“I’m scared,” said April.
Her daughter’s voice brought her back to the present.
“It’s okay, sweetie, we’re all scared the first day we do something new.” She squeezed her hand. “My tummy felt all funny on my first day at nursing school.”
She opened back the door, getting a familiar scent which reminded her of her years in this building. Now she was scared, too. She let April go ahead of her before stepping over the threshold. The place still looked the same, well, except for the walls being white now instead of blue. Students’ artwork scattered here and there, the long hallway with classrooms on either side.
The kindergarten was down the corridor to the left and she heard the noise coming from it long before they got there.
“We’ll take your coat and hat off in a minute, but first let’s go in and meet your teacher,” said Susanne.
Maddie Thurston was sticking a name tag onto a little boy’s sweater as she and April made their way into the classroom. Maddie looked over at them and smiled.
She stood. “And this must be April,” said Maddie. She got down on her knees and reached out to take April’s hand.
“Can you say hello to Ms. Thurston? Because she’s going to be your teacher,” said Susanne.
April chewed on her fingernail and shook her head.
“That’s okay April, I’m shy at times, too. How about we find your cubbyhole so you can hang your coat and put her hat and mittens inside? Then I have a special treat for you.”
“For me?” asked April.
Maddie stood and winked at Susanne.
“Yes, for you.”
Maddie took April’s hand and led her over to where the children stored their belongings. April’s name was on the wall, above it, and Susanne helped her take off her coat and hung it on the peg.
“Here’s a name tag for you,” Maddie said, peeling it off the pad and sticking it onto April’s jumper. “And I have a coloring book that you can take home.”
Maddie handed it to her.
“She loves coloring,” said Susanne.
“That’s a good thing because she’s going to do lots of it during the first week in school.”
“I’m going to see a horse, too,” said April.
“Branndon’s horses, that is,” said Susanne.
“That’s right. You just moved in. How are things at Branndon’s?” asked Maddie.
“We’re settling in okay,” said Susanne.
“I’m glad to hear that. And could you tell Branndon that Brody would like him to stop by the hospital? There’s something he wants to talk to him about.”
“Sure. And how is Brody doing?”
“Great, he’s been walking around the hospital more and more each day and they think he might be discharged at the end of next week.”
“That’s so good to hear,” said Susanne. As a nurse she knew the risks that went along with organ transplants and how it was a slow road to recovery for most patients.
“So, April, you ready to start learning lots of good things in kindergarten?” asked Maddie.
April looked up at Susanne.
Susanne touched her daughter’s cheek and then leaned down and kissed her.
“I want you to be on your best behavior, and I’ll be here at lunchtime to pick you up.”
Maddie took April’s hand and led her over to her desk “We’re going to begin with me reading a story,” she heard Maddie telling her.
Susanne turned to walk away. If she didn’t she knew she’d end up crying. Please, please let my baby girl love school. Please let her make some wonderful friends, too.
****
The morning had flown by because before Branndon knew it Susanne was returning with April in tow. She’d told him she was going to run errands and then pick her up.
April ran into the house and then into the living room where Branndon was sitting watching a rodeo event on one of the sports channels. Most of the guys he knew, many of them competitors of his, were taking part. She picked up the remote control from the coffee table and started flicking through the channels.
“Hey, hey, that’s kind of rude because I was watching something important,” said Branndon.
“Mudge and Snuggles show is on soon. I always watch it.”
“I don’t give a…”
He was about to drop the f-bomb but stopped himself in time.
“You get your mom to buy you a TV and then you can watch all the Smudge and Muggles you like.”
“Mudge and Snuggles, Mudge and Snuggles,” she continued chanting as she flicked through the channels at lightning speed that was suddenly giving Branndon vertigo.
“Hey, you give that to me. This is my house and don’t you forget it.” Branndon stood and chased her around the room for a few minutes as she tried to get away from him. Finally he caught up with her and snatched the remote from her. She began wailing again.
Branndon was pretty sure the glass shelf that housed all his rodeo awards was about to shatter.
“What’s going on in here?” said Susanne, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
“Didn’t you teach your child manners, or what? She barges in here, takes my remote, and wants to watch some Smudge and Muggles show.”
“It’s actually Mudge and Snuggles,” said Susanne.
“I don’t give a damn what it’s called,” Branndon shouted. “I was watching something important to me.”
“Hey, would you watch your language in front of my child, please?”
Branndon stood up so quickly it felt like a knife in his back. “This is my house, my TV, and it’s also my mouth and I’ll pick and choose whatever comes out of it. Now if you don’t like those rules, there’s the door.”
April screamed louder and ran to her mother and put her face against her mother’s leg.
“It’s okay honey, don’t cry. We’ll find a way for you to watch your show.”
