Noise
By: Nanuk
"...WHAT YOU THINK YOU DO? What think? Never think, never remember
muddy boots, muddy pants, muddy..."
A short stop in the tirade indicated that HopSing was drawing a deep
breath. As predicted, the shouting went on as if nothing had
happened.
Hoss cringed.
"...WHEN I SAY GO YOU NOT ..."
"But..."
"NO BUT! YOU NOT LISTEN..."
Adam looked up from the books and squinted his eyes. He sighed,
cast a
weary glance into the direction where his giant brother and the
diminutive cook were quarrelling, and tried to concentrate on his
work.
"T'weren't my fault the chicks ran away.T'was Joe's turn to repair
the darn floorboards and.." Hoss' spluttering went about unnoticed.
HopSing poked a finger into Hoss' broad chest.
"EXCUSES!!! ALL TIME EXCUSES! CAN'T LIVE IN PEACE AROUND HERE!
CHICKEN
AWAY, FLOOR DIRTY, LAUNDRY TO DO AND COOKING ..."
"But..."
CRASH!
Adam's head snapped up. "What? What happened?"
He saw Hoss slowly backing away from the dining area. HopSing
followed
closely, waving a cleaver in Hoss' face.
"Well?"
"Noth...nothing, Adam" Hoss stuttered while he kept a suspicious
eye
on the kitchen utensil.
"NOTHING!?! NOTHING HE SAY, AND I CATCH HIM STEALING IN KITCHEN,
WITH
MUDDY BOOTS AND..."
"Aw, HopSing, come on, the boots weren"t that muddy and..."
"I DO ALL WORK AROUND HERE AND WHAT YOU DO? SITTING ON CHAIR, FEET
ON
TABLE, WITH FIRE AND COFFEE! AND I? WORK, WORK, WORK! AND YOU? MUDDY
BOOTS! ALL THE TIME! CAN'T SLEEP IN PEACE, CAN'T EAT! YOU WANT
COOKIE?..."
Hoss' eyes turned pleadingly towards Adam who winced and grimacing
rubbed his brow as HopSing's voice reached another level.
"Adam!" Hoss hissed between his teeth, never taking his eyes off
the
cleaver. He stumbled against the table in his attempt to put more
space between himself and the cook.
Adam just glared at him.
"Can't you do that outside?" he requested. "I'd like to get
some work
done."
Hoss opened his mouth to protest, but one look into his brother's
direction convinced him that a swift retreat was the order of the
day.
Carefully backing away from HopSing's cleaver, he slowly went
backwards, hands held up, and tried to escape the onslaught of words
that didn't seem to end.
"...THE WATER? THE FIRE? PANTS? BLOOD ON RUGS AND TABLE? MESS
EVERYWHERE I LOOK? BEDS NOT MADE, ROOMS NOT..."
Hoss dared to cast another glance at Adam, but his brother had
buried
his head in his arms in the attempt to shut out the noise. Hoss
gulped
and turned back to the angry cook.
"...TIDY, DIRTY SOCKS EVERYWHERE! NO WASHING, NO CLEANING, NO
HELPING!
AND YELL, ALL TIME YELL! I QUIT!"
Adam suddenly sat up and slammed the book shut.
"QUIET!" he shouted, taking both Hoss and HopSing by surprise.
Brusquely he pushed back the chair and strode over to the two of
them.
"You quit? You?" Adam turned his burning eyes away from the
astonished
cook to face his brother. "I think it's my turn first! I quit.
Now."
In less than two seconds he was over at the credenza, had grabbed
his
hat and was buckling his gun belt.
Hoss and HopSing watched him, open-mouthed and speechless.
Then Adam looked up. His eyes were still aflame with anger, and Hoss
involuntarily clasped his hands behind his back. HopSing's hand,
which
held the cleaver, sank lower.
"I quit." Adam said.
He opened the door to find Ben, who had just been about to enter, on
the doorstep. Irritated, he waved his father in, then strode outside
and slammed the door shut behind him.
Ben stared at his son and cook in surprise.
"What was that all about?" he asked while he carefully regarded
them.
The two men in front of him seemed to be in some kind of stupor, but
at least they answered.
"He quit", Hoss said. There was amazement in his voice.
"He quit?" Ben didn't think he could trust his ears.
"He quit", HopSing repeated as if in a daze. Ben cast them a
weary
glance.
"I see. He quit.
Both of them nodded in unison. He looked at the abandoned books and
sighed.
"I feared as much."
~ ~ ~
The end