All my lies are always wishes.
Ashes Of American Flags (by Wilco)
Roy leaned his chin on his hand and looked sternly at the trio of dirty boys in front of him. It took all of his self-control not to laugh or at least allow a smile to grace his face. The biggest one shuffled from one foot to the other and stared at the floor. Roy could hear the odd sniffle as Hoss tried valiantly to keep himself in check.
The one in the middle hadn't said a whole lot, either to defend himself or to offer any kind of support for the other two. As Roy looked at his torn shirt, Roy knew that Sarah Devlin would be giving her boy a good clip around the ear. The Devlins were holding their own on their small ranch, but money was hard to come by and new shirts for recalcitrant little boys took coin that should have been spent elsewhere.
The one on the end was an interesting mix of defiance and despair. Little Joe was trying his best to look contrite, but Roy knew the boy was just itching to say something. He knew that the laugh he was barely holding back wouldn't stay put for long if the boy opened his mouth. He was covered from head to toe in mud and looked like something the cat might have dragged in, but changed its mind and left outside.
Hoss was trying in vain to make eye contact with his little brother. Probably to shut him up and stop him incriminating them all, if Roy knew anything about it.
Roy decided to take pity on the older boy and he waved a hand towards him. Let him get his story out first before either of the younger boys had a chance to invent something better.
"Now, Hoss … suppose you tell me just what in the world got into you boys to think that this was a good idea?"
Hoss shuffled again and tried to shrink into the floor. Pa was gonna kill him!
"Well … it's umm … it was …" Hoss finally dared to look up and saw the sheriff's badge and quickly dropped his gaze to the floor again.
Little Joe seized the moment and jumped to his brother's defence. "It wasn't Hoss's fault! Honest! He didn't know we wasn't …"
"Wasn't what?" Roy leaned forward and waited.
Little Joe swallowed hard and Roy could have sworn he saw the boy's thoughts jumping around as he grasped for an answer.
Roy frowned as he knew that Ben had been having trouble with the boy ever since his mama's death and lying seemed to be becoming a problem. Problem was, Joe didn't seem to think it was lying. Or a problem.
"Now, son … no lyin' to a lawman!"
"All my lies are always …"
"Always, what?"
"All my lies are always … wishes. Only sometimes what I wish for don't happen the right way."
"Like whatever hair-brained plan got you all covered in mud?"
"Yessir!" Hoss groaned.