Read Online John Fitzgerald by Me, My Little Brain - Free Book Online

supposed to be watching
him, if anything happened to him it would be my fault. I waited until he had
seen everything in the loft and sat down on a box.
        "Frankie," I said, "Aunt
Bertha will be worried about you. And it is time for her to give you a glass of
milk and some cookies. You climb on my back and put your arms around my neck
and hold on tight. I'll carry you down the rope ladder."
        He got up and walked to the edge of the
loft and looked down. I guess he was wondering if he should try to climb down
the ladder by himself. Then he got on my back and put his arms around my neck.
I carried him down the rope ladder. He let go and dropped to the ground. He
thanked me by kicking me on the shins. I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of
the barn.
    "Now you
beat it back to Aunt Bertha," I ordered him.
        He just folded his arms on his chest and
glared at me. I ran back into the barn. I climbed up the rope ladder as quickly
as I could. Then I pulled the rope ladder up to the loft. I made it just in
time. I looked over the edge. Frankie came into the barn and stood staring up
at the loft.
        "You can't get at me now, you little
monster," I shouted at him. "Maybe I'll just live up here until Papa
takes you to Salt Lake City."
         I lay
down on my back and stared up at the roof. It wasn't a bad idea at that. Mamma
could give me a couple of blankets and a pillow. She could put my meals in a
bucket and I could haul it up with Sweyn's lariat. I
heard our milk cow start mooing. I looked over the edge of the loft again.
        Frankie had the barn door open. He was
leading our milk cow out of the barn. That didn't worry me. I figured he was
taking the cow to the water trough in the corral for a drink of water. In a
couple of minutes he came back and led Sweyn's mustang, Dusty, out of the barn. Then he came back and led our team of horses
out. I knew he'd been raised on a farm and thought he probably helped his
brother water their livestock. And I knew our own livestock couldn't get out of
the corral. So it didn't bother me.
        But I did become worried when I heard
Brownie barking. It was an alarm bark. Any boy who owns a dog can tell the
difference in the way his dog barks. It might be a happy bark like when you are
playing with him. It might be an excited bark like when you are rabbit hunting
and he sees a rabbit. It might be a thank you bark when you feed him. And there
are many other kinds of barks a kid will recognize. I knew Brownie's bark was
an alarm bark. He was telling me something was wrong. I climbed down the rope
ladder and ran out of the barn. My dog was sure right. The corral gate was
open. Our milk cow, the team of horses, and Dusty were all gone. We had a
chicken run made from wire fence because Mamma didn't like chickens running all
over our yard. The gate was open. Frankie was chasing all the chickens out of
the chicken run.
        I knew I'd get the blame for all this even
though Aunt Bertha was supposed to be watching Frankie. It would take me a long
time to round up our livestock and all the chickens. I thought about this and
all the things Frankie had done to me. Then I got a mental block of my own. I
was so angry I could actually see red, and in the middle of that red was
Frankie. I ran over and grabbed him by the wrist as he was coming out of the
gate of the chicken run.
        "Now you are going to get it!" I
said. "Papa and Mamma will give me the silent treatment for a month for
letting the livestock and chickens get out. And they will take away my
allowance for a year for what I'm going to do for you. But I don't care. It
will be worth it to teach you a lesson, you little monster."
        He began to kick and fight. I dragged him
into our woodshed. I picked up a flat piece of kindling wood to use as a
paddle. I sat down on the chopping block and threw him over my knees. I let him
have a hard whack on the behind with the paddle. "That was for hitting me
on the head with my