“Branndon Junior what’s the meaning of making a sweetheart of a girl cry?”
Shit. He hadn’t seen that his father had entered the house and obviously at the same time as Susanne. His pa always did have a way of creeping up on him when he least expected it.
Branndon swallowed and sat back down. He was close to thirty-six years old and his father still made him quake in his cowboy boots. Only person who’d ever been able to do that.
“I’m…”
Lost for words
His father took April by the hand and led her to the couch.
“We’ll all gonna watch Mudge and Snuggles together,” he said. “And that means everyone,” he said, glaring at Branndon.
Just what the fuck was going on around here? He suddenly was getting a feel for what being on the other end of the bullying was all about, and he didn’t like it one damn bit. His father flicked through the channels until some tatty-looking dog puppet appeared on the scene dancing and singing.
“That’s Mudge,” said April. He’d never seen a child with a bigger smile on her face. She sat on the couch between him and his father and kicked the back of her legs against it to keep in time with the rhythm. Soon an equally tatty-looking cat puppet joined the dog in song and dance and Branndon guessed that was Snuggles.
“This is my favorite song,” April said, suddenly getting up and dancing around as the puppets continued singing.
“Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever laid eyes on?” said his father. He nudged Branndon’s arm. “You and your brother better find yourself a woman soon because I can’t wait to be a grandpa. Well of course, Brody’s is getting wed soon so my wish might be granted by this time next year.”
Hopefully his pa didn’t see him rolling his eyes.
“Can I get you two something to drink?” asked Susanne.
Yeah, cyanide for me.
“Just a soda for me,” said his dad.
“Me, too,” said Branndon.
“I’ll be right back with those.”
“You have to sing along, too,” said April, poi
nting at both of them.
Brannon looked around for something sharp he could throw himself onto.
“We don’t know the words,” said his dad.
“They put them on the screen,” April said, spinning around so fast, Branndon’s vertigo was setting in again.
Lucky us.
“See,” she said, putting her sticky little fingers all over his nice, big screen TV. He hoped Susanne did housecleaning as well as nursing duties because the kid was going to ruin his bachelor pad.
His dad started singing and then turned and gave him one of his looks. You better do it, too, or there will be hell to play. Maybe he’d just lip sync and that would satisfy him.
“I can’t hear you junior,” his father said, leaning toward him.
Weren’t most dads deaf by the time they got to his pa’s age? Shit. He had the only one with still perfect hearing.
Branndon sang along, glad no one could hear him singing about the dog and a lost bone.
More like my lost dignity.
Susanne turned the corner and grinned at him. He always been pretty good at interpreting grins and this one said, look who’s a sucker now.
****
Branndon was signing along, his dad was clapping to the music, and April was spinning and dancing like she’d loved to do since she was a toddler. She really should go grab her camera because she’d never seen her daughter look quite so happy, and she’d never seen Branndon look this vulnerable before. She could imagine what was going through his head and it almost made her want to laugh.
The show went to commercials.
“Why don’t you show Mr. Mckinney what Ms. Thurston gave to you?” said Susanne.
April rushed to her bag and pulled out her coloring book and ran over to Branndon Sr. with it.
“Isn’t Ms. Thurston kind? I call her Maddie because she’s going to be my daughter-in-law soon,” Branndon Sr. said.
“She’s pretty,” said April.
“She sure is and my son Brody’s very lucky to have found her. Now we have to find Uncle Branndon here a wife, too.”
Branndon glanced at Susanne and then back at the TV.
“Do you think you can help me do that?” asked Senior.
April nodded.
Poor Branndon he looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car out on the highway.
“Why do you both have the same name?” asked April.
“Well, I’m senior and he’s junior,” said Mr. Mckinney.
“You’re big Brannon and he’s little Brannon,” continued April.
“Big and little. I kinda like that. What do you think junior?”
Susanne bit her lip as Branndon gave his father a sideways glance that somehow said it all.
April opened up the coloring book.
“You have crayons for this?” asked Senior.
April nodded. “Maybe you can color this with Uncle Branndon. He used to love this sort of thing.”
Branndon did a double take at his father and Susanne had to stop herself from laughing.
“One time he crayoned all over the wallpaper in the kitchen,” said Senior.
“That was Jackson, not me,” said Branndon.
“He always says that but who do you think it was really?” asked Senior.
April pointed at Branndon.
“We never did punish him so let’s do that now. He has to crayon one picture with you, okay?” said Senior
“Hey, what is this, gang up on Branndon day or what?”
His father was the one who did the double take this time and Susanne laughed. Branndon looked at her. “I think I’m going to go get some rest before Jackson arrives to feed the horses.”
“I’m brushing them,” said April. “You promised.”
Senior winked at Susanne as Branndon left, mumbling under his breath.
