Chapter One

It was Adam's Saturday to make lunch. Brian was a better cook, everyone knew it, but Adam had promised his brother he would prepare the meals two weekends a month. In the four years since their parents passed away, Adam had mostly been able to keep that promise, and today was no different. Brian had driven some of the boys to town for football practice, leaving Adam with only Crane and Guthrie to help him out. While Adam worked at spreading butter and mustard on bread for sandwiches, Crane stood at the sink, washing the last of the breakfast dishes and watching through the window as six-year-old Guthrie struggled to climb a tree in their large farm yard.

"I appreciate you staying back to help me," Adam told his fifteen-year-old brother, playfully brushing his hand through Crane's strawberry blond waves. "You know you could have gone to town with Brian and the boys."

"I know," Crane said, his only reply distant, as though lost in some faraway thought.

The problem, Adam noted, was that Crane always seemed to have something heavy on his mind, and no one could ever guess what it was. Adam had a good idea why Crane wanted to stay home, though he would never say it out loud to the boy. Just a couple months shy of sixteen, Crane was obviously desperate to grow up, and lately he seemed to be embarrassed around his little brothers. Adam knew the feeling. Being the oldest of seven boys, there had been hundreds of times in his life that Adam wanted to crawl into a hole and die when one of the little guys said something embarrassing or caused a scene in public. He didn't blame Crane for feeling this way, though Adam no longer had the luxury of wanting to avoid the kids. Not since his parents were killed and left him and Brian responsible for a bunch of baby brothers and the farm.

"Hey, Adam?" Crane still looked out the window as he spoke in that quiet, distant voice of his. "I'm going to ask you something, but I don't want you to get mad." He let the words hang like a question, and Adam almost laughed.

"When do I ever get mad at you?" As far as Adam was concerned, Crane was just a half turn away from perfect, with his excellent grades and trouble free life. But he didn't want the kid to think he was making fun of him, so he feigned seriousness for a moment. "I'll only get mad if you give me a good reason."

There was a slump in Crane's shoulders then, but Adam thought it might be because of relief. Although the third oldest, Crane was still almost five years younger than Brian but still too old to be lumped in with the little boys. Sometimes Adam noticed that Crane seemed to long for attention, just like the younger ones, but he never asked for it the way the younger ones did, and never seemed to understand that his older brothers were there to look out for him too.

"I don't want to take the boys trick or treating tomorrow," Crane said, his words quiet and fast. "I know we always go together, but I'm too old for Halloween and I don't feel like walking up to every door in town on a-"

Crane clammed up quick when he felt Adam's hand grip his shoulder, and he was surprised to hear his oldest brother say, "Okay."

A quick breath from Crane as he glanced at Adam. "Okay? You won't make me go?"

"Of course not." Adam was almost hurt that his brother thought he would get upset about this. "In case you forgot, Brian and I quit trick or treating years ago. We only picked it up again when – well, you know, so the boys would have someone to take them."

Crane only managed to nod his head in understanding before turning back to the sink. He had expected a fight, or at least some resistance from Adam, but not this. He felt almost disappointed in himself for thinking that his brother would get upset over something so small.

In a way Adam was disappointed too, because it meant Crane was growing older, and growing apart from the others. Part of Adam longed for the day that he no longer had to worry every waking moment about his little brothers, but another part of him knew he would be crushed when his youngest brother Guthrie decided he was through with childish traditions.

Having let the silence in the room carry on too long, Adam knew he had to change the subject to lighten the mood.

"Hey," he said, pulling open one of the cupboard doors in front of him. "Which would you prefer? Chocolate cake or brownies? Brian picked up a couple mixes last week."

Crane laughed. "What's the occasion?"

"It's Saturday, it's cold outside, and I feel like making something sweet. Now, are you going to tell me which one you want, or should I pick for you?"

"Brownies," Crane decided quickly. "We haven't had those in a while."

"Then brownies it is."

As soon as the ham sandwiches were piled high on a plate, ready for the rest of the family's arrival home, Adam pulled out a mixing bowl and tore into the box of brownie mix.

"Pass me a few eggs, would you Crane? I need four."

Putting the last of the clean dishes away, Crane scanned the counter before admitting that he couldn't find the eggs anywhere.

"What do you mean?" Adam asked. "We didn't have any for breakfast, and we didn't use any yesterday. We should have a bowlful at least."

Adam gently pushed passed Crane to see for himself. While he did find the egg bowl at the end of the counter, he noticed it was completely empty. "That's the second Saturday this month that Evan's forgotten to bring in the eggs. So much for making a treat."

Crane, wanting to make peace before any trouble broke out for his younger brother, offered to go out and gather the eggs right away. "I'll take Guthrie with me. You and Brian keep saying he's getting old enough to take on a few chores of his own."

