Story teller

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” I shouted. “I spent years finding the right tree and now you say…”

“Yes, I do say. Dad already said not to go across the fence, Jordan,” interrupted my brother, Bill.

“I think it’s a great place and as long as you don’t tell, Dad won’t find out…”

“I say it’s a bad idea to keep it from Dad.” Bill shrugged. “I guess if you really want to, you can build your own; I’m building my own in the back yard. Did you notice the big cotton wood?”

I nodded. I hated when I was in the wrong and Bill pointed it out. I always felt like he, just because he was older than me, knew everything that I shouldn’t be doing and always let me know what he thought. Bill was always good, and me? I was the worst kid in the neighborhood, which was us and Grandma. We were the only kids, Bill, Gary, and me.

I started walking out when I walked smack, right into Gary, who was coming into the house. “Hey! Watch it, Jordie!” he yelped. “You just about knocked me down.”

I smiled. Gary was the fun-loving, middle kid, who was quiet but could make you happy in a second with just a few words. I loved when Gary called me ‘Jordie’. It was a different story when Bill called me that, though. Normally he called me that to make fun of me. I was better friends with Bill, but Gary was a good friend too. He was closer in age to me, but he was always helping around the house while Bill and I went exploring.

“Say, what’s going on in here? Deciding where to build the tree fort? Well, I found a big cotton wood out in the backyard. How ‘bouts you come and look at it?” I looked at the ground. Had Bill and Gary talked about this before? Had I missed an earlier meeting? I decided that they were right.

“We shouldn’t build across the fence,” I stated.

“Yeah, and besides, it’s two against one,” Bill said.

“Two against one? I’m on your side now, Bill,” I said.

“Both Gary and I had the exact tree in mind and we didn’t even talk about it…”

I shrugged. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to try it.” A cheer went up from the others. I felt happy- even if I didn’t get my way… It was a nice feeling having all of us on the same page.