Part Seven
Romeo and Juliet vs The Three Musketeers
"Are you going to listen or are you going to keep interrupting?" Scott asked, clearly exasperated at Johnny's constant barrage of questions.
"Aren't you the one who keeps sayin' I'll never learn anything if I don't ask questions?" Johnny asked innocently; batting his eye lashes, pleased to the core at the aggravation contorting his brother's face. He's getting that twitchy temple vein, just like the old man.
"Aren't you the one that says he knows everything he needs to know?" Scott retorted, tempted to take a swipe at his baby brother's head with the thick volume of Shakespeare's work.
"I know everything I need to know about the important stuff but this fluff you keep readin' to me sounds about as stupid as I've ever heard," Johnny shot back, crossing his arms over his chest in a huff.
"If you would stop interrupting me and just listen to the story, Brother, you might get more out of it and not have to keep asking questions," Scott replied to his annoying sibling, his lips pulled into a tight smile that showed his clenched teeth. "This is a tale of love, romance, and tragedy."
"Why can't you read The Three Musketeers again? I like that one better. There's all kinds of fightin' and plottin' in that one. This one is just some damn sissy story about some guy wantin' to marry a gal he can't because their parents are feudin'," Johnny complained, boredom and irritation pitching his voice close to a whine. "Besides, I don't even know what half them words mean anyway. Why can't they talk English like the rest of us?"
Scott paused and studied his brother for a moment. He was pretty proud of Johnny for doing so well with his confinement. "I'll tell you what, you lay there and listen quietly and when I come across a word that I think you might not know I'll replace it with one that you will understand, but we are not reading the Three Musketeers again!"
"Why did they use those kinds of words if people don't understand them?" Johnny asked, absent-mindedly picking at loose thread on his quilt.
Reaching across the bed to stop his little brother's restless fingers from destroying the stitching on his covers, Scott explained, "These stories were written back when those words were used all the time. That's the way people talked in that particular area in that era. I know some of the words don't make sense, Johnny, but the language was beautiful and if you would only give it a try I think you would enjoy how melodious the story sounds as I read it. That's mainly why I chose this book, but you have to work with me here, Boy," Scott suggested, emphasizing the last part of his little speech.
"I still wish you'd read The Three Musketeers," Johnny grumbled.
With a sigh, Scott continued to read to his little brother and things went along well for quite a while. Then the questions began again.
"So what you're sayin' is that their fathers didn't like each other and didn't want their kids to get married. Sounds like some kinda feud from Chad's part of the country. Stupid if you ask me," he proclaimed, thumping his chest with a slender forefinger. "And that Romeo and Juliet couple were stupid too. They could have just hitched up a team and gathered their stuff and took off. I don't see why they stuck around for all that feudin' anyway." He nodded his head as though agreeing with his own assessment of the situation. "Why do you suppose they didn't just do that, Scott? They weren't very smart were they?" Johnny was bored and the story was boring and he was getting tired of just laying in bed at the mercy of those around him who thought they were entertaining him.
Scott held his tongue knowing that Johnny was getting edgy from his captivity and therefore he decided not to lecture him for interrupting the story once again. With exaggerated patience he tried to answer his brother's questions while resisting the urge to choke him in the process. "I don't know what the two families were fighting about and back then children didn't just go running off when things didn't go their way."
Grinning at his older brother, Johnny asked, "You tryin' to tell me something?"
"Yes, I'm trying to tell you to lay back and hush so I can at least finish this chapter!" Scott reprimanded. He began to read once again hoping that Johnny would listen for just a few minutes before he began interrupting. It just wasn't to be, however.
"Scott?"
"Yes, John," Scott replied in perfect imitation of their father's voice when his patience was being stretched to the limit with his youngest.
It was obvious that Johnny was beginning to get to his older brother which was exactly what he wanted. He figured the only entertainment he was going to get out this whole mind numbing tale would be the rise he could get out of Scott since he was determined to read the story whether Johnny wanted to listen or not.
"You remember that guy Murdoch hired about six weeks ago? I think his name is Emory or something like that." Johnny's eyes twinkled, a dead giveaway he was up to something.
