Spicy And Short Stories Beautiful Spicy And Short Stories for Children, Horror, Humour, Religious, English Tales, Romance, Sci-Fi And Much More..

"You are too big to whip," says Professor Herbert, "and I have topunish you for climbing up in that cherry tree. You boys knewbetter than that! The other five boys have paid their dollar each.You have been the only one who has not helped pay for the tree.Can't you borrow a dollar?""I can't," I says. "I'll have to take the punishment. I wish itwould be quicker punishment. I wouldn't mind."

Professor Herbert stood and looked at me. He was a big man. He worea grey suit of clothes. The suit matched his grey hair.

"You don't know my father," I says to Professor Herbert. "He mightbe called a little old-fashioned. He makes us mind him until we'retwenty-one years old. He believes: 'If you spare the rod you spoilthe child.' I'll never be able to make him understand about thecherry tree. I'm the first of my people to go to high school."

"You must take the punishment," says Professor Herbert. "You muststay two hours after school today and two hours after schooltomorrow. I am allowing you twenty-five cents an hour. That is goodmoney for a high-school student. You can sweep the schoolhousefloor, wash the blackboards, and clean windows. I'll pay the dollarfor you."

I couldn't ask Professor Herbert to loan me a dolIar. He neveroffered to loan it to me. I had to stay and help the janitor andwork out my fine at a quarter an hour.

I thought as I swept the floor, "What will Pa do to me? What liecan I tell him when I go home? Why did we ever climb that cherrytree and break it down for anyway? Why did we run crazy over thehills away from the crowd? Why did we do all of this? Six of usclimbed up in a little cherry tree after one little lizard! Why didthe tree split and fall with us? It should have been a strongertree! Why did Eif Crabtree just happen to be below us plowing andcatch us in his cherry tree? Why wasn't he a better man than tocharge us six dollars for the tree?"

It was six o'clock when I left the schoolhouse. I had six miles towalk home. It would be after seven when I got home. I had all mywork to do when I got home. It took Pa and I both to do the work.Seven cows to milk. Nineteen head of cattle to feed, four mules,twenty-five hogs, firewood and stovewood to cut, and water to drawfrom the well. He would be doing it when I got home. He would bemad and wondering what was keeping me!

I hurried home. I would run under the dark, leafless trees. I wouldwalk fast uphill. I would run down the hill. The ground wasfreezing. I had to hurry. I had to run. I reached the long ridgethat led to our cow pasture. I ran along this ridge. The wind driedthe sweat on my face. I ran across the pasture to the house.

I threw down my books in the chipyard. I ran to the barn to spreadfodder on the ground for the cattle. I didn't take time to changemy clean school clothes for my old work clothes. I ran out to thebarn. I saw Pa spreading fodder on the ground to the cattle. Thatwas my job. I ran up to the fence. I says, "Leave that for me, Pa.I'll do it. I'm just a little late."

"I see you are," says Pa. He turned and looked at me. His eyesdanced fire. "What in th' world has kept you so? Why ain't you beenhere to help me with this work? Make a gentleman out'n one boy inth' family and this is what you get! Send you to high school andyou get too onery fer th' buzzards to smell!"

I never said anything. I didn't want to tell why I was late fromschool. Pa stopped scattering the bundles of fodder. He looked atme. He says, "Why are you gettin' in here this time o' night? Youtell me or I'll take a hickory withe to you right here on th'spot!"

I says, "I had to stay after school." I couldn't lie to Pa. He'd goto school and find out why I had to stay. If I lied to him it wouldbe too bad for me.

"Why did you haf to stay atter school?" says Pa.

I says, "0ur biology class went on a field trip today. Six of usboys broke down a cherry tree. We had to give a dollar apiece topay for the tree. I didn't have the dolIar. Professor Herbert ismaking me work out my dollar. He gives me twenty-five cents anhour. I had to stay in this afternoon. I'll have to stay intomorrow afternoon!"

"Are you telling me th' truth?" says Pa.

"I'm telling you the truth," I says. "Go and see for yourself."

"That's just what I'll do in th' mornin'," says Pa. "Jist whosecherry tree did you break down?"

"Eif Crabtree's cherry tree!"

