"What do you mean he isn't here?" Adam asked. He was clearly angry.

"He isn't home yet." Crane said shrugging his shoulders.

"Carol, at the bank said she had to get someone to cover her because basketball was cancelled, again." Adam studied Crane closely. "Wait, a second, what do you know?"

"Adam." Crane said. "What happened to brother solidarity?"

"I'm your brother too, and I outrank Danny. What's going on?" Adam asked.

"I don't know. I just know he isn't on the basketball team, and hasn't been since before Thanksgiving."

"Before Thanksgiving! He went in to "practice" twice during vacation! What the hell's going on?" Crane shrugged.

"I don't know. He's tired all the time, and gets up every single day super early to do his chores. When's the last time you heard us playing together? His guitar is covered in dust." Crane said clearly hurt that his little brother had not confided in him.

"Yeah. Hey, I'm sorry, Crane. I'm not angry with you. I just . . . you should have told me."

"I guess." Crane shrugged. "I don't know what's going on, honest, I don't."

***7***

He counted the money again. He had $215.00, which was pretty impressive for an eleven year old, but pretty sad when you consider it was nearly six weeks worth of wages. He'd saved every single penny. He counted it again, and then tucked it back into the bottom of his backpack.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Mr. Carter said. "I have a Christmas bonus for you! Here's a pie from the wife, and an extra $10. Mike's leg's better, so you know I won't be needing you any more, but anytime I need an extra hand. I'm calling you. You are a really steady worker. You clearly take after your old man, Danny. He'd be really proud of the work you did."

"Thanks." He said softly, surprised by the tears that sprang to his eyes. "Thanks a lot."

He made his way slowly home realizing he was late and there wasn't much he could do about it. It was also going to be impossible to explain the pie. It was a beautiful pecan pie, and hating to waste it, he sat on rock and ate about half. He really wished he had a gallon of milk to go along with it. He left the pie tin behind, and headed home, all the way working on an excuse for being late.

***7***

He knew he was in trouble when he saw both Adam and Brian waiting for him on the porch.

"Sorry, I'm late." He said as he climbed the porch stairs. "Practice was . . ."

"Cancelled." Adam said sharply cutting him off. "Cancelled for the third day in a row."

Uh, oh. Daniel thought.

"Adam, I . . ." He hung his head.

"Upstairs." His older brother said angrily. "I'm not near calm enough to talk to you Daniel Robert! Go!"

He sighed and slowly made his way past his brothers, and then sprinted up the steps, throwing himself on his bed. Still tired from his early morning and long day, he fell asleep without meaning too.

"Hey!" Adam nudged him. "Wake up, Danny. We need to talk."

He sat up surprised he'd fallen asleep and rubbing his face with his hand, sat up. Brian sat on Crane's bed, and Adam sat down in the desk chair.

"Where you been going after school Danny?" Brian asked.

"I can't tell you." He said softly.

"I'm sorry? What did you say?" Adam was furious.

"I can't tell you, well, I mean I don't want to. I haven't been doing anything bad. It's personal, and I don't want to talk about it. Today was the last day anyway."

"Daniel," Adam rose up out of the chair and loomed over him. "You better start talking."

"No." He said simply, and watched the vein on the side of Adam's neck bulge, his face red with anger.

"You talk to him!" He said turning to Brian throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"Danny, you lied to us about basketball. That isn't right. That's not how you've been raised." Brian said calmly.

"You are right. I shouldn't have done that, but I needed to be able to . . . I didn't want any questions. Look, I don't want you to know about this, at least not now. It isn't anything bad. I wouldn't do something bad. I have responsibilities too and take them really seriously. In this whole time, have I missed my chores?" He looked up at his older brothers.

"That isn't the point, Danny. I need to know where you are all the time. It is my responsibility to make sure you are safe. You are my responsibility." Adam said still furious.

"Yeah, but I'm not a baby like Guthrie. It ended today. You will know where I am all the time, but I'm not telling you about it. You can't make me talk." He crossed his arms and sat silently.

"He's right, Adam. If he doesn't want to talk we can't really make him." Brian said.

"Oh, we can make him talk." Adam said. "I can tan his backside until he . . ." He sat back down completely frustrated. "Why do you have to be so difficult? Why? Daniel, I swear!" He put his head in hand. "Damn, I miss Mom! She'd make you talk!" Adam choked on a sudden sob.

Danny rose and went to his brother. "I'm sorry, Adam. I am." He put his hand on Adam's shoulder and in spite of his anger, Adam, put his arm around his younger brother.

"It's over?" Adam asked.

"Yes, sir." Danny said looking into Adam's eyes.

"It wasn't anything bad? You weren't in trouble at school?" Adam asked.

"If I were in trouble at school, they would've called you." Danny pointed out.

"That's true. They just love calling me!" Adam said. He put both his hands on his little brother's shoulders. "I'm still mad. You shouldn't lie to us, Danny. I need to know I can trust you."

"I know, but this . . . this thing I was doing is important. I had to decide if it was important enough to lie, and I think it is. But I could be wrong about that. I'm not sure. You are all I got, and I would hate to wreck things so that you don't . . . you don't . . ." He looked down at a loss for words.

"Hey partner," Brian said. "You can't wreck things so bad that you haven't got us anymore."

