Jeremy's First Nightmare

"No! J-J-Jason! J-J-Jason!" Six-year-old Jeremy screamed in the night.

"Wake up, Jeremy! What's wrong?" Joshua asked sitting up in bed.

Jeremy opened his eyes. "J-J-Jason!" He whimpered.

"Here I am, Jeremy. I'm right here." Jason hurried into the room and picked him up from the bed.

Jeremy clung to his oldest brother crying hard. Jason carried the sobbing child to the front room where they sat in the rocking chair by the fireplace. Joshua followed them.

"Josh, would you get the fire going, please?" Jason whispered as he tried to comfort their baby brother.

"Sure, Jason." Joshua said. "I didn't kick Jeremy or nothin to make him yell and cry."

Jason smiled. "I know that Josh. Jeremy had a bad dream or something." Jason rocked the chair slowly making shushing noises to the wailing boy.

Jeremy placed his ear over his brother's heart. The steady sound soothed the child. He gasped for air and his body shuddered as his sobbing slowed down. Jeremy began hiccuping between gasps for air.

"If you can remember the last place, you saw a buckboard runover a frog it will cure your hiccups, Jeremy." Joshua said as he was building the fire.

Jason turned his head to look at Joshua. "What is supposed to stop the hiccups, the memory or do you have to get the dead frog and do something with it?"

"I don't know." Joshua shrugged. "Vernon Smith told me that. He heard it from his grandmother."

"Well, what do you think about that, Jeremy?" Jason asked holding the small boy tightly.

"D-D-Don't w-w-want n-no f-f-frog. W-w-want you." Jeremy whispered.

"You've got me, Jeremy. You will always have me and Josh. We're your brothers forever." Jason said quietly.

"Not you. You said you didn't love me anymore." Jeremy clutched Jason's arm and shivered as if he was afraid his brother would suddenly disappear.

Jason turned Jeremy around in his lap so that they were facing each other. Joshua had sat down in Dad's armchair after he got the fire started. He walked over and stood beside the rocker. Josh was facing Jeremy.

"Jeremy, I never said I didn't love you. Why did you say that?" Jason looked intently into the child's eyes.

"You said it when I was sleep. You was mad at me." Tears came to Jeremy's eyes.

"When you were asleep? You mean in a dream? Jeremy, dreams aren't real. They are just pictures and sounds that your mind sees and hears when you sleep. They aren't true. I'm sorry that you dreamt that I told you such an awful thing, but it's not true. I love you; Jeremy and I have never said that I didn't." Jason told him. "Do you understand?

"No." Jeremy looked Jason in the eye.

"What didn't you understand? I'll explain it differently…. or better." He asked.

"I understood what you said. I said no cause that's not the only time you said it." Jeremy answered.

Jason looked sideways at the littlest Bolt. "Did you have another nightmare where I said I didn't love you?"

"No, you told my teacher that you don't love me anymore." Jeremy covered his face with his hands and cried.

Jason was stunned. He looked at Joshua.

"Josh, do you know what our baby brother is talking about?" Jason asked.

"No, Jason, I don't." Joshua looked puzzled.

Jason gently pulled Jeremy next to him. "Jeremy, did your teacher tell you that I said that?"

Jeremy cried into his brother's shoulder without answering. He was trembling.

Joshua squatted by the side of the chair. "Jeremy, you need to tell Jason. He won't be angry. He loves you and nothing will ever change that. Nothing."

"Yes, the t-t-teacher s-s-said that you s-s-said." Jeremy wailed.

Jason and Joshua exchanged an angry glance. Joshua stood up and started pacing the floor.

"Jeremy, when did your teacher, Mr. Connors, tell you this?" Jason asked patting him on the back.

Jeremy looked into his brother's face. "Day before yesterday when I had to stay after school."

"Stay after school? Why did you have to stay after school? You said you went home with Billy to play." Jason asked.

"I had to stay after school because Mr. Connors told me too. I had to write a sentence twenty-five times. The same one over and over." Jeremy said hiding his face against Jason's shoulder.

"Jeremy, you didn't get into any trouble at school that day. What was the sentence that you had to write?" Joshua asked.

Jeremy looked up at Joshua. "J-J-Jason d-d-doesn't l-l-love me b-b-because I s-s-stutter."

Jason growled causing Jeremy to jump. "I'm sorry, Jeremy. I didn't mean to scare you. Mr. Connors was wrong to make you write that sentence. He was punishing you and mistreating you because you stutter."

"I know. He doesn't like me because I stutter." Jeremy said sadly.

"Has Mr. Connors made you write a sentence before or told you anything else like that?" asked Jason.

"Yes, he made me write a sentence that said stupid boys stutter. It was when Josh was home sick a couple of days. He made me write it on the board in front of everyone. Then he told me to say to the class, hello, I'm Jeremy Bolt and I'm a stupid boy because I stutter." Jeremy told his brothers.

"Jeremy! Why didn't you tell Dad or one of us?" Joshua asked.

"Because Mr. Connors said he would whip me if I told anyone. I can't stand him no more even if he does whip me! When he said Jason didn't love me, I wanted to punch him in the face. I didn't cause he's grown up and the teacher. I don't wanna go to school again ever." Jeremy looked at Jason.

Jason took a deep breath. "Dad will get home from Tacoma in two days. When he returns, he will talk to the school board and have Horace Connors fired. I'll ask Dad if he will wire his friend, the Governor and ask him to make sure that Mr. Connors never works as a teacher in Washington Territory again."

"What about Jeremy and me, Jason? I don't want to go back to school again either until after he is gone." Joshua asked.

"Don't worry, Josh. You and Jeremy can stay home from school until a new teacher is hired. I know Dad wouldn't want you subjected to that jackass anymore." Jason replied.

"Thank you, brother." Joshua said.

Jeremy hugged Jason. "Thank you, Jason. I love you."

"So, you've started loving me again?" Jason asked.

"W-w-what?" Jeremy looked confused.

"When the teacher told you that I didn't love you, didn't you stop loving me?" asked Jason. "It's okay to tell me."

Jeremy stood up in Jason's lap. They were eye to eye. Jeremy took Jason's face in his hands.

"No, you're my brother even if you don't l-l-love me. That means I still love you." Jeremy sighed.

"Oh, Jeremy, I love you!" Jason's tears poured down his little brother's back.

The End