"What was you doin' clear out in Eif Crabtree's place?" says Pa."He lives four miles from th' county high school. Don't they teachyou no books at that high school? Do they jist let you get out andgad over th' hillsides? If that's all they do I'll keep you athome, Dave. I've got work here fer you to do!"

"Pa," I says, "spring is just getting here. We take a subject inschool where we have to have bugs, snakes, flowers, lizards, frogs,and plants. It is biology. It was a pretly day today. We went outto find a few of these. Six of us boys saw a lizard at the sametime sunning on a cherry tree. We all went up the tree to get it.We broke the tree down. It split at the forks. Eif Crabtree wasplowing down below us. He ran up the hill and got our names. Theother boys gave their dollar apiece. I didn't have mine. ProfessorHerbert put mine in for me. I have to work it out at school."

"Poor man's son, huh," says Pa. "I'll attend to that myself in th'mornin'. I'll take keer o' 'im. He ain't from this countynohow. I'll go down there in th' mornin' and see 'im. Lettin' youleave your books and galavant all over th' hills. What kindof a school is it nohow! Didn't do that, my son, when I's a littleshaver in school. All fared alike too."

"Pa, please don't go down there," I says, "just let me have fiftycents and pay the rest of my fine! I don't want you to go downthere! I don't want you to start anything with Professor Herbert!

"Ashamed of your old Pap are you, Dave," says Pa, "atter th' wayI've worked to raise you! Tryin' to send you to school so you canmake a better livin' than I've made.

"I'll straighten this thing out myself! I'll take keer o' ProfessorHerbert myself! He ain't got no right to keep you in and let theother boys off jist because they've got th' money! I'm a poor man.A bullet will go in a professor same as it will any man. It will goin a rich man same as it will a poor man. Now you get into thiswork before I take one o' these withes and cut the shirt off'n yourback!"

I thought once I'd run through the woods above the barn just ashard as I could go. I thought I'd leave high school and homeforever! Pa could not catch me! I'd get away! I couldn't go back toschool with him. He'd have a gun and maybe he'd shoot ProfessorHerbert. It was hard to tell what he would do. I could tell Pa thatschool had changed in the hills from the way it was when he was aboy, but he wouldn't understand. I could tell him we studied frogs,birds, snakes, lizards, flowers, insects. But Pa wouldn'tunderstand. If I did run away from home it wouldn't matter to Pa.He would see Professor Herbert anyway. He would think that highschool and Professor Herbert had run me away from home. There wasno need to run away. I'd just have to stay, finish foddering thecattle, and go to school with Pa the next morning.

I would take a bundle of fodder, remove the hickory witheband fromaround it, and scatter it on rocks, clumps of green briers, andbrush so the cattle wouldn't tramp it under their feet. I wouldlean it up against the oak trees and the rocks in the pasture justabove our pigpen on the hill. The fodder was cold and frosty whereit had set out in the stacks. I would carry bundles of the fodderfrom the stack until I had spread out a bundle for each steer. Pawent to the barn to feed the mules and throw corn in the pen to thehogs.

The moon shone bright in the cold March sky. I finished my work bymoonlight. Professor Herbert really didn't know how much work I hadto do at home. If he had known he would not have kept me afterschool. He would have loaned me a dolIar to have paid my part onthe cherry tree. He had never lived in the hills. He didn't knowthe way the hill boys had to work so that they could go to school.Now he was teaching in a county high school where all the boys whoattended were from hill farms.

After I'd finished doing my work I went to the house and ate mysupper. Pa and Mom had eaten. My supper was getting cold. I heardPa and Mom talking in the front room. Pa was telling Mom about mestaying in after school.

"I had to do all th' milkin' tonight, chop th' wood myself. It'stoo hard on me atter I've turned ground all day. I'm goin' to takea day off tomorrow and see if I can't remedy things a little. I'llgo down to that high school tomorrow. I won't be a very goodscholar fer Professor Herbert nohow. He won't keep me in atterschool. I'll take a different kind of lesson down there and make'im acquainted with it."

"Now, Luster," says Mom, "you jist stay away from there. Don'tcause a lot o' trouble. You can be jailed fer a trick like that.You'll get th' Law atter you. You'll jist go down there and showoff and plague your own boy Dave to death in front o' all th'scholars!"

