CHOICES
Guthrie McFadden knew darned well that he had no business being where he was at the moment. At thirteen however, a boy just had to push some boundaries now and then. Besides, his peers enjoyed torturing him by calling him a goodie goodie. Guthrie hated it. Even though his older brothers filled him with praise for doing the right thing all the time, it didn't exactly balance out the torment he would feel at school when the other guys his age tormented him and called him a sissy. It was bad enough that he was the only boy in school that didn't like to hunt. He had a soft spot for the beautiful animals that others killed for sport. All of his brothers hunted too, though the McFaddens obeyed the hunting seasons and hunted strictly to put meat on the table, meat that he felt obliged to consume, though it still didn't set right with him to hunt an animal down and kill it. So when his friends from school taunted him about refusing to go into the old mine shaft with them, Guthrie felt so alone and so lame.
Big brother Adam had told him over and over again that the numerous mine shafts that littered the countryside in Carbon County were off limits to him. They were off limits to all the McFadden boys, no matter what age. Guthrie knew why, too and had tried to tell his friends about the dangers of going into a mine. He reminded them of what had happened to his brother Daniel last year after the collapse of the Howling Man Mine. Guthrie shuddered remembering back to how his family almost lost his older brother to a brain injury. He too reminded his friends of how he himself, along with Jenny Barrett and his brothers Evan and Ford had been trapped in that mine for two days and how awful it had been. But all they had done is laugh and call him chicken.
"You're such a baby, Guth." Geez, this mine has never collapsed. It's not as big as Howling Man, but if we hear rumbling, we have plenty of time to get out." Billy Jeffries taunted. "And my brother Joey has spelunked in this mine lots of time...with your brother Daniel, as a matter of fact." Billy added.
"Yeah," Alex Carter chimed in. "Your brother Daniel ain't never been scared to go into a mine. Besides, he wouldn't have got hurt at all if you guys would've followed him out instead of lagging behind and goofing off. Jenny told me all about it." Alex said haughtily.
"You weren't there! You don't know jack about anything!" Guthrie exclaimed, feeling his hands forming into fists at his side. Guthrie knew that Billy and Alex were just bored and were looking for something to do. He himself loved a good adventure. But it seemed like every time he went out seeking a little fun, one of his brothers...or Hannah, had something negative to say about it.
"I promised my brothers... all of them, that I wouldn't mess around in these mines anymore. Besides, I've been in this silly old mine before with Eddie. There's nothin' in there that I ain't seen lots of times already." Guthrie continued.
"Alright, alright. Then prove you're not scared. Just go in with us this once and then we'll leave you alone about it, McFadden." Billy said.
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"Where the heck is Guthrie?" Evan grumbled when Daniel entered the barn.
"I dunno? Off being thirteen I guess." Daniel replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why?" he then asked Evan.
"Cause he was supposed to be here an hour ago. It's his turn to muck out the stables!" Evan replied, his tone full of agitation.
"So, let's muck out the stables for him." Daniel offered.
"No way. I'm not doing his work on top of my own!" Evan complained.
"Come on. What's it gonna hurt you? Don't you remember being thirteen? When we were his age, Brian and Crane covered for us all the time. They kept us out of a heap of trouble with Dad remember?" Daniel said.
"Yeah, well I have a problem covering for the little pip squeak that tells on me every time I come in late from a date." Evan complained.
"Oh, come on. Grow up, would you?" Daniel said with a smirk.
"That's just it. I am grown, but Adam still expects me to be in at a certain time. I mean, I'm finished with high school now and besides, when you were my age, you didn't have any curfews. You used to come in at three in the morning and Adam didn't say anything about it." Evan said with his voice laced with hostility.
"Oh, he gave me a hard time. Don't kid yourself. But at least I was out late because I was working... and getting paid. Plus, I still got up on time and did my job every day, and I still do." Daniel corrected.
"Only because Crane has your back. He makes sure you don't oversleep. Ford doesn't extend me the same courtesy." Evan growled.
"Hey, don't hate me for having the better roommate!" Daniel said with his silly high-pitched laugh. "You should have trained him better, like I did!" He said, still laughing out loud.
"Well, I don't get you man. You have all the sympathy in the world for Guthrie, but none for me." Evan said.
"Hey, I have sympathy for you. I've been there, done that and have the tshirt to prove it. But, I'm not your keeper. You're a grown up now, remember?"
Daniel replied. "Now stop with the sour grapes and grab a shovel. It won't take us twenty minutes if we knock it out together. Adam won't know the difference." Daniel said, punching his younger brother in the arm.
"Alright." Evan grumbled. "But this is the last time I cover for him, unless he starts showing me some loyalty."
Daniel rolled his eyes, picked up two shovels and pitched one to Evan.
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"Hannah, Have you seen Guthrie?" Adam said as he entered the living room from the porch.
Hannah turned to her husband and smiled sweetly. "It's nice to see you too, sweetheart!" She said coyly.
"I'm sorry, hon." Adam replied, reaching out to kiss his wife. "That boy has gotten into a bad habit of coming home late from school without bothering to let any of us know where he's going...or who he's with, for that matter." Adam replied, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.
"I know, Adam. But he's a good kid. He rarely ever gets into trouble." Hannah replied in a soft tone, hoping it would calm her agitated husband's tone down a bit.
"Honey, I know he's a good kid, but I'm not too thrilled with his choice of friends these days." That Carter boy is lacking common sense and that other kid Billy is even worse! Daniel used to hang out with his older brother and I never knew what those two were up too. And I'll tell ya, it was usually no good. I must have talked myself blue in the face with Joey's dad a thousand times and all he ever had to say was boys will be boys, Adam. Let 'em have a little fun." Adam complained.
"Adam, Guthrie is smart. He has enough common sense for all three of them. I'm not sayin' that you don't have every right to worry and I know Guthrie is in the wrong here. He should check in with us, so I do think we should have a talk with him." Hannah said before Adam cut her off.
"You're darned right we're gonna have a talk with him. I don't have time to go off looking for him day after day. He knows how much work there is to do around here." Adam replied as he walked over and sat down at his desk and began sorting through the papers stacked neatly there as Crane had left them earlier. "I don't have time to talk about it anymore. I told Crane I'd go over these bills before supper. But Guthrie had better be here before we sit down to eat, or he's gonna be grounded for two weeks." Adam said matter of factly.
"I'm sure he will, honey. But just remember that I said we need to talk to him, not yell at him. We have to remember to give him a chance to explain himself before we condemn him, alright?" Hannah said as she walked over to rub Adam's shoulders. She leaned over and whispered softly in his ear.
"You know you tend to judge before you hear their testimony, right? And you promised me you would work on that, remember?" Hannah said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, planting a soft kiss just above Adam's ear.
"Yeah, I remember, honey. That's why I love you so much. You keep me in line." He replied as he pulled her in so that he could kiss her on the lips.
He sighed, then let her go, succumbing to the pleasure of Hannah's impromptu back rub. He didn't enjoy feeling as old as he felt right now. His younger brothers had effectively made an old man of him. He was even starting to find gray hairs in his head and he wasn't even thirty years old. He sighed again, thinking of how he had another five years before his youngest brother would be eighteen. He pondered whether or not he'd even have any hair left in his head by then, be it grey or brown.