERROR

WARNING: SYSTEM DAMAGE

Colors danced in ribbons here and there in my vision as I was led into the dining room. My vision shimmered slightly as I looked at the table where over fifty sat to eat. The candles on the tables were surrounded by halos of light, and the chandelier, electric but with bulbs designed to look like flames, lit the whole room brightly. Silver dishes, chased with gold, covered the meal, but I could tell by the smell it was roast beef.

John and I were dressed in light cotton pants, with a homespun button up shirt of cotton. Black with red, the McDaurn colors. Our dogtags were outside of our shirts, gleaming silver after being polished by little girls who giggled to one another and spoke Gaelic to one another. Our faces had been washed, the same with our bodies, and our wounds treated. Our faces were bruised, cut and closed with butterfly bandages, but we looked a far sight better than we had any right too.

We docilely let ourselves be led over to the chairs on either side of an empty girl's chair. The chair between us was far more ornate than ours, with cushions on it. A circle at the top of the back held a carving of the V Corps patch, painted so that it was bright and new, in full color, the red looking like blood.

The boys, like us, kept our heads down, staring at our hands, which were in our laps. We were silent as the girls spoke of the day. The biggest news was that not only had I been returned to the fold, but our family would be providing Bomber a bride.

The main topic, however, was Nancy.

There was a chime an I looked up. The man next to Bomber, my cousin Ferrel, nudged Bomber with his elbow so that Bomber looked where we all we all were.

Nancy entered through the big double-door at the far end of the dining room. She was wearing Levi's, combat boots, a black T-shirt with the McDaurn family sigil silk-screened onto it, and a blue and black flannel that I recognized as being one of mine. She was flanked by two of the Matrons, Rionoch and Liadan, two of the most powerful sitting Matrons, second only to the Grand Matron, and that was debatable. One either side of the Matrons were two girls, one of which I recognized by her swollen mouth and split lip.

"Kelly Nancy Nagle, the McDaurn family recognizes you as one of our own, whether or not you choose Aodan as your boy." Aunt Liadan said, her voice filling the dining hall. "You have shown great wisdom, and your advice on how to bend both of these boys to our will has shown your loyalty to the McDaurn family and mercy toward your boys." She chuckled. "You have a seat at this table, now and forever."

"Does anyone here object?" Matron Rionoch asked, her eyes sweeping the table. I put my head down and Bomber did the same. There was silence for a long moment before Matron Rionoch spoke something I had not expected. "Matron Regina? Any complaints?" There was silence. "No? You were so vocal behind her back, do you not have something to say to her face? About her? About her boys?" Silence. "So nothing you want to say to her, how did you put it? Ah, yes, to 'her scarred up face'?"

There was silence for a moment.

"Yeah, didn't think so, you sour bellied, shallow pussied, dry titted old plotter." Nancy sneered. "Any time you want to face me, Regina, I'll be glad to carve out your dusty womb and make your daughters eat it."

Nancy moved over and sat down between John and I, young boys pulling out her chair for her and then pushing her up to the table. She wiggled slightly and then relaxed in the chair, reaching down to pet one of the dogs that came up and bumped her hand with its nose.

Younger boys dished everyone up according to the instructions of the girls. I noticed that Regina only allowed her husband a few strips of beef and two scoops of potatoes with no gravy.

Someone was out of favor.

"Is there something you want, Regina, or are you just staring with jealousy at my tits?" Nagle asked suddenly. There was dead silence as all conversation at the table ceased suddenly. Matron Regina didn't say anything and a little girl tittered. "You keep staring at me, Regina, and I'm gonna take one of your fucking eyes." She toyed her fork in her buttered and salted mashed potatoes as she spoke, her eyes sparkling with malice, her smile cruel, and the scar on her face a livid crimson.

There was the slam of a palm against the table.

"You little bitch, don't you threaten my..." her husband started.

Nancy flipped her fork in her hand and threw it. It whipped across the table, a streak of silver to my tea-addled eyes, and intersected with Aunt Regina's husband's face. He screamed, his hands going to his face, and blood and watery goop squirted from his eye socket.

"It's kelly, stupid boy." Nancy growled, reaching over and taking my fork. When she looked me in the face I saw her pupils were still dilated and her eyes slightly dreamy. "If your girl won't discipline you, I will."

