by Livvie
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
It was late evening, about ten-thirty to
be exact ... and the Barkley siblings were bored. Victoria had retired an hour
earlier, as she was going out of town the next day to visit some friends.
So there they were: Jarrod, Nick, Heath,
and Audra, all sitting around, doing nothing. None of them was ready for sleep,
but none of them could really think of a reason to stay awake. Only minutes
before, Jarrod had tried goading Nick into a checker game, but the suggestion
was brushed away. Audra had tried to sew ... but lost interest after three
stitches. This was the type of boredom that usually led to something
disastrous. Finally it was Nick who broke the silence, as usual.
"Hey Jarrod?" he asked.
"What?" the lawyer responded.
"Do you remember that time you and
I got in a pillow fight?"
Jarrod laughed slightly, " Of
course, Mother got more angry than I'd ever seen her ... and that includes the
time you used her good towels to wipe your face."
"Hey!" Nick said defensively,
"I was only five!"
"Even I remember the pillow
fight," Audra said, entering the conversation, "and I was only
two."
"You couldn't remember that
Audra," Jarrod told her.
"Of course I can, it was the only
time that I ever saw Mother's face turn as red as Nick's when HE'S angry."
Heath smiled at his brothers and sister
sharing one of their childhood memories. However, it was hard for him to
picture sixteen year old Jarrod and twelve year old Nick going at each other
with pillows.
"What started the pillow
fight?" Heath asked.
"Oh, I don't even remember
now," Jarrod said.
Heath thought a minute.
"You know? I don't think I've ever
been in a pillow fight."
Nick got an idea.
"You haven't?" he said,
grinning devilishly." Well now we'll just see about that." He rose to
his feet and disappeared up the staircase, leaving the remaining siblings to
puzzle.
***
It was only a minute or so later before
Nick reappeared with four large white pillows, two under each arm.
"Well Heath," he said, dropping
the pillows at his little brother's feet, "it's time for a quick lesson in
the art of pillow fighting."
"Now wait a minute, Nick,"
Jarrod objected. "You're
twenty-eight, not twelve. We can't have a pillow fight."
"And why not?" Nick snapped back. "I wouldn't want my youngest brother to
feel deprived or anything."
Jarrod stopped to think a second. To
tell the truth, the thought of a prospective pillow fight sounded appealing ...
but his better judgement was kicking in.
"We'll wake Mother up, and I don't
want to be subjected to Mother's wrath."
"Me either, Nick," Heath
chimed in. "Jarrod's right, we
would wake Mother up."
Nick thought for a minute, "Well
then ... we'll do it quietly."
Heath eyed the pillow in his brother's
hand. He tried to picture how it would feel coming in contact with his face.
"You know somethin', Nick?" he
said. "I think I'm just gonna be
deprived."
"NONSENSE! What kind of brother
would I be if I didn't show you how to participate in a pillow fight, just terrible!!!
Now the first and only rule that you need to know about pillow fights
is..."
THWAPP!!!!!!!
"...there are no rules!"
Heath shook his head, face smarting from
the blow. Well, he just wasn't going to sit by and let him smack him in the
face with a pillow ... especially since it was HIS pillow. Payback was a
definite issue here. Heath stood up and picked up a pillow.
"Ya know somethin', Nick? I think
I'm gonna like not haven' any rules."
Jarrod and Audra looked at each other as
their brothers proceeded to knock each other senseless with pillows. Jarrod
tried to reason with them.
"Nick! Heath! I hate to spoil your
fun, but if you wake Mother up you're both going to regret it!"
THWAP!!!!!
One sound. Nick and Heath froze. There
Audra stood, pillow in hand. Apparently she had just hit Jarrod over the head.
"Audra, what are you doing?' Jarrod
asked, massaging his head.
"What?" she asked
innocently. "I've never been in a
pillow fight either."
Jarrod smiled, it was one thing to watch
his brothers hit each other, but it was another thing to be assaulted by his
little sister. He picked the remaining pillow up off the floor.
"Well then, Pretty Lady, if it's a
fight you want, than it's a fight you're going to get."
And thus began the great Barkley Pillow
Massacre.
THE END