It was summer – well, spring really, but that was almost the same thing. School was out for a while, and Da had said they needn't go back next term if the town didn't hire a different teacher.
Da had also told the town that he wasn't going to pay into the school fund next time around. He'd paid, he said, to have two boys be taught, and one wasn't.
There had been a lot of 'discussion' about that. Some of the men were mad at Da. Da didn't argue, though. He didn't even say "I said what I said." He mostly ignored the subject, even if someone asked him about it.
Jeremy thought that was smart. If he ever did start talking right, he hoped that he would remember sometimes saying nothing was better.
Heck, saying nothing was better most of the time anyway. If you didn't say nothing, no one could argue with you. Or get upset at what you said. Of course, they could get mad that you was – were not speaking to them, but that was a different problem.
He wondered what he was going to do. Jason was always working, sometimes out of town, like right now, or for That Man which was much much worse (in the boy's opinion.) Josh was either doing odd jobs or playing with his friends, except he didn't call it playing. Josh said playing was what kids did. Da wasn't doing a whole lot of anything, except sleep maybe. Or sometimes sit in his chair looking at nothing.
So what was he to do? He didn't really have friends to play with, and he was too small (NOT too young!) to do a lot of the errands and messages and stuff like Josh and the others did. He didn't like being in town and wasn't allowed to go very far on his own. (Not that he didn't venture out a bit more than 'allowed', but just a bit. Da had told him what would happen if he tried to go home to the mountain again, and it had sounded – scary. And mean.)
And that was the place he wanted to go. The only place.
With a sigh, he concentrated on kicking a rock down the street and back, without getting it in any mud puddles. He was almost back to the fake home when Josh came by with a couple of other boys.
Josh said they were 'getting up' a ball game and asked if he wanted to join them.
Jeremy considered his answer. He really wanted to say, and loudly, that he didn't want to PLAY with them, but that was a lot of words to stumble over, and too many people listening. Yes, two people were too many.
Finally he just shook his head.
And kicked his rock again.
"Good thing," Billy Barker said. "Them big boys'd just step right over him."
"Or mistake him for the ball," Larry suggested.
"You'd be surprised," Josh defended. "He's pretty quick and he can hit harder than me. You sure, Jeremy?"
Jeremy nodded his head and kept walking, and the older boys ran off.
Jeremy went around to the back. He looked in the hollowed stump where everybody put his cones and seeds and leaves and berries and things when they said he was getting too many, and smiled in satisfaction. All those things – well, a lot of them – were growing. They had tangled hairs on each end. Well, some of them did. Some were only on one end and straight on the other, so he knew the hairs would be the roots. The straight part would be the plant part. Some of them should prob'ly be planted soon, or they would wither and die.
He stopped handling the baby plants for a moment and wondered what it felt like to wither. Did it hurt? Or was it like going to sleep, for maybe longer and longer naps, and you waked up and nobody was helping so after a while you went back to sleep again?
He shook his head, and his whole self and threw off the thought. He wondered why he'd thought it, but decided not to think about it any more.
With his hands, he detached the roots that were growing into the stump, careful to not break off too much of them. Others, just starting to attach, he left alone. A little bit probably wouldn't hurt, and if it did, then he'd know next time not to let that happen. He liked the feel of the small growing things in his hand, and he hummed happily.
He puttered around there for a long time, but the sun was going down and it was cooling off, and he finally had to go inside.
Da was asleep, but he'd been up, because the place had been tidied and there was fresh coffee on the stove. It smelled good, but if he wanted any of it he'd either have to wake Da or drag a chair closer to the stove. Which would probably wake Da.
He decided he didn't want any coffee, even if it was nice and hot, and he was cold after being outside.
He stood by the stove, and hoped Josh would be home soon, now that it was getting dark. There wasn't anything to eat anywhere that he could reach, and it had been a long afternoon, even if he'd just gone up and down the street a lot.
Josh was cross when he came in, and not hungry, either. He and his friends had eaten before they came in, and he wasn't interested in feeding his little brother. He gave Jeremy some money and told him to go to Lottie's. She'd feed him something.
