6 Stories and questions

The first time Marjoe saw Billy smile after his mother's death was three weeks later.

Susanna and the two boys had wandered off to the nearby lake and were now skipping stones over its smooth surface.

Marjoe, who was horrible at skipping stones, had instead decided to climb on top of a large boulder that laid near the lake, to recite one of the many stories that Yuma had read to him over the years.

He gestured with his hands as if he was telling the most fantastic tale to a giant crowd instead of a children's story to his friends. When he came to the climax of his story, he whirled around on top of his bolder before jumping in the air.

Susanna gasped in horror as she watched her friend bouncing around two meters above the ground. Billy, on the other hand, started giggling softly. When Susanna stared at him instead, his giggle turned into a burst of hysterical laughter that left him gasping for air.

After Sanna had convinced Marjoe to join them on the much safer ground, they sprawled out in the wet grass and watched the clouds slowly float over them.

"Joey, can I ask you somethin'?" Billy asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Sure, what's up?" Marjoe replied, absent-minded while his eyes followed an oddly shaped cloud.

"Where are all the stories your brother tells you coming from?"

"Well, from the books, of course."

"Yeah, I know," Billy said, leaning on his elbows to look at Marjoe. "But, where does he get the books from?"

That got his attention. He had never thought about where Yuma got the books he brought home on a daily basis. It had always been natural to him that they would appear and disappear in their room pretty regularly. He had never even thought about questioning his brother. That was just how things were done in this town. Everything that happened was simply accepted without demanding any answers at all. The same pretty much happened with the Undertaker. Nobody really tried to find out more about him or anything at all, really.

"I don't know," Marjoe said slowly more and more questions forming in his head.

"Well, you could just ask him," Susanna proposed with a smile on her pink lips.

Marjoe just nodded and went back to staring into the sky.

The sun had just disappeared behind the horizon when Marjoe arrived home. He kicked off his muddy boots in the entrance and went to the room he shared with his brother.

Yuma was already there, solving the homework he had brought home from school.

Because Yuma was twelve, six years older than Marjoe, he was about to finish the five years of school the kids in town were supposed to complete. Is wasn't mandatory, but most parents decided to send their kids to school in the morning and have them help with the chores when they got off in the afternoon.

They mostly learned the basics of writing, reading, and maths as well as discipline and some fundamentals of agriculture and so on.

"Hey Yuma," Marjoe chimed and plopped down on the bed next to the tiny desk. The room was so small that there was barely enough space for the two beds, the table and chair, and a small dresser. Which meant that one of them usually had to sit on either the mattress or the floor.

Yuma only grunted too concentrated on his assignment to really pay attention.

"Yuma," Marjoe said again. "Where do you always get the books from?"

Yuma's hand stilled, but he didn't turn around. Instead, he just stared down on paper in front of him.

"From the library," Yuma said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably.

Marjoe shook his head.

"That's not true," he declared after thinking about it for a second. "I've been to the library with mom. There are only boring books. Aboud fields and math and trees. I've never seen any of your books there."

Yuma just shrugged.

"What does it matter, anyway?"

"Because!" Marjoe reasoned with the conviction only a six-year-old could have.

"That's a dumb reason," Yuma accused.

At that moment, they heard the front door open and close as their mother called out to them.

Marjoe grinned evilly at his brother and jumped off the bed.

"Fine. If you don't wanna tell me, I'm just gonna ask mom."

A panicked look crossed over Yuma's face. He knew that as soon as Joey started asking questions about them, his mother could no longer ignore the strange books he kept bringing home. He leaped off his chair, grabbed his little brother, and covered his mouth with his hand when he tried to make a ruckus.

"Ok, ok," he hissed into Marjoes ear. "I'll show you tomorrow. Just stop asking stupid questions."

"You promise?" Joey asked with gleaming eyes after pulling his brother's sweaty hand off his face.

Yuma just sighed. "Yeah, I promise."