Later that night, Dana sat with his father and Kalen at the small dinner table. It still seemed unreal, having “family night” dinner without mom being there. Without her presence at the table, her laughter and her barrage of questions about their day, dinner was reduced to silence save for the occasional clacking of silverware against ceramic plates.

Their dad cleared his throat. “So, how was your day, boys?”

Silverware clacking. “Fine.” “It was okay.” Dana and Kalen said simultaneously. More silverware clanking.

“That’s good.” Their father said with a nod. The silence then stretched on until, finally, Kalen broke it.

“There’s a lot of Indians in my class.” Kalen said.

“Yeah, mine too.” Dana supplied. “But they all sit together at lunch and in the classrooms.”

Their father looked at Kalen with his stern face, the one that suggested a lecture was pending. Then he deflated with a sigh.

“There’s a bit of a disagreement over property rights between the local tribe and the non-natives.” Their father explained. “A local drilling company… Bronson’s, I think… was given permission to drill on non-sacred lands, but it seems the company has trouble distinguishing what exactly constitutes as ‘non-sacred.’”

Kalen began assaulting their father with a torrent of questions, but Dana remained silent as he picked at his food. When he couldn’t stand it any longer, he asked to be excused and then trudged up the flight of stairs to his room.

                                                           * * * *

Dana entered his room and threw himself in his desk chair. With a sigh, he opened his Anthropology textbook and tried to concentrate on homework. It worked for a while, at least until his cell phone pinged with a text message. Dana picked up the phone and swiped it on. It was a message from Greg.

Hey Mitchell. Wanna go have a bit of fun?

Dana worried his bottom lip with his teeth. If his father caught him sneaking out on a school night, he’d have his head. He really wanted to go, though, so Dana decided he’d chance it. He quickly replied to the message with an affirmative and then he pressed the send button to make sure he didn’t chicken out.

Fifteen minutes later, Dana was dressed in dark jeans and a black hoodie. He snuck downstairs and was almost to the kitchen side-door when a voice startled him.

“Going somewhere?”

Dana turned to see Kalen standing in the entryway to the kitchen. His brother smirked as he walked lazily to the refrigerator.

“Sneaking out on a school night, Dana.” Kalen mused as he opened the refrigerator door. “Finally reached that rebellious age, have we? Better late than never, I suppose.”

Kalen busied himself with rummaging inside the refrigerator. After a moment, he emerged with a Tupperware bowl in hand. Removing the lid, he sniffed the contents experimentally before he wrinkled his nose and placed the Tupperware container back into the refrigerator.

“I’m just going out with a few classmates from college.” Dana said as Kalen laid a package of honey ham on the counter.

“Ah friends…” His young brother followed the ham with a jar of sweet pickles and an unopened package of cheddar cheese. “Those are nice.”

Dana stepped over to the dish drainer and carefully picked up a plate. He did it slowly so as not to cause the dishes to rattle, least they alert his father to the nightly going-ons. He handed the plate over to Kalen with a smile.

“Cover for me, little brother?”

Kalen took the plate and set it on the counter before him. He studied Dana with a surveying eye. “What’s in it for me if I do?”

“I’ll cover three days of your chores.” Dana offered.

Kalen made a show of considering the offer as he opened the package of cheese and began to carefully cut off a few slices. Dana shuffled his feet impatiently. “Get to it, Kal. Dad’ll wake up at this rate.”

“Four days of chores and you return the favor for me when I want to go out.” Kalen finally said with a grin.

Dana scoffed. Sports interests aside, Kalen was even more of a nerd than he was. His younger brother’s likelihood of sneaking out to meet friends on a cold, snowy night was… well, very unlikely. Nevertheless, Dana chose to indulge him.

Taking a slice of cheese for himself, Dana popped it into his mouth. “Deal.”