CHAPTER TWO Luke

"Franklin just walked in!" I yelled, bursting through the doors to the kitchen.

Sister Mary Ellen straightened her apron, taking a quick look around the room at the other workers, making sure everyone was wearing appropriate clothing. I grabbed my younger brother David and buttoned his top button.

"What have I told you, David?" I hissed under my breath. "Never unbutton this."

"It's too tight on me, and it's hot back here," he complained.

I gripped his arms tightly and got directly in his face. "Never. Do you hear me?" He nodded and wiggled free. "Hurry to the cooler and stay inside until I come to get you," I instructed.

David shouldn't have been in the kitchen, or the bakery for that matter, so he did as I said while I nervously watched the swinging doors, waiting for Franklin to make his way to the kitchen. Knowing him and his twice daily rounds, he was most likely inspecting the dining area and the female workers up front before the backroom. I was wrong. He appeared seconds after I arrived to warn the others.

Thankfully, I wasn't caught ringing out the last customer in front because he would've come down on me hard. Men didn't do women's jobs as far as he was concerned, requiring the boys and men to slave over the ovens and stock the storerooms and coolers. The modestly dressed women were the face of the food businesses our community owned and operated, not the men. The men were at the gas stations and in manufacturing.

Franklin walked into the kitchen, and we all held our breath. We never knew what version of our most-esteemed elder we'd get with each visit. He was an imposing figure, strolling through businesses he viewed as his personal bank. We never questioned his spending habits or reasoning, even though no other members were allowed the same privileges he enjoyed.

The five of us in the kitchen, one hiding in the cooler per my demand, stood quietly as he walked around the large center table where the dough was kneaded and ingredients mixed. I spotted smeared butter on one corner that had not been wiped clean as he walked near the offense. Holding my breath, I exhaled slowly when he continued past, looking for something, someone.

"Where is David?" he asked, searching the room. No one spoke. "I'm asking all of you where is little David Oliver?" he repeated, expecting an answer. "I was told he was here."

"I sent him to get supplies in the cooler," I spoke, keeping my eyes locked on the floor. I knew better than to raise my eyes to him, especially now that I was nineteen, an adult man in our community, and a threat to his alpha position. "Can I get you anything, Father Franklin?" I asked.

He ignored my question and headed down the hallway toward the giant cooler at the end of it. Fear gripped my heart while panic raced through my veins. I reached for a large metal mixing bowl and threw it across the room. The noise reverberated throughout the kitchen and down the hallway, catching his attention.

"Who did that?" he demanded, turning on his heels and heading back to the center of the kitchen. We all remained silent. "It appears none of you are speaking this afternoon, so I'll make myself clear. Who dropped that mixing bowl?"

Sister Mary Ellen hurried toward the bowl, acting flustered and out of breath as she reached for it. "I tripped, Father," she lied, wiping her brow to support her confused state. "I've been clumsy all day, and I apologize."

David appeared out of nowhere behind Franklin and I caught his eye, shaking my head ever so slowly, and using my eyes to motion for him to return to the cooler, silently pleading with him to move away from where he stood.

"Be sure to be more careful," Franklin said, seeming unsure of what he'd been doing. He furrowed his brow and looked about, landing on me. "Oh yes, Luke. Where is your brother?" he asked.

"He was unwell, sir. I sent him to the cooler to help with what I fear is a fever." I willed my little brother to hide somewhere as I did one of the worst things a member could do to our leader; I lied. "Me and mother have been unwell this week, sir. I fear David has come down with the sickness as well."

Everyone in our community at Half Moon Ranch knew Franklin was a hypochondriac and was horrified by illness and germs. My only goal was to keep David as far away from Franklin as I could.

"Good decision, Luke," he commended. "Tell your mother I asked about her and your brother. Will you do that, boy?"

"Yes, of course, sir," I replied, stunned by his kindness.

