Chapter Text
“Brother,” Beau sighed, shaking his head, “you’re the funniest Walker yet, in more than one way, you know that?”
“That’s no way to talk to someone who’s just hurt their foot,” Peanut countered. Beau looked at Peanut for a moment as if waiting to hear more, before moving a strand of hair behind his ear awkwardly. “Right,” he spoke quietly. “Listen,” Peanut spoke as if he were preaching a moral, “you tell a man he can play cornhole without tellin’ him what cornhole is, and he’s gonna come to his own conclusions.”
It had been a fair number of hours since Peanut found himself making his home-away-from-home in Gordy’s bed, and Beau had decided to pay him a visit, Maizy by his side. Peanut was glad to see the pair – Gordy had left some while ago on nondescript business, so Peanut had been sitting all alone waiting for someone to come back. Maizy put her hand delicately on Peanut’s shoulder as if it were the bone injured. “Oh, Peanut,” she frowned sympathetically, her voice much more motherly than any he heard all day, peppy even despite being laden with worry, “how does it feel?”
“Not half bad,” Peanut answered perkily, “The mattress ain’t too firm or too soft, my pillow’s perfectly fluffed, I’m nice n’ warm. I’m feeling as snug as a bug in a 5-star hotel!”
“I meant your ankle,” Maizy corrected. “Oh,” Peanut looked down across the bed to his foot, still wrapped in cloth and tied down to a board. The pain was dull and easy to distract from, for which he was very grateful. “It feels pretty snug, too,” he answered.
“I hope you’ve learned somethin’ from this,” scolded Beau. Peanut looked back to his brother, who looked displeased as could be.
“Oh, I have,” Peanut nodded, “I sure have. Gordy makes for a great host!”
Beau crossed his arms in his seat – he had unknowingly taken Gordy’s, to Peanut’s mild amusement – and gave Peanut a look that spoke for him. Peanut knew what Beau had meant and was simply pressing his buttons. “Maizy,” Beau turned his attention to his wife, “if I’d gone mad and started hollerin’ your name from the roof, would you think that was sweet?”
“I’d probably think the crows had heard my name one too many times,” Maizy replied sincerely. Beau continued, “And if I started shoutin’ ‘bout how much I wanted you before leapin’ off?”
“Well, if I knew it was you doin’ all of that yellin’,” Maizy lowered her gaze, “I’d think you were blamin’ me for you bein’ up there in the first place.” Her voice was small, like she didn’t want Peanut hearing what she’d said. Of course, he had.
Turning his attention back to Peanut, Beau wore an expression of superiority, as if he were winning an argument; an argument Peanut was not about to participate in. “Beau, might as well call me a tiger, ‘cause I ain’t lyin’”, he calmly protested, “I know what I did was dumber than the bastard child of a doorknob and a stump. But it was all worth it.”
“Now how on God’s green Earth could any of this have been worth it? Peanut, listen,” Beau leaned forward, his tone suddenly much more brotherly than Peanut had heard it in a long while. “You don’t even need eyes to see the kind of feelings you’ve got for Gordy,” Beau revealed. Peanut was more than comfortable with people knowing what he was all about; but having Beau lay it all out on the table still felt like a jab. Not to mention, Peanut felt he had learned more about these feelings than he had ever realized could be possible, making Beau sound rather ignorant. Beau carried on regardless, “but that’s a married man right there.”
“Lulu wouldn’t mind me hangin’ out with Gordy,” Peanut interjected, “she’s like an overly-graphic doctor: she believes sharin’ is carin’.”
“Sharon and Karen can canoodle however they want. But you’re my brother!”
“Beau’s right,” Maizy added, “I mean, Lulu can be real understandin’, if you give her somethin’ that makes sense. But I don’t know about that.”
“You guys, please!” Peanut exclaimed, “Look. I know I can’t have him like that anymore. Learned that the hard way the second I gave Gordy to Lulu in the first place! But, and I mean this,” Peanut looked to Beau, his eyes revealing with a gripping gaze just how serious he was being, “I’m ready to have somethin’ different with him. Things have changed; remember when I used to always get butterflies in my stomach, ‘til grandpa took my net away? Maybe he’ll never be mine like he is Lulu’s, but he can still be a good friend.”
Maizy and Beau shot each other glances – both surprised, just in different ways – before looking back down at Peanut, who sat confidently in Gordy’s bed; the bed of a friend. A strong silence sat in the room for a few moments, before Maizy chirped up. “You learned all of that today?” she inquired. Peanut shrugged nonchalantly, “I mean, I’ve known it for a while. Didn’t have as peachy of an endin’ as it does now before today, but I always knew he and I were just too good to be true. Had a little freakout ‘bout it this mornin’, tried to deny it one last time; but I ain’t afraid of it anymore. ‘Cause this is just as good, just in a different way!”
With a wide smile, Maizy gave Peanut a hug, tight and warm despite her prior reservations toward his shoulder. Peanut reciprocated, trying only not to shift his left leg. Maizy always gave the warmest hugs in the whole of Cob County, like the community’s own human heater. “Peanut, you must’ve been rattled in the right way fallin’ off the barn,” she joked, the smile still upon her face audible in her voice. From over Maizy’s shoulder, Peanut caught Beau staring back at him, his brow still furrowed, but his eyes brimming with something – a light fighting with itself, trying to decide whether to shine with understanding, or glow with familial anger. Peanut closed his eyes, signalling to Beau that he was ready to hear what his brother had to say, even if he hadn’t fully made up his mind yet. Like clockwork, Beau cleared his throat.“If this means you’ll be back to your senses and off of the roof,” he leaned backward against the flexible spine of Gordy’s chair, “then I s’pose it would be nothin’ but backward of me to stay mad.”
“‘Bout as backward as my foot this mornin’,” Peanut grinned with jest. He wished for nothing more in that moment than to be able to triumphantly waggle his foot, if only to prove that he truly had won in the end, over not only Beau’s judgement, but also his own hopeless carnality. Maizy covered her mouth, visibly taken by surprise at the description, while Beau let out a tired groan. Peanut was pleased to find, however, that it was tired less with disappointment, and more with exhaustion – sensible after such a long day, and easy for Peanut himself to sympathize with, as he too was far from feeling as good as he could. He was ready to move forward, and would be more than happy to bring everyone along with him. And if his perception served him right, they were all just as happy to be able to join him. Suddenly, Peanut found himself more eager than he’d been to get back up out of Gordy’s bed and back on his feet.