"Yeah, but this is Evan's chore." Before Adam had a chance to give any other argument though, Crane slipped out the door and left the oldest brother standing in the middle of the kitchen alone. Adam would not have minded much if Evan had forgotten to do his chores, but before he left for football practice Adam specifically asked him if he'd finished all his work. Part of the deal with letting his brothers play sports on Saturdays was that they had to tend to their responsibilities at home first. Normally Evan was good about this rule. He cared too much for the animals to watch them suffer. But sometimes he was forgetful, and Adam hated to have to remind him again.

Knowing the others would be home soon, Adam planned to set out the lunch plates then head outside to wait for his brothers' return. Sometimes he wished they could all go into town to watch the boys' practice together, but there was too much to do around the ranch lately to spare both he and Brian.

Daniel and Evan were the only ones who played football. Adam and Brian had played in high school, but basketball had been more their sport. Crane wasn't a big athlete, although he did run track this year in the hopes that it would help land him a college scholarship in a couple year's time. Although Daniel was only twelve, and Evan a year younger than him, Murphys had a pee-wee football league that was mostly about training players so they would be seasoned by the time they started high school.

Adam wanted them on the team for a few reasons. One, it was a great way for both boys to burn off energy and frustration in a place other than the farm yard. Two, it was a chance for them to learn teamwork and respect for the coach. Adam thought it was important for the kids to learn to take instructions from people outside the family, especially Daniel, who had a habit of running to his brothers every time he didn't like what one of the other adults in his life had to say. So far, the team had been great for both boys, but it meant one of the older brothers had to drive them into town each week. Adam looked forward to the day Crane had his driver's license and could officially drive off the farm property.

Ford, who was ten, could hold his own around his brothers and liked to watch football practice, though he had no desire to join in the rough games. He did like to sit and watch with Brian though, and in a way, it was his chance to get individual attention from one of his surrogate parents.

Just as Adam began making his way to the front door to head back outside for chores, he was bombarded by the sound of stomping on the front steps. The front door flew open a moment later as Brian led their younger brothers inside.

"All right," he said over his shoulder, his voice loud to Adam's ears. "Dan'l, Evan, I want you to go wash up before lunch. Ford, you can-"

Adam cut Brian off before he had a chance to finish the instruction, catching Evan by the arm as he passed him on his way toward the stairs. "Don't go too far before lunch, mister. I want to talk to you about your chores before we eat."

"But-" Evan tried to protest, only to drop the subject as Adam released his grip.

"Lunch is ready," Adam said, turning back to Brian as Evan followed Daniel upstairs. "I guess chores can wait until later now that you guys are home."

"Just give me a few minutes," Brian begged, hoping the others had not heard Adam's statement. "Crane said he would help me fix the busted handle on the truck door and I want to get it done before anything else gets in the way."

"He means before he forgets again," Crane teased from the top of the porch steps. "Not sure how I can help."

Brian only shook his head. "You laugh now, but you're the one who's going to be driving that scrapper around. I'll teach you how to fix it now in case it breaks down on you later. I just have to get the tools from the back porch. Ford, you and Guthrie can go help Crane roll down all the truck windows, all right?"

Ford nodded, happy to be included, but Guthrie hung back in the entrance. "Do I have to go with Crane again? I'm bored of working with him."

Though Crane pretended not to hear Guthrie's remark, both Adam and Brian noticed the way the teen's cheeks flushed pink. As Adam opened his mouth to chastise Guthrie though, the phone rang, so Brian motioned for him to go answer.

"You go ahead with Crane," Brian told Ford. "I'll keep Guthrie with me."

While Adam took off to answer the phone, Ford and Crane slipped outside together. Once the others were gone, it seemed as though Guthrie couldn't help but feel as though he'd done something wrong. Brian crouched down before him, flashing him a horrible look of disappointment.

Guthrie looked to the floor nervously and began to fiddle with his thumbs. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, but I want to talk to you about what you just said."

"What did I say?"

"You said you're bored of working with Crane," Brian said, taking hold of his brother's hands so he would stop fidgeting and look at him instead. "I know you didn't mean it, but that was an unkind thing to say."

"Why? I've been working with Crane all day."

"How would you like it if I said I didn't want to play with you because I would rather play with Ford instead?"

"Not very good."

"I bet that's how Crane feels right now." Brian noticed the way Guthrie's lower lip began to quiver. "It's all right, you didn't mean anything by it and now you know not to say it next time. Why don't you go apologize to Crane? You'll see that he's okay."

Guthrie nodded, and wiped at the tears that had yet to fall from his eyes, before he turned on his heel and bolted out the door. Brian wished his other brothers were that easy to reason with, but it seemed the older they got, the more they liked to argue. His only hope was that as the youngest, Guthrie would stay a little less complicated than the others for a long time yet.

Brian didn't even make it back through the house with his tools before Adam got off the phone, and he was surprised when Adam told him that he had to make a trip into town.

"Look, it's nothing to worry about, there's just something I need to check on. Have lunch with the boys, and you can fix the truck when I get back, okay?"

"Well sure, but who was on the phone?"

"I'll explain when I get home," Adam said, and he was out the side door before Brian could question him further. When he reached the truck, he told the three boys to go in and eat.