Regina's husband was having his hands pulled away from his face by two of his sons and Regina herself. The fork tines were completely buried in his eye, and I could see butter and mashed potatoes on the end of the fork.

There were no screams, only light tittering from of the younger girls at the sight of a boy being disciplined and the outright laughter form several of the Matrons. Regina's sons helped their father from the dining room as he moaned and held his hand over the ruined eye.

"We normally prefer a girl discipline a boy in private, or request that boy's girl to discipline her, kelly Nancy." Grand Matron Aoibheann said softly, her voice full of amusement.

"She had no right!" Matron Regina tried.

"I had every right." Nancy snapped back, reaching out and taking Bomber's and my hands in hers. "These are my boys, yet you see fit to run around behind me, hiding behind the other Matron's skirts, spreading lies and vile gossip about my boys?" She lifted my hand. "My Aodan is not yours to speak of, Regina." She lifted Bomber's hand. "My Sean is not yours to speak of."

"They are not yet yours." Regina snarled.

"Kelly." Nancy said, letting go of our hands.

"What?"

"Kelly. My title is kelly, Regina." Nancy's hand moved to the sharp knife beside her plate. I noticed it the one she usually kept behind her back, a deadly knife she had bought at the PX and carried with her since spring. "Say it, Regina." She hefted the knife.

"Are you going to let this stand, Grand Matron Aoibheann? Are you going to let this girl threaten me?" Regina shouted in outrage.

Nancy waited, just staring at Regina.

"You give her insult, Regina." Grand Matron Aoibheann said, sipping at a glass of water I knew was drawn from the well by hand.

"She does not use my rank!"

"She is a kelly, and does not have to."

"Then why should I use hers?"

"Because if you don't, I'll fucking slit your throat." Nancy growled.

"That is one reason." Grand Matron Aoibheann chuckled.

"I don't have to take this insult." Regina said, pushing her chair back.

"If you get up from the table, Regina, kelly Nancy may choose to teach you a lesson in respect." Matron Liadan laughed.

"Damn right I'll teach her a lesson." Nancy agreed. "Get up, Regina, my boy told me how you lied about what happened at the airport to cover up the fact you wet yourself, and how you treated him because of that. Get up, and let us discuss your treatment of my little Aodan."

There were more titters from the little girls. Regina paled and sat down, starting to glare at Nancy then staring down at her lap.

"Good choice, Regina." Nancy laughed, using the blade of her knife to scoop up some of her mashed potatoes. "I'd have no problem carving up those shrivelled breasts of yours to remind you that you'll never be a kelly and never be able to tell any of my daughters or sons what to do."

"Enough, kelly Nancy, let us return to your meal." Grand Matron Aoibheann said softly.

Nancy bowed her head. "Yes, Grand Matron." She said, her voice as dreamy as her eyes.

We continued eating after that. Once in a while Nancy would tell Bomber, who she had taken to calling Sean (Gaelic for John), and me to feed her by hand. She would often lean over to kiss our cheeks, or blow gently in our ear, or murmur that we were her boys, that we belonged to her, in our ears. Regina finished, but when she went to get up, Nancy's attention was suddenly focused on her, her hand going to the Gerber that she had used to eat her potatoes and her peas with. Matron Regina sat back down and picked at a second plate of desert.

Her husband came back, moving shakily, an eyepatch over his eye. Nancy had been murmuring that I was her boy now and forever in my ear when she suddenly changed what she was saying.

"I was aiming at that old bitch and missed. Guess I got lucky, Ant." she breathed. Then she raised her voice a bit. "My strong boy, I can't wait till you put a baby in my belly." The last was loud enough that if one of the aunts or Matrons strained, they might hear it.

"Kelly Nancy took my husband's eye, Grand Matron Aoibheann. Am I to just let that stand?" Regina cried out after looking under the patch.

All eyes turned to the Grand Matron, who simply sat still for a moment, her thin and frail body looking like a half mummified body inside of her black dress. Just when it seemed that she would ignore the question, her frail and ancient voice whispered out.

"Well, kelly Nancy, should it be allowed to stand?"

Nancy glared at Regina from across the table. "Regina has been poisoning everyone against my boy Aodan, she has lied about him to cover up her shame that when her blood needed to be thick she wet her panties, and she is disrespectful to me."

