The Discovery

by Leah Anders

“Han! Hey Hannibal! I got another one!”

Hannibal looked up from the book he was hunched over. He looked at the smaller, curly-headed boy a few yards downstream from where he was sitting. As he watched, smiling, Jedediah struggled with his too-large pole, trying to land the fish dancing on the other end. Finally, Hannibal laid his book down and went over to help. The two of them working together brought the silvery glistening trout out of the water. It landed with a wet plop on the spongy ground next to their feet.

“How many does that make, Han?” Jed asked as he watched his friend add the wriggling fish to the ones already on the stringer.

“That’s four for me and eight for you, Jed.” Hannibal knew he had caught more than four fish but that was enough for him to take home for a meal. After all, it was just his ma and pa and him.

Jed was the youngest of five brothers. Eight fish probably wouldn’t even come close to feeding that bunch but it was getting late. They’d been here at the creek since early morning. His mom would be expecting him home soon, so he encouraged Jed to pack up and start back.

“Aw, Han. Let’s stay just a little longer. I wanna catch one more. You got any more of them sanwiches?”

Hannibal looked at Jed, amused and amazed once again at how much food such a little kid could eat. “You already had two earlier. Doesn’t your ma ever feed you at home?” he asked, already rummaging through his knapsack for the last sandwich. “Here, this is the last one. We’ll stay long enough for you to eat it and then we better get back. Our folks will be worried.”

“Naw, my ma won’t be worried. She knows I’m with you.” Jed dropped his line back into the water and sat down with his sandwich. “Your ma is a great cook, you know that, Han?”

“Ummm…I guess so.”

“Han, can I tell you somethin’?” Jed asked hesitantly.

“Sure. What is it?”

“There ain’t nothin’ I’d rather do than spend the day here by the creek, fishing with you. You’re a lot more fun than my brothers…” Jed picked at the blades of grass on the soft ground beneath him. “I hate my brothers,” he said, scowling fiercely.

Heyes grinned, “What did they do this time?’ He knew that Jed often got the brunt of his older brothers’ rowdy clowning and it made the boy madder than a wet hen for a while.

“Aw, nuthin’. They’re just mean. Sometimes I wish you were my brother and I lived over at your place. How come your ma and pa never had anymore kids, anyways?”

Hannibal shrugged. “Don’t know. I heard gramma and ma talking about it once though. I reckon they just couldn’t after me. Gramma said I was a hard delivery.”

“Don’cha ever wish you had some brothers?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I might end up with some like yours,” he grinned mischievously. “Hey, I got an idea. Maybe we should be blood brothers.”

“Blood brothers? What’s that?”

“Well, it’s something I heard Jimmy Brown and Tom Jacobson talking about at school last week. They made themselves blood brothers by mixing their blood together. Forms a bond between two fellers that can never be broken they told me, stronger than actual brothers even.”

“How do you go about doin’ that, Han?”

“Well…we’d have to get some of our blood out. Do you think you wanna do that?” Han looked at Jed, dark eyes studying his face for signs of reluctance or fear. And Jed was scared, just a little, but not enough to admit that to Han.

“Sure, I do. I ain’t scared of a little blood. How we gonna do it though?”

Hannibal dug into his knapsack once more, feeling around until his fingers found what they were seeking. He pulled out an old, rusty fishing knife. Walking to the creek, he bent down and rinsed the knife off. Jed watched his every move, never taking his eyes off the old knife. When Han turned around, he smiled at Jed. “Are you sure, Jed?”

Jed wasn’t really sure about the knife, but he was sure he wanted to be Han’s blood brother more than anything. Blue eyes wide and staring, he swallowed once before saying, “Let’s do it.”

Hannibal went back over and sat down in the grass next to Jed. He frowned and said uncertainly, “This won’t hurt too much, I don’t reckon. You want me to go first?”

“No, you better do me first. Otherwise, you might not be able to hold the knife good enough.” Jed gamely thrust his hand out towards his friend, palm up. When Han reached out to take the hand, still chubby with baby fat, Jed did not flinch. After studying the younger boy’s face a while longer, Heyes turned his attention to the small hand held within his own. Holding his breath, he set the tip of the blade against the soft skin of Jed’s palm, pressing on it just enough to make an indentation at first and then pressing a little harder, until he drew blood.

Jed was holding his own breath, clenching his teeth together, his lips set in a grimace. Han worked quickly though and it was done before he could reconsider. A fine line of blood appeared in his palm.

“Squeeze some more out, Jed, while I get some of mine.” Hannibal quickly opened the skin of his own palm with the knife until a matching line appeared in his palm. Setting the knife down, he worked the skin around the cut, forcing more blood to the surface. Jed did the same.

“Alright, that seems like enough. Now we just mix it together so you get some of my blood and I get some of yours. That makes us blood brothers, OK?”

“Sure Han.”

Hannibal held his hand out in front of him, palm facing toward Jed. Jed mirrored his position so that the boys’ hands were flat against each other. Instinctively, they intertwined their fingers.  Unsure of what to do next, Han said, “Maybe we ought to say something.”

“OK,” Jed agreed, waiting expectantly for Hannibal to speak.

Han frowned slightly, thinking about it for a second before continuing, “This makes us blood brothers—a bond that can never be broken, no matter what. For the rest of our natural lives, we solemnly swear that we will look out for the other one—even more than we look out for ourselves. Say ‘I swear’, Jed.”

“I swear.”

“OK, it’s done then. Now don’t wash off that blood. Just let it wear off, even if your ma wants you to wash before supper, don’t wash it off. That’s important.”

“OK, Han.”

“Now you really gotta pack up. My ma is gonna kill me if I miss supper again.”

He sat back down, leaning against a tree, and watched as his friend gathered up his things. Physically, they didn’t have much in common. Hannibal was taller and leaner, with intense dark features; quick moving and quick thinking with a love for learning.

Jed, on the other hand, was rather small, even for the average nine year old, but solid as a tree trunk. His cornflower blue eyes, delicate features, and curly blond locks gave him an angelic look that already melted girl’s hearts. He loved to talk and was smart as a whip but Hannibal couldn’t ever remember seeing him pick up a book that hadn’t been assigned by the teacher and even then he wasn’t sure Jed actually read any of it.

But they had been together since they were little and Han knew that they had a special friendship. As an only child, Hannibal had been lonely on the farm. Jed had his brothers, but Han had heard his ma refer to Jed as an ‘after-thought’, as in “I never thought I’d have another after…” There were quite a few years between Jeremiah, his next older brother, and Jed.

So it had been natural for the two of them to gravitate towards each other. What was remarkable about it was how well they got along. Not that they didn’t have their occasional arguments just like any other kids, but they just seemed to be in synch, almost like one could tell what the other was thinking without actually saying it…stuff like that.

Han was pulled out of his thoughts by Jed’s voice. “OK. See you tomorrow, Han?”

continued on next page

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