This is my story for the April challenge.<\/p>\n
Rated: K+ \u00a0WC 1600<\/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 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Lifes Lessons Are Not Always Learned In School<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHey Adam what does stalwart mean?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam looked at his youngest brother lying on the floor with his books strewn about him. If he would only sit at the table he might find it a little easier to get his schoolwork done, but Adam wasn\u2019t about to suggest it. Lately any suggestion from him to Joe only led to conflict.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can mean a few things Joe. It can mean someone who is strongly and stoutly built, kinda like our brother Hoss here\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHey!\u201d Hoss wasn\u2019t too sure if that was a compliment or not.<\/p>\n Adam smiled as his father glanced over the paper he was reading. \u201c\u2026or it can mean someone strong and brave, also like our brother Hoss here.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss knew that was a compliment. \u201cHey thanks Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re welcome Hoss. Then again Joe it can also mean to be firm, steadfast, or uncompromising.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh.\u201d Now Joe had more answers then he wanted. He didn\u2019t know how his brother could be so smart. How could he remember three different meanings for a word when he himself couldn\u2019t remember one.<\/p>\n \u201cDoes that help Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, thanks Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben watched as his youngest son thought over what his oldest brother had told him then pick up his pencil and write something in his notebook. When he finished he laid his pencil down and began to pick up the books that had been lying about him. Ben was glad tomorrow was Friday; it meant no more fights about getting school work done for at least two days. \u201cJoe are you done with your school work?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah pa; finally.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen why don\u2019t you wish your brothers goodnight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow come they don\u2019t gotta\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave to.\u201d Adam hadn\u2019t meant to do it but correcting his brother’s bad grammar just naturally happened without him thinking about it.<\/p>\n Joe glared at his brother but he knew better then to start something now. \u201c\u2026have to go to bed too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause they are your older brothers and don\u2019t have to go to school tomorrow. Now say goodnight Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n ——–<\/p>\n The following day Joe met his friend Mitch at the same spot in the road that they met every day so they could ride to school together, but for some reason today was different. Today being the youngest bothered Joe more then any other day and as with all children he thought one way to prove you weren\u2019t a child was to do something you weren\u2019t suppose to do.<\/p>\n Mitch looked at his friend. For him to do something like this there had to be a reason. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter Joe? Did you not do your school work?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI finished all the things we were suppose to, want to see?!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cListen if you don\u2019t want to come with me that\u2019s fine, I\u2019ll go myself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo I want to go with you but are you sure we won\u2019t get caught?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you chicken?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo I just don\u2019t want to get caught.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry I\u2019ll get my brother to talk to Miss. Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitch knew, truth is most everyone knew how their teacher Miss. Jones liked Joe\u2019s brother Adam. \u201cWell okay if you say so.\u201d<\/p>\n So the two friends turned off of the path they were suppose to be on and turned down the one that promised fun. Adam watched from a distance, shook his head and smiled. He figured it was only natural and although his little brother might not believe it even he had skipped school a time or two. Maybe he should have headed after Joe and set him back on the right path but he knew something his brother didn\u2019t. Adam knew what his brother was about to learn was how bad a conscience can bother you even more when you got away with something.<\/p>\n ——<\/p>\n Joe had waited almost all weekend for the perfect time and this was it. Adam was sitting behind their father\u2019s desk and their father was nowhere in sight. \u201cHey Adam can you do something for me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure Joe, what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan you sign your name? You know in that fancy way that you do?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam knew very well what he would be signing and he had every intention to sign it, but he wasn\u2019t going to make it that easy. \u201cYou mean will I sign my name? Why Joe? That\u2019s not some bank draft is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNO. See I kinda told Miss. Jones how I wanted to learn to write my name like you do, all fancy like, and I asked her if she could teach me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI could teach you Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know but\u2026well to be honest\u2026\u201d Adam thought Joe honest this ought to be good. \u201cShe said she would need to see how you write your name to do that but I really think she just wants to see your name. You know how she likes you and I thought if I do this she might like me better if I could give her this here paper with your name on it. You gotta\u2026have to remember how silly girls are about things like that. I seen some girls writing the names of the boys they like all over the place. I even saw some writing like they was married to him and they was Mrs. Whoever. Come on Adam even you gotta\u2026have to agree I can use all the help with school I can get.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam thought boy could his brother shovel it and when it was to his benefit he could even remember his grammar. \u201cAlright Joe give me the paper.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam took his time in signing his name but once he was finished he saw Joe smile take the paper that was being held out to him and run upstairs. Adam smiled too and thought little brother I would have thought by now you should know that the only thing worse the being caught in a lie is getting away with one.<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Joe was glad at first to have gotten away with it. When he handed the note to Miss. Jones on Monday she at first had asked why the note was not also written in Adam\u2019s handwriting. Joe had told her that Adam had been real tired and that was why he had needed him and Mitch to stay and help so he had asked Joe to write the note and he would sign it. Joe knew once Miss. Jones thought Adam hadn\u2019t been feeling up to writing the note that she would become more concerned about Adam then some silly note and he was right. What Joe hadn\u2019t expected was that he would fear every day since then would be the day he would be found out. It was like Adam knew it would be. Eventually Joe\u2019s conscience did get the better of him.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam can I talk to you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure little brother come on in.\u201d Adam had expected this talk sooner but he guessed better late then never. Joe opened his brother\u2019s bedroom door. It was as it always had been when he entered his eldest brother\u2019s room. He felt like he was being allowed into a secret sanctuary. If he knew the truth he would feel more like the fly entering the spider\u2019s web. \u201cSo Joe what is it?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe forced his eyes to look at his brother. \u201cAdam I did something bad.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReally? What?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI lied to you. That paper I asked you to sign was really a note telling Miss. Jones that the reason Mitch and I missed school on Friday was because we was helping you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHelping me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. See I kinda figured if she gets all starry eyed when she hears me just say your name she\u2019d be too happy to be able to look at it knowing you wrote it with your own hands to be too concerned with checking up on what the note said.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam everyone knows how she is when it comes to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean I know you and Mitch skipped school.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow? Did Mitch tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I saw you that day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou did? Was you checking up on me?!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo I had business in town, believe me little brother I don\u2019t have the time or the patience to try and keep up with you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean you knew all this time and you didn\u2019t tell pa? Why?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Joe I knew that no one raised by a man who places such an importance on honor and truth could live with a lie for long.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou really think I got honor Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re one of pa\u2019s sons ain\u2019t ya?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe smiled at his brother\u2019s words. \u201cYou mean aren\u2019t you. Adam you going to tell pa now?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll make a deal with you, I won\u2019t tell pa if you promise me you won\u2019t remind me of how Miss. Jones feels and that you will keep her from asking me to chaperone any more school dances. I\u2019m still trying to recover from the last one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a deal Adam. Besides having you at the dances is starting to cramp my style.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI hadn\u2019t realized you had a style.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell I do. You know Adam you did find some pretty good hiding places.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes some that were none to comfortable. I didn\u2019t realize that bush had thorns.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was funny. You\u2019d spent half the night hiding from her and the rest of the night being nursed by her.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben heard his son\u2019s laughter and he wondered what secret were they sharing now. He just smiled because he knew it really didn\u2019t matter because secrets between brothers were sacred.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is my story for the April challenge. \u00a0<\/p>\n Rated: K+ \u00a0WC 1600<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":3478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23,30,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-prequels","category-challenges","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-30-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/4Cartwrights.jpg?fit=849%2C541&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}