CROSSING THE LINE

 

 

            Fodder-wing sat sullenly on the floor of the barn and watched his six brothers arrayed randomly throughout the large open building, all of whom were staring at him with various levels of annoyance. He had seriously angered them with his relentless disapproval of the fight that three of them had had in Volusia earlier that same day.

            Buck said flatly, "You crossed a line with Lem, quarrelin' and poundin' on him, and he a'most plowed you one for it. Then, you crossed a line with me and Mill-wheel after we stopped him from hittin' you, callin' us evil, and sayin' we made you 'shamed to be a Forrester."

            Arch joined in, "And now you crossed a line with me and Pack and Gabby, admittin' that you was listenin' in on us tellin' th'others that they had our support and that we wish we'd been in on the fight with 'em, when we figgered you'd a'ready left the cabin to go to the barn. Sneaky."

            The boy was unrepentant. "So? What happens when lines git crossed?"

            Buck's eyes flared dangerously. "Keep on; you jest might find out."

            Mill-wheel agreed. "There's limits to how much we'll put up with from you."

            "You mean you might leave Lem hit me?" The child showed no emotion with his query.

            "Huh! I ain't even sure who will!" Buck responded with a humorless chuckle. "You keep tauntin' us, any one of us might plow you one."

            He flinched momentarily, but then reassumed his lofty air. "I reckon you would at that. Iffen you-all'd hit Jody, reckon you'd do awful things to me, too." He could tell by their expressions that he'd tried their patience further with that remark as well.

            "Are you tryin' to git hit??" Mill-wheel demanded.

            Pack asked, "Jest how long was you listenin' in on our talkin', when we figgered you'd goed off?"

            "'Til you stopped talkin' 'bout it. Long 'nough to hear Ma sayin' she'd quarreled with Oliver's ma when he was jest leetle, and that his ma called you-all hoodlums and savages, and I heered Ma say she didn't approve that you-all like havin' the whole town afeered o' you."

            Gabby looked rueful. "In other words, you was listenin' the whole blasted time."

            Lem cussed and shook his head, and glared at the boy.

            Fodder-wing whined, "How come you-all're allowed to git riled at me, but I ain't allowed to git riled at you-all??"

            Buck softened slightly. "You are allowed to git riled at us. But you ain't allowed to sass us."

            Mill-wheel agreed. "You got to show us respect."

            Fodder-wing was genuinely astonished. "After what you-all done to Jody and th'others?!"

            "That's it!" Lem roared and advanced on Fodder-wing.

            The child abruptly lay back on the straw, rolled over face down, and hid his face in his arms, with a slight whimper.

            Lem laughed. "Not so uppity and sassy now, eh?"

            "Ain't fair! You're bullyin' me!" His words were muffled by his surrounding arms.

            "Oh, we ain't yit started to bully you!"

            "Don't! Leave me be!!" Small sobs began to issue from the boy.

            Hearing that, the men relented, realizing that they had finally gotten through to the child, and scared him out of his rebellion. Buck went close, sat down by him, and turned the child back over onto his back. Fodder-wing gave Lem a wide-eyed fearful look. All of the men went closer and sat down nonthreateningly around him.

            "Now," said Buck. "What's really goin' on here? Why were you tryin' to goad us?"

            "I don't know," he mumbled miserably.

            "You do know," Buck insisted firmly. "Tell us."

            Mill-wheel agreed. "You was provokin' us o' purpose. Why?"

            Fodder-wing just shrugged and looked unhappy.

            Buck had a sudden thought, but found it hard to believe. He sounded quite doubtful as he suggested, "Was you curious??"

            The child's expression was a wide-eyed non-denial.

            Buck recognized that as confirmation. He exclaimed in surprise.

            Lem remarked, "Well, you come as close as you could to havin' your curiosity satisfied, without gittin' it. I near 'bout popped you one jest now. Th'only reason I stopped, is you rolled over and hid from me."

            "I lost my nerve," he admitted tearfully.

            Mill-wheel was perplexed. "But where's this comin' from?"

            He stammered, "I reckon I...feel a mite left out. Ever'body gits into fights, but me. Even Ma! I heered her admit she usedta git into scraps when she was young. So I thought th'only people I knowed who never fight, was Jody and me. And now...."

            Several of the men rolled their eyes, as they finally realized the sense of it. The others simply shook their heads. Their little brother saw Jody as having abandoned him in their shared uniqueness. And now his curiosity was piqued.

            Buck urged, "You got questions? Ask."