"Plague or no plague," says Pa, "he don't take into considerationwhat all I haf to do here, does he? I'll show 'im it ain't right tokeep one boy in and let the rest go scot-free. My boy is good asth' rest, ain't he? A bullet will make a hole in a schoolteachersame as it will anybody else. He can't do me that way and get bywith it. I'll plug 'im first. I aim to go down there bright andearly in the mornin' and get all this straight! I aim to see aboutbug larnin' and this runnin' all over God's creation huntin'snakes, lizards, and frogs. Ransackin' th' country and goin'through cherry orchards and breakin' th' trees down atter lizards!0ld Eif Crabtree ought to a-poured th' hot lead to 'em instead o'chargin' six dollars fer th' tree! He ought to a-got old Herbertth' first one!"

I ate my supper. I slipped upstairs and lit the lamp. I tried toforget the whole thing. I studied plane geometry. Then I studied mybiology lesson. I could hardly study for thinking about Pa. "He'llgo to school with me in the morning. He'll take a gun for ProfessorHerbert! What will Professor Herbert think of me! I'll tell himwhen Pa leaves that I couldn't help it. But Pa might shoot him. Ihate to go with Pa. Maybe he'll cool off about it tonight and notgo in the morning."

Pa got up at four o'clock. He built a fire in the stove. Then hebuilt a fire in the fireplace. He got Mom up to get breakfast. Thenhe got me up to help feed and milk. By the time we had our workdone at the barn, Mom had breakfast ready for us. We ate ourbreakfast. Daylight came and we could see the bare oak treescovered white with frost. The hills were white with frost. A coldwind was blowing. The sky was clear. The sun would soon come outand melt the frost. The afternoon would be warm with sunshine andthe frozen ground with thaw. There would be mud on the hills again.Muddy water would then run down the little ditches on the hills.

"Now, Dave," says Pa, "let's get ready fer school. I aim to go withyou this mornin' and look into bug larnin', frog larnin', lizardand snake larnin', and breakin' down cherry trees! I don't like nosicha foolish way o' larnin' myself!"

Pa hadn't forgot. I'd have to take him to school with me. He wouldtake me to school with him. We were going early. I was glad we weregoing early. If Pa pulled a gun on Professor Herbert there wouldn'tbe so many of my classmates there to see him.

I knew that Pa wouldn't be at home in the high school. He woreoveralls, big boots, a blue shirt and a sheepskin coat and aslouched black hat gone to seed at the top. He put his gun in itsholster. We started trudging toward the high schoo1 across thehill.

It was early when we got to the county high school. ProfessorHerbert had just got there. I just thought as we walked up thesteps into the schoolhouse, "Maybe Pa will find out ProfessorHerbert is a good man. He just doesn't know him. Just like I felttoward the Lambert boys across the hill. I didn't like them untilI'd seen them and talked to them. After I went to school with themand talked to them, I liked them and we were friends. It's a lot inknowing the other fellow."

"You're th' Professor here, ain't you?" says Pa.

"Yes," says Professor Herbert, "and you are Dave's father."

"Yes," says Pa, pulling out his gun and laying it on the seat inProfessor Herbert's office. Professor Herbert's eyes got big behindhis black-rimmed glasses when he saw Pa's gun. Color came into hispale cheeks.

"Jist a few things about this school I want to know," says Pa. "I'mtryin' to make a scholar out'n Dave. He's the only one out'n elevenyoungins I've sent to high school. Here he comes in late and leavesme all th' work to do! He said you's all out bug huntin' yesterdayand broke a cherry tree down. He had to stay two hours atter schoolyesterday and work out money to pay on that cherry tree! Is thatright?"

"Wwwwy," says Professor Herbert, "I guess it is."

He looked at Pa's gun.

"Well," says Pa, "this ain't no high school. It's a bug school, alizard school, a snake school! It ain't no school nohow!"

"Why did you bring that gun?" says Professor Herbert to Pa.

