A Difficult Boy by M. P. Barker

Author:M. P. Barker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2008-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

Ethan and his father had gotten well beyond the common before Ethan mustered up the courage to ask, “Is Ma really all right?”

“She’s fine now. Still a bit weakish, but she’ll mend.” Pa smiled crookedly. “To tell you the truth, son, I’ve had my hands full tending to us all. I tend to forget how much work your mama does ’til she’s laid up.”

“You should’a sent for me. If I’d’a known, I’d’a come home. I could’a helped. . . . I could’a done your chores and—”

Pa gave Ethan a gentle shake. “What good would you have done if you’d come home and taken sick, too? Then I’d have had one more to take care of, and you losing days or weeks of credit for working at Mr. Lyman’s.”

“You should’a sent word to Mr. Lyman that you needed me,” Ethan insisted. “I could’a helped.”

“Don’t fret about it, son. It’s over and done with.” Pa took Ethan’s hat and rumpled his hair. “Besides, I need you more over there, don’t you see?”

Ethan nodded even though he didn’t understand.

Pa twirled Ethan’s hat between his hands, first spinning it on his finger like a top, then flipping it brim over crown over brim. “Working at Mr. Lyman’s must be doing you good. Look how tall you’ve gotten. I bet you can even knock my hat off now.”

Ethan stared at his father. They hadn’t played the hat game in ages. Ethan would try to capture Pa’s hat while Pa would try to fend him off. When Ethan was very little, Pa would end the game by swooping Ethan into the air and letting him take the hat. Ethan had long been too big to be swooped up. The last time they’d played, the game had ended in a wrestling match that dissolved into laughter. It seemed silly and childish now. Maybe he was too old for it.

Pa’s brown eyes creased deeply at the corners, teasing him, telling him Pa wasn’t too old for the game. His hat did look much closer than it ever had before, even though Ethan couldn’t have grown all that much in barely a month. The sun winked on the watery blue sheen of the jay’s feather in Pa’s hatband, daring Ethan to try. Ethan gathered himself, jumped, grabbed. Pa dodged, but not quickly enough. In one bound, Ethan captured the hat. Pa’s eyes widened and his mouth made a surprised O. Ethan’s face mirrored his father’s. Both of them stared at the faded black top hat in Ethan’s hands, as if it had jumped there all on its own.

Pa laughed. “Guess I misjudged how much you’ve grown.” He gave Ethan’s ragged straw hat a comical frown and slapped it onto his own head. Holding his head stiff, as if afraid the hat might fall off, Pa winked at Ethan.

Ethan nestled Pa’s hat on his own head. As hard and hollow as a bandbox, the stiff black felt sat heavy on his temples and brow, casting a band of shadow across his vision.

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