One day, Miren and Rupert were being babysat by their Aunt Laura and Uncle 'Manzo, because their parents had gotten sick of them. They were playing Cowboys and Indians, and Rupert jumped up and down on his Aunt Laura's sofa, before throwing all the cushions off and jumping onto them as hard as he could. "Whoopee!" he yelled as feathers filled the air.
Miren twisted himself around in Aunt Laura's brand new calico window curtains she'd recently gotten in Sleepy Eye. "Help! They're attacking!" he cried as they wound around his neck.
Their Aunt Laura entered the room with her spatula in hand. "Rupert and Miren." She bounced the spatula threateningly against a palm. "You remember, when you stay with Uncle 'Manzo and I, you're expected to do constructive things to entertain yourselves." She pulled them outside by the backs of their shirts and dumped them onto the dirt. "Your parents might not believe in telling you 'no', but here you're going to behave. Now go and build something." She slammed the door.
Rupert got up and rubbed dirt off his nose. "Ain't that a shame. Just when we was having the most fun, too."
"If we're annoying enough, she'll have to let us back in!" said Miren, clenching his fists and banging them against the front door. "Let us in, let us in!" he hollered. "Come on, come on!"
When the door remained solidly shut he turned back to his twin.
"So what should we build?"
"Who cares?" Miren kicked up more dirt. "I hate that. Uncle 'Manzo is easy to trick, but I don't like when Aunt Laura tells us what to do."
"Maybe we could build a raft," said Rupert.
They constructed it using scraps of lumber acquired from ripping down their aunt and uncle's outhouse, and bits of rope found in the barn, as well as cast-off pieces of broken furniture and sticks. They were careful to hide their work from their aunt. Once the vessel was seaworthy, they slid it into the Plum Creek, a wild river connected to the Mississippi, the Minnesota and Cottonwood rivers, and climbed aboard.
"Maybe we'll make it to the sea," said Miren, admiring choppy white foam from the rapids crashing and churning around them. "I'm gonna be a pirate. Arrrrgh!"
But right away, the biggest plank of wood from the outhouse detached and floated away.
"Dabernit." Rupert stomped his foot, causing another stick to break away.
"Stop it, you'll make us sink!" yelled Miren, but he spoke too late. The rushing currents pulled the raft apart, and the boys were thrown into the water.
"Agghhh, augh augh!" Miren panicked as Rupert rolled his eyes. "I don't know how to swim! Help! Heeeelp!"
"How can you not know how to swim?" Rupert doggy paddled in place. "Do what I do, stupid, like this." He paddled to shore.
But Miren continued getting pulled further away in the current, and Rupert swallowed as he turned tinier and tinier.
"Aunt Laaaaura!" cried Rupert, running toward his aunt and uncle's house. "Miren's drowning! Aunt Laura! Aunt Laura! Uncle 'Manzo!"
Uncle 'Manzo had returned from town and walked across his garden with a new hoe from Oleson's mercantile in hand as Rupert ran up to him.
"Woah, woah!" He held out a hand to stop Rupert from crashing into him. "What in tarnation are you doing, making all this racket?"
"Miren's drowning!" said Rupert.
A wide grin spread across Uncle 'Manzo's face. "Nice try, Rupert."
"He really is!"
Uncle 'Manzo turned around and headed for his house. "What have I told you about the boy who cried wolf?" he said over his shoulder.
Rupert slapped his face. Then he ran after his uncle, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the creek.
"Rupert, I'm telling you twice, this is the last time I- Hey now!" Uncle 'Manzo stopped when Miren's thrashing body became clear, getting tossed about on the rapids. And faster than you could say Johnny Appleseed, Uncle 'Manzo dove into the water, and struggled through the current toward his nephew.
A crowd gathered at the water's edge. But no one dove in to assist Uncle 'Manzo, not even Charles Ingalls, who was afraid of the spirits that lived in Plum Creek, who snatched men away, and pulled them toward dark muck at its bottom. Instead, the citizens of Walnut Grove called out helpful comments.
"Mind you keep his head above the water when you drag him back!" Caroline Ingalls yelled.
The current separated uncle and nephew. Uncle 'Manzo couldn't save him. He kicked and swore, but as he reached for the boy, Miren got swept farther down the length of the river and out of sight.
Miren's body washed ashore later that day. The people gathered around the small, dead child and shook their heads.
"We should have known he'd come to his own end," they said. "Too bad one of them still lives."