"You see that little hole," says Pa as he picked up the long blueforty-four and put his finger on the end of the barrel, "a bulletcan come out'n that hole that will kill a schoolteacher same as itwill any other man. It will kill a rich man same as a poor man. Itwill kill a man. But atter I come in and saw you, I know'd Iwouldn't need it. This maul o' mine could do you up in a fewminutes."

Pa stood there, big, hard, brown-skinned, and mighty beside ofProfessor Herbert. I didn't know Pa was so much bigger and harder.I'd never seen Pa in a schoolhouse before. I'd seen ProfessorHerbert. He'd always looked big before to me. He didn't look bigstanding beside of Pa.

"I was only doing my duty," says Professor Herbert, "Mr. Sexton,and following the course of study the state provided us with."

"Course o' study," says Pa, "what study, bug study? Varmint study?Takin' youngins to th' woods and their poor old Ma's and Pa's athome a-slavin' to keep 'em in school and give 'em a education! Youknow that's dangerous, too, puttin' a lot o' boys and girIs outtogether like that!"

Students were coming into the schoolhouse now.

Professor Herbert says, "Close the door, Dave, so others won'thear."

I walked over and closed the door. I was shaking like a leaf in thewind. I thought Pa was going to hit Professor Herbert every minute.He was doing all the talking. His face was getting red. The redcolor was coming through the brown, weather-beaten skin on Pa'sface.

"I was right with these students," says Professor Herbert. "I knowwhat they got into and what they didn't. I didn't send one of theother teachers with them on this field trip. I went myself. Yes, Itook the boys and girIs together. Why not?"

"It jist don't look good to me," says Pa, "a-takin' all this swarmof youngins out to pillage th' whole deestrict. Breakin' downcherry trees. Keepin' boys in atter school."

"What else could I have done with Dave, Mr. Sexton?" says ProfessorHerbert. "The boys didn't have any business all climbing thatcherry tree after one lizard. One boy could have gone up in thetree and got it. The farmer charged us six dollars. It was a littlesteep, I think, but we had it to pay. Must I make five boys pay andlet your boy off? He said he didn't have the dollar and couldn'tget it. So I put it in for him. I'm letting him work it out. He'snot working for me. He's working for the school!"

"I jist don't know what you could a-done with 'im," says Pa, "onlya-larruped im with a withe! That's what he needed!"

"He's too big to whip," says Professor Herbert, pointing at me."He's a man in size."

"He's not too big fer me to whip," says Pa. "They ain't too biguntil they're over twenty-one! It jist didn't look fair to me! Workone and let th' rest out because they got th' money. I don't seewhat bugs has got to do with a high school! It don't look good tome nohow!"

Pa picked up his gun and put it back in its holster. The red colorleft Professor Herbert's face. He talked more to Pa. Pa softened alittIe. It looked funny to see Pa in the high-school building. Itwas the first time he'd ever been there.

"We were not only hunting snakes, toads, flowers, butterflies,lizards," says Professor Herbert, "but, Mr. Sexton, I was huntingdry timothy grass to put in an incubator and raise some protozoa."

" I don't know what that is," says Pa. "Th' incubator is th'new-fangled way o' cheatin' th' hens and raisin' chickens. I ain'tso sure about th' breed o' chickens you mentioned."

"You've heard of germs, Mr. Sexton, haven't you?" says ProfessorHerbert.

"Jist call me Luster, if you don't mind," says Pa, very casuallike.

"All right, Luster, you've heard of germs, haven't you?"

"Yes," says Pa, "but I don't believe in germs. I'm sixty-five yearsold and I ain't seen one yet!"

"You can't see them with your naked eye," says Professor Herbert."Just keep that gun in the holster and stay with me in the highschool today. I have a few things want to show you. That scum onyour teeth has germs in it."

"What," says Pa, "you mean to tell me I've got germs on my teeth!

"Yes," says Professor Herbert. "The same kind as we might be ableto find in a living black snake if we dissect it!"

"I don't mean to dispute your word," says Pa, "but I don't believeit. I don't believe I have germs on my teeth!"

"Stay with me today and I'll show you. I want to take you throughthe school anyway! School has changed a lot in the hills since youwent to school. I don't guess we had high schools in this countywhen you went to school!"

