School had finally started.
And with the start of school came freedom – at least for the adults, all two of them. Da had even found a long term (2 or 3 months) job for Jason at a distance from home. The only thing wrong with the job was that Jason had had to leave before the school actually opened.
That had been difficult. Jeremy had been so eager and afraid at the same time, and Jason hadn't been there to see him off.
It hadn't seemed fair somehow. After all, Jason had been teaching the boy to read for the last few weeks, so he wouldn't be stupid when he started school. Jeremy's words.
Jason couldn't wait to hear how it was going. He was glad to be coming home.
Or was he?
Jeremy was sitting on Da's lap, his face buried in Da's shirt and his shoulders shaking. He wasn't making a sound that Jason could hear.
Not that he could hear much, the way Josh was slamming pans and the cookstove. The coffee smelled fresh enough, but in danger of being overdone, and Jason moved the pot to the back of the stove.
Josh looked relieved to see him, without saying a word.
Jason looked around. There were schoolbooks and papers stacked on the table – to be expected, of course, but the stacks were hardly neat or organized. Clothing was dropped here and there in the room, and there were stacks – stacks! – of unwashed dishes. They were neatly stacked although there were also broken pieces of glass around them.
"What in the world is going on here?" Jason asked aloud.
When his eyes met his father's, he understood. Those eyes held the same empty helpless look that had been in them those days and weeks just after Mom had passed. Even then, Da hadn't let the daily chores get terribly out-of-hand. (Of course, the few women in the town had been helpful for a while.)
"Jason," Da said. "So you're back."
"Uh – yes. I am. Has something happened?"
Da shook his head. "Happened, no. But nothing seems right." He forced a half smile. "It seems we do not do so well without you shouting at us all."
Jason didn't know what to make of that. He didn't shout at everyone, did he? Sometimes he admittedly had to get loud, just to be heard, but that wasn't the same thing as shouting.
Or was it?
"What's wrong with Jeremy?" he asked abruptly. Jeremy did not react to his voice at all.
Da spoke to the boy. "Look, little one, Jason has come back. Don't you want to say hello to him?"
Jeremy shook his head without turning it.
"This is every day after school," Da said. "He willna talk about it. It does not go well."
"What does Josh say?"
"He speaks of the teacher in words that tell nothing and are both rude and crude. I canna make sense of what he says."
Josh looked at Jason and shook his head.
"Well, never mind that. I've been paid, so let's go have a good supper in town tonight."
"You shouldna be spending your money that way," Da objected. "You did the work."
"Yes, and I'll do the spending, and the first thing I want to spend on is a –" he glanced around the room, "fresh, decent meal and a pleasant night out with my family. So let's go." Jason wouldn't take no for an answer, not even from his father.
The two boys ate eagerly, as if it had been a while since they'd had a real meal. Which was likely. On their best days, none of them was more than adequate as a cook, although Josh could do stews (or soups if he put in too much water and it didn't have time to cook off) a bit more than adequately. Jeremy was still physically too small to work at the stove, although he was good at baking potatoes in the fireplace. Da usually saw to meals, but from the look of things, he hadn't been terribly interested.
All those dishes!
Da wasn't eating much, mostly pushing food around with his fork while occasionally correcting the boys on their manners.
Jason, as usual, drew a lot of attention from the other patrons and the townfolk, who all asked how he liked being away from home, and if he'd learned anything, and, from his peers, if he'd had any fun out there.
He replied briefly and soberly, unusually keeping any stories he might have to himself. Tonight was not for talking.
At least not to the public.
Aaron Stempel asked him if he was worn out from working more than a week at a time; he seemed so quiet. Heaven only knew what answer he made, or even if he made any sense.
Jeremy, with a sigh, pushed his plate away and laid his head on the table and went to sleep.
"Well, there's one who's not wanting any pie tonight," Lottie said. "What about the rest of you? Jon, aren't you going to eat any more than that."
Da shook his head. "I amna hungry, I think I'll take our wee one home. You boys come along when you're ready. We'll have ourselves a holiday tomorrow."
"Whatever you say, Da," Jason agreed, and watched silently as father carried out the brother.
"What's going on?" Jason asked Josh, once they were gone.
"Later," Josh said.
"How is school going?"
"Depends on who y'ask. That's kinda the problem."
"I thought it might be."
"Not like you're thinking," Josh said. "But we can't talk here."
"Alright, then," Jason agreed, and turned to talk with others until Josh was ready to go.
The brothers strolled across the street and stopped on their porch. "Talk."
"That teacher," Josh said, and hesitated. It was hard to speak disrespectfully of an adult, even to his own brother. The brother who had somehow become more of an adult during his absence.
"Never known you to have a problem with a teacher, and there's been some bad ones through here. What's the problem? Jeremy?"
"Yeah. He – the teacher – his name is Mr. Mason. Jeremy calls him 'brickhead.' When he talks."
"I did notice he wasn't too chatty this evening."
"Mr Mason won't listen to Jeremy. Because he don't talk right. He says that makes him uneducable, because if a child can't learn to talk, how is he ever going to be able to learn anything else. He wouldn't even – he hasn't even put Jeremy's name in his rollbook, because he hasn't said it properly."
"Da stands for that?"
"Da's gone to talk to him a few times, and he comes back – I dunno. Like he lost a fight."
"And Jeremy?"
Josh half-laughed. "That kid's something else. He goes to school every day and tries to say his name, and his lessons, and brickhead completely ignores him, and then when we go home, he just grabs Da and won't let go. Us'ly he cries, and when that happens, Da's just – he don't know what to do, other than talk to Mason, and he can't do that with Jeremy holding onto him."
"I'm surprised he's making Jeremy go, if it's that bad."
"He doesn't. Jeremy just – gets up and goes."
"Good for him. I think."
"Da can't get nothing done, with Jeremy hanging on him. He doesn't try, and he never gets mad at him, but –. I don't think he goes to sleep at night, until after he makes us breakfast and we leave. 'Least, I hope he gets some sleep then." Josh stopped talking.
"I see." Jason stood aside and opened the door and they went in.
The place had been straightened up some, looking more like the home they'd known. Some of the dishes had even been washed.
It was a start.