A Tale of a Farm and a Woodshed(With Jinchu)

[charles wilbourn]

It was a modest side farm, but one with good soil and grass enough for a few cows and hay for a couple of horses. These were kept in the barn, where there was a tall hayloft, reaching to the top part of the barn, a sort of "second floor" where the three or four chickens were kept. here a young boy, 14 years old, with reddish hair, blue eyes and a few small still noticeable freckles dotting his nose, wearing only a pair of over-all, jeans, rolled up beyond his bare ankles since they were a little long for him. Still he was of average weight and size for a boy his age. However, he did not have the average intelligence of a boy his age. While other young people as old as he were able to write quickly and legibly in cursive, the farm boy could only print. His grammar in writing was very poor, and reading, though he could at least do that, was always a chore for him, sometimes a little embarrassing when he stumbled over words. He daydreamed in class, ignoring questions and answers, and sometimes it took the young, female teacher, Miss Ross, twice sharply to call on the youth for answers to questions she asked him in any class. The boy failed in writing assignments, first because the grammar he used in writing often made it impossible for Miss Ross to get a sense of what the boy was trying to say, and her necessary struggle with his grammar compelled her to tos his paper away and have him rewrite it after school--and this sometimes took up to an hour. If he failed the second time she switched his bare bottom on the spot. As far as cursive writing was concerned, she appointed a 16-year-old female to tutor him in that. She met with almost no success, so the teacher gave the girl, Carol, permission to swith the boy on the bare. All of this was too much for the young boy, so after about three weeks after Carol started using the switch on him, he simply disappeared, from sun-up to sun-down, telling "Sis," as he called the older sibling who was raising him, that he wanted to go to school early to be ready for the day's lesson. In those days schools could not afford to provide books for each student. They could use them before and after class to study; they also relied on class lectures during which they were expected to take notes, questions and answers, essays in which they answered questions based on these and on students' own conclusions regarding these. The farm boy could only write what he knew, which was not much since he was generally slow--a direct result of naughty laziness--and daydreaming in class, pretty much having no idea what was going on. He also, well, simply could not write. His vocal communication was fine, but the teacher found it totally wasted and angrily switched him on the bare, even in front of giggling girls, for this useless language. . . . The teacher and the tutor prompted him to spend most school days playing hooky: skinny dipping at the shallow, running river during the spring and fall, fishing, smoking cigars, napping by the river, then "returning home" at sundown, when he had actually spent three or 3 and a half hours in the small compartment led to by the hayloft, usually asleep, when he was supposed to be studying or doing chores. But after about three weeks Carol, at whose house he was to be learning cursive, informed the boy's Sis that he had not come to their sessions for three weeks. She also told Sis that her little brother had not been in school for three weeks. . . .

[Jinchu]

His sister Ruth was a person of completely different type, in part because she did everything in her power to protect her brother from the harsh realities of life which she had to face every day. From her early teen years she manged the farm mostly by herself, performing all kinds of works and chores and taking all kinds of responsibilities. Of course, it left her very little time to watch after the boy's behaviour, which was Ruth's constant source of shame, but she tried her best to make him a decent young man, though it usually meant punishing him...

Ruth was a realtively high 22 years old young lady, rather strong due to lots of work she was doing. She was usually wearing the simple and practical working clothes - heavy boots, worn-out blue jeans and flanel shirt with rolled-up sleeves. Her skin was tanned after so much work in teh field, and her fair hair with a slight ginger tone were always in a tight braid, reaching almost to her bottom.

The news about her brother's epic slacking off didn't make her happy.

And the lazy boy in the barn soon heard her approaching steps. "Joshua!! Come here this instant!!" Ruth called angrily.

[charles wilbourn]

The boy, Joshua, who preferred Josh, but knew his full name was used by his sister when he was in trouble, did not run on his bare feet at his sister's call. He asked himself, "How did sis find out I was here?" He thought he had found the perfect hiding place. He had never thought that Ruth would even suspect he was in the barn, in that high compartment where the chickens were. It was one of HIS easy chores to feed the chickens, and this chore he did. He loved animals, especially horses, and he brushed their hair and fed them consciencely everyday. He loved to ride, and looked forward to the times he could. But the only other chores he was supposed to do were to milk the cows and on every other Saturday for half a day, in the mornings before it got too hot, he was supposed to harvest and sow corn--the only somewhat stern chore he had--to help his sister. He was expected the rest of the time to go to school and study, but he often, very often, did noeither, nor did he usually feed the cows or spend much time in the corn, excusing himself from this chore by saying , "I have to study with Carol today, cause I have a big exam on Monday!" So Ruth cut his time in the corfield in half; then young Josh would run to the river. He knew his buddies would be there. . . . But this little space in the barn near the chicken coop, still large enough for the boy to lie down and sleep comfortably--he thought his Big Sis did not look there. Poultry was his responsibility. . . .Josh stayed stock still when he heard his sister's voice; he made no vocal response. He knew he was deep in trouble, and Sis knew he was somewhere in the barn. But he disobeyed her call. He thought he was still safely hidden, and Ruth would go. He thought if he stayed in his loft till well after sundown Sis would worry, and be so relieved to see him that she would forget all about punishing him. His lack of intelligence, of weighing alternatives which other boys and girls had been taught in school but young Josh had daydreamed through--his action might get him in even more trouble. . . .

