"Alright, Jeremy, breakfast's ready, if you want it hot. If you don't, that's up to you, but them dishes'll be that much harder to wash if the porridge gets cold."

"You're being m-mean, Josh." Jeremy popped out of bed and rushed to the table.

"That's what happens when you're being lazy. Wash your face and hands."
"They didn't get dirty in bed," Jeremy grumbled as he went to comply.

"You never know. You might've sneezed all over both."

"Wouldn't that wake me up?"

"Sometimes you sleep pretty hard." Josh plopped bowls onto the table in front of both his brothers, before bringing one for himself. "No school today?"

Jeremy shook his head, and side-eyed Jason.

"I'm not going to make you go to school," Jason told him. "You kept your end of the deal we made and we haven't made a new one. But I thought you were liking it better?"

"Uh-huh. B-better. It's not so bad. But it ain't good, neither."

"Your grammar seems to have suffered."

Jeremy grinned at Jason, and kept eating.

After breakfast, Jeremy cleared the table and started the morning cleanup, singing happily to himself and splashing water while Jason and Joshua finished the morning coffee. Jason watched him idly. "Does not going to school mean not getting dressed?" he asked Josh, amusedly.

"Oh, that's in case our friendly neighborhood truant officer comes calling. He can hop into bed and look sick before I answer the door."

"Don' n-need to l-look sick. That M-man's face is enough."

"It's that bad? I haven't been gone that long."

"I don't know. It's happened twice. The first time – we had a couple rough days, Jason, when we got word that two of our men had drowned and no one knew who. We didn't sleep, or sleep well, until we got names and knew it wasn't you."

"I sent word as soon as I could."

Josh nodded. "Believe me, we appreciated it. Of course the priorities at the time and place were the other injured men, and finding the lost ones. We knew that. How many were there? The number gets larger every time someone else shares the story."

"We lost two, Redfern lost one, Foster lost two. There were about a dozen injuries, four or five of them pretty serious, the others mostly cuts and bruises and maybe some cracked ribs. No, I wasn't injured, at least not in the accident. Got banged around a bit in the rescue, all minor."

"That's a relief. But–"

"It's something else we need to discuss. I know. Now tell me about Stempel checking up on you two."

"We'd had a couple bad days, like I said. We both stayed in, waiting for word. We tried to keep each other hopeful. 'No news is good news' stuff. We forgot to eat. We looked out the window anytime we heard anyone on the street. Some of our men came by to check if we'd heard anything. Jeremy turned white as a sheet whenever anybody knocked on the door, and I probably wasn't any different. We were pretty scared."

"I would have been, too."

"About mid-afternoon the third day, Mr. Stempel knocked on the door. He said he was checking up on us because Jeremy hadn't been to school." Josh shrugged. "By the time I opened the door, Jeremy was in bed hiding under his covers. He was pretty certain it was some kind of bad news if the Big Man Himself was coming to break the news to us. I wasn't too sure he wasn't right."

"Oh, lordy."

"He wasn't – rude, or mean, or nosy. If it had been anyone else, I would have just thought he was concerned. Except for bringing up school as a reason, and I just don't know. It could have been an excuse. The man has less social skills than our backward baby brother ever did."

"N-not backward an' not a b-baby," Jeremy protested.

"You used to be." Before Josh could say anything more, there was a step on the porch followed by a knock on the door.

Jeremy dove into his bed.

Josh grinned at Jason. "Wanna answer the door? I don't think anyone knows you're home yet."

Jason went to answer the door, at his jovial, outgoing best. He was delighted to see his antagonist and pleased to do a little antagonizing. Eventually, Jason left with Mr. Stempel, and Josh and Jeremy were able to stop holding in their laughter.

/

"That was F-FUN!" Jeremy declared when they were going to bed that night.

Jason laughed. "You boys are terrible. And I'm just as bad. Shame on me for encouraging you." He laughed again.

"You sound so ashamed," Josh teased.

"I probably should be. We should probably all be flattered that he was concerned about you two being here all alone waiting for word about me. And he didn't even ask you about the business."

"D-did he ask you?"

"Oh, it came up eventually, but neither of us was in any hurry to bring it up."

"So, when are we going back to work?"

"In a few days. I've got – some things to do."

"Talk to the families? The ones that are here, anyway? I already sent Bib Carson's wages to his mother, and a little extra."

"I should write her. I was there. I can tell her – how it was. There, laughing and joking one moment, gone the next. People – like to know that stuff."

"We certainly would," Josh agreed soberly.

Jeremy nodded.

"I don't know Redfern's people, but I actually worked for Foster, a long time ago. He was one of my first teachers."

"I remember. Was it long term men? We didn't even ask for the names of them." Josh sounded almost ashamed.

"No, I knew one man – John Johnson, but he's only been around about a year. The other was someone who said he had more experience than he did. If we hadn't all believed him, he might have had a better chance. I'm going to see Mrs. Johnson, but I don't know her well. But I'd like to offer my condolences, and give her what comfort she might find in the details."

"If anything had happened to you, I hope someone would have done the same for us," Josh agreed.

"Yes, we're going to have to talk about that."

"Yes we are."

"Not t-tonight."

"No, not tonight. We'll probably need all day to work everything out."

"I d-don't want to."

"Me neither, little one, but it's one of those things that needs done."

Jeremy scowled. "NO! An' don't c-call me l-little!"

Jason drew himself up to his full height and looked down at his youngest brother (who, truth be told, was NOT so little anymore) without speaking.

Jeremy looked stubborn, also without speaking, until he, finally, looked away.

Joshua turned the lamp out.