“Whoa, whoa!” pa shouted, “It’s ok!”

Mr. Goldberg looked more than a little concerned, “It’s what-oh Basset, I dare say you can let him up now. Good show though.”

And turning to my pa he asked, “You know this gent?”

“What in tarnation?” Mr. Griffith growled as he reached for his hat.

“Yes, I am sorry to say I know him. My oldest son had been dating his daughter.” Pa answered and then quickly shouted at me, “Nevada, grab Whiskey!”

I had turned just in time to catch hold of Whiskey’s collar. Whiskey is normally very laidback but if’n she thinks one of us is in danger you best believe she’d kill to protect us.

Mr. Goldberg and Basset were trying to help Mr. Griffith up but he was so mad that he jerked away from them and cursed “Gosh dang it!” when he nearly fell back down; except he used the real words.

Mr. Goldberg cleared his throat, “Aahhum, I’m terribly sorry about this sir! Absolutely top hole – I have to say.”

It was plane to see that Pa was seething with anger, “Well I’m not!”

“Now you listen here Doctavio, I want to know where my daughter is and I want to know right now!” Mr. Griffith was so worked up that he spat as he spoke.

“What?” Pa had obviously not been expecting those words.

Mr. Griffith poked pa in the chest, “Don’t play the Jack-Ass with me!”

Pa’s fists were clinched and hanging to his sides. “I’m only going to ask you once to watch your language around my kids and my guest.” Pa said through gritted teeth.

“Why you no good…” Mr. Griffith started to say as he took a swing at pa.

I was looking right at Mr. Griffith when Basset blocked the punch and I still didn’t see Basset move. He moved like lightning; all I heard was a whooshing sound and then Mr. Griffith groaned as Basset held his arm. It didn’t really look like Basset was doing anything but holding Mr. Griffiths wrist but it must have been more then just a holding thing ’cause Mr. Griffith looked like he was in a heap-load of pain.

I glanced at pa and managed to also see Mr. Goldberg give a nod to Basset. Basset suddenly seemed to grow in stature and his eyes became hard as steel as he took command of the situation. Without letting go of Mr. Griffith’s wrist, Basset twisted himself around so that he was standing face-to-face and eye-to-eye with Mr. Griffith. “Sir, I realize that you are upset but I am only going to ask you once to get a hold of yourself.” The way Basset said it made my blood chill. My first impression of Basset the other day had been wrong, he might be nice, funny and playful on the outside but inside he was evidently not just a simple driver.

“Who the hell are you?!” Mr. Griffith cursed again.

“Please, let him go!” pa said trying to break Bassets grip on Mr. Griffith’s wrist.

Basset peered over to Mr. Goldberg who nodded again; Basset released his hold and stepped back though still keeping himself between Mr. Griffith and Mr. Goldberg.

Mr. Griffith tugged at his shirt and shot daggers at Basset.

“Now, heavens above! Please lets try to be civil about all this; what were you saying about your daughter missing?” Mr. Goldberg asked and he sounded genuinely concerned.

“He knows good and well what I mean!” Mr. Griffith pointed at pa and though his voice was still raised he did not cuss or try to lash out at pa again.
Basset’s body twitched and despite his seemingly composed posture I knew he was braced, ready to react again if needed.

I hadn’t realized that all the noise had brought everyone else out of the house too. So when Catherine exclaimed, “Oh I bet they ran off to get married!” I was startled and nearly lost my hold on Whiskey. She had been standing directly behind me and her words seemed to cut through Mr. Griffith and our pa like a razor sharp sickle.

“Honey what’s going on out here?” ma called from the porch.

Pa seemed baffled and momentarily torn but then he seemed to regain his thoughts, “Dear, you are supposed to stay in bed.”

Before ma had even got out her second word Connie, Catherine and Vincent had started toward her.

I looked up at pa who’d taken a single step toward ma but stopped when he saw my sisters and brother running to fetch her back to bed.

An odd thing happened when I looked back to ma, time seemed to stop for me as I noticed that, seemingly overnight, she had somehow become frail, weak and fragile. She seemed to be only a ghost of the woman I have always known. Her hair was wild and looked as though it hadn’t seen a brush or comb in ages and her skin pale, almost powdery white. She was leaning on one of the porch posts and holding her baby filled belly.

I was brought out of my daze when I heard Mr. Griffith threaten pa, “I swear to God that if that is what has happened, I will have your sons’ head mounted above my barn door!”

Pa looked at Mr. Goldberg then to me and told me to, “Take Whiskey and put her in the barn.”

Nugget quickly added, “I’ll help him!”

“Wow what was that all about?” Nugget asked once the two of us had managed to pull Whiskey into the barn.

“Here hold Whiskey so she don’t go running out there again.” I said, “Ya got to hold her tight or she’ll bolt.”

I took hold of the edge of the barn door and pulled for all I was worth to get it to slide shut. As soon as it was closed I reached up and clicked on the barn lights before I answered him, “I think my older brother has gone and run off with his sweetheart.”

“No kidding?” Nugget exclaimed.

“Ok you can let Whiskey go.” I said.

As soon as Nugget let go of Whiskey’s collar she took off like a shot for the back of the barn. I guess she figured that the back barn door would be open but it weren’t. She went to where May-Bell was still recuperating and seen that her door was closed to the outside too. Whiskey weren’t none too happy and was whining while she scratched at the door to try and get me to let her out.

