by MagdalenMary495
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 a perfect
summer afternoon for the uncles and their young nephew. Sitting beside the
tranquil pond, bamboo poles held ready for any fish who cared to bite, Nick and
Heath leaned back against a convenient log in rare contentment. For almost five
year old, Nicky Barkley, the day was made even better by the absence of his
sister.
“ Just the
‘mens’.” He whispered to the breeze ruffling his dark hair from his forehead.
Nicky heartily approved of this arrangement, even if it meant tricking Jenny
into riding along with Aunt Audra to visit all the orphelines. Only one concern
puckered his brow and Nicky finally confessed it to Uncle Nick.
“Sissy will be mad
we didn’t bring her.” Nicky worried certain of the consequences awaiting him
when Jenny found out. Tightening the grip on his fishing pole, he tattled even
if Mama didn’t like it. “She might hit me.”
“Hit her back,”
Nick suggested, sure this solution wouldn’t win either Jarrod or Louisa’s
approval. He’d seen enough of his niece and nephew’s minor squabbles to know
Nicky needed to learn to stand up for himself. Nicky often took the brunt of
Jenny’s wrath and she was wiley enough to be miles away while he was still
howling.
“Nick!” Heath
protested. “You oughten to tell him that.”
Nicky shook his
head in dismay at the suggestion. “I wouldn’t hit her back anyway, Uncle
Heath.”
Scowling under his
Stetson, Nick thought a few words he wouldn’t say to a child. Louisa and Jarrod
needed to open their eyes to their daughter’s craftiness, he thought with his
ire rising. Not that he planned to face his sister in law with THAT fact of
life. Louisa knew her darlings weren’t perfect, but she seldom appreciated
having it pointed out by someone else. Nick tempered his opinion to, “You can’t
let her pick on you, boy. Don’t let her get away with hitting you.”
“But, Uncle Nick,”
Nicky ‘s voice trembled, “I can’t hit her back. If you hit back the grownups
always catch the second person.”
Heath chocked on a
laugh while Nick struggled to keep a serious expression on his face at Nicky’s logic.
Come to think of it, he remembered quite a few times when he’d hauled off and
punched Jarrod back only to be caught as the sole culprit. Funny, he’d
forgotten... Now that he thought about it, he well recalled his throat swelling
with unshed tears and the futility of protesting, “But, Mother, Jarrod hit me
first!” He could sympathize wholeheartedly with his nephew’s predicament.
“Well...um...”
Nick found it hard not to laugh while he thought of a solution. Tugging on his
ear, he focused his attention on his fishing pole as if distracted from the
whole conversation.
“That’s a hard one
alright. You sure don’t wanna be the one getting caught, especially if she hits
you first.”
Nicky grinned,
sure of acceptance from his two favorite uncles, and leaned closer to whisper,
“Sometimes though, I hit her first.”
This time neither
man tried to hide the laughter. Nick managed to control his mirth before Heath
and asked, “Then she hits you back?”
“Nope,” Nicky
smiled an angelic smile sweetened by the gap where he’d just lost a tooth,
“Cause the grownups always catch the second person.”
“What happens
then?” Heath asked his lips quirking.
“Sissy yells,”
Nicky affected a squeaky little girl voice that did mimic Jenny to perfection,
“Mama, Nicky hit me!”
Heath and Nick
exchanged gleeful glances over Nicky’s dark curls. Both of them would admit to
loving their niece just as dearly as they did their nephew, but neither of them
had any illusions about her faults either. It was Nick who asked this time, “So
what happens then?”
“Mama comes, “
Nicky stated matter of factly, with his own eyes on his fishing pole. He
frowned as he lifted the dripping hook from the water and saw only the worm
instead of a fish. “She says, Nicholas Barkley, did you hit your sister? Then I
say, why would I hit her, Mama? Most times I like her.”
It was difficult
not to laugh and encourage Nicky in this bit of childish side stepping. Nick
tried to keep a stern look while being secretly proud of Nicky for picking up a
trick or two from Jarrod in a courtroom. Jarrod was a master at twisting words
and their meanings. Or, it was a disturbing idea, maybe he hadn’t learned from
Jarrod but from the people he prosecuted.
“Ain’t that like
lyin?” Heath asked just in case any of the conversation were ever repeated to
Louisa.
“Not particularly,
Uncle Heath. I never say I DIDN’T hit Sissy.”
Nick frowned The
thought of Louisa’s reaction to his encouraging Nicky in naughty behavior had
also crossed his mind. Gruff voiced, he admonished his nephew, “I can’t believe
your Mama lets you get away with that.”
“She don’t.” Nicky
agreed. “Mama’s awful smart. She says what she don’t know, Pappy does an’ we
better just tell the truth sooner or later. So I do...” Nicky’s voice trailed away
as he directed a critical eye to his limp fishing pole. “Then I always gots to
tell her I’m sorry.
