Cut and Run 2 - Sticks and Stones

and reading about them?” he asked his son.
    Ty sighed and sat forward to lean his elbows on the table. “Dad, don’t be silly,” he said with practiced patience and sarcasm. “You know I don’t read,” he assured his father.
    Earl smiled slowly before passing the platter on around to Chester. “You like desk work, Zane?” he asked, his voice still mildly curious.
    Zane screwed up his face in distaste. “I’ve done more than my fair share.”
    “Earl, leave the boys alone,” Mara ordered.
    “Hell, Mara, I’m just being friendly,” Earl protested.
    “You’re interrogating them,” Mara corrected. “Eat your bacon,” she ordered. She patted Ty on the head protectively as he took the platter from Chester and started scooping food onto to his plate. He didn’t even react to the gesture.
    Zane wondered if Ty was a mama’s boy. He tipped his head to the side, watching them as he picked out a piece of warm bread, and thought maybe so. Not that he would ever voice that opinion to Ty until he was good and ready to die. He supposed, though, with a father as imposing as Earl Grady seemed to be, his sons would need a protective and loving mother. With a soft hum, he started picking up jelly jars and examining them.
    “That there’s plum jelly, and the other’s cherry, honey, you help yourself,” Mara told him. “You like hiking, Zane? I’ve never met one of the boys’ friends who could keep up with them on the mountain,” she went on cheerfully.
    “Haven’t done much hiking, I’m afraid, unless you count running around out on the flats,” Zane said as he peered into the jars and finally chose the cherry. “And that was a long time ago.”
    Earl and Mara both stopped what they were doing and looked at him in surprise. Chester began to laugh delightedly as he continued eating. Zane glanced among them, waiting for an explanation.
    “You’ve never been out on the trail?” Earl asked dubiously.
    “Sure I have. Just not in the mountains,” Zane said, glancing between Earl and Ty.
    “He’ll be fine, Dad,” Deuce said through a mouthful of food. “If I can do it, so can he,” he pointed out with a tap of his knuckles on the table.
    “Gonna be cold out there,” Chester interjected gleefully.
    “Maybe you boys should think about not going,” Mara said. She sounded worried.
    “Zane’ll be fine, Ma,” Ty assured her, unconcerned as he looked at Zane. Zane shrugged with one shoulder, not sure what Ty wanted him to say. Ty cocked his head and gave him a quick wink, and Zane gave him a small smile in response.
    “Well, Zane, you must have proved yourself somehow,” Earl observed wryly. “The last person Ty took on the mountain was Recon. And we carried his ass back home.”
    “He got bit by a snake, dad,” Ty said in protest.
    “Well, hell, you told the dumbass not to poke it,” Earl argued. Ty pressed his lips together tightly, trying not to laugh as he looked back at Zane.
    “I’m betting it’s cool enough not too many snakes will be out,” Zane said dryly. “But I’ll do my best not to poke them.”
    “You do that,” Earl said with a nod.
    “Probably don’t want to poke at the wild boar either,” Deuce added helpfully. “Or the bats. Or the bears.”
    “Sounds like lions and tigers and bears, oh my,” Zane said as he helped himself to more scrambled eggs.
    “Bears, sure. Lots of coyotes. And you just might see yourself a lion if you’re really lucky,” Earl said while he buttered a piece of toast.
    “We have varying definitions of lucky,” Deuce interjected.
    “Seen a black panther out there once,” Chester offered, unconcerned.
    “Was that through the end of a moonshine jug?” Ty asked him with a smirk.
    “Watch that tongue, sonny,” Chester warned with a wag of his crooked finger in Ty’s face.
    “Better if you plan to restrict your poking,” Deuce told Zane helpfully. “Lots of endangered animals up here aside from Ty. Snails. Peregrines and a lot of other birds, mostly. And a salamander.”
    “Don’t forget the freshwater mussel,” Ty drawled.
    Deuce toasted him with his orange juice. “And the freshwater mussel.”
    “How do you even know where to walk?” Zane asked flatly. Ty rolled his eyes and waved Zane off.
    “What’s the plan today?” Deuce asked Ty as they ate.
    Ty shrugged. “Haven’t really got that far,” he answered. “What about you, Garrett? Got anything you wanna do before we take you up there and leave