The place was clean, the work was done, the fire was lit. Jason hadn't and Jeremy were playing checkers. They figured (correctly) that Jason had stayed in town to give himself time to think

"Do you think it's right, Jason lying to me AGAIN about making this trip?"

"No." Jeremy looked up, keeping a finger on his checker. "B-but what c-can you d-do? It's J-Jason, and he gets to say."
"He talks about doing the right thing a lot. I guess lying to your brother's a 'right' thing then?"

Jeremy finally made a move in the game. "D-don't th-think it's a l-lie. He j-just ch-changed his m-mind."

"Too bad he doesn't get one that works." Josh scowled at the game board, then swooped his man around the board and eliminated Jeremy's pieces. "Play again?"

Jeremy nodded, and watched Josh set up the pieces. Josh wanted to think or talk or both. If he'd just wanted to play something, they'd probably be playing cards.

"But why did he change his mind? He just says 'No. Not this time'."

"N-not sure, b-but s-some of your f-friends from when you w-went to school are t-talking about going there. Wh-what's the P-presidio, Josh? Why d-do th-they want to g-go there?"

"It's an army base. They're taking enlistments for the war back east."

"Why?"

"To free the slaves. People shouldn't be bought and sold and treated like livestock. It's just wrong."

"Th-there ain't no s-slaves here."

"There could be, if they don't get stopped."

"Who? If who d-don't g-get stopped?"

"Slave traders. Slave owners. They want to be everywhere in the whole country, and come into all the new places, like here."

"Wh-why? Wh-what w-would they d-do?"

"Our jobs."

"Then what would we do?"

Josh shrugged. "Do you really want to find out?" Josh moved a checker, paused, and moved it further.

Jeremy shook his head. "I don't know. B-but I th-think J-jason is af-fraid you w-want to g-go with your f-friends."

"So what if I do? One of us should, you know. You're too young and Jason has too many responsibilities."

"L-like me?" Jeremy carefully made his move.

"You, the men, the town, the mountain."

"J-jason said you was t-too young."

"I'm not. Even if I was, I could lie about my age. Lots of men are doing so."

"B-but you're m-mad at J-jason for lying, so you're going to?"

"I know, that doesn't sound right, either, does it?"

"No." They played on in silence, Joshua surprised at Jeremy's sound questioning, and Jeremy pondering about two wrongs making a right.

"D-do you w-want to b-be a soldier?"

"I don't know. I want to find out."

"Y-you m-make f-fun of the s-soldiers that come through here. Y-you c-called them n-nancy b-boys b-because they jus' d-do what th-they're t-told."

"Well, I could do it, if I had a good reason to. At least for a little while. The papers say they're taking 90 day enlistments. That'd have me home by spring, if I don't like it."

Jeremy was pretty sure he wouldn't like it, since he didn't even like taking orders from Jason, let alone ones about when to get up and what clothes he had to wear, and just about everything. "S-some of the p-papers say s-six months, and s-some are s-saying a year. The n-newer the n-news, the longer the s-subscriptions."

"Enlistments. And you get paid for being in the army. Your own money."

"W-we g-get our own m-monney if w-we want it. And if we d-don't, it's you that says we can't af-ford us."

Josh ignored that. "How do you know so much? You never say anything."

"Ya c-can't listen when y-you're doing all the t-talking."

Josh laughed at that. He'd said something similar to Jason enough times, and Jeremy knew it. "Good point," he said amiably. "The thing is, I don't know that I want to do that anyway, although it seems to me I SHOULD, just because it's a righteous cause and all that. I just want to find out more. And the most recent information and qualifications, too."

"How c-can you, if J-jason won't l-let you g-go? We c-could all g-go."

Well, having a kid brother tagging along didn't sound like any fun in the city, and Josh was pretty sure Jason would agree with that. "Do you want to go?"

"W-with you 'n' J-jason, or eith-ther one of y-you."

"Don't you get tired of never going anywhere?"

"Josh, I don't even l-like to g-go into t-town!"

That made Josh laugh again. Talking to Jeremy like this made him feel better. Helped him think things out.

"C-couldn't you w-wire the P-P-P place and ask how long?"

"From here? You know it'd get back to Jason in no time, and if you think it's bad now –!"

"Oh. M-maybe you c-could go t-to T-Tacoma and send it? M-maybe after J-jason leaves for Frisco?"

"There's a thought. What about you?" If he could get to Tacoma – and he could – it wouldn't be too hard to get to San Francisco from there. Probably a lot easier than from Seattle.

Jeremy shrugged. If Josh could go to Tacoma by himself, he could stay alone right here by himself. And if Josh didn't come back right away, he'd still be okay. At least until if Jason came back before Josh.

"I can't leave you alone. Jason would kill me."

Jeremy looked at Josh, hard, but said nothing. This time he was the one who swept the board and cleared his opponent.

"I could leave you at Lottie's, I suppose."

"B-but then she w-would know you w-were g-going aw-way. And she'd prob'ly w-wire J-jason."

"You little devil!" Josh laughed again. "I'm glad you're growing up!"

"Me, too."

The younger brothers shook hands and concluded their deal with drinks from the 'medicine' bottle.