Chapter Five
Willis found his brother sitting behind his smithy on a small, rickety bench that came with the property when Willis purchased it. He stopped beside Otto. The boy wouldn’t look up. Willis gently kicked the bench leg with the toe of his boot. “I always meant to burn this in the forge. I just never got around to pulling the nails out. Besides, I like having a place to sit where no one can see what I’m doing. Do you know what I mean?”
Otto looked up. “Sure.”
Willis shoved his hands in his pockets, leaned back against the wall and crossed one boot over the other. He stared up into the bright blue sky. “Do you ever feel like hiding out?”
“If you mean like right after I break someone’s window?”
“I’m going to assume that today was an accident. Accidents happen when we are knocking rocks into the air with a baseball bat. Want to tell me why you were hitting rocks toward the school?”
“Because I hate school, but I wasn’t trying to break a window. Honest. I just hit one too hard.”
“I see.”
Otto cast a sidelong glance at Willis. “How come you aren’t mad?”
“What makes you assume I’m not?”
“Because when Daed was angry he yelled, a lot.”
Willis shared a wry smile with his little brother who was still so much a stranger. “I remember that about him. It seemed he was always upset about something. Maybe I should say it seemed that he was always upset with me.”
“After you left I became his headache. Harley could do no wrong and Maddie was always with our mamm.”
Willis raised one fist to the sky. “‘If I had a nickel for every mistake you made, boy, I would be the richest man in the county,’” he quoted in his best imitation of his father’s deep, disgusted voice.
Otto chuckled softly. “He changed it to ‘the richest man in the state’ for me.”
Willis slipped his hand back in his pocket. “I miss him. I should’ve come to visit more often. A week every Christmas wasn’t enough to get to know you kinder.”
“He talked about you a lot.”
“Did he? That surprises me.”
“He said you didn’t have book smarts but you knew metal inside and out the way his brother did and you could make anything you wanted.”
“He never told me that. It would’ve been nice to hear him say something good about me.”
“Yeah, it would’ve been nice,” Otto muttered softly as if he was lost in his own thoughts. He took a deep breath and sat up straighter. “Mamm said that he loved us. He just didn’t know how to show it. Did you move away because he married her? Because she took your mother’s place? That’s what some people said.”
“Nee, my mother died when I was a baby. I have no memory of her. I was happy my father found someone new. A few folks thought it was strange that he married someone so much younger but I didn’t see that it made any difference. She loved him. I could see that. I moved away for other reasons that don’t matter anymore.”
“I reckon I gave the new teacher a reason not to like me today. Teachers always think the worst of a fellow.”
“I don’t believe Eva Coblentz is that kind of teacher.”
“We’ll see.” Otto didn’t bother to disguise his doubt.
“If you start at a new school with that kind of attitude, she may be forced to think unkindly of you. You need to give her the benefit of the doubt. She strikes me as a fair woman. I get it that you don’t like school. I heard your mamm mention it often enough when I visited. I sure didn’t like school.”
That seemed to catch Otto’s attention. “You didn’t?”
“Nee. Like Daed said, I wasn’t book smart.” It was the closest Willis could get to admitting he couldn’t read or write. He didn’t want Otto to be ashamed of his big brother. He was the one the boys should look up to even if he was a poor substitute for their father. “I reckon you should board up the window and clean up the floor before going to tell the bishop what happened. I’ll help you cover the window.”
“Is the teacher going to punish me?”
“For what? For breaking the window or for running away instead of facing what you did?”
“Both, I guess.” Otto rose to his feet. “Teachers can be mean. Do you think she’ll believe that Bubble broke it?”
“She might, but I won’t. Maddie may not be old enough to know the difference between truth and imagination, but you are.”
“I was just kidding. I know I shouldn’t have taken off without saying I was sorry. I guess I got scared. I’ll have to pay for the new window, won’t I?”
“That is only right.”
“Okay, I’m ready to apologize.”
“You will feel better after you do.”
The sidelong glance Otto shot Willis showed he didn’t believe his brother.
The two of them selected several pieces of plywood that Willis had stored in the horse barn. They carried the pieces to the school along with the ladder and were almost finished nailing the boards in place when Samuel drove up in his buggy. Eva came out of her house and crossed the lawn.
Otto glanced at Willis up on the ladder and then walked over to speak to Eva. “I’m sorry that I broke the window, Teacher. I didn’t mean to knock that rock so hard.”
“I thought as much.” Her smile seemed to ease Otto’s fear of her.
“Were you deliberately hitting stones toward the school?” Samuel demanded as he approached the boy. “Why would you do that?”
Otto shrugged but couldn’t look the man in the face. “I don’t know.” He glanced at Willis as he descended the ladder and then straightened his small shoulders. “I guess I was
