Summary:\u00a0 The best mishaps are the ones you can laugh about.<\/p>\n
Rating: K \u00a0Word count: 660<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Shenanigans<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cQuick! Hide behind the sofa!\u201d<\/p>\n It was difficult to stifle our laughter as we did so, the situation was just too absurd, but somehow we managed something resembling silence as the door latch clicked open and the hinges creaked softly open.<\/p>\n The two were so engaged in their argument that they might not have noticed us even if we\u2019d been out in plain sight, dressed up as clowns and dancing around, but we were hidden and they had no idea of our presence in the room as they crossed from the front door and made their way up the stairs, us carefully sidling around the couch to keep it between us and them at all times. At the top of the stairs they paused to punctuate a particular point angrily with their gestures, which troubled us, but then they moved on down the hallway and their voices faded away to a murmur.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when I turned to Hoss and grinned again, \u201cMake a run for the barn. I\u2019m right behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n And so we counted on the continued altercation upstairs to cover the clatter of two pairs of boots as we scurried across the room, and we tried not to slam the door behind us, and we ran as fast as we could across the unsheltered exposure of the yard until we were safely within the barn, and then we collapsed into the hay and laughed. We laughed, great bellyfuls of mirth, until we could hardly breathe, and then we caught our breath and tried to avoid each other\u2019s eyes in order to keep our feeble hold on solemnity.<\/p>\n \u201cDo ya think he saw us?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNah. They were both pretty preoccupied.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow long do ya think we\u2019ve got?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUntil they figure out that you let that sow drop a litter of piglets in Pa\u2019s room?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHold on a second, brother. The way I figure it, that was a team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd whose job was it to feed her this morning?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd who said that I didn\u2019t have ta latch the gate \u2018cause he got it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said no such thing!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh yeah?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know perfectly well I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou just can\u2019t bring yourself to fess up to being wrong for once.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am not wrong! You just forgot to latch the gate and then you made up a story to make yourself feel better while she was chasing you to kingdom come.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot to kingdom come. Just to\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026Pa\u2019s room,\u201d I finished for him with a chortle, and we both lost ourselves to laughter again. Because, really, the morning\u00a0had so tremendously derailed from what we had planned, and the only options left were laughter and despair. And laughter is usually the best option.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s bellow of rage that day was outrageously loud, the kind of loud you expect from an actor in a slapstick comedy play who\u2019s just learned that his house was hauled away in the night by an army of dwarves. Or, come to think of it, kind of like a father who\u2019d just walked into his bedroom\u2014his personal sanctum\u2014and found a pig and her newly-birthed piglets all over everywhere. So perhaps he wasn\u2019t so out of character.<\/p>\n Regardless, Hoss and I had no trouble hearing him from the barn and no doubts at all that the jig was up and it was time to go inside and fess up to what had happened. But it was with something less than seriousness that we scrambled to our feet and wiped the tears of laughter from our faces.<\/p>\n \u201cHoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know how they say that the punishment should be worthy of the crime?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo they?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I think this time that perhaps the crime will be worth the punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYa know, Adam, I think it just might be.\u201d<\/p>\n And with that, we two mischief-makers linked arms and trooped inside to what the price would be for an uncommon afternoon of laughter.<\/p>\n