            Timidly, the boy wondered, "What's it like? How bad do it hurt?" Then, he hastily directed toward Lem, "Don't show me! Jest tell me."

            Buck sighed. "You recollect the time you tried to fly, and jumped off the barn roof, and landed hard? It's 'bout like that."

            Fodder-wing shuddered. "That hurts too much! Why do you-all like to do that??"

            "It's male-nature, boy."

            Lem remarked, "But I must admit, I'd not like hittin' you, boy. My fist is near 'bout as big as your whole head." He demonstrated, causing the youngster to shiver uncontrollably with fright.

            Buck gathered Fodder-wing up into his arms. "Easy there. Easy, young un," he soothed, cuddling him.

            "Protect me! I cain't take it! I cain't!!"

            "I know. Shhhh." He rocked him gently.

            Even Lem wasn't without tender feelings, and this behavior of Fodder-wing's made him feel at least a bit guilty. He reassured the crying child, "I woulda takened it easy on you, boy, iffen I had hit you. I'da held back and only hit you light."

            Fodder-wing raised his head from Buck's chest, looked Lem in the eye, and said, "Then, I reckon maybe I shouldn'ta chickened out."

            "Oh,...that ain't what I'm sayin'," Lem protested.

            Buck suggested carefully, "Fodder-wing, the point is, how much is this gonna torment you, iffen we jest drop it?"

            Mill-wheel's brows climbed. "You ain't suggestin' we go through with it??"

            "Depends. Iffen we leave it drop, and he jest goes back to frettin' on it, we'll have this trouble all over agin," Arch spoke up in support of Buck's observation.

            Pack interjected, "On th'other hand, iffen we've eased the boy's mind without riskin' him gittin' hurted, that's allus better." His vote favored Mill-wheel's point.

            Lem suggested, "Well, since we don't all agree, and since Fodder-wing don't even seem to agree with hisself, maybe we should jest leave off it for now, and see how he feels later."

            Everyone readily agreed that that was the safest course.

 

            Fodder-wing was in the barn feeding his pets the next time that all six of them walked in together. He looked up, caught sight of their grim expressions, and automatically said, "Uh oh."

            Buck waved away his words, and said, "This past week, ever' one of us has seed you settin' and broodin' more'n once. Hit's still botherin' you; that's clear."

            "I know. That don't mean I got the courage to do somethin' 'bout it." He hesitated. "Less'n you-all aim to not give me no choice." He began to back away, even as he knew that there was nowhere to go to get away from them.

            Mill-wheel looked pained. "Don't think of it as us forcin' you...."

            Fodder-wing panicked. "Oh god, you are gonna!"

            They approached very slowly as he retreated.

            "I got a question!" he hastened to say.

            "Ask," encouraged Buck. Clearly, the men were in no hurry, but that didn't mean that they weren't relentless.

            "You said it was like fallin' off the barn. Do it have to be that bad??"

            "Iffen you really wanta know what it's like."

            Just then, the boy stumbled backward over a hay bale, and landed hard on his backside. "Ow!" Then he looked sheepish at the irony.

            As if he read the child's thoughts, Arch commented humorously, "No, that don't count."

            The boy laughed feebly, and it broke the tension.

            "But stay down," Buck advised. "We ain't gonna risk knockin' you down; you're a'ready gonna be down, b'fore we hit you."

            The child's fear returned, and he whimpered, "Ma!"

            Mill-wheel put up a forbidding hand. "Now don't start yellin' for Ma, and gittin' her all upset. She's a'ready noticed you stewin' 'bout somethin'; you've upset her 'nough."

            Fodder-wing was genuinely startled. "I was real keerful to be sure I acted normal, 'round Ma and Pa."

            Pack shook his head. "Maybe you tried, but you ain't kept Ma from noticin'. She's been askin' us what ails you. She knows you too good, and kin read your moods."

            "Sorry," he responded timidly.

            "We ain't 'xactly blamin' you," said Lem. "But it's one reason why we gotta git done with this."

            "'Sides, ain't you been miserable 'bout it long 'nough?" added Gabby.

            Throughout the conversation, the six men had smoothly continued their advance.

            "Don't! I'm scairt!" Fodder-wing began to cry.

            Several of the men sagged in frustration, and the rest sighed.

            "Fine," muttered Buck, and he turned to go. One by one, the others followed suit.

            "What?" the boy asked in surprise. "You're leavin' me?"

            "You wanted we should stop, right?" said Mill-wheel, looking back over his shoulder.

            "But..I mean...I thought...."

            "You thought what?" prompted Lem.

