He sure hadn’t said that to the principal or on the playground. Although, since they’d been caught fighting, no one really gave them a chance to say anything.
“I thought he’d tripped me,” Chase went on, “but I was wrong. It was an accident. I was mad about not making the goal. I’m sorry, Mason.”
“That’s very honest of you,” Ma said, and Mason could tell by the way she said it she was impressed. “Where’s your mama at?”
“She’ll be here soon.”
“I’ve heard she’s awfully busy sometimes. You sure she’ll be here soon?”
His gaze shifted about uneasily. He shrugged.
Ma eyed him for a minute, and Mason was trying to figure out what she was doing.
“You looking for a job, kid?”
“What?” Chase asked.
Mason was just as shocked and echoed his, “What?”
“There’s lots of work to be done on our dairy, and we got a lot of little chores you could do to make some cash, so if you ask your mama’s permission, and she’s okay with you making some extra money, I would be happy for an honest boy like you to come around and help us out a bit.”
Why was she being nice to him? Mason was plenty enough help with chores, and they didn’t have any issues keeping up with work. After what happened on the playground, Mason sure as hell didn’t want to be around that kid. He didn’t see him much at school, and he wanted to keep it that way. Was that some sort of punishment? Was she forcing them to get along because of their fight?
“Um…” Chase muttered.
“You don’t have to tell me now,” Ma added. “Just think on it, and if you have a chance to come over one afternoon after school, get a note from your mama for your teacher, and I can pick you up. I can drive you back home after. Just let her know it’s no trouble for me. But it’s gonna be work. Hard work. You got that?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He seemed very serious about that.
“Come on, Mason,” Ma said. “We gotta get back home.”
She and Mason headed out to the truck together. As they made their way through the parking lot, Mason asked, “Why did you tell him he could do that? He punched me. Heattackedme, Ma.”
“Oh, you’re a kid. Kids have scuffles all the time. It’s good for you. You’re better because of it.”
As they reached the car, Mason pulled away and folded his arms.
She turned to him, her face scrunched up as she finally acknowledged he wasn’t okay with that.
She squatted down until she was eye-level with him and rested her hands on her knees.
“Now, I know you’re not gonna understand this today, and I don’t need you to understand it, but I want you to listen. You be good to that boy. He doesn’t have it easy. I won’t get into the things a kid shouldn’t know about his family, but let’s just say you have a good one, and he doesn’t, so he needs a little more love than most. He didn’t throw you under the bus, so I don’t see why you can’t be a good boy and give him a chance… because as far as I’m concerned, someone’s got to. He wasn’t dealt the best hand in the world. He was dealt one like you were the other night when we were playing rummy.”
She smirked, and despite how stubborn Mason was being, her words shook him out of his state so that he laughed.
“There we go.”
“But, Ma! I don’t want to see him.”
“You can fuss all you want, but if he comes, he’s going to be doing chores, same as you. There’s not much you can do to change my mind about this. Unless you’re gonna spend your time trying to convince the sun not to rise, too. In which case, by all means.”
Mason balled his hands into fists. “He’s gonna make trouble,” he insisted.
“And if he does, we’ll never have him over again. No harm in giving him a chance.”
Mason wasn’t pleased about Ma’s decision, but it was one of those times when she’d obviously made up her mind and nothing he could say would change it. So they went home and tended to the day as usual, Mason cleaning the shed, one of his tasks that he was already planning on doing. Mason was more than enough help around there, and Ma and Pa had hired out plenty of people to tend to the work. They certainly didn’t need another kid around.
When Mason was finished for the day, he walked back into the house through the front door. He could hear Ma chatting away with Pa in the kitchen about what the principal had told her. He eavesdropped, wanting to know if they were going to say he did something wrong. But then Ma said, “So I told that Rogan kid he could come around and do some chores.”
