"Beaver! Lumpy's here to see you!"
At the sound of his father's voice floating into his room, Beaver froze in terror. He was more a-scared than he'd ever been in his life. He stared at the open door, unable to move, or even look at his older brother.
"What in the heck is Lumpy coming over here to see you for?" Wally asked.
Beaver hated crying in front of Wally. He just hated it. But it was all getting to be too much. And before he knew it, tears were streaming down his cheeks. He turned around, daringly looking Wally in the eye.
"Hey Beaver, what's wrong with you?"
"Please don't make me go down there, Wally! Please!" Beaver cried.
"But Dad wants you too! And you know Dad; he'll be real sore if you don't do what he says."
Beaver also knew that whatever punishment his father gave him wouldn't be half as bad as a pounding from Lumpy Rutherford.
"Please don't make me do it! I don't wanna see Lumpy! Please, Wally!" Beaver was crying harder now, forgetting about how any embarrassment his childish behavior might look to his brother. And to his surprise, Wally hugged him. Gee, Beaver couldn't remember any time in his whole life that Wally had hugged him. But it sure felt good.
Wally went to the open door. "He'll be right down, Dad! He's in the bathroom!"
Beaver couldn't believe that Wally would lie to his father like that, but Wally wouldn't have had to lie if Beaver hadn't lost that watch.
Wally closed the door and sat down on Beaver's bed. "What's this all about? I know that Lumpy's a creep and all that and he's always giving us the business, but why are you so afraid of him?"
"He's gonna pound me, Wally! I just know it!" Beaver cried.
"What would he do that for?"
"I don't know. He just would!"
"He's not gonna pound you with Mom and Dad standing there! Not at the front door!"
"I know, but he said he was gonna and that's why I was at the bank with the savings bond and the man called Dad and now I'm in big trouble and it wasn't my fault!"
"Beaver just calm down. What s this all about?"
"Well… Are you sure you won't tell Dad?"
"Sure I'm sure."
"Well, okay. When we were playing baseball, Lumpy and a bunch of other guys gave me a bunch of stuff to hold. So at the end of the game, they all got their stuff back, except for Lumpy who said he gave me his watch. Only I didn't see a watch and on the way to school the other day, he said he was gonna pound me if I didn't give him that watch in 48 hours."
Wally nodded. "Oh, so that's why you wanted me to walk you to school."
"Uh huh."
"Gee, I'm sorry Beaver. I thought you were just being a little kid. Boy, that Lumpy is a creep!"
"I know and now I'm gonna go down there and-."
"BEAVER, for goodness sakes! Get down here this instant!"
Beaver looked at Wally. "Well, this is it. Goodbye, Wally."
"I'll go down with you."
"Okay."
They walked down the stairs and Beaver froze when he saw Lumpy. But he felt Wally's hand on his back and somehow he knew it would be all right.
(Monday at school)
Wally came around the corner of the hallway at the same time as that creep Lumpy Rutherford. Wally's first reaction was to pound Lumpy for scaring his little brother half to death. But after his dad had told he and Beaver how Lumpy admitted to Mr. Rutherford that he'd lost that watch a long time ago and that Mr. Rutherford had found it in Lumpy's pocket, they knew that Lumpy was just trying to place the blame on Beaver. Lumpy was sure to get into a lot of trouble, but Wally didn't accept his apology. It wasn't right for a guy to go around bullying little kids.
Eddie laughed. "Hey, Wally, have you seen Mary Ellen Rogers today? She's looking pretty good in that pink dress, don't you think? Say, maybe I'll ask her to the movies on Saturday."
Eddie, that wise guy-he knew how much Wally liked Mary Ellen Rogers and he was just giving Wally the business, trying to make him jealous. It worked-kind of. Sure, Wally was jealous thinking of Eddie taking Mary Ellen Rogers to the movies, but at the moment he had bigger things to take care of. Namely Lumpy.
"Yeah, I saw her. And go ahead and ask her to the movies. I don't care."
Eddie and Lumpy laughed so loud that it echoed in the hallway. And then the bell rang.
"I'll see you later, Wally." Eddie called to him, still laughing.
"Hey Lumpy, come here! I want to talk to you!" Wally shouted at the big lug.
"I've gotta go to class!" Lumpy yelled back.
"It'll just take a minute!"
"Okay. See you later, Eddie."
When Eddie was gone, Wally balled his hand into a fist, prepared to deck Lumpy into the next hallway.
"So what do you want?"
Wally had to fight really hard not to slug Lumpy. The guy deserved it, but it wasn't worth being suspended or kicked out of school. And so stood firm, wishing that he could grab Lumpy's collar to show him he meant business.
"I've got something to say to you!"
"Okay, then go ahead and say it!"
"That was a pretty dirty trick you pulled on my brother. Do you know now scared he was?"
"He's just a little kid! Besides, I came over and apologized."
"Yeah, you did, but it wasn't enough. I'll let it go this time but if you ever scare Beaver like that again, you're gonna be sorry! You got that?" He looked around to make sure they were alone and then grabbed Lumpy's collar.
"Hey let go!" Lumpy yelled.
"I said, do you got that?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
"Good." Wally let go of Lumpy's collar and walked the other way. He was late for class, which is something that teachers didn't like at all, but he'd explain it to Mr. Simmons. The guy was always going on about how people should get along and appreciate each other, especially if they were related. Once Wally told Mr. Simmons what had happened to the Beaver, he was sure that Mr. Simmons would understand.
~Fin~
