Four for Four

 Four For Four, or How Ruth Anderson Almost Contemplated Murder

“Yes,” Ruth said into the phone with a heavy sigh. “I appreciate you calling to let me know.” She paused as she listened to the person on the other end of the line. “I sure will. Thank you.”

Ruth put the receiver back into the cradle attached to the kitchen wall and closed her eyes as she mentally counted to ten in her head. She took several steadying breaths that did absolutely nothing to calm the anger she felt for her children. 

She heard the sound of tires on the old crush and run of their driveway and knew that the boys were home. She still wasn’t ready to see them, but she knew that she couldn’t simply let it go either. James was always telling her that she was far too soft on their boys, but this time she would prove him wrong. 

Ruth took the chocolate chip cookies that she had baked fresh a little while ago and tossed them into the trash. The plate she had placed them on was still warm in her hands, but she didn’t care. No one was getting cookies today, that was for sure. 

Wesley, Tommy, and Beau jumped out of the old, red truck and headed up the porch steps to the little white farmhouse. Tommy and Beau were chatting about possibly going down to the pond later to do a little fishing, and Wesley was already thinking about calling Rachel to see if she’d like to grab a burger at the diner later. 

They came inside and let the screen door slam shut behind them. They were just about to head upstairs when they heard their mother yell, “Beauregard Matthew! Get in this kitchen right now.” 

The seven-year-old’s blue eyes widened before he tried to make a dash up the stairs. 

Wesley caught him around the middle and hauled him back. “What’d you do, little man?”

“Nothin’,” Beau said adamantly as he crossed his arms over his small chest. Wesley grinned down at him before picking him up and tossing him over his shoulder. 

Tommy followed them both into the kitchen, but Ruth’s stern look made him wish he’d gone to the safety of his room instead. He leaned against the door frame, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans, content to watch the show, safe in the knowledge that at least it wasn’t him this time.

Wesley put Beau down and ruffled his hair. Tommy thought that he seemed like he was in an extra good mood today for some reason as he watched him looking around the counter, undoubtedly searching for sweets. 

Ruth continued to pin Beau with a glare as she said, “Mrs. Pruitt called me today. Do you have any idea why?”

Wesley turned to Beau, pausing in his search to give him a sympathetic look. “You’re principal, kid? You must’ve done something.”

Ruth raised an eyebrow at her oldest. “Not just his,” she said calmly. “All three schools, all three principals.”

The loaf of bread that Wesley had been holding slipped out of his hands, and he scrambled to catch it before it hit the floor. His good mood seemed to deflate before their very eyes. 

“Oh,” he said as he placed the bread back on the counter.

“Oh, indeed,” Ruth added. She pointed to the table and said, “Have a seat, boys. Should we work our way up the ladder today or start with Wesley and go down?”

Wesley was quickly coming to the realization that they were all treading on very thin ice, and so without a word, the three of them sat down at the old oak table and hoped desperately that she wouldn’t start with them. 

It was then that they all heard three quick knocks on the screen door before it opened, and an auburn-haired boy strolled in, whistling happily. 

“Emmett?” Ruth called out. “You’re just in time. Come on in and join the party.”

Coop ambled his way into the kitchen just in time to hear Tommy murmur, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” 

He looked from his best friend sitting at the table with his brothers to the angry expression on his pseudo mom’s face and immediately knew this wasn’t a party he wanted to be at. 

“Uh, w-well, actually,” he stammered as he turned on his heel, “I’ve gotta go—”

“Park it, Emmett Dale. I already know that you’re a part of this too, so I figure I may as well save Hank some trouble.” 

Coop sat down beside Wesley without another word. 

“We’ll start with Beau then,” she said as she turned to Beau once more. 

Beau groaned. “It was an accident,” he said without further prompting.

“You accidentally hid it in her desk drawer?” Ruth asked skeptically. 

“Well, no,” Beau dragged his words out, and for a moment, Ruth was reminded of just how little her little boy was. “But I didn’t mean for him to scare her like that. So that part was definitely an accident.” 

Ruth’s eyes widened. “You didn’t think your teacher would be scared when she found it?”

“Why would I?” Beau asked defensively. “You ain’t scared of ‘em!” 

The older boys exchanged looks across the table, and Ruth closed her eyes before taking a deep breath. 

“Where is it now, Beau?” 

Beau gave a sigh so big that his shoulders rose and fell as he stood up to grab his backpack from where he had left it near the front door. He brought it back to the kitchen and sat it on the table before unzipping it and pulling out a white shoebox. 

There were holes cut out of the top, and everyone could hear the low, hoarse croaking of a frog. 

Beau took out the frog and held it up in both hands for Ruth to see. She dutifully bent down on his level and inspected the small, brown creature. 

“You can’t keep it, Beau,” she said softly.

Beau’s brows knit together as he asked, “But why not? I found him! That means he’s mine.” 

