The Great Brain (17 page)

At the end of two weeks daily practice Tom pronounced Andy ready to meet all comers at Indian squaw wrestling.

“The next thing is to prove you can play any game as good as a kid with two legs,” Tom announced in the barn after school that day. “We’ll start with Duck on a Rock.”

I helped Tom carry two flat slabs of rock into the barn and place them ten paces apart. We put a round rock about the size of a baseball on each slab. We laid six round rocks about the size of a baseball near one of the slabs. Tom picked one up. The idea of the game was to knock the rock representing the duck off the slab. Tom threw and hit the duck, knocking it off. I ran to put it back.

Andy then made an underarm pitch and missed the slab by three feet.

“It’s no good,” he said, discouraged. “I can’t balance myself right with this peg leg.”

“Take it off,” Tom said.

I watched Tom strap the peg leg to his left knee. Tom took a few steps around on the peg leg. Then he tried pitching rocks at the duck on a rock with his left leg in front of him. Then he tried pitching with his right leg in front of him.

“You get off balance,” Tom said to Andy, “when you put the peg leg in front and bring your weight down on it when you pitch.”

“But that is the way I pitch,” Andy protested. “I can’t pitch with my right leg in front.”

“Of course you can,” Tom said “Now watch me.”

Tom took a pitch. He missed the duck on a rock but did hit the slab. He took off the peg leg and handed it to Andy.

“Now we’ll play,” Tom said. “The first one to knock the duck of the rock ten times is the winner.”

The first game Tom got ten ducks before Andy knocked off even one. The second game Andy improved. He got two ducks before Tom knocked off ten. They kept at it until it was time for Andy to go home. During the last game Andy knocked off five ducks before Tom got ten.

“Practice makes perfect,” Tom said as we came out of the barn. “We’ll keep at it until you can hold your own with any kid in town.”

The next afternoon after school when Andy met us in the barn, his face was thoughtful.

“I wish you’d do something about my chores,” he said to Tom. “My pa is going to think I’m useless as long as he has to do my chores for me.”

“I guess that is more important than learning how to play games with your peg leg,” Tom said. “We’ll spend half our time each day teaching you how to do your chores and the other half teaching you how to play games. Now, why can’t you do your chores?”

“Well gee,” Andy said, “you know I’ve got a peg leg.”

“Answer the question,” Tom said.

“Well, for one thing, I can’t get up and down the back porch steps without holding on to the railing with one hand. So I can’t carry an armful of kindling which you have to hold with both hands. And the bucketsful of coal are so heavy I have to lift them up the steps with both hands. And I wobble so much I can’t carry a pail of milk without—”

“That’s enough,” Tom interrupted him. “Let’s go to our back porch.”

We walked to the steps of our back porch.

“Show me how you go up and down the steps,” Tom ordered Andy.

Andy took hold of the railing and walked up and down the steps.

“Take off the peg leg and let me try it,” Tom said. “You try to go up and down as if you had two good legs. When you put the peg leg up first, you have to pull yourself up by holding on to the railing.”

Tom strapped on the peg leg. “Now watch me,” he said.

He put his right foot on a step and using his right leg lifted his body up, bringing the peg leg up beside his right leg. “There is nothing to it,” he said. “Let your good right leg do all the work.”

Andy watched bug-eyed as Tom went up the rest of the steps without holding on to the railing.

“Now I’ll come down,” Tom said.

He tried putting his right foot down first and lost his balance. He had to grab the railing to keep from falling.

“It worked going up,” Tom said.

Again he tried putting his right foot down first. Again he lost his balance. He sat down on the steps.

“If it works going up, why won’t it work going down?” he asked as if talking to himself. “You fellows be quiet. I’ve got to put my great brain to work.”

Andy and I remained quiet. I knew Tom’s great brain was working like sixty as I watched wrinkles come into his forehead. Suddenly the wrinkles disappeared. Tom was smiling as he stood up.

“I used my good leg to lift my body going up,” he said. “I made the mistake of trying to use the peg leg to lift my body going down. Now watch this.”

Tom balanced himself on his right leg, holding his weight as he put the peg leg down a step. Then he stood on the peg leg for just a second while he quickly brought his right foot down a step. He came like that all the way down the steps without losing his balance. He took of the peg leg and handed it to Andy.

