Dragon Eyes

Chapter 5. Arrested.

Chapter 5.

Arrested.

Lynwood spent most of the afternoon reading. Remembering he was supposed to cook supper, he finally put the book down and went into the garden. Lynwood was still very upset at Sofia and even considered burning her portion of the food to get back at her, but then that would take extra work and Father would get angry, so he put the idea out of his head.

Once outside Lynwood noticed the chickens had gotten lose from their pen and were in the garden. Grumbling at how today everything seemed to be against him, he grabbed the tools and went to mend the broken chicken coop. There was a slight drizzle outside and by the time he finished fixing the pen and chased the chickens back into it Lynwood was pretty damp. Going back into the house, Lynwood put together a simple supper and then sat down to wait for the rest of the family to return home.

A hand on his shoulder woke him up suddenly. Shaking his head Lynwood glanced up and found himself looking into the eyes of Father.

"Looks like you drifted off to sleep," Lyndon chuckled.

"Did I?" Lynwood rubbed his eyes.

"You sure did, I called your name and you didn't lift you head. Where is Sofia?"

"She went out picking black berries."

"And she isn't back yet?" Lyndon's voice became tense.

"Nope, she said something about being back late for dinner."

"You just let her go out into the woods, on her own? Lynwood, what if something happened to her, what if she got lost or attacked by some wild animal?"

"She'll be fine father; after all, she isn't a baby!" The sarcasm was so strong in Lynwood's voice that it made Lyndon narrowed his eyes.

"Did the two of you have another argument?"

Lynwood shrugged and looked down.

"Oh, Lynwood, when are the two of you going to learn to get along?" Lyndon moaned.

"Look Father, it wasn't my fault. She's the one who started it, going on and on about how I read too much and how I am irresponsible and immature. What was I supposed to do, smile and nod?"

"Well one thing you really shouldn't have done is let her go off deep into the woods alone. When did she leave?"

"Right after lunch."

"Right after lun...right after LUNCH! Lynwood, do you realize how long she has been gone? Nearly seven hours, SEVEN HOURS! Did it even cross you mind she might be in some sort of trouble?"

"No, I didn't even realize so much time had passed. I spent most of the day reading and then got up to cook supper."

"Lynwood, I leave you here in the faith that you will look after your younger sister. I trust you will take care of her, not argue and then pay no attention when she disappears for many hours. Instead of taking responsibility, you spend most of your days reading books and daydreaming. Look at me, young man, you are thirteen years old, when are you going to finally grow up? So far you are being nothing more than an immature disappointment to me."

Lynwood felt his face grow hot from anger. Knocking his chair over, Lynwood raced from the table ran up the stairs to his room, slamming to door behind him. He threw himself on the bed, angry and humiliated.

"Lynwood, come down, we're going to go look for Sofia." His father called from downstairs.

"Well go and look for her," Lynwood retorted. "I probably won't be of much help to you anyways." It was perhaps the first time he had ever so openly contradicted his father.