Chapter five
Eddie was waiting for his friends at the creek as planned. He smiled and waved when he saw Guthrie walking towards him, fishing gear in hand.
"Hey Guth! Where's Ford?" Eddie asked.
"He changed his mind about fishin' today." Guthrie answered.
"Oh, well more for us to catch." Eddie replied with a grin.
The boys fished for a few hours. At first, the fish were biting pretty well. Each of them caught a few, but not of any size worth bragging about.
Then, the wind picked up and the fish quit biting. They decided to skip rocks, but after a while, they got bored.
Guthrie suggested they release what they'd caught, since they didn't have enough to make a meal. Eddie agreed.
"What do we do now?" Eddie asked.
"Go home, I guess. It's time for lunch anyways. I'm supposed to be home at one." Guthrie replied.
"Aww, come on. I don't wanna go home yet. I'm not even hungry. Hey, let's go down to the swimming hole and see if anybody's down there." Eddie suggested.
"I don't know. That's a long way from here. I'm gonna be late as it is."
"Come on Guthrie. Live a little. We'll just stay a little while, then we'll head back. You won't be too late." Eddie begged.
Guthrie thought about it for a few seconds. He didn't want anymore trouble with Adam, but he did want to go with Eddie. He decided that if he were going to get in trouble for being late, he may as well have a little fun first. "Alright," he replied. "But we can't stay long, you got it?" Guthrie said.
"Yeah, I got it. Let's go!" Eddie said excitedly. They sat down their fishing gear and took off for the swimming hole.
Twenty minutes later, they reached their destination. Guthrie noticed his friends from school, Alex and Billy, along with Alex's brother Joey and a couple of Joey's high school friends.
"Hey guys!" Alex yelled out to Guthrie and Eddie. He was standing on the bank near the deepest end of the swimming hole. "Look at the rope!" He said excitedly, pointing upwards.
Guthrie looked over and saw a huge tow rope which had been tied to the limb of a huge oak tree that stood on the far bank.
The limb hung over the creek. That limb had always provided a nice shade over the deepest part of the creek, making the deep water cool even on the warmest summer day.
Adam and Brian had been bringing the boys to this favorite spot for years after a hard days work during the summer months, so they could cool off.
No one had ever thought to tie a rope there, but swinging off of it into the cool water did look quite inviting.
The limb was easy enough to climb up, but the depths of the swimming hole beneath it varied.
In some spots it was maybe eight to ten feet deep, while other spots were anywhere from four to six feet deep.
Guthrie imagined the variance in depths of the water coupled with the height of the limb, which had to be at least twelve feet, would make it a somewhat dangerous jump.
"Have you guys swung off of it yet?" Eddie inquired eagerly.
"Sure we've all gone once. You guys wanna try it?" Joey asked.
"It's kind of high." Guthrie said, noting his observations to the rest of the guys.
"It's an easy climb." Alex offered.
"I know that. I've climbed up there before. What I mean is it's a big drop to the water." Guthrie explained.
"Come on Guth! Let's try it out!" Eddie said excitedly.
"We could break our necks!" Guthrie said in protest.
"We'll jump feet first. It'll be fine" Eddie replied.
"Okay, then we could break our legs." Guthrie said in response.
"Come on. Don't be a baby. It's gonna be so cool. We don't have nothin' better to do!" Eddie offered, already pulling off his tshirt.
"Well...I just don't know about it." Guthrie replied again. There was that 'baby' reference again. He had heard it many times, both at school and at home. He was sick of it.
"Hey, little McFadden. Tell you what. I'll jump again and show you it's safe." Joey offered. "I bet Daniel would do it." The teen added.
I bet Daniel wouldn't do it. Guthrie thought to himself, but he said nothing in response.
7bf7b
Hannah made the last sandwich just in time to hear the brood of men coming into the house. She was expecting everyone except Evan, who was at his rodeo classes. Adam came into the kitchen first, washing up at the kitchen sink.
"Who told you it was okay to wash up in my kitchen, Mr. McFadden? Are you too good to wash up in the bathroom like everybody else?" She teased.
"There's nobody waiting to kiss me in the bathroom." Adam replied with wink as he leaned in and gave Hannah a soft, slow kiss.
"Mmm, I hope those sandwiches taste as good as you do." he said.