            "I thought this was it," he whispered. "I thought I didn't have no choice. I thought you was gonna make me."

            "And you seemed like you didn't wanta be forced," said Buck.

            Fodder-wing again spoke in a whisper, "It's the only way. I cain't not show fear. I got too much of it."

            They stared at him.

            "Course I'm scairt. I cain't hide it. It's too strong. It allus will be. But...."

            "But we don't need to let that stop us, you're sayin'," Mill-wheel finished for him.

            Frightened, Fodder-wing could only shake his head spasmodically.

            They exchanged quizzical glances and recommenced their approach. He winced and squirmed and shivered, but did his best to squelch the tears.

            As they got much closer, his breathing rate rose in the extreme, and Buck warned him to take it easy, calm down, breathe slower.

            Arch said, "Leave me git behind you, and lean you agin me; I'll cushion you. We ain't gonna let you git knocked back agin nothin' hard." He maneuvered himself into position as he spoke.

            Buck tenderly pushed a lock of the boy's hair back away from where it had tumbled into his eyes, and sat down beside him to his right. Mill-wheel seated himself to the boy's left. The other three leaned in closer. Fodder-wing bit his lip in fright.

            Mill-wheel touched his finger gently to the small lips and said, "No, don't bite your lip. Don't let nothin' git betwixt your teeth; that could cause a problem."

            Fodder-wing obeyed, but then looked up at Buck and asked, "Am I gonna git knocked out?"

            "No, prob'ly not," Buck told him tenderly. "Or iffen you do, hit'll not be for long."

            "Well, iffen I do, will you stay with me, and still be here when I wake up?"

            "Course!" Buck said emphatically. "Ain't no way we'd leave you 'til you're fine!"

            "Hold my hand."

            Buck and Mill-wheel each took one small hand in his own large powerful one.

            Fodder-wing raised wide questioning eyes to the three who remained upright in front of him. He was trembling.

            Lem and Pack exchanged a look. Pack punched him lightly in the abdomen, eliciting a screech as Fodder-wing doubled over; Lem clipped him briefly in the jaw. The boy sagged, momentarily insensate. Heart-tugged, Buck turned and cradled the tiny face in his huge hand.

            The child's eyes flickered open. He flinched and whimpered. Fodder-wing gasped slightly, squeezed his eyes shut, and leaked tears.

            "Ow...! Hurts...!" He squirmed as if that could make it stop.

            "Aww, I know, baby," said Buck.

            Buck instantly began to soothingly massage his jaw, and Mill-wheel reached to carefully rub his tummy.

            Fodder-wing looked up at Lem and Pack, and saw sympathetic misery in their eyes. Still, he pleaded, "Make it stop."

            Pack winced with guilt. "We cain't. We would iffen we could."

            Lem said, "We kin do it, but we cain't undo it."

            "Lem? Did you hit me same place as you hit Jody?"

            "Yeah. Jest a heap lighter. I figgered you'd want me to do you same's him."

            Fodder-wing nodded. "You done right that-a-way. But.... Fellers? Why do you like to do this? To each other? And to others?" He cringed and writhed again.

            "We...jest...git riled. And need to strike out at whoever riled us," Mill-wheel tried to explain. Then, he asked, "Which is hurtin' you worse?" He continued to rub the boy's middle comfortingly. "This is worse, ain't it, the way you're squirmin'?"

            "Uh huh. Th'other jest...aches. But...my tummy...twists."

            Buck still continued to massage the aching jaw.

            Arch suggested, "He'd be more comfortable in bed, recoverin'."

            "I'll tote him in," Pack offered.

            Gabby shook his head. "How'd we 'splain this to Ma and Pa?"

            Buck admitted, "We'll have to tell what we done to him."

            Some of the men nodded, but all looked uncomfortable.

            "No," Fodder-wing murmured. "I don't want they should blame you-all, and they will iffen you tell 'em true. This's...my fault. And my problem. Remember when I fell over the hay bale? Tell 'em that part. Tell 'em I fell and got hurted a leetle. That's all."

            Buck frowned in thought. "I hate to lie to 'em. But I 'spect they'd be better off not knowin' ever'thin'."

            Fodder-wing nodded, but said, "Don't move me right yit. Please. Leave me lay still awhiles more."

            "Whatever he'ps, young un," assured Arch, still cradling the child against his large powerful body.

            Fodder-wing went on flinching and squeaking in pain for a while longer, while all of the men continued to soothe, comfort, and console him in any way that they could.

            As the boy's pain very gradually began to ease, he looked up at them almost teasingly, and asked innocently, "Do this mean I can git into your fights now?"