****
Branndon had never been more relieved to see his brother then when he rang the doorbell later that day. His dad had left, and Susanne and April were in the kitchen getting supper ready. He grabbed his jacket and cowboy hat before Jackson even got to the front door. He needed some air and exercise after the sort of afternoon he’d had.
“Are you forgetting something?”
He stopped in his tracks when he heard Susanne talking to him. She was yielding a scarf and mittens. He’d never worn either in his entire life. “It’s freezing out there and we don’t want you getting chilled,” she said.
Jackson now stood at the door with a grin on his face. What was it with everyone today? Public humiliation for Branndon day or what? He was about to protest, but before he could say anything she’d stood on tiptoes and was wrapping the scarf around his neck.
“Is it okay if I bring April out in about fifteen minutes to brush one of the horses?”
He’d been so deep in thought that he hadn’t even realized that she’d slipped the mittens on his hands. Now he looked and felt like a complete dork.
A rodeo rider wearing his hat, boots, homemade-knitted scarf and fucking mittens.
“Sure, that will be fine,” he said, just wanting to get out of the door before some other indignity was thrown at him.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Maddie said to tell you that Brody would like you to go see him because there’s something he needs to talk to you about.”
“Me?” said Branndon, pointing to himself, but realizing he couldn’t because of the mittens. Brody wanting to talk to him. Could that mean trouble? “Okay, I’ll try and get there tomorrow.” He hurried Jackson outside.
“You mind if I get a photo of you?” asked Jackson.
“I’d ditch this stupid scarf and these fucking mittens if it wasn’t for the fact that she’ll be out in the stables soon and know I’m not wearing them and probably humiliate me some more.”
Jackson burst out laughing. “She might spank your butt, but maybe you’d like that.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked his brother as they headed down the path to the stables.
“I see the way you look at her. There’s a gleam in your eye I’ve never seen before.”
“Gleam in the eye is from all the abuse I’ve been taking. I had to watch a kid’s show, had to sing along with some weird looking dog and cat, and Pa’s got me roped into crayoning with her tonight. And if that’s not bad enough,” he said as Jackson slid the door open. “Did you hear what she said? Brody wants to talk to me about something. You think Maddie’s finally told him about the joke I played on her?”
“It’s your own damn fault. I like jokes, but that one went a little too far. She’s going to be our sister-in-law for shit’s sake.”
“I know that now, but I can’t take back what I did to her.”
Jackson put his hand on Branndon’s shoulder. “When he’s well enough he’s probably going to beat the shit out of you, but you’ll have to take it like a man … especially dressed like that.” Jackson burst out laughing, this time doubling over.
“At least my horses don’t make fun of me,” said Branndon. He hadn’t seen them since the day he’d left to go to the hospital, and he’d missed them like crazy. Why would a man need a wife and kids when he had horses? They started fussing and making that noise he loved to hear as soon as he turned the corner in the stables.
“They’re happy to see you,” said Jackson.
Branndon walked over to the brown one he used most of all for his rodeo riding and ran his hand over his back and mane.
“Kalispell, it’s so good to see you, old buddy.”
The other two grew impatient for his attention.
“Okay guys, I’ll be right with you.”
He and Jackson began cleaning out the stalls and then putting fresh straw in them. By the time they were done, Susanne and April were standing there watching them finish up with the chores.
Branndon put his hands in his pockets so she didn’t see he was now mittenless.
“They’re so pretty,” said Susanne.
“You ride, don’t you?” asked
Jackson.
Susanne shook her head.
“Get Branndon to give you some lessons while you’re here.”
Wow, this really was surround Branndon and rope him up day.
“So which horse can April brush for you?” asked Susanne.
“I’d go with Cody here, he’s real gentle and likes a lot of fuss,” said Branndon.
He handed April the brush and pointed to the black and white horse.
She tried to reach up but was way too short. He didn’t know why, and when he felt a twinge in his back, he knew he’d been foolish, but he lifted her up so she could brush Cody’s mane.
“You okay?” Susanne asked him. “You’re going sort of red in the face.”
“I’m, well, my back is a giving me some trouble again.”
“Here let me hold her,” Susanne said, taking over from him.
“He’s pretty,” said April.
“Maybe you’ll have a pony one day,” said Jackson.
“Yeah, I want a pony,” said April.
“You always did have a big mouth, Jackson,” said Susanne. “Okay, sweetie, I think that’s enough and I think we should get back inside where it’s warm and dry. You, too, Branndon.”
“Yes, Branndon, you go back to the house and I can finish up here,” said Jackson.
“You want to stay for supper?” asked Branndon. “Susanne’s a great cook.” He hadn’t forgotten about trying to get these two together.
“No, I have a date.”
“In the middle of the week?” asked Branndon. “Anyone I know?”
Branndon Jr. Page 3