Jason was watching the sun set.

It had been a good day. A good week, maybe even a good month. It was summer. The sun was shining all the day long, and they were getting plenty of work done. The air smelled clean and fresh and piney. Supper scents were beginning to fill the air and the work crews were trickling in as they finished up their day's tasks. Mist was forming over the water as the sun sent its last warming rays to get them all through the night.
"Surveying your kingdom, Jason?" Josh asked, walking by with his clipboard in hand, heading for the office.

"Counting my blessings," Jason corrected him, turning his back on the view.

"You do that. I'll count our dollars. It's almost the same thing."

"Almost." Jason was glad he'd added the 'almost'. Sometimes Josh seemed overly focused on the money side of things. Of course, he thought Jason was under focused on that aspect –and he was probably right. It had been and probably would always be a difference in outlook, but their different priorities did well for the business, and for the family, and for the community.

And that was what mattered.

Jason's number one priority was coming in now, pitching chips at his fellow workers, talking and laughing. So different from the bashful, sober boy he had been when they were starting all this.

Jeremy saw Josh standing in the opening of the office tent, and tossed whatever-he-was-tossing at him, and hit his square between the shoulder blades.

Josh yelped and spun around.

"Gotcha!" Jeremy yelled, and he may have taken off running away before Josh started running towards him. It would be really hard to say.

Jason laughed. He was glad that Jeremy was still more boy than man, although he was close to the line – it somehow made up for his own aborted childhood. And Josh's.

The men eating, lined up for food, or still washing up, cheered on the brothers. First one, then the other. They zigged and zagged, but Josh finally ran Jeremy up against a tree, and after a few words the brothers laughed, and walked back amicably. Jeremy went to wash up, and Josh joined the chow line.

After all the excitement caused by his accident, Jeremy had thrived at the work camp. He had his work, once he'd healed, and he was enthralled by the talks and sings and competitions after work and before bed.

The men, some of whom had left behind families of their own, were thrilled to have a young audience for their tall tales. Those tales became more and more outrageous as time went on. But until Jeremy had outgrown the stories, it had been fun to watch him as he listened.

Even better to hear him asking questions, or wanting more details. Once he got comfortable with the men as story-tellers, or singers, or even plain old musicians ,he had talked with them more easily.

The number of men had grown, along with the stories. Jason had started off with two brothers and two men, and now they had a core crew of 20-25 men with about that many they could call on for special orders. Or if they just wanted to work, and the Bolts could afford to pay them. It was always good to get ahead, when they could. (When they had money.)

Josh was a man now. A young one, but still full grown. He had matured early, as Jason had, due to circumstances. A different temperament in some ways from his brothers, but intelligent, thoughtful, considerate. Stubborn and explosive, but explosive in a different way. Josh tended to let his anger build until the sum total was unbearable. Smart, patient, and a bit of a dandy. Jason wondered if he'd grow out of that, but he wouldn't bet on it. Josh was a good right-hand man, and a decent negotiator.

A brother to be pleased with (most of the time) and a brother to be proud of, maybe even for the very differences that made him notable.

"What's with him?" Jeremy asked Josh when Jason remained thoughtful once they'd gone home to their cabin.

"He was watching the sunset."

"Oh."

Jason looked up from his fire-gazing at the brief conversation, and saw his brothers exchanging glances and shrugging. "Is it that strange when I think things over?" he asked them.

"No," Jeremy said, shaking his head. "But it is when you d-don't talk about it."

"Or anything," Josh added.

They all laughed.

"It just had me feeling – thoughtful, for a moment, I guess."

"Some moment, considering it was about three or four hours ago."

"Several long moments, then."

Again the glance between the brothers, and Jeremy asked, hesitantly, "What w-were you th-thoughting about?"

"Thinking, dummy."

"How much we've grown, the last few years. What it was like, then. What it is now. What it can be in the future. Is that so wrong?"

"Nobody said it was wrong. Just – different."

"Probably the change of season. I do tend to melancholy when the summer ends."

"That's true enough." Josh finished wiping down the table while Jeremy put away the dishes. "Can we turn down the lamp? Or are you going to read?"

"No, I think I'll enjoy my private thoughts for a while longer. The fire's light enough for that."

"What if I w-want to read?"