"Yeah, we aren't going anywhere." Adam said seriously.

"Unless some car crosses over that line." Danny said softly, and both his brother's faces grew white.

"That's not gonna happen." Adam said his voice very soft.

"You don't know that. No one knows that." Danny said studying them.

"Hey, Danny, I'm not leaving you. I'm not." Adam said all anger gone. "And neither is Brian, okay?"

"I know you'd never leave me on purpose." Danny conceded.

"Okay. I'm gonna leave this alone for now, but you are telling me what you did. I'll give you some time. And you got extra chores for lying about basketball. If you ever are off someplace without telling us again. It won't end in a hug like this, you understand me?"

"Yes, Dad." Danny said.

"Boy, you shouldn't press your luck." Brian said shaking a finger at him.

"Go on and eat some dinner, alright. Brian made something brown tonight." Adam said with a grin.

They watched their little brother head slowly downstairs. Adam looked over at Brian who stood looking at him.

"What do you think?" Adam asked.

"Hell, if I know. He seems okay. I guess, we could ask around. This town's got enough busybodies to tell us what the boys have been doing. Just yesterday Mrs. Adderton asked me if Ford's hand was okay because she was afraid he'd hurt it climbing up her apple trees."

"Nice!" Adam said. "Nothing like veiled complaints wrapped in "concern"." He shook his head. "I don't know. Seems like we should make 'em talk. But he's right. If he doesn't want to, I'll never be able to make him. That boy is stubborn as fifty mules." Adam rose sighing.

"You talking about yourself or him?" Brian asked as they stepped out of the room.

"I was talking about you." Adam said giving his younger brother a shove.

***7***

"Aw! Damnit all to hell!" Brian yelled frustrated.

"Seriously, Bri! You are gonna wake them up and then they are gonna learn that Santa is dead and their brothers curse over their presents." Adam said.

"Have you seen these directions? Have you? 'Insert clamp AA into slot BB, wrap C around CC hook to DD.' I swear to God I am not making this up! I hate these goddam toys!" Brian fell onto the couch exasperated, plastic parts falling around him.

"Wanna switch jobs?" Adam asked. He was trying to clear a space for everyone to sit around the Christmas tree. "Seriously, I just found a ham sandwich in Ford's backpack. At least I think it was ham."

"That's what that smell was! It's been driving me nuts for a week now."

Adam methodically worked his way through the pile of backpacks and nearly staggered backwards when he pulled Crane's gym socks and PE uniform from his backpack.

"I thought you bought him some deodorant?" Adam said tossing it into the ever huge laundry pile.

"Let's switch jobs. I cannot for the life of me figure this damn thing out." Brian said from behind him.

"Alright," Adam said studying the mound of laundry. He turned to tackle the toys that Brian was desperately trying to assemble. "Why couldn't God give us just one sister? I mean think about it. She could probably manage all of this. Or is that sexist? I think maybe it is. I just can't seem to figure out a way to keep this place clean. Mom always managed it. The house never smelled like dirty socks."

"Mom never slept." Brian said lifting another backpack. "I thought we told them to put these in their closets?"

"Oh, we did." Adam said. "Brian! You got parts from two different toys!" He shook his head at his brother.

"Hey, Adam," Brian said ignoring him.

"What?" Adam asked looking at the pieces in his hand. "Ta da!" He said fastening the two parts together. "Check it out! I am the king!" He crowed triumphantly and then looked over at Brian who was staring at a notebook in his hands.

"What is it?" Adam asked setting aside the toy parts, and coming to where Brian stood. "I can't manage any drama right now, I can't." It was their third Christmas without their parents and so far they had managed to keep everything together. Adam kept his own crying to himself, and had managed to guide most of his little brothers through their own spasms of grief. It looked like they might be able to have the boys wake up in the morning, see their presents and eat a feast without any running off, hiding, or sobbing. At least that was what he hoped.

"It's Danny's. It's a to-do list." Brian said softly, handing it to Adam.

"Oh, man!" Adam said looking at the list:

Goal: Make sure Evan, Ford and Guthrie have a great Christmas and still believe in Santa

1. Find out what they want for Christmas.

2. Figure out a way to make sure they get it.

3. Make sure they know it is from Santa.

"Well, I feel like a jerk for chewing him out the other day." Adam said sitting back down on the couch.

"Yeah." Brian said. "Do you think he pulled it off?"

"What did their lists say? Do you remember?" Adam said.

"Evan asked for a new saddle." Brian said. "I remember that because there's no way in hell we can afford one."

"He would have had to find a way to get some money." He looked at Brian thoughtfully. "Jesus, Brian, do you think he managed to get a job?"

"He was gone every afternoon, and always came home worn out." Brian considered. "Who'd hire an eleven year old? Especially without talking to us first. I don't know. What should we do?"

"Well, if he did manage it, and he's hoping to make them think it's from Santa, he's got to put it under the tree."

"Yeah, so what are you thinking?" Brian asked his brother.

"I say you and I are gonna sit up tonight and see if we can't catch Santa Claus." Adam said with a grin.

"Just like old times, then." Brian said laughing.

"Let's hope we are more successful this time around." Adam said returning the notebook to Daniel's backpack. "Come on help me put this glorious plastic crap together."

"Sure honey." Brian said with a grin. "But you are buying me a beer first."