Worth it All

John Christopher Larabee walked into the schoolroom bright and early on Monday morning, smiling, laughing with Slick Foster. John Christopher had given Slick the nickname, not because the kid was smart and resourceful, but because his nose tended to run all the time.

"Didn't get caught as far as I can tell. Golly, that was just dandy juice. You didn't get in trouble, did ya? I even managed to dodge ole "Rulebook'."

His much older sister Elizabeth, or Lizzie, but usually "Rulebook," would have turned him in for sure had she caught on...she loved to watch him try to squirm his way out of trouble. And just when he thought he'd done it, she could always manage to make up something worse.

Slick was laughing too..."Naw, my Pa smelled it on me...but he just laughed and said he wished I'd 'a squirreled him a sip or two in the barn to ward off the chill in our house. Funny thing was...it weren't cold in there at all."

John Christopher laughed. He knew what Wilber Foster was talking about. His wife, Bertie, did tend to holler at the man a good bit.

The fun came to an abrupt end when John Christopher spotted Becky Taylor. She was standing in front of Mrs. Hicks' desk, head down, tears streaming down her face this early on a Monday morning. For the moment, she was standing there alone. The sight of her tears troubled the young man to the heart.

"Becky?" He shyly reached down to touch her hand, keeping it where nobody would see.

"Hi, Chris." She sniffled and wiped her eyes. She was one of few who would call him Chris. That; her long, wavy blonde hair; and those beautiful hazel eyes she raised to him now, helped make her more than special.

"What's wrong?"

"Of anybody in this town, you ought to know what's wrong!" There was a touch of sadness in her voice. "I'm in BIG trouble!"

"You? What kind of trouble? What did you do?"

"Just what you did...drank that whiskey you brought to the Sweetheart Dance last Saturday night."

"And you got caught?"

"I'm lucky I can sit down at all...Ma near took my britches off. And yesterday at church, she told Mrs. Hicks she was going to see that she got dismissed for not looking out for me while you were around. She made you sound just terrible."

"You told your MA I brought it? Yep...That'll do it."

"Well...yes...when she said she'd stop hitting me if I'd tell her who had brought it....I'm sorry Chris...but that too good to be true...I told her."

"It's okay. Won't be the first time I've been in trouble. Your first whipping?"

"In a long, long time."

Clara Hicks, the teacher for all of their two-room school house, walked up behind them both, catching them in the midst of their conversation.

"Well, I see the other young hellion returns to the scene of his mischief!"

"Uh....Mrs. Hicks...I didn't think it'd be such a big prank....I'm sorry."

"Not nearly sorry enough...or as sorry as you're going to be...both of you. You and Becky will be doing a great deal of extra work to make up for all the trouble you two have caused this town. And today, Becky, you're heading for a small paddling for the first time right in this room, but John Christopher, you're heading for another session at the wood shed, and it's not going to be small. When the class takes their places, I'll announce your punishments and why."

Tears rolled down Becky's face again as she heard the edict. "I think I will die of embarrassment. Please, Mrs. Hicks....do you have to tell them all what I did. Can't you take me outside? Into the front hall?"

"Since you were one of the ones who started this....you have to be punished, Becky. It wouldn't be fair to let John Christopher face all the punishment and the embarrassment all alone."

"All?" The young "hellion" wondered how worried he should be. But he was a man; whatever it was, he could take it....and maybe Becky's, too.

"But, Mrs. Hicks...nobody got drunk, nobody got hurt..and it wasn't Becky's fault. She didn't put me up to it. She didn't even know I had it with me. Shoot, she'd probably have left me high and dry if she'd 'a known. I just, well, I just sort of talked her into taking just one little sip, and then she gave me what for. It was my idea. You don't need to punish Becky...at least don't do nothing to her 'cept talk, and don't let the rest of 'em know nothing. Just tell 'em I done it all."

"Anything...and did it! Goodness, John Christopher! Pay attention to your grammar!"

What he had told Mrs. Hicks was only partially untrue....He had asked Becky to the party. They had talked about sharing some fine sipping whiskey, but Becky hadn't believed he would actually do it, especially on the night of the biggest party of the year, the Sweetheart Dance. She had thought he was just THINKING about being his own troublemaking, smart-aleck self. But when he had offered her a sip...well, she had willingly taken more than one.

It didn't matter that she had been his partner in crime...Becky was special. He couldn't take the thought of her being punished for what he had started.

"That's the truth of it?" Clara knew he was generally a good enough boy, and now he was proving he could be valiant too. She knew Becky had been involved somehow, yet she approved of his willingness to help his friend, even if it cost him.

"Yes, ma'am. It was all my doing. I was just having a little fun."

"Some day your little fun is going to land you in trouble you can't let go, John Christopher. It might be for what you do, or just for what your reputation brings you."

