What Happened in the Barn

Light came pouring in through the freshly pierced hole in the old barn loft's lower side wall.

The birds still scattering from the noise.

The pistol left smoking in Jay's hand.

All three children stood there motionless for a moment.

Dot stepped back, clutching the patched gingham dress her doll wore close to her mouth.

Mike's breathing was heavy but not rapid.

"Fuck." Jay whispered. "Do you think anyone heard?"

"No." Mike said, shaking his head. "No I don't think so, there's no one around for miles anyway." he reached out and carefully took the pistol from his little brother's shaking hand.

"Mom's going to know you said that bad word" Dot said. Still covering her mouth with her doll's dress.

"No she won't if you don't tell her." Jay rebuked.

Mike stuffed a few pieces of straw into the bullet hole. "They won't notice one little hole. Mom and Dad never come up to the hay loft anyway." he said, "and since the pistol is for protecting the treasure anyway…" he shoved the pistol under a tall stack of straw. "they never need to know. Come on, let's get out of here."

The younger children turned to follow their big brother. they climbed down the ladder from the hay loft one after another. Dot carried her doll between her teeth by the dress as she carefully climbed hand under hand. Jay put out his arms to help his little sister down off of the old creaky wooden ladder.

"I got it,'' she said through clenched teeth, jumping down off of the last rung herself.

"Just that independent huh?" Said Jay, mimicking the phrase their father constantly repeated about his only daughter.

"Yup!" Dot reinforced the statement with a sharp nod.

All three of them ran out of the old barn, back into the house through the side door. Kicking off their boots in the hallway.

Mike stopped short, his eyes fixed on something in the other room.

"What? What is it?" Jay asked, noticing the tense expression on his brother's face. He then noticed the shattered pieces of ceramic strewn across the floor.

"Shit! Mom's first prize from the fair."

"Mom's definitely gonna know you said THAT bad word." Dot chimed in behind him.

The kids rushed over to pick up the broken pieces of the trophy plate.

"At least it didn't hit the cat" said Mike, relieved as the cat came and pressing her head into his hand as he stooped to clean up the mess.

Dot dropped to her knees clutching the calico tight. "Oh Chessie!" She exclaimed "I'm so glad you didn't get murdered by Jay's bullet." The cat purred and affectionately nosed Dot's hair.

"Please dont say things like that Dottie," Mike cautioned, "We don't want Jay getting blamed for anything."

"But!" cried Dot in protest " it was HIS fault! He shot the bullet through the window and broke the plate!"

There was a neat little hole through the drawing room window.

"That's going to be tough to hide," Mike muttered. "The gun misfired in his hand. Besides, it was as much my fault as his, it's my gun."

"Thought you said it was our gun" said Jay.

"Well it is," replied his brother. "But I bought it, and brought it here, so I'm responsible for it. Besides, I'm the oldest. I'm responsible for you guys too. At least nobody got hurt."

"I'll be responsible for myself thank you!" Dot stated emphatically as she ran to the kitchen to make herself a snack.

"Still! You mustn't say anything. If they find out, they'll take the pistol away then we won't have anything to protect our treasure from the robbers!" Jay yelled after her. "Oh look! I found the bullet! Here it is!" Jay exclaimed triumphantly as he held up the flattened piece of lead.

"Can I keep it?" he asked his brother.

"I think you should definitely keep it, it's your first shot fired.'' Mike told him. "But put it someplace safe."

The boys followed their sister into the kitchen.

"Dot, you've got to swear you won't tell Mom or Dad."

"Ok, but I want some of the treasure too then." she insisted, spreading a fat drop of strawberry preserves on a thick slice of bread.

"You were always going to get some," Mike reassured his sister. "It's for all of us, and the gun is just for an emergency if we need it."

Dot bit into her jam covered bread, getting the red sticky substance on her nose and upper lip. "Okay," she said with her mouth still full. "I won't tell." After pouring herself a glass of milk, she sat down at the big oak kitchen table with her snack.

Jay walked over to the table, pulled up a chair beside her, and sat down as well.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked him.

Jay still looked a bit dazed, "Yeah I think so." he replied. Glad to be asked, but not really knowing how to feel. He still held the bullet between his fingers.

Mike cut two slices of bread one for himself and another for his brother, proceeded to butter them both and covered them with strawberry jam. He walked over to the table and handed his brother the snack.

"I'm really sorry that the gun went off like that Jay."

"Yeah, It was pretty scary I guess." Jay said, not touching his bread and jam. "What are we going to tell Mom about the hole in the window and her broken plate?" he inquired, pushing his dish of food around on the table.

