The Sparrow Found A House (Sparrow Stories #1)

by Jason McIntire

  Chapter 5

  Out With It

  “You set me up!” Chris Rivera slammed the door to his sister’s room behind him as he barked out the indictment.

  “I did not.” Jessie rolled her eyes, but couldn’t meet his.

  “Don’t give me that trash,” her brother railed. “I talked to Beth at school – she said she gave you fifty bucks for me this morning – early. You had it all along, but you would have let me get my head pounded inside out just to get revenge for your stinking phone. Which you blew up, by the way – not me.”

  “I was going to give it to you,” Jessie asserted, “but you left on the field trip before I could catch up with you. And keep your voice down. Do you want the Sergeant to hear?”

  “I don’t care what the Sergeant hears,” Chris exploded. “You told me not to tell him in the first place just so you could line me up for the slaughter!”

  “That is not true.”

  “I certainly hope not.” They looked up to see the Sergeant suddenly standing in the doorway.

  “Oh, Sergeant,” Jessie fumbled. “I didn’t hear you knock.”

  “Let’s go downstairs and talk about this.”

  Down the stairs the siblings marched behind their stepdad, each giving the other surreptitious dirty looks along the way. They sat down opposite one another at the dining room table, with the Sergeant between them at the end.

  “Okay, it looks like we’ve got a problem here,” the Sergeant began. “You both obviously lied on Friday night about what happened to Chris. Now tell me the truth.”

  Jessie pursed her lips while Chris spilled the whole story, with frequent wrathful references to his sister’s treachery and minimal mentions of her saving his neck the first time. The Sergeant listened, then spoke once he was finished.

  “Guys, there is only one right basis for a family, for interactions, for anything. That basis is truth. By not telling me or your mom what was really going on, Chris, you put yourself, your sister, and your new friend in serious danger. Getting beaten up in school is not a game. Those two bullies could have put you in a wheelchair for life, without even meaning to. I’ve seen it happen.

  “Jessie, you’re to be commended for defending your brother on Friday. I can see that you really do care about him because of what you did. However, you must never, ever try to deter one of the siblings from sharing anything with me or your mom. In fact, I hope that you will choose to share everything with us yourself. In any case, I can’t overlook the fact that you lied just as much as Chris did when I asked you about what happened to him. And Chris, I heard you speaking to your sister in a hateful way today.”

  “But she set me up for a pounding!”

  “Maybe she did,” the Sergeant agreed. “And then again, maybe she just honestly missed you with the field trip going on. No one knows the answer to that except Jessie herself, so we’ll have to leave it for her to work out with her conscience. At any rate, if a sibling has wronged you and you can’t confront that person in a respectful way, bring in your mom or me to sort it out.”

  “So what happens now?” Jessie’s voice was quiet. Might as well get it over with.

  The Sergeant stroked his chin. “I realize that you guys are used to doing pretty much whatever you feel like doing, with little accountability. That doesn’t make it okay, but in view of the circumstances, I’m going to go fairly light. You are each grounded until next Monday morning.”

  Jessie let out a long sigh. One week didn’t sound too long, but having never been grounded before, she wasn’t sure how she would cope with even that.

  “I guess that wipes out camp, huh?” Chris sulked.

  “Yes, I’m afraid it does. Katie will be going with Moe and me instead.”

  “Katie?” Jessie snickered out loud. “Have you told her yet that she can’t wear her pink Cinderella slippers?”

  “You might be surprised,” the Sergeant replied with a fond smile.

  “What about a prior promise for Wednesday?” Chris asked. “I told Ben I’d come over to his house and hang out after school.”

  “Where does he live?”

  Chris told him the address.

  “I’ll drive you over there on Wednesday myself. I’d like to meet and thank him in person. I’ll also reimburse him for the money he paid....”

  “Really?” Chris brightened.

  “And you can reimburse me later,” the Sergeant finished. “I won’t, however, charge you any interest.”

  “Or pound me if I don’t pay,” Chris chuckled.

  The Sergeant raised an eyebrow. Sometimes it was downright tough to know when the man was kidding.

  “On another subject,” Jessie said, “and speaking of money – what about our allowances? We usually get twenty dollars each on Mondays. I guess you’ll cut that off,” she speculated as bitterly as she dared, “or make us work to earn it or something?”

  “You will need to earn it,” the Sergeant replied, “but no one’s going to make you work any more than anyone makes me work for my salary. Your mom has been creating a list of jobs and errands that will be available for you to do, at a certain rate of compensation each. The good news is, you’ll be able to earn much more than you used to get for doing nothing.”

  “And I’m guessing if we don’t do the jobs, or don’t do them right, we get zip.”

  “Does that seem unfair to you?”

  “Oh, of course not.” There was just a light dusting of sarcasm in her tone.

  “Look, guys,” the Sergeant said earnestly, “you’re both going to be of age in a few short years...” (A loud cheer went up in Jessie’s mind at that, but she didn’t interrupt.) “... and you will be, if you choose, on your own and responsible for yourselves. When you get out in the world, life will hold you accountable for your actions, and it won’t always be fair. I would not be doing you a favor to let these important last couple years of your childhood just slide by.”

  “I know, I know,” Jessie said, “we’ll thank you later.”

  “Not necessarily,” the Sergeant replied. “But my conscience will, if I’m able to answer well when God holds me accountable for the way I handled the lives in my trust. Now I need to talk to your mom, so run along – but not across the property line. Sentence starts now!”

  They wandered outside. When they were out of earshot, Chris remarked, “You know, he’s right. We lied. We deserve to be in trouble.”

  “No, you deserve it,” Jessie corrected. “But it’s almost worth it to me just to see you get it.”

  “This is going to sound crazy,” Chris observed slowly, “but you know, somehow it’s almost worth it to me, too.”