Chris suddenly felt a very pronounced chill.

"Well then you just come with me to the wood shed now, John Christopher! You've pulled a lot of stunts, but this one takes the cake, and if I don't give somebody a 'real licking' for this, I could lose my job. The very idea!!"

"Yes, ma'am." His bright green eyes revealed only a little concern. Mrs. Hicks had tanned his britches more than once. She wasn't that big to begin with, just a bit bigger than his Ma, and he had just turned fifteen, so even hwe "real licking" wouldn't hurt much or for long. The one that was going to hurt would come later, from his Pa.

"You know how important it is that we have social events for children your age. It takes a lot of convincing to get the City Council to approve a dance to begin with. So many of the Baptists think we're paving the way to hell for all of you. And now, you have to go and bring a flask to the dance!!! How could you? You know better!!!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And you got Becky in trouble, too!"

"I never thought she'd get in trouble!!"

"You wouldn't. Unlike you, she's such a good child. The very idea of you enticing her to drink that vile stuff, and then letting her go home to face her mother and father? You are getting to be a real young hellion."

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry!" He turned his eyes toward her, and tried to seem ashamed. But he wasn't, and she knew it, so they made their way to the wood shed.

It didn't take that long, though for once she tried very diligently to raise him off the floor. When she was finished, they walked back together. He shed no tears and he didn't let her know that, this time, it had actually been painful. That would have hurt her gentle heart too much, and she was one of his best friends. Maybe she was his best friend, except for Becky, and his little sister Margie.

"Ma'am?"

"Yes, John Christopher?"

"Are you going to have to tell my Pa?"

She heard the worry he tried to hide. "Yes. School rules say that I must notify the parents of any punishment I have to give out to my pupils....and it doesn't matter what the punishment is, or what it causes you at home. I'm sorry. If you'd just think before you do these things...."

"Yes, ma'am." He got very quiet. She hated the thought that she had to tell his father, John. When she told him, she fully expected the boy wouldn't be back at school for at least a day...or maybe even two.

He walked into the classroom and faced the rest of his punishment, having his sins aired in front of all his friends. Dinner tables all around Wheatland, Indiana, were going to be interesting tonight. He wondered how many friends he was going to have left after today...not nearly as many as he had this minute.

He didn't pay attention much for the rest of the morning. He had a reputation as a scamp, and most people said he just didn't seem to care what anybody thought. But he did care. He'd just learned that there wasn't much he could do to prove what he didn't do, and he couldn't stop what people said. Just past fifteen, he had already learned to keep his own counsel, and let other people's opinions be damned. And in addition, every once in a while he got a stubborn sense of satisfaction in giving them something new to consider.

"Chris?" Becky sat by him on a long patch of grass near the green wooden building, holding his hand, and offering him bites of her sandwich. He ate only a bite, which surprised her. He always seemed to bounce back from trouble, but right now, he had seemingly retreated inside his own skin. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't have to take all of that...you didn't have to do it. I did drink it, and we did talk about it. I just didn't think you'd bring it."

"You know me well enough to know if I can get in trouble for it, I'm probably stupid enough to do it. What did your Pa say?"

"Oh, Chris. He got really mad. He said he thought you'd grown up and calmed down a bit...you bringing me flowers and all. And he said you'd stopped coming by at the crack of dawn so much...so Ma had sort of backed off. But now? Now he says you're going to have to prove yourself to him all over again. And I'm not going to be going anywhere with you or anybody else for a real long time."

"Shit!"

"CHRIS!!! Isn't one licking enough for one day?"

"I'm sorry. I'll be good."

"Don't lie, either!" She laughed a little and reached out to push a stubborn lock of reddish-blonde hair from in front of his still-sad eyes. "What did your Pa say?"

"I didn't know anybody knew nothing until I got here this morning, but she's going to tell him. I don't know what he'll do, but it won't be anything easy. Oh, hell...he won't kill me. He'll just, you know, 'get my attention.'" He tried to laugh it off, but lately, his Pa's "getting his attention" was sheer, unadulterated hell.

"Has that little flask of sipping whiskey been worth all this trouble? Don't you wish you'd have just left it alone? Don't you just wish Saturday night had never happened?"

"NO! Never!!"

"What was so special that you'd take two beatings, and mine too, for a couple of little sips of that stuff?"

"Don't you know? Saturday was worth ALL of this...even Pa."

"No...I can't see what's so good about it at all. You like whiskey that much?"

"Oh, whiskey's just fine." He smiled a smart little smile as he studied her pretty face. "But that ain't it at all."

She couldn't help giggling as he cocked his head slightly, then waggled his eyebrows as he smiled his very best smile.

"Then what was so important about Saturday night?"

"After you had the second little sip.....you kissed me."

"Oh, that." She giggled happily, and then, making certain nobody was looking, she gave him another.

The End