            All of the men either smiled affectionately in appreciation of his efforts or chuckled at the genuine humor. But most muttered some version of, "I don't recommend it."

 

            Fodder-wing and Jody shuddered with terror as they faced the six Forrester men. The two boys were all that stood between the men and the cowering Oliver, no longer completely hidden behind the hay bale in the Baxters' barn. Fodder-wing had been allowed to spend a few days with Jody, after the friendship between the two families had mended due to Penny's snakebite. To everyone's surprise, Oliver had chosen that occasion to visit the Baxters. Fodder-wing had been horrified at how badly battered Oliver's face still was, but both boys had thoroughly enjoyed his company. It was a joyous occasion...until the Forrester brothers had arrived to take Fodder-wing home, and found more than they bargained for in the Baxters' barn.

            "Don't! Please! He's still too bad hurted!" Jody pleaded.

            "I ain't movin'! You'll hafta...make me move!" Fodder-wing said, doing his best to stand up to them.

            Lem flared, "We'll not go easy on you this time, Fodder-wing!"

            "We'll hit you full-out!" Pack agreed. "You ready for that?!"

            "Remember how bad it hurted when we goed light on you," reminded Mill-wheel. "Jest figger on how bad it'll hurt when we go hard on you instead!"

            "And I'll not be cushionin' you from behind!" warned Arch. "You'll hit the floor!"

            "You best move, boys! Both o' you! Or you'll be sorrier'n you kin ever imagine!" threatened Buck. "And jest remember how bad we'll hurt you, iffen you side with Oliver!"

            "Oh please don't do this to us!" Fodder-wing begged. "We're all three turrible scairt! Leave us go, please!"

            "Spare us, all three, please!" Jody implored.

            "Fellers," Oliver said timidly. "I...learnt my lesson. I don't never wanta fight you-all, never agin! Please, have a heart! Leave us be!"

            Determinedly, Lem raised a fist, as did Arch.

            Fodder-wing screamed until the sound of his own scream filled his world. He woke abruptly, and sat up in bed, with the scream still echoing in his ears.

            Buck and Mill-wheel got to him first. Their baby brother was sobbing hysterically. The other four brothers piled into the room on their heels. Then came the parents.

            Fodder-wing apologized for waking everyone, especially his parents, and he gently, delicately requested of the parents that they return to bed and allow him to speak to his big brothers alone, since the nightmare was about "their fight in Volusia." The senior Forresters agreed, once they were sure that the child was basically all right.

            After the wizened pair had left, Fodder-wing confessed, "It wa'n't really 'bout Volusia; I jest said that." And then he told the men what the nightmare had really been, including what each of the men had harshly said.

            "That ain't how it'd really go," Buck soothed him gently. "It'd only take two of us to grab you and Jody and haul you boys outta the way. Th'other four of us'd then be free to deal with Oliver."

            Mill-wheel put in, "We'd be no rougher with you and Jody than we had to be, to keep you under control. At worst, Jody'd do what he done in Volusia and git knocked out agin. I'm sure we'd not hafta be that tough with you."

            "But...Oliver...," the boy stammered. "In my nightmare, he was beggin' and pleadin'. Please say you'd not...."

            "Hard to say," Arch dismissed that issue. "It'd depend on too many diff'rent things."

            Lem admitted, "I'd be hard-put to spare Oliver."

            Pack said solemnly, "But young un, even though we made a mite of a joke 'bout you maybe gittin' into our fights in the future, that mustn't happen. We cain't let it."

            The others grimly nodded agreement. Arch said, "What we done to you in the barn don't make it all right for us to go beatin' on you for real. And we'll not."

            "I'm glad," the boy said. "I don't figger I'm ready for sich as that."

            Meaningfully, Buck answered, "We know you ain't."

            "But please don't hurt Oliver in front o' me! Don't make me watch that!"

            "Fodder-wing...." Mill-wheel hesitated. Then, he relented. "All right. You'll not hafta see that."

            The other men launched surreptitious questioning, even resentful, looks at him for that.

            It was only after the boy was safely asleep alone in his bed, and the men were back in the main room together, that Mill-wheel quietly told the other men, "You know how unlikely it is that sich a thing could happen anyways? We don't take the boy to town, and we don't leave him at Baxters' for days, like he dreamed. And sure as the devil, Oliver ain't gonna come here, lookin' for a beatin'."

            Slowly, gradually satisfied, if reluctantly, each of the other men nodded, realizing that Mill-wheel had not made a hard-to-keep promise after all.