"No," says Pa, "jist readin', writin', and cipherin'. We didn'thave all this bug larnin', frog larnin', and findin' germs on yourteeth and in the middle o' black snakes! Th' world's changin'."

"It is," says Professor Herbert, "and we hope all for the better.Boys like your own there are going to help change it. He's yourboy. He knows all of what I've told you. You stay with me today."

"I'll shore stay with you," says Pa. " I want to see th' germsoff'n my teeth. I jist want to see a germ. I've never seen one inmy life. 'Seein' is believin',' Pap allus told me."

Pa walks out of the office with Professor Herbert. I just hopedProfessor Herbert didn't have Pa arrested for pulling his gun. Pa'sgun has always been a friend to him when he goes to settledisputes.

The bell rang. School took up. I saw the students when they marchedin the schoolhouse look at Pa. They would grin and punch eachother. Pa just stood and watched them pass in at the schoolhousedoor. Two long lines marched in the house. The boys and girls wereclean and well dressed. Pa stood over in the schoolyard under aleafless elm, in his sheepskin coat, his big boots laced in frontwith buckskin, and his heavy socks stuck above his boot tops. Pa'soveralIs legs were baggy and wrinkled between his coat and boottops. His blue work shirt showed at the collar. His big black hatshowed his gray-streaked black hair. His face was hard andweather-tanned to the color of a ripe fodder blade. His hands werebig and gnarled like the roots of the elm tree he stood beside.

When I went to my first cIass I saw Pa and Professor Herbert goingaround over the schoolhouse. I was in my geometry class when Pa andProfessor Herbert came in the room. We were explaining ourpropositions on the blackboard. Professor Herbert and Pa justquietly came in and sat down for awhile. I heard Fred Wutts whisperto Glenn Armstrong, "Who is that old man? Lord, he's arough-looking scamp." Glenn whispered back, "I think he's Dave'sPap." The students in geometry looked at Pa. They must havewondered what he was doing in school. Before the cIass was over, Paand Professor Herbert got up and went out. I saw them together downon the playground. Professor Herbert was explaining to Pa. I couldsee the prints of Pa's gun under his coat when he'd walk around.

At noon in the high-school cafeteria Pa and Professor Herbert sattogether at the little table where Professor Herbert always ate byhimself. They ate together. The students watched the way Pa ate. Heate with his knife instead of his fork. A lot of the students feltsorry for me after they found out he was my father. They didn'thave to feel sorry for me. I wasn't ashamed of Pa after I found outhe wasn't going to shoot Professor Herbert. I was glad they hadmade friends. I wasn't ashamed of Pa. I wouldn't be as long as hebehaved. He would find out about the high school as I had found outabout the Lambert boys across the hill.

In the afternoon when we went to biology Pa was in the class. Hewas sitting on one of the high stools beside the microscope. Wewent ahead with our work just as if Pa wasn't in the class. I saw-Pa take his knife and scrape tartar from one of his teeth.Professor Herbert put it on the lens and adjusted the microscopefor Pa. He adjusted it and worked awhile. Then he says: "NowLuster, look! Put your eye right down to the light. Squint theother eye!"

Pa put his head down and did as Professor Herbert said. "I see'im," says Pa. 'Who'd a ever thought that? Right on a body's teeth!Right in a body's mouth. You're right certain they ain't no fake tothis, Professor Herbert?"

"No, Luster," says Professor Herbert. "It's there. That's the germ.Germs live in a worId we cannot see with the naked eye. We must usethe microscope. There are millions of them in our bodies. Some areharmful. Others are helpful."

Pa holds his face down and looks through the microscope. We stopand watch Pa. He sits upon the tall stool. His knees are againstthe table. His legs are long. His coat slips up behind when hebends over. The handle of his gun shows. Professor Herbert pullshis coat down quickly.

"Oh, yes," says Pa. He gets up and pulls his coat down. Pa's facegets a little red. He knows about his gun and he knows he doesn'thave any use for it in high school.

"We have a big black snake over here we caught yesterday," saysProfessor Herbert. "We'll chloroform him and dissect him and showyou he has germs in his body, too."

"Don't do it," says Pa. "I believe you. I jist don't want to seeyou kill the black snake. I never kill one. They are good mousersand a lot o' help to us on the farm. I like black snakes. I jisthate to see people kill 'em. I don't allow 'em killed on my place."

The students look at Pa. They seem to like him better after he saidthat. Pa with a gun in his pocket but a tender heart beneath hisribs for snakes, but not for man! Pa won't whip a mule at home. Hewon't whip his cattle.

"Man can defend hisself," says Pa, "but cattle and mules can't. Wehave the drop on 'em. Ain't nothin' to a man that'll beat a goodpullin' mule. He ain't got th' right kind o' a heart!"

Professor Herbert took Pa through the laboratory. He showed him thedifferent kinds of work we were doing. He showed him our equipment.They stood and talked while we worked. Then they walked outtogether. They talked louder when they got out in the hall.

When our biology class was over I walked out of the room. It wasour last class for the day. I would have to take my broom and sweeptwo hours to finish paying for the split cherry tree. I justwondered if Pa would want me to stay. He was standing in thehallway watching the students march out. He looked lost among us.He looked like a leaf turned brown on the tree among the treetopfilled with growing leaves.

I got my broom and started to sweep. Professor Herbert walked upand says, "I'm going to let you do that some other time. You can gohome with your father. He is waiting out there."

I Iaid my broom down, got my books, and went down the steps.

Pa says, "Ain't you got two hours o' sweepin' yet to do?"

I says, "Professor Herbert said I could do it some other time. Hesaid for me to go home with you."

"No," says Pa. "You are goin' to do as he says. He's a good man.School has changed from my day and time. I'm a dead leaf, Dave. I'mbehind. I don't belong here. If he'll let me I'll get a broom andwe'll both sweep one hour. That pays your debt. I'll hep you payit. I'll ast 'im and see if he won't let me hep you."


"I'm going to cancel the debt," says Professor Herbert. "I justwanted you to understand, Luster."

"I understand," says Pa, "and since I understand he must pay hisdebt fer th' tree and I'm goin' to hep 'im."

"Don't do that," says Professor Herbert. "It's all on me."

"We don't do things like that," says Pa, "we're just and honestpeople. We don't want somethin' fer nothin'. Professor Herbert,you're wrong now and I'm right. You'll haf to listen to me. I'velarned a lot from you. My boy must go on. Th' worId has left me. Itchanged while I've raised my family and plowed th' hills. I'm ajust and honest man. I don' skip debts. I ain't larned 'em to dothat. I ain't got much larnin' myself but I do know right fromwrong atter I see through a thing."

Professor Herbert went home. Pa and I stayed and swept one hour. Itlooked funny to see Pa use a broom. He never used one at home. Momused the broom. Pa used the plow. Pa did hard work. Pa says, "Ican't sweep. Durned if I can. Look at th' streaks o' dirt I leaveon th' floor! Seems like no work a-tall fer me. Brooms is too light'r somethin'. I'll jist do th' best I can, Dave. I've been wrongabout th' school."

I says, "Did you know Professor Herbert can get a warrant out foryou for bringing your pistoI to school and showing it in hisoffice! They can railroad you for that!"

"That's all made right," says Pa. "I've made that right. ProfessorHerbert ain't goin' to take it to court. He likes me. I like 'im.We jist had to get together. He had the remedies. He showed me. Youmust go on to school. I am as strong a man as ever come out'n th'hills fer my years and th' hard work I've done. But I'm behind,Dave. I'm a little man. Your hands will be softer than mine. Yourclothes will be better. You'll allus look cleaner than your oldPap. Jist remember, Dave, to pay your debts and be honest. Jist bekind to animals and don't bother th' snakes. That's all I got aginth' school. Puttin' black snakes to sleep and cuttin' 'em open."

It was late when we got home. Stars were in the sky. The moon wasup. The ground was frozen. Pa took his time going home. I couldn'trun like I did the night before. It was ten o'clock before we gotthe work finished, our suppers eaten. Pa sat before the fire andtold Mom he was going to take her and show her a germ sometime. Momhadn't seen one either. Pa told her about the high school and thefine man Professor Herbert was. He told Mom about the strangeschool across the hill and how different it was from the school intheir day and time.