"At night?" Jeremy asked timidly.
Josh scowled. "You can stay here and go to bed."
His side must have lost their game, Jeremy decided, but didn't say. Instead, he left, and quickly, as Josh's angry voice had made Da start to wake up. He didn't want to be accused of fighting!
'I just wish Jason would get home," Josh was saying as the door closed.
Don't we all was Jeremy's thought as he hurried away.
A wish that came true, Jeremy thought glumly, staring at his oldest brother's back. The work crew that had gone out three weeks ago had returned, finally, and they came in both hungry and thirsty. From what talk Jeremy had understood, they had dispensed with meal breaks in order to get home tonight.
So no wonder they were hungry.
But so hungry that Jason didn't even see him sitting at the little corner table? That wasn't even nice!
And so the boy stared and watched, not wanting to approach his brother while he was entertaining and being entertained by a crowd of hungry happy men in a saloon. He was disappointed that his brother didn't feel him looking so hard.
Eventually, Jeremy moved out of the corner to go and stand beside the piano player. He watched the fingers that made the music come out, and after a while, he began to plink-plonk a few keys in a kind of harmony. (It wasn't the first time these two had played together. The child was musically inclined.)
As they played, the weeknight crowd began to thin, as the married men, and those who had early work, weather permitting, headed for their homes or beds. Soon, only the returning men remained, planning their surprise entrances to those not expecting them for two more days. It wasn't often that the work ever went faster than expected. The opposite was more usual. The men were saying that it was because of Jason's good management, and thanking him.
That Man came in, and headed straight for Jason. "What did you get, Bolt?"
Jason laughed and reached into his pocket. "The bigger question is what did you get." He unfolded his paper and displayed it.
That Man also took a paper out of his pocket and unfolded it and handed it to Jason.
Jason laughed again. "Not much difference this time is there? I'm getting better."
"Keep it up, and I may be able to do business with you. Whenever your daddy allows it, of course."
"Of course," Jason agreed coldly.
Jeremy shivered, just a little bitty bit, and was glad he couldn't see his brother's face. He probably didn't look very much like himself at all, when he talked that way. And That Man made him talk that way a lot.
That Man went to a table and sat down by himself, to Jeremy's satisfaction.
The talk at Jason's table resumed, a little more quietly, but there was still laughter and the men talking over one another. It sounded like they had had adventures, or were they making them up?, while they had been working.
The lowered voices, and the stories they were telling drew the boy closer, and soon he was standing at his brother's elbow.
Next he had somehow insinuated himself to standing in front of his brother, who then pulled the boy up to sit on his leg.
Without a word being said.
Jeremy sighed and leaned back against his brother. Everything could get all right again now. Maybe. As all right as it ever would be, anyway.
A few minutes later, Joshua came in, looking for his younger brother, and finding his older one as well.
"Hey," he said, and Jason said "Hey" back. "Looking for this?" he asked, gesturing to the boy ostensibly sleeping on him.
"Yeah. He was supposed to eat and come home."
"I thought he was staying out rather late." Jason shifted the boy's weight. "I'll bring him home, if you want to go back without him."
"Ha. If I don't go back, Da might come looking for both of us. Or not."
"Or not? You think he might not?"
"Yeah, he might fall asleep waiting. Bye." Josh vanished more quickly than he had appeared.
The interruption was enough to break up the evening, though, as the men began to take their leave. Time for everyone to go home, wherever and whatever that may be.
Jason was the last of the group to leave, and he headed for the door, but That Man wasn't done with him yet.
Jeremy, who had been more asleep than awake had roused some when Jason started moving, and again when he stopped.
That Man said," Isn't that boy's legs getting a little long for you to be carrying him around?"
Jason half-shrugged and smiled. "My legs are longer. We'll get there quicker. Good night, Aaron."
Jeremy looked back at That Man over Jason's shoulder and stuck his tongue out at him.
That Man's lips twitched, but he dabbed at them with a napkin and locked eyes with the boy and winked at him.
The child quickly buried his face in his brother's neck, as the door closed after them.