"You don't. Get ready for bed."

"D-don't you th-think I'm getting too old for you to b-boss around like that?"

Josh laughed. "No. Never. I'm always going to be your older brother. And I plan on enjoying every possible minute of it. Some things never change. Right, Jason?"

"Leave me out of it, please. Everything changes. And the more things change, the more they stay the same. Figure that one out."

Josh shook his head. "Nope. Not gonna do it. That's your job."

"There are some things even I don't know." Jason was watching Jeremy, who normally would have asked him for more details on his thoughts.

"Surprised to hear you admit it."

"Glad I can still surprise you."

Jeremy, with a glare at Josh's back, took a book out from under his pillow and seated himself in the big chair.

"Still mad at me?" Jason asked him.

Jeremy shook his head for no, and then said "Yeah."

"You do know how to hold a grudge, don't you?"

"Uh-huh. St-still w-wasn't f-fair."

"You're at the age to think yourself invincible, but you're not. You were wrong, and you knew it."

"You were wronger."

"Wrong or not, it's still my decision. And I'm not sorry."

"An' I am," Jeremy mumbled, turning a page and pretending to read.

"Then we're in accord."

Jeremy mumbled something, then slammed his book shut and got in bed, pulling his cover up to his chin and his pillow over his face.

Jason and Josh just looked at one another.

The next morning, when they had a private moment, Josh asked Jason "What was that all about last night?"

"What was what about?" Jason was looking over a tree and doing computations in his notebook. "I think this one will finish it up. Mark it for me, will you?"

"Sure. Jeremy."

"What about him?"

"What were you and he talking about last night? Why is he mad at you?"

"Oh." Jason laughed. "I forgot you weren't there. It was when you went on that last buying trip to Portland. He decided not to come home from school one evening. I kept expecting him any minute, so I wasn't looking. Figured he'd just got involved in something. He came in a bit before midnight. I asked him where he'd been, and what he meant coming in so late. He made some vague excuse – he forgot, I think."

"He forgot to come home?"

"Something like that. Anyway he said he thought I'd be asleep, but he should have known better."

"I'd think so!"

"I told him I'd let him know in the morning what I was going to do about it, and he said 'about what?' and blinked his eyes at me. You know how he does."

"Oh boy." Josh was unabashedly amused by that detail.

Jason smiled. "We talked about it a while, and it seems he thought he wouldn't get in trouble – not much, anyway – because it was after sundown, and I always said that sundown was the end on the day and erased the mistakes of that day, so the sun could rise on a brand new start-over day."

"That's the gist of what you say, usually. By talking a while, do you mean shouting in each other's faces?" The brothers started walking.

"Sometimes that's the only way to get him to listen. What am I supposed to do?"

"Try whispering," Josh advised, and laughed when Jason laughed. "I would have scouted out the camp first, and if you weren't there, I'd have stayed there. Easier to sneak around there than at the cabin."

"The voice of experience?"

"Just common sense."

"You seem to have got all that."

They walked a little further.

"I don't see Jeremy sulking over another shouting match. Nor holding a grudge for it."

"Oh, that came later. I asked him why he didn't stay wherever he was, and he said he was going to, but then he got afraid that I might think that midnight was the start of the new day, and he wanted to be where he was supposed to be before the fresh new day started, so he came back before then. I had no idea he could think that way."

"You've always underestimated him. What happened next?"

"I told him to go to bed, we'd discuss it in the morning. I let him sleep until time for work, and told him he would be working with me the rest of the week. He was happy enough about that."

"I guess so. School gets boring once you get into your teens."

"I remember you thinking so, and Jeremy hasn't been keeping it a secret he feels the same way."

"I KNOW he wasn't mad at you for not making him go to school, and that's not something he would stay mad about."

"You're right. It's not." Jason's lips twitched. "When we got to work, I told him he was going to be working with me. Since he couldn't be trusted to be where he was supposed to be, he had to stay where I could keep an eye on him. At all times."

Josh nodded. "That would do it. He sure hates to be watched. How long did this last?"

"Until you got back. Then I told him he had to stay within sight of either one of us, until I felt like he could be trusted again."

"Oh. Well, nobody wants big brothers watching every breath they take. No wonder he was so happy you sent him out with Sandy's crew last week."