"There weren't any eggs in the coop when Guthrie and I checked," Crane said, hopping out to the ground. "Maybe something got into the henhouse and spooked the chickens."

"Something got in all right," Adam muttered, pulling the keys from his brother's hand. "Don't worry about it."

"Where are you going?" Ford asked, remaining in the truck. "Can I come with you?"

"Not this time. You guys go in and have lunch. I'll be back soon." Without giving a formal goodbye, Adam pulled Ford from the driver's seat, climbed in, and peeled out of the driveway in a hurry. He needed time to think about the phone call he'd just received, and a chance to calm down in private. He hadn't wanted to believe it when Charlie Cooper called to tell him that Daniel had been causing mischief around town with a few other boys, but all the facts added up. Charlie said the boys had been out the night before. Daniel had gone with Brian to Crane's track practice, but it wasn't uncommon for Brian to leave him in Murphys to hang out with his friends while he was at the high school on the other side of town. The boys had gone ahead and egged a bunch of houses in Murphys. At least a dozen eggs were missing from the McFadden kitchen. It wasn't like Daniel to make trouble like this with other people, but he had not been himself lately. He was obviously trying to figure out who he was and where he fit in with his friends, but Adam wasn't so sure he liked the path the kid was taking.

He had been able to handle the newly developed backtalk, after all, he got it from the other boys every day. He could get over Daniel's arguments that he was too old for a bed time, and he was fine with Brian's quick cure for the boy's newly acquired smoking habit. What he had trouble with though was the wild streak the kid was developing, the one that went against everything they were raising him to believe.

Adam often thought about the day that past summer when he learned Daniel and Evan were lying about the amount of penny candy in their paper bags at the store. Mr. Smith trusted the kids enough to count out their own candy, and never questioned them about it, but Adam caught on one day when he noticed that his brothers had a good five dollars of candy between them after only paying seventy-five cents for it.

That had been a hard day for both Adam and Brian, as they tried to figure out what to do. Adam knew that he risked having his parenting skills called into question if he made the boys tell Mr. Smith the truth, but in the end, he decided it had to be done. He had even been relieved that Mr. Smith was kind enough to keep the incident to himself. He did ban the boys from buying candy until Christmas, but Adam thought that it was a small price for his two little thieves to have to pay.

Throwing eggs at houses was a new low for Daniel though, and Adam could hardly wrap his head around the fact that the kid was turning into such a troublemaker. He wanted to drive around Murphys to examine the damage himself. Charlie had explained that Mrs. Simms caught sight of her neighbor Billy egging Old Pete's transport truck while he was turning onto the highway. When Billy's mother found out she confronted her son, who admitted that Daniel, among others, was one of the culprits.

"I want them to clean up their mess after church tomorrow," Charlie had said over the phone. "Next week I'm going to get all of the boys involved to pick up trash at the football field instead of practicing with the rest of the team."

"I understand," Adam said, knowing that was one week's worth of football pay down the drain. "I can't apologize enough for what happened. I don't know what he was thinking."

Charlie laughed. "He probably wasn't thinking at all. None of them were. Being a kid makes you do stupid stuff. I once drove my uncle's truck straight into Angels Creek for no good reason. I wouldn't worry much about your brother, I just thought you should know."

But Adam did worry, not only about his brother's wayward behaviour, but about the fact that Daniel was potentially putting all of them at risk. It had been two whole years since a social worker set foot through their front door, and Adam aimed to keep it that way for good. As he drove around town though, the sight of a few different buildings caught his eye. The windows at Marie's restaurant had been hit pretty bad, and Adam could see that one of the young cooks from the kitchen had been instructed to clean up the mess. There were a few other storefronts that received the same treatment, and when he turned off Main Street and onto one of the side roads, Adam noticed that a bunch of cars were peppered with eggshells and dried up yolks.

He had really come in search of Old Pete's transport truck though, the one Mrs. Simms said he had been driving when the kids attacked him. As far as Adam was concerned, egging people's houses was an inexcusable offence, but putting someone in danger by attacking them while they were driving was almost unforgivable. And poor Old Pete, who lost a foot as a young man in World War Two, only to be ambushed by a bunch of no good kids thirty years later when he was just trying to do his job. Adam knew Daniel and his friends were uncomfortable around Pete because he wore a prosthetic. Adam had been uncomfortable too when he was their age, but he never dared treat him, or anyone else, with such blatant disrespect.

As he looped around Murphys to make his way home, Adam wasn't sure if his ride to town had helped calm him or rile him up worse. He was angry with Daniel, but confused too. Getting into trouble was one thing, and being one of seven boys, he had seen his fair share of it. But Daniel had never gone out of his way to be cruel before, and it really bothered Adam that his brother thought this behavior was acceptable. Making his way passed the elementary school a few minutes later, Adam saw that the front doors of the building had also been egged, and he felt his heart sink. He didn't know what had come over his little brother, but he knew he was going to have to put an end to his criminal behavior before it got any worse.