But Ruth shook her head. “No, it doesn’t, sweetheart. That little guy probably has a home somewhere, and you took him away from it. You have to let him go.”

“But, Mama,” Beau whined as Ruth straightened back up. 

She put her hands on her hips and gave Beau a pointed look. “No buts, young man. Now you let that poor creature go right now, and then we’re going to have a talk about you taking living things to school and scaring your teacher with them.” 

“C’mon, Beau,” Wesley said as he stood up suddenly. “I’ll go with you. How ‘bout that?” 

Wesley then looked to Ruth, silently asking if that was alright. But of course, it was, and Ruth nodded before moving to open the back door for them. 

Beau put his frog back into the shoebox and followed Wesley to the door. Only stopping to give one more pleading look to his mom before walking outside. 

“It’s not fair,” Beau said as he and Wesley walked through the backyard towards the barn. They stopped halfway, and Beau dropped down onto the grass, balancing the shoebox on his bent knees. “It’s not my fault Ms. Amber don’t like frogs.”

“Doesn’t like frogs,” Wesley corrected. 

“That’s what I said,” Beau shot back. 

Wesley rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he sat down beside his brother, put a comforting hand on his back, and rubbed it back and forth. 

Beau could feel the warmth from Wesley’s hand, and it reminded him of his dad. He took a moment to wonder where he was, thinking that surely James wouldn’t make him let his frog go. It was only moms that didn’t like little animals. Well, moms and mean old teachers. 

Beside him, Wesley sighed. “I know you don’t want to, Bud, but you gotta let him go.”

“Why?” Beau asked. “Can’t we just pretend we did? I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“It’s not about that. Think about the frog. What if he was happy where he was before? What if he had a family? A mom and brothers, maybe. They might be missing him.” 

“No, they won’t,” Beau replied stubbornly, clutching the box tightly to his chest. 

“How do you know? I’d sure miss you if someone came and just took you away.”

“Would not.”

“Would so.” Wesley moved his hand from Beau’s back so that he could instead scoop his baby brother up and place him in his lap. He put his arms around Beau and leaned his chin on his small shoulder. 

Ten years separated the boys, and yet, at that moment, there was no one that Beau would rather be with. He loved Wesley fiercely. He loved Tommy, too, but differently. Tommy was his best friend and confidant, but Wesley was more than that. He was fun to hang out with, and he always let Beau get away with stuff, but he always made him feel safe and didn’t tease him as much as Tommy did. 

Beau sniffed, and Wesley squeezed him a little tighter. “It’ll be okay,” he assured him as Beau turned in his lap to bury his face in the crook of Wesley’s neck. He wrapped his arms around his big brother, and Wesley’s heart broke at the sound of Beau crying. 

“Want me to do it?” Wesley asked as Beau’s tears began to soak into his t-shirt.

Beau nodded, and so Wesley carefully took the lid off of the box and set the frog out onto the grass. He croaked a couple of times before jumping away.

Wesley was content to hold Beau, not being in any hurry to get back up to the house, but all too soon, he heard Beau sniff a couple of times before wiping his face on his shirt. 

“Are you in trouble, too?” Beau asked quietly. His voice was gravelly from where he had been crying, and he coughed once to clear it. 

Wesley looked back towards the house. He could see Ruth through the kitchen window and knew that she was watching them. Ruth was, without a doubt, the most kind-hearted and compassionate woman that Wesley knew. She always did her best to make sure that her boys had everything they needed. Not just materially, but also what they needed to grow up to be good men. But Wesley knew that sometimes, they sure didn’t make it easy on her. It wasn’t very often, but there were times, like today, when Ruth had to adopt a sterner approach. It was necessary with so many thick Anderson heads under one roof. So when one, or in this case, all of the boys decided to cross that proverbial line in the sand, that sweet, caring, wonderful woman was always willing and able to do whatever was needed in order to bring them back on this side of it. 

It didn’t mean they had to like it, though.

Wesley sighed. “Sure looks like it.”

“Big trouble?” Beau asked.

Wesley bit the inside of his cheek and nodded. “The biggest.”

“But you never get in trouble.”

Wesley groaned at the thought of what was coming. “Today I do.”

When they had put it off for as long as they could, Wesley led Beau back to the house and into the kitchen. 

Ruth pulled Beau into a tight hug before he had a chance to reclaim his seat. She ran her hand through his thick, brown hair and murmured soft words into his ear. When Beau nodded, she pulled back to look him in the eyes. 

“No more taking animals to school. And especially no more hiding them for your teacher to find. Understand?”

“Yes, mama,” Beau replied.

“Good. Now go on upstairs. You can come back down when it’s time for supper.” 

Beau nodded again and took off. When they heard his bedroom door shut, Ruth turned to look at her middle son.

“Alright, Tommy,” she said with a sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Looks like you’re next.”

