Cut and Run 6 - Stars and Stripes

up.
    “Hello, sir,” Ty and Deuce responded at the same time.
    “Dad?” Ty knelt down so he could look his father in the eye.
    “It wasn’t the whole finger,” Earl said before Ty could even ask. He held up his hand and displayed the heavy wrapping that was keeping his reattached pinkie connected.
    “It’s dirty!” Mara said. “That’s it. We’re going inside.”
    “But Mara—”
    “That was the deal! