Aron said, “I don’t know why you go for to do it.”

“How do you mean? Do what?”

“All the tricky, sneaky things,” said Aron.

“What do you mean, sneaky?”

“Well, about the rabbit, and sneaking here in the car. And you did something to Abra. I don’t know what, but it was you made her throw the box away.”

“Ho,” said Cal. “Wouldn’t you like to know!” But he was uneasy.

Aron said slowly. “I wouldn’t want to know that. I’d like to know why you do it. You’re always at something. I just wonder why you do it. I wonder what’s it good for.”

A pain pierced Cal’s heart. His planning suddenly seemed mean and dirty to him. He knew that his brother had found him out. And he felt a longing for Aron to love him. He felt lost and hungry and he didn’t know what to do.

Aron opened the door of the Ford and climbed down and walked out of the wagon shed. For a few moments Cal twisted the steering wheel and tried to imagine he was racing down the road. But it wasn’t any good, and soon he followed Aron back toward the house.

[2]

When supper was finished and Lee had washed the dishes Adam said, “I think you boys had better go to bed. It’s been a big day.”

Aron looked quickly at Cal and slowly took his deer’s-leg whistle out of his pocket.

Cal said, “I don’t want it.”

Aron said, “It’s yours now.”

“Well, I don’t want it. I won’t have it.”

Aron laid the bone whistle on the table. “It’ll be here for you,” he said.

Adam broke in, “Say, what is this argument? I said you boys should go to bed.”

Cal put on his “little boy” face. “Why?” he asked. “It’s too early to go to bed.”

Adam said, “That wasn’t quite the truth I told you. I want to talk privately to Lee. And it’s getting dark so you can’t go outside, so I want you boys to go to bed—at least to your room. Do you understand?”

Both boys said, “Yes, sir,” and they followed Lee down the hall to their bedroom at the back of the house. In their nightgowns they returned to say good night to their father.

Lee came back to the living room and closed the door to the hall. He picked up the deer’s-leg whistle and inspected it and laid it down. “I wonder what went on there,” he said.

“How do you mean, Lee?”

“Well, some bet was made before supper, and just after supper Aron lost the bet and paid off. What were we talking about?”

“All I can remember is telling them to go to bed.”

“Well, maybe it will come out later,” said Lee.

“Seems to me you put too much stock in the affairs of children. It probably didn’t mean anything.”

“Yes, it meant something.” Then he said, “Mr. Trask, do you think the thoughts of people suddenly become important at a given age? Do you have sharper feelings or clearer thoughts now than when you were ten? Do you see as well, hear as well, taste as vitally?”