“You saw me go up using my right leg to lift my body and you saw me come down using my right leg to lift my body “ he said. “Now you try it.”

Andy strapped on the peg leg. He had no trouble going up but lost his balance coming down.

“It is harder to come down,” Tom said, “but don’t get discouraged. All it takes is practice.”

Tom made Andy practice going up and down the steps

for an hour.

The next afternoon after school Tom and I were waiting for Andy on the steps of our back porch. Again Tom made Andy go up and down the steps for an hour. Andy got so he could practically run up and down the steps without holding on to the railing.

The next afternoon Tom’s face was thoughtful as we waited for Andy. “You know, J.D.,” he said to me, “I think it is time for Andy to learn how to carry things up and down the steps. And to make sure he can do his chores to please his father, I think I’ll start letting him do ours.”

When Andy arrived, my brother led him to the woodshed. “We are going to start practicing doing real chores today,” Tom said. “We’ll begin by letting you fill all the wood boxes in our house with kindling wood.”

Andy looked so happy I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was being taken. With a big happy grin on his face he carried a big armful of kindling wood from our woodshed, up the steps, into the kitchen and dumped it into the wood box by the kitchen range.

“What is this all about?” Mamma asked.

“I’m teaching Andy how to do his chores,” Tom said proudly.

Aunt Bertha just shook her head. “Oh, that boy,” she said.

I watched as Andy filled the workboxes for the fireplace, the pot-bellied stove in the dining room, and the stove in the bathroom.

“Now for the coal buckets,” Tom said as we came out of the kitchen carrying empty coal buckets. Then I guess my brother’s conscience bothered him a bit. “No hurry, Andy,” he said. “Take a rest first if you want.”

Andy still had that happy grin on his face. “I don’t need a rest,” he said. “Let’s go.”

After Andy had filled all the coal buckets in our house, I thought that was enough for one day. But not Tom.

“I’d let you do the milking,” Tom said, “but I’m afraid you might spill it carrying it. So, we’ll spend the rest of the day practicing.”

Tom got a milk pail and filled it full of water at the hydrant. “Now I want you to practice carrying this to the barn and back until it is time for you to go home.”

Andy spilled half the water out of the bucket the first trip as Tom and I watched.

“No wonder your father won’t let you bring in the milk,” Tom said. “Give me that bucket.”

My brother filled the pail with water. Then he strapped on the peg leg. He picked up the pail of water and started to walk. He spilled water all over.

“Now watch, J.D.,” he said, “and tell me if the water spills when I’m on my right leg or the peg leg.”

I watched as Tom started to walk. The water spilled when he tried to step on the peg leg. I told him so.

“It’s because I’m trying to take a natural step,” he said. “Now I’m only going to take a little short step with the peg leg to help me keep an even balance.”

He looked funny taking a little short step with the peg leg and a big step with the right leg, but he didn’t spill a drop. He removed the peg leg and made Andy put it on while he filled the pail to the brim with water.

“Now do like you saw me do,” he said to Andy. “A little short step with the peg leg and a natural step with the good leg.”

Tom made Andy practice until it was time for Andy to go home.

“Can I start doing my chores at home tomorrow?” Andy asked as if excited.

“No “ Tom said. “You need at least another week of practice. We don’t want to take any chances your father won’t be completely satisfied.”

Tom made Andy do all our chores for a whole week before he announced Andy could do his own chores starting the following day.

It was a proud day for Andy when he reported he had done all the chores he used to do at home before he lost his leg.

“I brought in the kindling and the coal,” he said when he met us at school. “I slopped the pigs without spilling any of the slop from the buckets. I carried the milk in without spilling a drop. I fed the chickens and collected the eggs. I went to the store for Ma and carried everything home without dropping anything. Pa says he is proud of me. I guess he doesn’t think I’m plumb useless anymore.”

“You are still useless as a kid,” Tom said. “What good is a kid who can’t run? If you can’t run, you can’t play a lot of games. Meet me in our corral after school and I’ll start teaching you to run.”

“I can’t stay late anymore,” Andy said. “I’ve got my chores to do now.”

“We’ll only spend a half an hour a day on school days,” Tom said.