"She isn't even a McDaurn." Regina protested.

"Yet I have said she is." Grand Matron Aoibheann said softly. "She passed the tests, she has sworn blood fealty, and we of the Elder Matrons have determined that no matter to which womb she was born, she is a McDaurn."

"She has shown us scars, told us tales of blood and cold that ring loudly with the truth." One of my aunts, aunt Carson said. Regina looked at Aunt Carson in sudden fear, remembering she was the eldest kelly, a woman who had survived the Bataan Death March. "I approved of her blood."

Regina looked trapped. She was not high ranking among the matrons, and her allies were few thanks to her abusive nature and the bullying nature of her sons. Even her own daughters could not be counted on siding with her.

She had a lot in common with Martha.

"Run, Regina." Nancy said softly, waving her hand as she'd seen some of the other Matrons do. The young boys behind her chair pulled it back. "Run before I mark you to remind everyone who sees you that a kelly is to be respected."

Regina's chair went backwards as the old woman stood up suddenly and hurried from the dining room to Nancy's mocking laughter.

Westlin sat down in Regina's chair, wearing a white dress and blouse, her hair done up and makeup on her face. She smoothed her dress, then looked around at everyone else.

"This looks like something out of medieval epic." She observed. She looked at the glasses, all of them etched and chased. "All of this wealth, concentrated here. How many hundreds, thousands, of boys have been forced to give a large portion of their pay to these women? And for what, so they can eat off of imported china, drink out of gold chased glasses, and cover themselves in silk?" She snorted. "No wonder so many wives dive into this, with this kind of wealth, what kind of power do these matrons wield through the boys of this family?"

I stayed silent and she smiled. "You're still Aodan, aren't you?" She stuck her finger in the gravy on the plate and then sucked on her finger. "That won't last long. You broke free before, you will again."

One of the younger boys set a plate with a large slice of peach pie on it in front of Nancy. I noticed the odd coloration at the same time as Nancy, who pulled aside the crust with her fork and stared at Grand Matron Aoibheann.

"Blood, kelly." Aunt Carson said. She lifted the top crust of her own to show ribbons of crimson through her pie also. "A proper desert for kellys, young one."

Nancy nodded and scooped out some of the bloody pie with her fork before taking a big bite. She chewed slowly, then smiled before smiling. "That's really good."

There was tittering from the younger girls, and a throaty chuckle from Aunt Carson and the two other kellys at the table.

"Kelly Nagle, once dinner is finished, we shall retire to the Grand Hall." Grand Matron Aoibheann's voice was still ancient and whispery. "There we will present you with possible brides for young Sean."

Nancy smiled. "Thank you, Grand Matron."

"We have taken your requests into account, kelly Nagle." One of the Elder Matrons stated slowly, her voice raspy and phlegmy. "All of the potential brides meet with your standards."

"Thank you, Elder Matron Maille." Nancy answered. She squeezed Bomber's hand. "Did you hear that, Sean? We will choose you a good bride that Aodan and I can share with you. We can swell her belly, and any child of that belly will be mine." She laughed and took another bite from the almost vanished cobbler. "Some soft farm girl with nice big soft breasts and a fat deep little peach."

Bomber nodded slowly in agreement, his eyes glazed and pupils dilated.

"Have you decided on your proper name, or would you prefer to remain with the name your birth parents gave you?" Grand Matron Aoibheann asked.

Nancy looked up and smiled, the scar down the side of her face a deep purple. "I have, Grand Matron."

"Uh-oh." Westlin said from Regina's chair.

"And what would it be?"

"Kelly Maitilde." Nancy said.

"Battle-Maiden." Grand Matron Aoibheann said the name slowly, savoring it. "Fitting, kelly, fitting." The Grand Matron tapped the silver spoon against the side of the crystal glass full of water to get the attention of those at the table.

"From here on out, kelly Nancy Nagle will be known to us as kelly Maitilde McDaurn."

Nancy blushed as the gathered women at the table murmured their approval.

"Let us go pick young Sean a bride that meets your approval." Grand Matron Aoibheann said.

"By your command, Grand Matron." Nagle said.

Bomber and I followed docilely after.