{"id":7313,"date":"2014-05-07T23:08:49","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T03:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=7313"},"modified":"2025-02-18T19:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T00:12:16","slug":"for-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=7313","title":{"rendered":"For Honor (by Sibylle)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0<\/span>The consequences of a fight at school.\u00a0\u00a0Prequel (1854)<\/p>\n

Rated:<\/span>\u00a0K+ \u00a0WC 600<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
Story Notes:<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
\n

This story was written as a Pinecone challenge\u00a0tribute to the sentence:<\/em><\/p>\n

“Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.”<\/em>
\nfrom\u00a0The Sound and the Fury\u00a0by William Faulkner.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you, Sklamb, for betareading. You are so wonderful!<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

For Honor<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting<\/em>\u00a0and punching each other. We third graders had just finished watering the school’s garden when we heard noises of nearby shouting, and then a fight. I stared through the fence between the garden and the schoolyard in wonder, seeing my reasonable elder brother punching another boy with all his might.<\/p>\n

The next thing I remember was Adam standing in front of our teacher holding his wet handkerchief against his bloody nose and stubbornly refusing to answer her questions. Finally she wrote a note for Pa explaining that Adam had disturbed the peace at school.<\/p>\n

We both know how our father feels about fights, expecially starting one. \u201cAdam, what will you tell Pa about why you fought?\u201d I asked on our ride back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing!\u201d he hissed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Pa will be very angry…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u00b4s not your concern, little brother,\u201d he said in the smug “big brother” voice I hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure isn\u00b4t and I\u00b4m glad,\u201d I said before letting my horse fall back behind his.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless I hoped to myself that Pa wouldn\u00b4t be too mad at Adam.<\/p>\n

My hopes failed. Pa was furious–and after yelling at Adam a while, he demanded I tell him what I’d seen or heard. I hate beeing trapped like that, but Pa fixed me with that ominous look of his, so I said, \u201cThere was something about a saloon-girl and a gambling house hostess\u2026I dunno\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pa spun back to Adam. \u201cYou defended Marie\u00b4s honor? Was it that you wouldn\u00b4t tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cSit down, both of you,\u201d Pa said soberly.<\/p>\n

We sat on the settee. Pa stood by the fireplace and cleared his throat. \u201cNow tell me what\u00b4s wrong with being a dancehouse girl or a hostess in a gambling house.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey \u2026, you know, Pa,\u201d Adam stammered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are sinners, somehow depraved?\u201d Pa shook his head. \u201cYou two need to know that your stepmother did work in a gambling house in New Orleans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beside me, I felt Adam freeze.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, do you remember how some kids treated you, and some men me, when we were on the road?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded again, slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy was that? Were we criminals or sinners?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was their prejudice!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd could you silence them with your fists?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, sir, not really. Sometimes, if I told them about our plans, they understood and we made friends instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, son, think how you could handle this better in the future without using your fists. Or are you now ashamed of Marie?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n

Was Adam blushing?<\/p>\n

I’d been thinking over what I’d heard. Ma must have been like the women in Virginia City who played cards with the miners after the men’s work was done.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Ma liked working, I think a saloon-girl\u00b4s a really good job for a mother because she could be with us all day and only go out after she kissed us goodnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u00b4m not sure why Adam and Pa laughed but the tension broke and that\u00b4s what was important.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Disclaimer:<\/span>\u00a0All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0The consequences of a fight at school.\u00a0\u00a0Prequel (1854) \u00a0<\/p>\n

Rated:\u00a0K+ \u00a0WC 600<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":375,"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_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23,1008,41,30,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-family","category-hurtcomfort","category-prequels","category-challenges","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-1008-id","wpcat-41-id","wpcat-30-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/coming-soon-5.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7313","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\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}