MUTUAL EMBARRASSMENT

 

 

            Visibly shaken, Penny returned to his cabin after just having been knocked against the barn wall by Lem right in front of Buck and Mill-wheel, for having supposedly lied and cheated in regard to a deer. He'd somehow managed to contain his shaking in front of the Forresters, but now that they were gone, he surrendered to it. He sat down heavily in his chair, and leaned on the table.

            "Why'd you take it from him?" Ory criticized.

            He turned to her, trembling. "Ory, what did you expect me to do? Fight Lem?! Not to mention, right in front of Buck and Mill-wheel? No tellin' whose side they'd take, neither. Granted, they're my friends, and they saved my life; but they're his brothers, and all them Forresters got a heap o' loyalty for each other. Now, you cain't think I wanta take them three on agin! That was hell the first time! I don't never wanta go through that agin!"

            "But, Ezra, you're innocent!"

            "But I cain't prove it!"

            "But he's wrong, and he shouldn't jest git away with it!"

            "But I'll git worse hurted iffen I try to do somethin' 'bout it! Ory, look, I mostly think o' myself as a brave 'nough man, but I don't never wanta stand up to none o' them Forresters, never agin!"

            She stared at him, frustrated and dissatisfied.

            "All right, must I admit it? I'm afraid of 'em. Now you satisfied?" Out of the corner of his eye, Penny's sharp vision caught movement just outside of the window. He turned quickly to catch a flash of darkness. Penny leaped up and stuck his head out of the window. The still retreating darkness was a black beard. "What...??"

            The motion halted, its owner knowingly caught in action. The beard, attached to Buck Forrester, came forward again, followed by Mill-wheel.

            "Oh lord!" Penny groaned. He looked into their eyes and saw that they hadn't missed a thing. "I'll come out," he said shortly. He stepped outside the cabin door, and shut it behind him. He looked up at the two of them. He'd always felt small around them; now he felt smaller than ever.

            His friends were clearly no more comfortable than he.

            "Sorry, Penny," Buck said. "We was eavesdroppin' in the hopes we'd hear you was innocent, so's we could tell that to Lem."

            "And we did hear that," Mill-wheel added.

            "But you also heered a heap more'n you bargained for," Penny finished for them.

            The Forresters looked at each other, clearly troubled.

            Buck shifted where he stood. "Penny, we ain't never meant to...uh...frighten you...."

            Penny held up a hand. "S'all right; I ain't blamin' you. 'Twas my own dang fault. I got myself into that dratted fight, jest as Oliver done. I regret my own foolishness. So do he."

            Their brows rose in surprise.

            "For that matter, so do Jody. I don't think you'll find none of us ready to take you-all on agin."

            Mill-wheel shuffled his feet as well. "Still, we don't want you and Jody skeert of us."

            Penny raised his own brows. "And Oliver?"

            The two exchanged slight smiles.

            Penny nearly smiled ruefully as well, but then said, "Let me ask you this. In this thing with Lem today, whose side would you take? In a fight."

            "Yourn. You're innocent," Buck answered automatically.

            Penny waved it away, and added, "You know that now. But afore you knowed. Whose side? Iffen I'd fit him right then."

            Both Forresters eyed him. Buck said carefully, "That's hard to say."

            Penny swallowed hard. "I figgered."

            Mill-wheel laid a hand on his shoulder. "Now let's not let this git to be a problem betwixt us, Penny."

            "No," Penny agreed, but then hesitated. "But somehow, I don't want that to happen, never agin."

            "Uh..., ain't sure we kin guarantee that," Mill-wheel said uneasily.

            "I know." Penny's gaze dropped to the ground. Then, he had an idea. "Kin you fellers at least promise me you'll allus give me a chance? To explain myself or to make amends?"

            Buck was more uncomfortable than ever. "Now, see, I don't know. For one thing, it'd depend on what Lem accuses you of. How serious it is."

            Penny nodded slowly. "Then, in an effort to protect myself, I'll promise you-all this: I'll allus back down. I hope...that'll be 'nough."

            "I hope so, too, Penny," Buck said sincerely.