The Emergency Fund

Crane dropped his glasses on the desk and massaged his eyelids. His math was screwed up; the two columns ought to be equal...but they weren't. He'd messed up something somewhere—just no telling when or what. Or how long it would take to figure out. He stretched his neck to release the tension and sighed in defeat.

A small, unexpected sound caused him to turn around. Evan fingered the brim of his Stetson and looked back sympathetically. Crane was surprised to see him in the house in the middle of the day, but grateful since it gave him an excuse to put off figuring out his bad math. "Hey. What're you doing here?"

Evan winced, "Sounds like the numbers aren't coming out the way you want."

"No, 'fraid not." Crane scratched his brow, observing his brother. Evan was delaying for some reason. "What's up?"

Evan fiddled with his hat a few more seconds and bit his lip. "Well, uh, how'd you pay for college?"

Crane blinked in surprise. "I thought you didn't want to go on to school."

"I don't."

"Then why are you asking?"

"Just wondering."

Crane lifted a brow in speculation. "It's not too late, you know, for either you or Daniel. I know you've skipped this year, but lots of kids take a year off after high school."

Evan breathed a laugh, "Crane, I'm not going to college. Except for the occasional rodeo, this is where I want to be. I'm a cowboy."

"Then what's going on? Ya need money for something else?"

Evan got serious again, "Ford wants to go."

Crane breathed deeply. "Yeah. No big surprise there." Ford was a junior in high school. "For sure?"

"I found the brochures in our room. He didn't leave 'em out, so he's not dropping hints. And he's not said anything." He paused and then, "When I came in the other night, I was out of clean socks. I found the brochures in his drawer when I went to borrow a pair." His slight shrug seemed to imply guilt over the invasion of Ford's privacy.

Crane washed his face with one hand—now who was delaying? But to answer Evan's question..."When I went, I had a couple of small scholarships, some grants, some loans. And we still had a little from Mom and Dad's life insurance."

Evan sucked air through his teeth, a sound of resignation. "None of that left."

"Not by a long shot."

"We gotta figure something out. Ford's like you. He's smart enough to really get something good outta college."

Crane looked at him wryly, "So are you. And Daniel. And Brian and Adam. And Guthrie."

Evan rolled his eyes. "Fine. Smart enough, maybe, but me, Daniel, and Brian...that's not us. You and Adam, Ford and Guthrie, you guys are the ones who go to college."

Crane shook his head in resignation. This was an old argument.

Evan looked down, "Well, can ya think about it? And don't mention it to Ford. He finds out, he'll dig in and say he don't want to go."

"Awfully stubborn when he wants to be."

"Yeah." Evan slapped his hat against his thigh and headed outside. Crane watched him leave and then turned back to the books. Now his mind wrestled another problem, one bigger and not as easily solved as balancing the accounts: how to come up with enough money to cover college expenses for Ford and probably Guthrie. Crane had hoped to have another year before they had to worry about it, but since Evan had brought it up...the quicker they figured out a plan, the longer they had to work it out.

SB4SB

That afternoon, Daniel looked at Evan stretching wire and glanced back to where they'd started after lunch. They got a lot done when they worked together, but they weren't really together today. Evan's mind was somewhere else. Nothing Daniel could put a finger on, but he knew Evan almost as well as himself. And he was chewing on something—had been for a couple of days. And it was time for him to spill. "What ya thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"It's something."

"You think you know me so well?"

"Well enough."

Evan went back to working the fence. Daniel kept hold of his end of the wire. He just had to wait for Evan to get around to talking.

After a while, "I already asked Crane."

"So it's a secret?"

Evan paused, "Not really. Just..."

"Ya don't have to tell me."

Evan moved to the next post. Daniel secured his end as the wire stretched between them, and then he moved on down the line.

"Ford wants to go to college. I asked Crane about the money."

Daniel blew out a long breath. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Do we need to worry about it already? He's only a junior."

"Thought it might take us a while to figure out. And I'm not sure how much college costs."

Daniel stapled the wire taut as Evan unrolled more from the spool. "Crane have any suggestions?"

Evan grunted as he picked up the strap and wire, pulling it tight. "Not really. He had scholarships and grants and loans and some money left over from Mom and Dad's life insurance."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Daniel moved past Evan to the next post. "Maybe we could raise the money somehow."

"How?"

Daniel shrugged, "Same way we always do. A little here, a little there."

Evan looked at him briefly. "We'd have to do it on the sly. Ford finds out, and he'll say he don't want to go. He finds out we're all working to save money for him, he'll stubborn up."

"He's a mule."

Evan grinned, "Wonder where he gets that?"

Daniel giggled. "When did you move into a glass house?"

"When it comes to stubbornness, I don't think any of us can talk. Hannah, neither."

Daniel just kept laughing. "So we won't tell him."

"Just save all this money and never mention why?"

"We can say we're saving it for something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I'll talk to Crane. We'll come up with something."

SB4SB

The next morning after Ford and Guthrie left for school, Crane called a family meeting. Adam and Hannah, Brian, Crane, Daniel, and Evan gathered in the living room.

"So, Evan brought up a problem yesterday, and we need to talk about it."

Adam, Hannah, and Brian still didn't know what was going on, and they looked at Evan.

"I found a bunch of college brochures in our room the other day."

Adam nodded. "Not surprising. Ford works hard on his grades."

Brian looked at the assembled family, "How're we gonna pay for that?"

Hannah spoke up, "We might also start thinking about Guthrie. I bet he'll want to go, too."

Crane nodded, "Yeah, I thought about that. And then Daniel and I talked last night. We think we ought to start saving now."

Hannah shook her head. "Ford'll never agree to that. He finds out we're doing something special for him, he'll refuse the money."

Crane agreed, "So we won't let him know what we're saving for. We'll start a special account and call it the 'Emergency Fund.'"

Brian rubbed his chin, "Where're we gonna find the money for this 'fund?'"

Crane shrugged. "Here and there. Where we always get money. If you win a bet, deposit the money in the 'Emergency Fund.' Daniel makes some extra money with the band; put it in the 'Emergency Fund.' Evan wins at a rodeo—in the 'Emergency Fund.' A bit here and there and it'll add up."

Adam pinched his lower lip in thought. "Starting this early should give us plenty of time to get the money together."

Hannah looked around, "Is there any reason why he couldn't try for scholarships and grants?"

Crane nodded, "Absolutely, he should. Hannah, you've always been good with him and school. Maybe you could ask if he's been thinking about it. Talk to the guidance counselor. Starting early will give him a better shot."

"I can do that."

Adam looked around, "So we've decided? We're gonna start putting whatever extra money we can scrounge into a new account at the bank and call it the 'Emergency Fund.'"

Brian objected, "Wait a minute. What if we actually have an emergency? I mean, we only have one or two catastrophes a week around here."

Crane's glare was withering. "Well, if we have to raid the 'Emergency Fund' for an actual emergency, we'll just have to replace the money. But from here on out, it's called the 'Emergency Fund' or the 'Emergency Account.' I'll get it set up at the bank."