Andy walked home from school with Tom and me. I knew my brother had a great brain, but trying to teach a kid with a peg leg to run was beyond my imagination. I was curious as all get out as we entered the corral.

Tom ordered Andy to run around the corral. Andy tried to run but kept falling down. Then Tom strapped on the peg leg. He had no better luck than Andy and kept falling down.

“There must be some way of doing it,” he said, undaunted. “Tomorrow is Saturday. Meet me here tomorrow afternoon. I’ll put my great brain to work on it and figure out a way to make you run.”

The next morning Tom and I did all our chores and then Mamma kept finding other things for us to do. We didn’t get a chance to even sit down and rest until just before lunch. We were sitting on the swing on our front porch. We were watching Irene Olsen and Christine Mackie playing hopscotch across the street. Tom suddenly snapped his fingers.

“That’s it!” he shouted.

“What?” I asked.

“My great brain has figured out a way to make Andy run!” he said, grinning.

“How?” I asked, wondering how a kid with a peg leg could ever learn to run.

“You’ll see this afternoon,” Tom said mysteriously.

We ate lunch and then went to meet Andy in our corral. He arrived a few minutes later.

“Give me that peg leg,” Tom said.

Tom strapped on the peg leg.

“Now watch this!” he shouted.

I burst out laughing as Tom took a hop, skip, and jump on his right leg and then a step on the peg leg. It was like watching a man run on three legs and looked very comical. He fell down a few times but kept on trying until he’d run all the way across the corral and back without even stumbling.

“Now you try it,” Tom said to Andy as he unstrapped the peg leg.

An hour later and Andy was ready to give up. He kept falling down when he tried to run.

“It’s no good,” he said “and besides my knee hurts.”

“How do you think my knee feels?” Tom demanded as he rolled up his pants leg and showed us a knee that was turning black and blue. “My great brain has figured out a way to make you run and you’re going to learn how to run. Now try it again.”

A week later Andy was singing a different tune. Tom had made him practice running every day.

“Today,” Tom said as we entered the corral, “you are going to race J.D. across the corral and back and you are going to beat him.”

“I’ll beat him,” Andy said confidently.

Andy and I got on our marks and got set. Tom gave the signal. I beat Andy across the corral but I had to slow down to turn around. Andy just spun around on his peg leg without slowing down and beat me back to the starting line.

“You can now run well enough to play any game,” Tom announced.

“I can’t play ball,” Andy said.

“Why not?” Tom asked.

“Because I can’t bat with a peg leg,” Andy explained.

“We’ll fix that,” Tom said.

And fix it he did. Within a week he had Andy batting better with a peg leg than Andy could ever bat with two good legs. Tom discovered that Andy shut his eyes when he took a swing at the ball. As soon as he trained Andy to keep his eyes on the ball, Andy began whacking Tom’s pitches all over the corral.

On a Friday Tom held a whispered conference with Basil during the morning recess. When school let out, Tom and I walked part of the way home with Andy.

“Tomorrow is the big day,” Tom announced. “Meet me in my backyard in the morning and I’ll prove you aren’t useless as a kid anymore.”

The three of us were in our backyard the next morning when Basil arrived with Sammy Leeds, Danny Forester, Jimmie Peterson, and Pete Kyle.

Sammy was the first to speak. “Basil tells us he is retiring as champion Indian squaw wrestler. I guess that makes you champ, Tom.”

“I don’t know about that,” Tom said. “You almost beat me a few times.”

“l almost did at that,” Sammy said, nodding.

“With Basil retiring,” Tom said, “I think it’s only fair to hold an elimination contest to find out who the new champion is going to be.”

Tom led the way around to our front lawn, which was turning brown from the approach of winter.

“As runner-up to the champ,” Tom said, “it will be up to me to defeat all challengers if I’m to be the champion. Who wants to try first?”

“I’ll try,” Jimmie Peterson said. “I know I can’t beat you but I’ll try.”

Tom had no trouble beating Jimmie, Danny, Pete, and me. It was then Sammy’s turn. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I watched Sammy win the first match. Tom came back and won the second match. The rubber match looked as if it was going to be a tie. At the count of three they locked knees. They grunted and puffed with their right legs remaining upward for a long time. Then slowly and surely Sammy began pushing Tom’s leg down. I watched with astonishment as Sammy nipped my brother over backward and won the rubber match.