"Not a chance." Hannah replied as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
Adam playfully patted her on the rear end then and she reached behind her and slapped him on the hand.
"That's enough. The children will catch us." Hannah said laughing.
"Ah, but it's up to us to teach 'em about the birds and the bees, isn't it Mrs. McFadden?" Adam replied.
"That bunch already knows way too much about the birds and the bees!" Hannah said laughing even harder now.
Adam released her just as Crane and Brian made their way to the table. Ford and Daniel entered just behind them. After everyone sat down, Adam noticed that Guthrie was missing.
"Where's Guthrie?" He asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I don't know." Daniel replied first. Brian shrugged his shoulders and Crane replied, "haven't seen him since breakfast."
"Actually, I was asking Ford. Didn't he come back from fishin' with you?" Adam asked.
"With me? I didn't go fishin'. I helped Daniel mend that fence and since then I've been in his bedroom with him." Ford replied.
"Yep. Ford here is writing himself a song. I've been helping him with the music." Daniel said in agreement.
"He told me you were both going." Adam replied, now clearly annoyed.
"We were, but after he tattled on Evan, I told him I didn't want to hang out with him." Ford replied.
"Now Adam, I'm sure he's just running a little late. I talked to Sophie on the phone earlier and she said Eddie had gone fishing with Guthrie. They're probably catching supper for us." Hannah offered.
"Now don't go defending him. I specifically told him to be back for lunch. I don't have time to stop what I'm doing every five minutes to go looking for a missing brother." Adam grumbled. "We have a ranch to run. I expect everybody to pull their weight and I expect you all to be on time." He continued, slamming his hat down onto the table.
"Adam, He's fine. Come on, you've been wound up a little tight lately. It's not that unusual for Guthrie to be late. He doesn't wear a watch." Daniel said.
"Yeah and it's hard to tell the exact time without one. He'll turn up in a little bit. You need to ease up a little, you're just working yourself up for no good reason." Brian added.
"I know. But he lied to me. It's just not like him." Adam said. "I just worry about all of you."
"We know!" Crane, Brian, Ford and Daniel all said in exact unison. Then they all erupted in laughter.
Everyone finished their lunch about twenty minutes later, but Guthrie had failed to show.
"I'll put a couple of sandwiches up for Guth." Hannah said as she got up to clear the table.
"And I'll help with the dishes fair lady." Crane said with a smile.
"Well, thank you kind sir." Hannah replied.
"No, don't save anything. The rules are the rules. You don't show up for a meal, you don't eat. He can wait til suppertime." Adam said grouchily as he put his hat on his head.
"Crane, you and Ford don't forget to clean the tack room. Guthrie was supposed to help, but since he seems to have better things to do, he can work for me when he gets home. If any of you see him-"
"Send him to you." Daniel finished.
Adam shot Daniel an agitated look but decided to let it go. "Look, me and Brian found a couple of bad spots on the fence line that need patching, but they're up near Haney's Pass. I thought about sending you up to help him, but since you have a gig tonight, I guess I'll go back and help him instead." Adam began.
"Thanks Adam." Daniel replied quickly, hoping not to give him a chance to change his mind.
"If you'll let me finish, please?" Adam said. Clearly Daniel had interrupted him again.
"Sorry." Daniel said with a giggle.
"I'll go with Brian if you'll go down to the creek and find Guth. Tell him I will talk to him this evening about being late...and lying. You tell him to help Crane and Ford in the tack room when he gets back."
"Okay dad." Daniel replied with a big grin. Okay, so now' he'd gone too far.
"Oh Daniel? When you get back son, you mind giving Hannah a hand with the housework? She looks a little tired today." Adam said sarcastically.
"The housework? But Adam, I was gonna do a tune up on the truck, remember?" Daniel asked, clearly disturbed.
"Yeah, I know. You can do that after you help Hannah. Honey, he's really good at folding clothes." Adam said, letting the screen slam behind him.
"Good!" Hannah laughed. "I did six loads of laundry this morning. They should be dry by the time you get back from the creek." Hannah said, patting Daniel on the shoulder.
"Great." Daniel said.
"Laundry, huh?" Crane said shooting Daniel a big grin. "That's good. At least you won't have to play guitar tonight with dishpan hands." He laughed.
"Oh you're a real funny guy, aren't ya?" Daniel grumbled as he headed for the front door.