“Sorry girl, pa said you got to stay in here.” I told her but it didn’t help none.

“You know that is the second time I have ever seen Basset like that. He scares me when he is like that.” Nugget said but the sound of his voice didn’t seem to match up with what he just said. He sounded kind of like a little puppy at play.

I quickly dismissed what he’d said and motioned for him to follow me, “Come on.”

“Where we going?” Nugget asked.

I led him to May-Bell’s stall; opened the half-door, pushed him in and slipped in behind him before Whiskey figured out that we were leaving.

“Wow that’s a big cow!” Nugget said with a shudder in his voice.

“Don’t worry, she’s harmless. Besides she’s still not feeling so hot.” I said patting May-Bell as we made our way through.

“You sure?” Nugget asked and I looked back to see he was still standing next to the half-door we’d just come through.

“Honest, it’s OK!” I said but I ended up having to walk back to him, take his hand and escort him past May-Bell.

We were back outside, leaving Whiskey inside barking and whining. Unfortunately going through May-Bell’s stall meant we had to go the long way around the barn to get back to the front side ’cause of the pigs being in the way the other way ’round.

“Why are we going this way?” Nugget asked, “Wouldn’t it be quicker this way?”

I didn’t mean to but couldn’t help it when I laughed as I said, “You don’t want to step into the pig pin, they are eating right now and might think you are food too.”

We were rounding the first corner of the barn when I stepped in a pile left by one of the animals. And by the feel and smell of it, it was fresh and I guessed that one of the pigs had got loose earlier but I knew that once that slop was put out for them any stray pigs would have grown wings to get back into the pin. Steppin’ in a pile of pee normally wasn’t such a big deal really; I mean I done stepped in every kind of manure loads of times but this time was different ’cause I had a hole in my bottom that wasn’t supposed to be there and was wearing four layers of diapers as well. My foot slipped out from under me and if Nugget had not been right behind me to catch me I would have fallen right onto my diapered bottom and into the manure. Nugget had managed to steady me and even though I hadn’t fallen on my bottom, it still hurt nearly as much. When my foot slipped my leg went forward and a pain shot from my bottom reminding me, as though I had forgotten, that I still was tender back there.

“Oh, that looked like it hurt.” Nugget said mimicking the same expression I was doing.

His face was only inches from mine with my back against his chest and I was taken off guard by the peanut-butter on his breath. “You smell like peanut-butter,” I commented without thinking.

He laughed, “That’s because I always have peanut-butter on my bagel in the mornings unless I have a muffin and then I smell like blue berries.”

He gave me a little shove to get me back on my feet and when he saw the condition of my school shoes he made a retching sound.

“You going to blow chunks?” I asked.

He closed his lips tightly together and shook his head.

“Pa always says that if you live around a farm and your shoes don’t look like this, then you ain’t doing something wrong.”

Nugget put a hand over his mouth and nose and attempted to speak, “Yeah but still, that is nauseating!”

I didn’t know what that word meant and had to ask, “What’s nos-ate-ing?”

Nugget rolled his eyes back into his skull, “Sick, gross, pukified!”

“No, gross is when it has been raining all night and you come out in the morning to feed the pigs and they knock you down face first into their pin when your mouth is open.” I said laughing as we walked past the back of the barn.

“Oh man did that really happen to you?” Nugget asked.

I weren’t laughin’ none when I said, “Yep, about a month or so back! I never thought that taste would leave my mouth neither!”

Nugget gagged and pleaded, “Oh please stop or I will be sick!”

We were rounding the other corner of the barn only to come face to face with my pa.

“Pa?” I said with shock.

“What are you two doing back here?” Pa asked.

“I didn’t want Whiskey to get out so we went out through May-Bell’s stall.” I said thumbing over my shoulder.

I didn’t realize until too late that Nugget was standing literally right behind me and when I had pointed over my shoulder with my thumb I jabbed him right in the eye.

“Oh dang Nugget I am so very sorry! I didn’t know you was so close! I am so very sorry!” I apologized profusely.

Nugget hadn’t cried out or nothing, he just rubbed at his eye and made a joke out of it, “Good thing God gave me two of these things huh?!”

I was surprised to hear pa chuckle.

“You ok there son?” pa asked calling Nugget son.

Still rubbing his eye Nugget grinned much the way I do when I am being particularly wicked. He also did a great job of imitating the way I talk, “I recon I’ll live pa.”

Pa pulled Nuggets hand away from his eye and tilted Nuggets head backwards to get a good look at his eye before saying, “Yep, that’s what I need, another broken-down, smart mouthed kid around here.” And then pa added, “It’s a bit red but otherwise…”

The change in pa’s attitude was striking but then I understood why he’d been headed around the back of the barn, “You feel up to running over to the old house and seeing if your brothers hiding there again?”

I remembered that a few years ago when Christopher had been caught stealing something from the corner store in town he had run away from home and three days later the sheriff had found him hidden in the old house. I have always thought it was so neat that he was able to catch rabbits and squirrels and found wild berries to live on.

“Sure pa! Come on Nugget!” I said but pa stopped Nugget.

“Not you lad; I don’t recon your pa would like you getting all spoiled before school.”

“I’ll be right back!” I said to both of them but that turned out to not be completely truthful.

I couldn’t sprint, not only because of my bottom being sore but also because Connie had put so many layers of diapers on me and my legs were held too far apart to do more then waddle quickly.