"I'll think of something,'' said Mike, taking a bite from his piece of bread and jam.

"Where'd you hide the treasure?" Jay asked his brother.

"Someplace safe." Mike replied.

"I thought you said it was ours, why don't I get to know where it is?" Jake pressed.

"Just give me some time to figure things out." Mike calmly told his brother. "I should probably move it somewhere else anyway. We still don't know if someone's going to come looking for it. It's safer that I know where it is and that you guys don't. Just for now."

"When are you going to tell Mom and Dad about the treasure?" Dot asked her big brothers.

"When we know that it's safe to." said Mike. "And Dot, you have to swear you're not going to say anything about the treasure to Mom and Dad either."

"I already swore I would!" She stated emphatically. "Besides, won't mom find out anyway? She'll notice your clothes are all dirty from digging it up in the first place."

"We live on a farm, Dottie. Our clothes always get dirty. It could be dirt from doing anything. And it really is very important that the money we found is kept secret for now. Dangerous people could be looking for it. Do you understand?"

Dot shrugged. "I know, I know," She repeated. "It's very important that I keep it a secret, that you and Jay found a big box of money buried underneath a tree the other night."

"That's right it is!" Jay insisted. "It IS very important that nobody says anything until we know the coast is clear. Isn't that right Mike?"

"That's right." Mike assured them.

"Mom and dad will be home soon." Jay said. "We should know what we're going to say about the window."

"I'll tell them it was my fault." Mike decided. "I just got a new band for my slingshot, I'll tell them I didn't realize how strong it was. I'll say that I used one of those little ball bearings we found inside of those old broken roller skates that we took apart."

Jay nodded, "Yeah, that could work. Also, we've still got all the pieces to Mom's plate, maybe we can glue it back together. Then maybe she'll be a little easy on us for coming clean, and maybe she won't even ask us a whole bunch of questions."

"That's a great idea Jay." agreed Mike, happy to have such a smart kid brother, "I'll go get the pieces if you want to get the glue."

"Sure thing" replied Jay, getting up from the table.

Mike walked back to the drawing room to retrieve the pieces of the broken plate. He gazed at the little bullet hole in the single pane window.

He turned and went back to the kitchen, where his little brother and sister were waiting with the tube of glue.

Jay, thoughtful as ever, was spreading pages from yesterday's newspaper over the table.

"Good call," Mike told him. Jay nodded.

They silently sorted the shards of ceramic, placing the broken edges to meet up with one another. Mike squeezed glue into the cracks as Jay and Dot held the pieces in place.

Mike sighed, "thanks guys."

"No problem," said Dot.

"For what?" Asked Jay.

"Well," Mike said "I don't like lying to Mom and Dad, and I don't feel right about asking you guys to lie too. We're in this mess because of decisions that I made. I said we should go back and dig up the box. I went out and got the gun so we could defend our treasure. But I wouldn't be doing any of it if I didn't think that the money we found under that tree would really help all of us. I mean, it has GOT to be stolen. Otherwise why would anyone bury a box of gold coins and cash under a random tree in the woods? We know it was recently, because the dirt was still fresh when we found it. And if the people who stole it don't come looking for it, well, the rightful owners might. And in that case, maybe they'll give us a reward or something for finding it. Anyway thank you guys, I know it's not an easy secret to keep."

"It's okay," Dot patted her big brother on the arm, "we know you'll always protect us Mike."

"You guys are the best." Mike told his siblings.

"We know," said Jay, his smile now having returned.

As they waited for the glue to dry, Mike took this time to reflect on the crazy events that happened over the past couple of days. It was kind of hard for him to believe everything that had happened, much less that it happened to him.

Finding the money was a freak accident really. He thought it must have been fate that he and Jay had discovered it the way that they did. His parents never spoke much about money. But he knew, from a few conversations he had overhead, that times were tough. And they were struggling. His parents worked hard and put on a good face for him and his brother and sister. They had to be brave, so he resolved to be brave as well. It seemed like a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of a kid not yet thirteen. But he reminded himself was used to a lot of responsibility already.

Just then, they heard the sound of a car pulling up the long gravel driveway. The engine shut off, and two car doors popped shut in succession with each other.

"Sounds like they're home." Jay said looking uneasy.

Mike looked across the table at his brother and sister, took a deep breath, and put on a good face.

Still unsure what his plan was exactly upon inevitableity that some person, potentially a very bad person, showed up to reclaim the stolen cash box that he and his brother had unearthed and stashed just outside the old barn.

Mike gave his siblings a half-hearted grin, "wish me luck" he said to them. He turned as he heard the door open and muttered to himself, "Here goes nothing."