The Divine Hunter

“Did you hear? A horse crashed into Moore’s kid.”

“Poor child. He’s only thirteen, isn’t he? I think he’s bedridden for life.”

“That’s old news. Roy’s woken up, but something’s wrong with his head. He keeps spacing out in the yard.”

The farmers on the field whispered about the tragedy that befell a boy named Roy. A burly man behind them quietly put his hoe down and clenched his fists. He was infuriated, frustrated, but also helpless.

The man was Moore, the one the farmers were talking about, and also Roy’s father. He was just a lowly peasant like everyone else, and he had toiled on the fields for half his life. He wasn’t handsome, capable, or rich. Nobody had wanted to marry him, until his wife had come along and done so despite his flaws. He was twenty-three then.

The couple had a child when they were twenty-five. In their time and age, most people were already parents when they were sixteen. Having a child at twenty-five meant they were behind their peers. They cared about Roy tremendously, and worried he might get hurt. Because of that, he seldom worked in the fields.