“Oh joy,” Tommy replied sarcastically, earning him a light slap to the back of the head from Coop, who was closest to him. Tommy glared at him but otherwise said nothing. 

“There seems to be an issue of eight missing assignments that you never turned in. Do you know anything about that?”

Tommy seemed to shrink a little in his chair, but he remained quiet. 

“How about a note that I was supposed to have signed two weeks ago?”

Tommy stubbornly set his jaw and still refused to answer.

If it had been James that was talking to them tonight, Wesley felt sure that Tommy would have an entirely different attitude. Of the three of them, Tommy was the one with the shortest fuse and quickest temper. Generally, the one who got into the most trouble for back talk and disrespect, but even he knew that to blatantly ignore James Anderson was a sure way of sealing your own fate. 

Though tonight, it didn’t seem as if Ruth was willing to tolerate it either. 

“Thomas David. I’m only going to tell you once to sit up here and talk to me before I decide that an explanation from you is not necessary and simply send you to your room for the foreseeable future and let your dad sort it out when he gets home.”

Tommy sat up. “Okay,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry.” 

Ruth leaned against the kitchen sink as she gave her son her full attention. 

Tommy looked uncomfortable as he glanced from Wesley and Coop back to his mother before finally letting his gaze settle on the tabletop. 

“I missed a few assignments in Mrs. Jones’s class.”

“More than a few, Tommy. But why?”

Tommy blushed scarlet from the tips of his ears down past his shirt collar, and they all had to strain to hear his response. “Because I didn’t understand the work.”

“Then why didn’t you ask her for help?” 

Tommy looked up incredulously as he ran his hand through his blond hair, making it stick up all over his head.
“Because she’s the worst teacher there is!”

“Tommy—”

“It’s true, Mom,” Wesley said, immediately jumping to Tommy’s aide about his Algebra teacher.

Beside him, Coop nodded. “She’s really hard on everyone, and she,” Coop seemed to struggle to find the right words, “she kinda makes fun of the kids who don’t understand.”

Ruth stood up straight. “She does what? Why am I just now hearing about this?”

“She doesn’t do it so outright,” Wesley said. “She’s really subtle about it, but everyone still knows that’s what she’s doing. If it hadn’t been for Coop, I would’ve failed her class.” 

Ruth found herself taking another steadying breath and mentally counting to ten for the second time that day. 

“Alright, I’m going to deal with that first thing to—”

“No!” Tommy exclaimed. “That’ll just make it worse!”

“If you think that I am going to stand by while my own son gets picked on by a grown woman, you’ve got another thing coming, young man,” Ruth declared, pointing her finger at him. 

Tommy sat back in his seat with a huff.

“Now, setting that aside, let’s talk about how you kept a note that was meant for me, and you signed my name to it. You lied by omission to me, and then you lied to your teacher when you gave it to her with my signature. However she may act, you are still in control of your own actions, and you knew that was wrong.”

“Yeah, well, I learned that one from Wes,” Tommy said petulantly. 

Ruth narrowed her eyes at him before turning to Wesley. “And how did that work out for you, Son?” 

Wesley blushed at the memory. “Not so good.” 

Ruth held her hand out to Wesley and said, “See. If you’re gonna learn from Wesley, at least learn from his mistakes, too.” 

Tommy sighed. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not.” Ruth considered him for a moment before coming to a decision. “Alright, here’s the deal. I’m going to get to the bottom of this teacher business in the morning, but you still have to take the consequences for your own part in this. You could’ve asked someone else for help, and you know it. You could have asked your dad or me, or Wesley, or even Emmett, and you didn’t. Your principal says you have one week to make up the assignments. You won’t get full credit, but at least it won’t be marked as a zero.”

Tommy nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” 

“I’m disappointed that you didn’t come to us, Tommy. I’m even more disappointed that you lied. You’ve got detention for a week after school for turning in a forged note, but I’m going to add that you’re grounded for two weeks for it.”

“What?! C’mon, Mom, that’s not fair.”

Ruth raised her eyebrows at him. “I think it’s more than fair, but if you want, we can make it three weeks instead.” 

Tommy snapped his mouth shut and looked down and away from her. 

“I didn’t think so.” She paused for a moment to let it all sink in and to give herself an extra moment to breathe before saying, “Okay. Up to your room. You can come down for supper.” 

Tommy looked for a moment like he would argue, but then he glanced at Wesley and Coop, who both seemed entirely focused on the tabletop and remembered that they were next on his mom’s list. It wasn’t often that Wesley was ever in the line of fire, especially when it came to Ruth, but when he was, Tommy didn’t want to be around to witness it. 

He stood up and grabbed his backpack on his way out of the kitchen before heading for his bedroom.

Ruth closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples, hoping to stave off the headache that she could feel coming on. When she opened them, she saw Wesley and Coop still staring silently down at the table. 