[Jinchu]

"Joshua Thoompson, you come out right now, or blame yourself!" Ruth aclled again in a very angry tone. She was usually a loving and acring sister, maybe even too soft for her brother's good, but this time Josh went too far. she was pretty sure the boy was somethere in the barn - Ruth knew he wasn't at the housenad now she had learnt that school or Carol's home were out of question as well, and Josh loved comfort too much to just spend all day in the open field. The young woman walked through the barn, looking around, even checking behind the horses, but couldn't find the boy. "Last chance, Josh! Come here. Five... Four... Three... Two... One!!.." But Ruth stopped counting, and still nobody appeared. She started to worrry - maybe he was not in the barn, after all? What if he went skinny dipping and drowned?.. Not knowing there the boy actually was all day, since it wasn't the school, Ruth could only guess. Both nervous and angry she went out of the barn and started to call the boy in teh fields, then behind the house... she walked to the river, but nobodu saw Josh there today... And so it went, Ruth was getting more and more worried and more and more mad at teh same time, untill she preapred the dinner at sunset, hoping that at least the hunger would make her stupid little brother appear and prove he was alive...

[charles wilbourn]

Stupid, indeed, was what young Josh was. Even taking into consideration the numerous times he had skipped school, Josh had basically shown himself to be slow in any kind od of academics, and whenever he was called on to read by Miss Ross Josh time and again stumbled over words, some of them the simplest. He mispronounced some words so that they sounded unrecognizable, and in printing "essays," really just a few sentences, whenever the teacher could actually understand what he was trying to convey, very often his wording was such that Miss Ross could see he was saying the exact opposite of what his real point was supposed to be.. . . . He brought home to his sister F after F which she had to sign--he couldn't write cursive so forging her signature was impossible; besides, even if he could forge her signature he would not--not because it was naughty--and Josh was indeed a naughty boy--but rather because he was too backward to understand he could do this, even get away with it.

About an hour after Ruth had left the barn and began looking elsewhere for him, Josh felt his hiding place in the barn was secure and left the barn. He knew it would be time for dinner soon, and he did not want to be late for that. On his way to the farmhouse, Josh, wearing only a pair of faded, rolled-up overalls, a sure sign he had not been to school that day but had gone fishing instead, --Josh tried to think of a reason for his tardiness. He thought--and thought--but nothing plausible came to him. But he went into the farmhouse anyway, staight to the kitchen, and said, almost cheerfully, "Hey, Sis!" Maybe a bit naively he thought his Big Sis would be too relieved to see him to punish him for anything.

[Jinchu]

Of course, Josh was, to say the least, wrong. Ruth's worries and fear for him indeed grew with every minute of her brother's absence, and no matter how many times she told herself that he was probably just slacking off and nappings omethere, no matter how she tried to distract herself with work and making dinner, the young woman's panic got stronger and stronger. But the relief she felt then the boy appered in the kitchen's doorway, did not turn into forgivness - insted it added more to her anger.

"Where. Have. You. Been?!" Ruth asked unusually sternly, emphisizing teh pauses between words. The stupid smile on Josh's face looked like he was mocking her and all her concerns. "Do you have any idea how much I was worried? And what about these studies with Carol you've never really attended to?!"

The very angry young woman just took time to remove all the pans from the stove, so their dinner won't be ruined. Immediately after that she grabbed the boy's ear very firmly and lad him out of teh kitchen and then - out of the house as well, heading to their woodshed...

[charles wilbourn]

Josh was not so dense as to not know what was in store for him. "Sis! Sis? Are--you're not!--Oh please! Don't --" He had an idea: "Sis? Y--you're just gonna spank me, eight? Oh, please! Don't paddle me! I'm--I'm sorry! I'll--I'll go to Miss Carol's studies! From now on! Please!--Please! Just give me a spankin'!" Josh was desperate, so he resorted to both (fake) tears and a tone of respect when he was in for it and pleading for pardon, then after a sound thrashing, always on the bare, always hard--but he HATED the paddle! The two moved rapidly, so Pat's voice shook anyway: "Ma'am! Please! Please, Ma'am!" he exclaimed through self-induced tears, "Please! Gimme a birchin'! Even a switchin'! But please! Don't use the hardwood paddle!" But they soon approached the woodshed's entrance. He had used the woodshed twice--unsuccessfully--as a hiding place, since he thought that would be the last place she would look for him. He was VERY wrong! He was only wearing overalls--so he would be --naked, really--when she "busted" him, as Josh called a whoopin'; so: "Sis?" he said feebly as they entered the woodshed, "You're not gonna bare me, are ya? Oh, please! Lemme wear my overalls! Oh please! Even if ya just--I mean hand WHOOP! me, lemme wear my overalls! There faded and all, and you stitched 'em up in the--y'know, bottom part! so there's almost just patches! I FEEL a good hand-whoopin'! I'll feel it good!. . . . "