"Back to work, everyone," Franklin urged. "And don't forget the all-family special meeting tonight in the main dining hall. Everyone's attendance is required." He looked back at me. "Except your family, Luke." So much for kindness.

None of us moved until Franklin stepped back into the dining area of the bakery. I ran to the cooler and instructed David to remain inside until I returned once I was sure Franklin had left the parking lot in his black Mercedes Benz.

"Go home," I said, holding David by his wrists outside the kitchen's walk-in cooler. "If you see Franklin's car in the compound, I want you to sneak around to the back of the dorms. Tell Mother I sent you home because you don't feel well."

"I feel fine," David remarked, trying to release his wrists from my control. I gripped tighter. "Ouch, Luke. That hurts," he whined.

"Then do exactly as I just said. I mean it too," I added. "No stopping anywhere. No messing around at the river, either. Straight home."

"You're always in my business, Luke. I don't like it," he complained.

"And guess what?" I asked, yanking on his chin to get him to focus on me. "I don't care what you like or don't like, little brother. I'm in charge of our family and you will do exactly what I say when I say it."

"Pa wouldn't have been so mean," he said. "You're mean to me all the time." I pulled him into me and crushed him with a bear hug. "Stop," he cried, barely able to get a breath out.

"I'm mean, because why?" I asked, squeezing even harder. David struggled, but I knew he liked the affection. "I asked you why I do these things," I growled in his ear.

"Because you love me and Ma," he finally said. I let go of him and he stepped back. "And because you're mean," he mouthed off, grinning.

"Come here," I whispered, holding my arms apart. He stepped into them and allowed me to snuggle him close. At thirteen, he'd become less inclined to his big brother's demonstrative love. "I love you and never want you to go anywhere alone with Franklin. Do you understand me? Never alone. Not ever. You got that?"

"I know, Luke. I heard you ten thousand times ago," he said. "But I don't understand why."

"That is not for you to be concerned with. I'm the boss and that is my main rule," I informed him. "You do as I say and I might be more relaxed with my other requirements."

"Like video games?" he asked. I narrowed my eyes threateningly toward him. "I know. I know," he added, understanding that his best friend Billy should not have access to a cell phone to play video games.

"Stay away from Billy's room as well," I added, feeling bad for being so harsh on a kid who was a raging pile of teen hormones. "In exchange, I'll do a chore or two of yours. How about that?"

That made him smile. "Like clean out the barns?" he asked, wriggling his eyes.

"Maybe," I kind of agreed. "Go straight home and tell Mother what I said, and yeah, maybe I will."

David did something he hadn't done in two years. He kissed me on the cheek. "Okay," he agreed, pulling something out of his trousers pocket. "And I took this from the cooler," he confessed, showing me a six-inch block of frozen cookie dough.

"David!" I admonished. "You cannot take things that don't belong to you. This kind of behavior is going to get you punished. Put it back."

"But…" he began.

"But nothing," I ordered. "Back to the cooler now."

"I don't like grown-up you," he stated. "Since Pa died, you've become so… so… boring," he finished.

"I'm glad you like me so much," I said, squeezing the back of his neck and guiding him back to the cooler. "Do it again and see what happens. Maybe I'll insist that Ma doubles your bible studies, huh? Or how about I tell her you've been subjected to evil temptations?"

"You wouldn't do that, would ya?" he asked, grudgingly opening the cooler door and heading for the rolling shelf that held trays of frozen dough. "I won't do it again."

David exited the cooler, and I walked him to the back door. "Straight home," I reminded him.

He hunched his shoulders and walked out the door. I waited until I saw him take a right turn on Thistle and start heading toward the compound. The kid would be the death of me, but I couldn't let Franklin get his hands on my little brother. I'd survived him thus far and would die to prevent the same thing from happening to David.

Who knew what our dear leader, a disciple of God, hand-chosen to guide his flock to the hereafter, was doing to other children in his biblical care? I didn't want to imagine.