Joshua arrived as the last of the dozen children that made up Seattle's tiny student body scrambled in the door of the little schoolhouse. Following them in, he found a scene familiar to him from his own not-so-distant past, as children milled in the aisle, settling books and papers and finishing conversations, while the teacher reviewed her plans one more time at her desk. From the back of the room, he picked out Harry Kinkade, and was perversely glad to see the boy's nose was still swollen.

"All right, everyone," Miss Halliday called, "Time to – Mr. Bolt?" she noticed him as everyone else in the room began to find their seats.

Nodding a greeting, Josh went down the aisle to meet her, noting concern on her face as she no doubt wondered why he was here, instead of Jeremy. "Good morning, Miss Halliday. My brother won't be able to come to school today; I've come to get his lessons."

Someone snickered behind him – probably that obnoxious Kinkade kid – but Miss Halliday looked even more alarmed. "Why, certainly, Mr. Bolt. I do hope nothing serious has happened."

The room had grown unexpectedly silent, everyone waiting to hear what he would say. "Actually, he was hurt while hiking through the woods yesterday, and it took us quite a while to find him. It doesn't seem to be too serious, though. He should be back on Monday."

"Oh, I'm glad he's all right. Just a minute, and I'll make a list."

Josh used the pause to examine the schoolroom, letting his gaze linger on Harry and the kid beside him, both of whom seemed intensely uncomfortable with the scrutiny. Good, Josh thought. Let 'em squirm.

"Here you go, Mr. Bolt," Miss Halliday announced, handing him a list of chapters and page numbers. "Please remind Jeremy that Family Night is two weeks from today, and I still need to see his project outline. I'll look forward to seeing him Monday."

Josh frowned slightly. This was the first he'd heard of either a Family Night or a project. "Yes, ma'am, I will." He nodded to her again before turning back down the aisle, this time purposely not looking at anyone, and headed for home.

XXXX

By mid-afternoon, the Bolts were finally all up and about again. With the lunch dishes cleared away, Jason decided it was time to broach the subject of Jeremy's schoolyard fight. Jeremy had been avoiding all but the most unavoidable conversations, no doubt in fear that it would somehow get back around to school – he was not usually that shy with his brothers. Jason had considered a number of ways to bring up the topic, but when the time came, he settled for the straightforward approach.

"Jeremy, when you didn't get home on time last night, we stopped to check with your teacher." They were seated around the table, Jeremy reading through his geography lesson while Jason replaced a button on Josh's Sunday shirt and Josh checked some figures in the ledger. They had been silent for some time, and both his brothers looked up when he spoke, Josh in mild surprise and Jeremy bordering on sudden panic. Jason resisted an urge to put himself between his youngest brother and the door.

After a moment, Jeremy dropped his gaze to the stack of books at his elbow; then he opened one and withdrew a folded piece of paper from it, which he extended across the table to Jason.

"What's this?" Jason asked, taking it but not opening it.

"The n-note from Miss Halliday." Jeremy drew a deep breath, and suddenly it all came out in a rush. "I didn't mean to h-hit him, Jason. It just happened b-b-before I could think. I c-couldn't s-s-stand it anymore –"

"All right, all right, calm down. Miss Halliday told us what's been happening; there's no need to go over all of it again."

"I'm surprised it took you this long to pop him one," Josh put in, earning a reproachful look from Jason.

"Jeremy, you know folks like that only pick on others to make themselves feel more important. When you respond to them, it only –"

"I know all th-th-that, Jason; we've been over and o-over it. It doesn't m-matter," he finished, his voice dropping to almost a whisper as he looked away again. "It isn't y-you they're p-picking on."

Jason sat back in surprise, at a loss as to how to continue. Jeremy's level of agitation was clearly evident in his increased stuttering. A glance at Josh showed the middle Bolt firmly in support of the youngest, so there would be no help there. Jason decided to try another subject.

"All right; fair enough. We'll leave that alone for now. How did you get off the trail last night?"

To his further astonishment, Jeremy turned crimson up to his ears. Before he could ask what this was all about, Josh spoke up again.

"They followed you, didn't they?" When Jeremy all but squirmed at the question, he knew he had it. "They followed you and hassled you again, and got you to chase them off the trail. After you already knew you were going to catch it for fighting the first time."

"It wasn't just me," Jeremy said softly after a moment. "They m-made fun of Miss Halliday, too."

Jason sighed and rubbed at his face in frustration. They'd been around and around this issue, in various forms and guises, since Jeremy had been a small boy. No matter how much they tried to explain it to him, no matter how much they tried to protect him, there would always be someone who found it amusing to belittle people who seemed different, or vulnerable. In a way, Josh was right: it was a wonder that Jeremy hadn't responded by striking back before now.

"We're going to have to work out a punishment, you know," Jason finally continued.

"I know." Jeremy still wasn't looking at him, concentrating instead on fiddling with his pencil.

Jason glanced at Joshua, considering, but found he didn't have the heart to come down too hard. "You'll be doing all of the dishes for the next two weeks, in addition to your regular chores."

Jeremy looked up at last. That was far lighter a sentence than he'd expected, considering the offense. After a moment's stunned silence, he realized he had better respond, before Jason changed his mind, and nodded agreement.

"All right, then," Jason said, "get back to your schoolwork."

They settled into companionable silence for a while, until Joshua remembered something. "Hey, Jeremy, Miss Halliday wanted me to remind you about some project for something called 'Family Night.' She wants to see your outline."

Jason looked up with interest, and Jeremy sighed. Was there no end to this? He kept his eyes on his book. "I'm not going to do a p-project."

"Aren't you being graded on this project?" Jason asked, suspecting he already knew the answer.

Jeremy looked up, frustration in his eyes. "Jason, I c-can't speak in front of all those p-people – I can't!"

"Do you have to speak?" Josh asked after a moment. Forcing a public speaking assignment on a student with a speech impediment didn't sound like something Miss Halliday would do.

"Well –"

"Do you?" pressed Jason. "Did Miss Halliday say you had to speak?"

Slightly stunned by the realization, Jeremy replied, "N-no."

"Maybe there's a way to do the project that doesn't require you to speak to a crowd of people," Jason suggested. "Perhaps you could ask Miss Halliday."

Jeremy appeared to give that some thought, then shook his head doubtfully. "I d-don't know, J-Jason …"

"Won't know until you try," Jason replied encouragingly. "Just give it a little thought. I know you'll come up with something."