On the Mountain

The morning after Jason's return, the reunited family headed back to their property. They went nowhere near their old home, but camped and fished and maybe lost track of time. It was summer, and the weather was decent.

There were plenty of opportunities for talking and doing things together, and slowly, they relaxed and remelded as a family.

It was good to be home.

"I forgot to tell you," Josh told Jason, "Jeremy tried to come back, again, two times, after school started. After that Da had a 'private conversation' with him, and he stopped. Now he just sits."

"He's not sitting now," Jason observed, watching his youngest brother casting his line and occasionally reeling it in to do it again. "He's doing good at that."

"Uh-huh. I just wished he'd've told me when he tried to leave. I'd've helped him. I know some good hiding places."

"I know the feeling," Jason said agreeably. He had, himself, sometimes brought the boys (one or both) along with him when he came this way. He didn't agree with the banishment, plus he liked to look over the trees and pretend he had the authority to thin them out, at the very least. To sell, if truth be told, and he tried to be honest, at least with himself.

"Would you have found us?" Josh asked curiously.

"Not if anyone else was around, and not until I'd talked with you and found out why." The answer was prompt; it required no thinking. Brothers stuck together. That's just how it was.

"I wondered, because maybe you know the hiding places."

"Oh, this old mountain's always making new hiding places, what with mud slides, avalanches, vents, and the like. Never think you know it all."

"Change is the only constant," Josh quoted, and, finally, cast his line.

"Nice," Jason commented, and Jeremy shouted at the same time. He'd finally left his line in long enough to catch something.

Or had the fish caught the boy?

It was hard to tell.

"Listen to him laugh!"

"Well, Jason," Da asked after the boys were (possibly) asleep, "What did you make of your job?"

"It was a job. It was – pleasant to know that you weren't going to show up and pull me off of it, once we got far enough away. "

"Had I wanted you, I would have got there. What thought you of the way the business was done?"

"Some was good, some not so much. The men were all doing – cutting – what they wanted and how they wanted. No plan, no standards, just chop and hack. Different trees, different lengths, different – I don't know. Guess I still need to learn the language of the job. I didn't understand some of what they told me. I've not seen anybody cut like that, and , as you know, I've done a bit of the work."

"You've worked for men more interested in clearing their lands and building their stands. This is the first time you've worked with those who cut to sell. That's what you're wanting to do, still, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course. But that's not a good way to do it." Jason was thoughtful. Maybe Da was listening; maybe he did have a plan he was working out.

Or maybe he was trying.

"We started out with eight men," Jason said. "We ended up with four whole, two injured, one missing, and one dead."

"Preventable?"

"I thought so. Oh, not the one who left. He just got tired of the mess. No orders, conflicting orders, careless cutting. He left, without waiting for pay, after five days."

"Saved Henson a bit of money there. I suppose he was pleased at that."

"Likely."

"What would you have done differently?"

"I'm not sure, but I'd have made sure there was a market for what I was cutting. A third of what we took to the mill wasn't sellable. About half that was because of the irregular lengths and bad cuts. So he realized a lot less money than he'd planned. Tried to short the pay. You can guess how that went over."

"Had you asked around, you'd have expected that. He does it most jobs. That's why he's not so welcome in these parts. He gets the permission to clear someone else's land, clears it and leaves. His business methods are folly."

"Folly's a nice word for it."

"Think about it, son. What would you have done, had you got the job to clear that section? We'll talk again tomorrow, after you've time to think."

"Alright."

"You're awful quiet today,"Josh said.

"I'm thinking."

"About what?"

"Da toi' him," Jeremy volunteered.

"Told him to think?"

"Uh-huh. Like l-less-sons."

Jason laughed, "You know, I do believe that's exactly what he did. He sent you boys off to regular school and sent me off to grown up school, and I'm supposed to be applying what I learned. Only I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to have learned."

"You were just cutting trees, weren't you? You do that all the time."

"Apparently some ways are better than others. At least Da thinks so."

"Well, some trees are easier, or skinnier, or branchier, so maybe that makes a difference?"

"Sure, Josh, but I already know all that. Maybe not ALL, but – you know what I mean."

"You don't even know what you mean."

"That's the truth." Jason lapsed into silence. What would or should I have done, if getting that timber cut and to the mill had been my job? What would I do differently? And, knowing Da, I'd probably better know why, too.

He wondered why he had never thought out those questions and answers before now. They were kind of obvious ones, weren't they? At least for someone who had been trying to start a business for a few years now?

Jason watched idly as the boys played. They raced, they climbed, they jumped on and off rocks and branches. Despite the difference in their ages, they were fairly evenly matched. Josh was bigger and more experienced at playing, while Jeremy was faster and, in matters like climbing higher in trees or balancing on rocks, his lighter weight worked to his advantage. Also Josh was big-hearted enough to not 'win' every time that he could have.

He'd got lucky with the brothers he had, hadn't he?

"Well, son, have you answers for me?"

"No, I don't. Not yet. And that's a problem, isn't it?"

"How so?"

"You can't tell others what to do if you don't even know what you're going to do."

Da nodded.

"What would you do?"

Da laughed. "I'm not wanting to share my thoughts yet. Tis your problem to resolve."

"Well, boys, it's about time for us to go back to town," Da told them the next morning.

"No!" said Jeremy, and "Good" said Josh, and Jason just laughed.

"S-ssstay here," Jeremy said glumly. He already knew that wasn't going to happen. "W-why?"

"Because we're almost out of coffee."

"I wanted to go on the glacier," Jeremy complained.

"Last time you went that high, you ended up with altitude sickness, didn't you?"

Jeremy looked uncomfortable. "Not 'zackly."

Josh elbowed him.

"Jason, m' boy, that almost sounded like a confession, don't you think?"

Jason laughed. "You may be right." He'd been in charge of that visit, and when they'd returned with a pale, sweating panting Jeremy, he and Da had both been suspicious of mischief, but the two boys had never said anything incriminating. Since the problem had resolved quickly, Da had let it go, but had fretted about if it had been something serious.

"You are so dumb," Josh told Jeremy.

Jeremy didn't say anything, but seemed to agree.

"Nah," Jason said. "Just the world's worst liar, even by omission."

Jeremy looked puzzled, and Josh laughed. "He should've omitted saying anything at all." Then, to Jeremy, "You dimwit."

"Enough," Da said. "There was no damage done, so it's a small thing now. But –"

"What did happen?" Jason asked.

The boys looked at one another for a long moment, then Jeremy shrugged, and simply admitted, "I f-found a little hole an' it was like a cave just under the top and I went in and the ice that was on top all fell in and it squished me. Josh hadda d-dig me out."

"But he wasn't hurt," Josh said quickly. "And he's right, it was just all near the top."

"It was too little for Josh, until it broked." Jeremy paused. "And then he digged me out b-b'fore I g-got all squished."

"Good job," Jason said to Josh. "Bruised ribs?"

"I guess," Josh agreed with a shrug. "Brothers stick together."