"Brother," said Richard, "let's go to the races. I have some money placed on a sure winner, you could back me and we can celebrate afterwards."
"Gambling again?" sighed his brother Charles.
"Well I have to make my fortune somehow!" protested Richard. "You are the eldest son, and the heir and you will have all you could ever need and more. I need to make my own way in the world."
"That is true," agreed Charles, "however gambling is not 'making your own way', but rather it is 'risking your whole future on the thrill of the draw'. And you asking me to back you, is not 'making your own way' but rather 'riding on your brother's coat tails'. You know I am not a gambling man."
At this, his brother scowled.
"Not a gambling man," he muttered, "you who has all the fortune a man could ask for."
Richard addressed his brother again: "Fine! Fine, don't back me. At least come with me. I want you to see this horse. If you were to involve yourself in some horse breeding, I am sure there is money to be made there! I could help you. That would be a fine thing, and father would no longer nag me about finding an occupation."
He looked at his brother again.
"Come on!" he whined. "You know I have great taste in horseflesh."
"Only when it's on your plate," his brother thought uncharitably, but he didn't say that.
"I will look at this horse of yours," Charles agreed, and that same afternoon the brothers rode off to the races.
"Milady," the eldest tipped his hat.
"Miss Mary," he once again tipped his hat.
His younger brother was unusually preoccupied and noticed none of the passersby.
Once at the tracks, Charles noticed his brother fidgeting nervously.
"Just how large a wager have you placed?" he asked suspiciously.
"Ah! Nothing to worry about, just a mere trifle," stuttered his brother, and Charles recognized all the signs. His brother had bet much more than he could afford, again, no doubt. If he didn't win, their father would be livid when he found out.
"And he would find out," Charles thought angrily. "This brother of mine needs to be taken in hand and be taught some discipline. Else there will be precious little left for me to inherit when the time comes."
Richard grabbed his arm and dragged him forward.
"There he is! Baker's Delight! What do you reckon, Charles?"
"Baker's Delight? Odd name for a horse," Charles mused.
"Oh, the owner is one Noah Baker, good man, I will introduce you," Richard enthused.
Charles meanwhile appraised the horse, slowly walking around it.
"He is truly impressive," he said, "he could be a winner."
"Thank you kindly," a voice said behind him.
Charles turned around to face a tall, well built man with dark hair and very sharp blue eyes.
"Mr. Baker," said Richard, "this is my brother Charles, whom I have told you about. Charles, this is Mr. Noah Baker, of Diamond Hall near Hampstead."
"How do you do?" said Charles and the two men started talking about horses and breeding, while Richard wandered away.
As the race was about to begin, the three men found each other again and moved forward together. And then the horses were off.
"Come on Delight!" shouted Charles, excited on his new friend's behalf.
Baker's Delight proved to be a winner, as he came across the finish line two lengths before the next contender.
"That was most impressive!" grinned Charles. "I would be happy to look at your other horses too. I will speak to my father as well, we can build a partnership and breed several racers."
"I would be much obliged," smiled Mr. Noah Baker at his new friend. Charles was a very different man from his flighty brother, and Noah Baker liked him very well. He knew his horses too and would be willing to invest a little in Noah's breeding operation.
The next race had no horses from Noah's stables running, but the two new friends watched eagerly nonetheless. The final race was the one Noah was most excited about. A new young stallion, Baker's Sunbeam, would run his very first race. Eagerly he sat forward. Charles fondly watched the almost childlike anticipation on his new friend's face, then looked around for his brother. He didn't see Richard anywhere, which left Charles feeling a bit uneasy. His brother should not be unsupervised at a place where so much betting was done. He was much to feeble minded to resist any temptation.
At that moment, the start sign was given and the horses were off, distracting Charles from his worries about his younger brother.
"Run Sunbeam," he yelled, caught up in the excitement of it all and he felt almost as proud as did Noah himself, when Sunbeam finished second.
"He will be a great champion one day," Charles smiled at his friend, and they parted with many promises of meeting again soon.
As Charles went to his own horse, he caught sight of his brother, and his stomach clenched. Richard was sweating, looking very pale and trembling.
"This is very bad," Charles knew. As he saw a big man stepping forward menacingly towards Richard, he braced himself for the truth.
"You owe me two thousand pounds, laddy," growled the big man and Charles gulped in spite of himself.
Two thousand pounds!
"Charley," his brother pleaded but there was no way that Charles could forward his brother two thousand pounds.
He shrugged, explained to the big man who his father was and where they lived, and invited him to visit on the morrow. He himself would speak to his father tonight. The big man asked for his name, then introduced himself as Gordon Sutter. He shook hands with Charles, threw one last contemptuous glance at Richard and then departed.
On the way home, Charles questioned his brother.
"How did this happen? I thought you had won handsomely with Baker's Delight."
"I did!" avowed Richard. "I did so well, that I put it all out on a new bet, with much steeper odds."
Charles sighed.
"It never occurred to you to just keep your winnings and be done with it?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
As their home came into view, both young men grew silent. The confrontation with their father would be unpleasant, to put it mildly. That proved to be a very large understatement. Their father was beyond angry. After his first enraged shouting at his younger son, suddenly he calmed. His icy demeanor was much more frightening than his rage had been, and both his sons stepped back.
"This," their father hissed at his younger son, "is the last straw. You will ruin this family if I do not check you now."
"And you!" he turned on his eldest son. "I had expected much better from you! To accompany this fool," he nodded at Richard, "to the races and then leave him unsupervised to gamble away our entire fortune! I had thought you more responsible than that."
"Father," interrupted Charles, but his father was by no means done.
"Hear me in silence! I will teach the both of you that actions have consequences, if it's the last thing I do."
He pointed at Charles.
"You! I will allow you to enter into an agreement wit this man Baker. You will fund it yourself, and you will pay off your share of those two thousand pounds with the proceeds of that operation. Am I understood?"
Charles nodded and felt he got off lightly.
"Dismissed," his father growled and he left the room with alacrity.
Richard crept towards the door in his older brother's wake, until their father's glare pinned him in place.
"And then you. I have just about had it with you," the older gentleman said to his most troublesome offspring. "You too will work to repay your debt. But you will not do so here. You will need to learn some discipline at last. You will pay of your share of these two thousand pounds with your earnings, which you will send home. You will not need much where you are going anyway."
He chuckled menacingly and Richard felt himself to be quaking in his boots.
"You, Dick Musgrove, are going to sea. And do not come back until you have learnt to be an honourable man."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
AN: Written for AHA Drabblefest 2023, for the prompt 'Playground Challenge July / Aug 2023, Sensational and Silly Siblings '.
Cross posted at AHA and FFN.
The title is after the Queen album, which is of course named after the Marx brothers' movie.