Fireside Chat
(Scrawled on a scorched scroll tucked behind the jug shelf)
The fire was low and poppin’, soft light flickerin’ against the stone ring out by the edge of the clearing. Crickets were singin’ their lonesome tune, and the air was thick with smoke, sass, and stubborn pride.
Cletus sat with his legs stretched out, a fresh bandana tied around one knee. not ‘cause he needed it, but because he said it “looked tactical.” Looty nursed a cold cabbage leaf on the back of his neck, and RG was still sulkin’ in silence, arms crossed, belt buckle askew but clutched tightly like a wounded badge of honor.
Ellie Mae was perched on a stump nearby next to Nickie, hands busy whittlin’ a stick, but her eyes never missed a thing.
“I’m just sayin’,” Cletus drawled, pokin’ at the fire with a charred twig, “Pa ain’t even swing that hard. I barely felt it.”
Looty snorted. “You squealed like a squirrel gettin’ snatched by an eagle.”
“I did not!” Cletus barked, sitting up straighter. “That was just… a tactical noise. Startled Bacon, is all.”
“You tripped over your own boots tryin’ to run,” RG mumbled.
Ellie didn’t even look up. “You cried, Cletus.”
Nickie nodded. “I heard you clear across the field.”
Cletus gasped. “I did not! That was….dust! Mushroom dust. And moonshine fumes. Messed with my sinuses.”
“I saw your face when Pa took off that belt,” Ellie said, calm and deadly. “You went paler than Uncle Kinxy’s knees in a snowstorm.”
“I was bracin’!” Cletus huffed. “Like a true soldier. Stared it down.”
“You ducked behind RG.” Nickie laughed.
“I was protectin’ him!”
RG scowled. “I was on the floor.”
“Exactly,” Cletus said, like he’d made a point.
Ellie finally looked up from her whittlin’, smirk tuggin’ at the corner of her mouth. “You said ‘Don’t let the pig near me, he’s cursed!’ and tried to climb Ma’s woodpile.”
Looty cackled. “That was before the soap.”
Cletus crossed his arms and lifted his chin like a rooster in a standoff. “I only acted like it hurt. Didn’t want Pa thinkin’ he lost his touch. Gotta keep the old man’s spirits up, y’know…for morale.”
Ellie’s jaw dropped like a barn door in a windstorm. “Acted? You were hoppin’ ‘round like a possum with its tail on fire!”
“Exactly,” Cletus said, giving a wise nod. “Had y’all fooled, didn’t I? Real convincin’, huh?”
Nickie raised an eyebrow, lips curling into a smirk. “Maybe we oughta let Pa know. Bet he’d be thrilled to hand out a second round. Strictly scientific, of course.”
Ellie popped up to her feet with mock cheer. “I’ll go fetch him now. He deserves the truth.”
Cletus’s color drained faster than shine at a goblin reunion as he grabbed Ellie’s arm and pulled her back down . “Now hold on! You tryin’ to crush the man’s self-esteem? You wanna be responsible for that? I was doin’ him a kindness, protectin’ his legacy. That’s love, that is.”
Looty doubled over, wheezing between gasps of laughter. “You’re dumber than a stump.”
Ellie gave an exaggerated eye-roll. “Ain’t no glory in bein’ grounded, you overgrown war goblin.”
“Still worth it,” Cletus declared, wincing as he shifted and rubbed his side. “Probably.”
A silence settled in, warm and companionable. Looty threw another twig into the fire. RG sighed like his soul was still halfway in the woodshed and looked around nervously.
Cletus rubbed the back of his neck and said quietly, “You think…Pa’s mad mad?”
Ellie didn’t answer right away. She stabbed the stick she’d been whittlin’ into the dirt and leaned forward, voice lower than before.
“Nah,” she said. “If he was real mad, he wouldn’t’ve said nothin’ at all.”
Cletus blinked. “That don’t make no sense.”
“It does if you know him,” she said, standing and brushing off her pants. “You got your consequence. Now you just gotta earn back the right to sit near the war table.”
“And not touch the mushrooms,” Looty added.
“Or the jug,” RG said, eyeing Cletus hard.
“Or blame me,” Ellie finished.
Cletus sighed and looked up at the stars. “It does make things interestin’, though.”
Ellie smirked as she walked away. “Like a tick in a feather bed.”
The others chuckled, the fire popping soft as the night settled in around them.
Then, boots on gravel. A slow shadow moved past the far edge of the firelight, like a skulking bobcat.
Pa didn’t stop walking. Just tossed his words over his shoulder like they weighed nothin’.
“Funny. Y’all act braver after the belt than before it.”
And just like that, the fire went real quiet.
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