"Yes, I believe I remember the gentleman. What about him?" Scott asked, wondering what Emory Sinclaire had to do with Romeo and Juliet.
"Well he wanted to go out with Mayor Higg's daughter. Why, I will never understand since she looks like a mule and sounds like one every time she laughs," Johnny answered; rolling his eyes at the thought of her and Emory together. The thought of what the two of them would produce as children made him giggle suddenly.
"Johnny," Scott censored his brother. "We do not compare young ladies to mules."
"Well she does and you know it. Now let me finish," Johnny sassed, annoyed at being corrected by his brother.
"Excuse me, please continue," Scott returned; bowing from the waist as he sat in the chair.
"I was gonna ask you if that was the same as that Juliet and Romeo couple. I mean Mayor Higgs nearly about blew up when he found out she was seein' him on the sly." Johnny once again began laughing at the image of Mayor Higgs fussing and sputtering over his daughter's choice of beaus.
"I suppose. Emory doesn't have an objecting father and there isn't really a feud going on. The only real similarity is the Mayor's objection to his daughter associating with a common ranch hand," Scott reasoned.
"You say common ranch hand like it's a bad thing. We ain't nothin' but common ranch hands either." Johnny got a little defensive over his brother's referral to men he considered his friends.
"I didn't mean that the way you took it, Johnny. Of course I don't feel like the men are inferior to us or anyone. I am only pointing out that the Mayor feels differently and was probably hoping for a banker, doctor, or even a lawyer for his only daughter. You might feel the same way some day if you ever have a daughter of your own." Scott looked at his brother for a moment and the thought of his brother ever becoming a father was just an image he couldn't quite conjure up. Even if Johnny ever did manage to find a woman who could put up with him and produce a daughter for him, Scott realized that Johnny would never think any man, who was hard working and earned an honest dollar wouldn't be good enough for her. "I take that back. You would never feel that way about a man who works hard for a living."
"As long as you stay on the right side of the law and work hard and don't drink and hit women then you're ok in my opinion. Money don't always come easy to some folks like it does others. Getting a good education like some isn't always easy either," Johnny advised, his young face suddenly looking very serious.
It was more than Johnny usually shared on discussions of this sort but Scott knew it came from his heart. For a long moment Scott sat and watched his brother making the younger man a little uneasy. It was as if Scott was waiting for him to say something else.
"What?" Johnny demanded; squirming under his older brother's intense gaze.
"Anything else you want to discuss or are you ready for me to continue?" Scott asked. He had hoped the story would hold the same level of interest for his brother as it had him. Apparently it had missed its mark as Johnny was more restless now than before Scott had started reading.
Johnny could hear the frustration rising in his brother's voice and was pleased to see the little vein in his forehead had gone from twitching to protruding just like the one in his father's. Delighted at his success, he decided to push a little further. So for the next half hour, Johnny kept up a steady stream of questions and comments until at last he realized too late, he had gone just a little too far.
"That's it, little brother. I think it's time for your nap. I'm just going to tuck you in so you can rest peacefully." With his usual precise and careful movements, Scott began to tuck Johnny in the bed stretching the sheet and shoving the sides deep under the mattress on Johnny's right side.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Johnny asked a bit concerned when his older brother moved to the left side and began pulling the covers tight, tucking the sheets in just as deep.
As Scott continued his ministrations, he explained, "I think it's time for a nap, Johnny and I'm going to tuck you in nice and snug so you don't roll off the bed." By this time, Scott had managed to maneuver Johnny's arms under the covers pinning them down so the boy couldn't even move to scratch his nose.
"I can't move, Scott, and you know it." Johnny informed his brother rather hotly, twisting his head frantically from side to side on his pillow.
"You don't need to move. You need to close your eyes and your mouth and go to sleep. Have a nice rest, baby brother." With that Scott turned towards the door despite Johnny yelling after him to come back and release him.
"Didn't you hear me? I can't move my arms," Johnny pleaded.
Scott turned and smiled back at his brother just as he reached the door; he had the audacity to chuckle as he replied, "I know. Sleep well, boy." He exited with Johnny still yelling and went in search of some chores that would carry him away from the hacienda and the threats that were tinged with the colorful cussing that his brother was spouting in both English and Spanish.
tbc