“I guess you know why your principal called?” They both looked up.
Wesley nodded. “‘Cause we skipped school after lunch.”

“To do what?” Ruth asked. 

Wesley ducked his head. “Mom, I—”

“I already know, Wesley, so you may as well just say it.” 

Wesley only barely resisted rolling his eyes. 

“I’m waiting, Son.” Ruth was entirely over this day, and she wasn’t sure how much more she could handle before she completely lost her mind.

“Well, if you already know,” Wesley said with more hostility than he usually went for, “then why do I have to say it?”

Beside him, Coop’s dark brown eyes widened, and he kicked him under the table. Wesley winced at the contact but only glared at his best friend. 

“Wesley,” Ruth said again, this time earning a sigh from her oldest. 

“Fine. We ditched to go hang out with Rachel and Shelby.”

Wesley’s current girlfriend had been the subject of quite a few of his more recent conversations with his parents. Especially since the last time Wesley had gotten into trouble had involved the two of them getting caught in the janitor’s closet, halfway through what should have been their science class, wearing slightly fewer clothes than they’d gone in with. 

“That’s the second time that girl has cut class with you,” Ruth said irritably. 

“It wasn’t like that. And it was my idea this time.”

“I thought you said it was your idea last time, Wesley.”

“I-it was,” Wesley stammered over his words. Then, defensively, he said, “What are you so afraid of anyway? C’mon, Mom, give me a little credit here. Do you honestly think that me and Rachel are gonna have sex out in the open at the quarry?!” 

“Where?!” Ruth exclaimed at the same time that Coop shot Wesley a dirty look. 

Wesley slouched down in his seat and let his head drop back, so he was staring at the ceiling. “We went to the rock quarry and hung out. That’s all, I swear.” 

 Ruth turned to Coop, who grudgingly nodded. “I know we’re not supposed to be there. We’re sorry. Honest,” Coop said sincerely. “We shouldna skipped school either. It was dumb.”

“Yes, it was,” Ruth agreed. 

She looked back at Wesley. “You want some credit? Try earning it. And I’m not just talking about today, Wesley. I’m talking about everything lately. Skipping school, being where you know you’re not supposed to be, getting caught by the janitor, staying out past curfew, lying, cheating. All of it.” 

Wesley looked up as if he were going to say something but changed his mind at the last second and simply nodded. 

“I mean it,” Ruth went on. “You heard Tommy. Like it or not, they look up to you and imitate you. You need to be setting a good example for them to follow.”

“I know,” Wesley said softly. “I’m sorry.” 

Ruth stood for a moment as she took in her son. It was as if she could see both the young child he had once been and the man he was growing up to be at the same time. She so often thought of him as nearly grown that sometimes, like today, she was rather forcefully reminded of just how young he still was. Seventeen seemed like so much to him and yet so little to her. It must be difficult, she thought, for him to find that balance between child and man. 

Between growing and grown. 

But in those times, she would always be there to help him find the way. 

She nodded. “Alright, school, practice, church, and home. That’s it. No phone and no truck.”

Wesley sighed. “How long?” he asked as he fished the truck keys out of his jeans pocket.

“Six weeks.” 

Wesley started to argue, but she held her hand up to stop his protests. “It would’ve only been three, but we’ve told you over and over about the quarry. It’s dangerous, and I don’t want to catch either of you there again. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they both answered. 

Ruth turned fully to Coop once more. “I had already talked to Hank before you got here. We knew you would either come here or Wesley would go to your house, so we’d planned on talking to you together regardless. I don’t speak for Hank about the quarry, though, so I expect you to tell him. Otherwise, he agreed that whatever Wesley got for skipping would be for you as well, so at least for now, you’ve got three weeks. School, the store, church, and home. No phone and no jeep.” 

Coop shrugged. “Yeah, I kinda figured. I guess I’m going home then.” 

He didn’t even make it to the door before Ruth caught his arm and pulled him in for a hug. “I love you, Emmett. Please, be good.” 

Coop sighed and hugged her back. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry. And I- I love you, too.” 

Ruth pulled back and gave his cheek a small pat before smiling up at him. “You’re forgiven, honey.”

He grinned before waving goodbye to both of them and heading outside to his jeep. 

Ruth turned to face Wesley and held out her arms. 

“Do I get a hug, or are you mad at me?” 

Wesley leaned down to hug her and said, “I think next time I’d rather just let dad handle it. I think he goes easier on me.” 

Ruth laughed. “I highly doubt that.” She pulled away and looked up at him. “Alright, now go on. Upstairs with you. You can come down for supper with your brothers.” 

Wesley rolled his eyes at the idea of actually being sent to his room. He leaned down once more to kiss his mother’s cheek before turning and walking away, leaving Ruth to stare after him and wonder where the time had gone. 

***