Cept I’m not
sorry.” Nicky grinned without an ounce of contrition in his soul. “Sometimes
I’m glad I hit Sissy afore she hits me.”
Nick, who sometimes
thought living with Jenny must be mighty tough on a little boy, couldn’t find
it in his heart to correct Nicky or disagree. He sent one helpless look at
Heath begging for the right way to handle Nicky’s confession. After one ‘don’t
ask me’ glance back, Heath turned his attention to his fishing pole, dropping
the chastising into Nick’s hands. Not for the first time Nick decided being an
uncle was so much easier than being in Jarrod’s shoes. “Well, now, Nicky...you
know hitting Jenny isn’t really what you want to be doing. Maybe you’d best be
letting me handle Jenny when we get home, okay?”
“Okay,” Nicky
agreed, changing the subject abruptly to Nick’s intense relief. “Can I ask you
a question about fishing?”
“Sure! Ain’t
nothin’ I don’t know about fishing.”
Nicky’s blue eyes
studied his fishing pole. His face puckered with intense concentration as he
turned to Nick. “What I don’t know, Uncle Nick, is how the worm turns into a
fish.”
“The worm turn
into a fish? No, boy! That ain’t the way it works. The fish swim by and eat the
worm. You just put the worm on there to hide the hook so the fish don’t see
it.”
“The fishies eat
my worms?”
Nick was so glad
to be relieved of telling Nicky why hitting Jenny was wrong and so caught up in
his explanation, he failed to see the expression of horror that widened Nicky’s
eyes and rounded his lips into an O of terror. Using his pole for emphasis, he
went on with a long involved story about how his father had taught him to use
different baits for different fish. Nicky didn’t hear a word.
“They eat my
worms? I liked my worms! I told them they would turn into fishies!”
Nicky’s wails of
dismay and Heath jumping up to take the distraught little boy into his arms
finally penetrated Nick’s rambling story. “Then father said...what’s wrong with
him?”
“Boy howdy, Nick!”
Heath was stomping mad but with Nicky hanging onto his neck with a strangle
hold, he couldn’t do much about it. “You just hadta tell him the fish eat the
worms didn’t ya? After he told us he named all them worms on the way here!”
“They do!”
“My poor wormies!
Annie an Arthur an Ben an Bob! Eaten in the fishies bellies!”
There wasn’t much
more point in fishing after that. Not with Nicky howling and calling out the names
of a hundred deceased worms. Nick knew he couldn’t have had more than fifteen
or twenty worms in his can of dirt, but neither Nicky nor Heath appreciated him
pointing out that fact. Nicky wailed on and on, calling out another name each
time he thought of it and holding on so tight to Heath he left pinch marks in
his back.
There wasn’t
anything for Nick to do but grumble and fume. He stowed the fishing gear and
picnic basket in the wagon with more force than necessary.
“Poor Chrissy an
Sam an Duke an Jeb an my little bitty wormie, Hester.”
“Hester!” Even the
name left a bitter taste in Nick’s mouth. He was in a foul mood as he waited
for Heath to climb onto the wagon seat with Nicky wailing on and on and on
about Hester, the smallest worm. It was almost more than a man could stand.
By the time they’d
arrived back at the ranch, Nick’s head ached from Nicky’s howls and Heath’s
condemning muttering, “anybody oughta know you don’t tell a kid the fish eat
the worms when he named them!” When he’d finally had enough, he turned to Heath
and growled, “Aw, shut up! If you say one more word about those stupid worms,
I’m gonna haul off and punch you!”
“I’d just like to
see you try!” Heath jeered back pushed to his limits for the day too. Nicky’s
loud cries left him with a ringing in his ears. The little boy had definitely
left claw marks in his back and he still wasn’t sure he’d ever breath normally
after Nicky loosened the clench hold on his neck.
Nicky, startled by
this sudden bickering between his normally agreeable uncles, stopped wailing
with a surprised hiccough.
The expression on
the little boy’s face brought Heath around to how silly the whole darned
situation was. Much to Nick’s dismay, Heath burst into belly shaking laughter.
The more Nick scowled, the harder Heath laughed.
“What are you
laughin’ at?” Nick growled.
“Us.”
“What’s so funny
about us?”
“You and me
threatening to punch each other an’ the worms and Hester and...” Heath laughed
some more while Nicky looked from one uncle to another as if they’d both grown
two heads.
Suddenly, Nick
began to see the humor in the situation himself. His grumpy frown turned into a
slight smile then a full smile and soon he was laughing along with Heath. It
was then the funniest part of the whole day occurred to him. “Hey, Heath, you
know if I was to punch you it might be best if you didn’t punch me back..”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, boy, you
gotta remember...” Nick grinned at Nicky who realized exactly where this conversation
was going. The little boy smiled as both Nicks shouted to a startled Heath,
“The grownups always catch the one who hits back!”
THE END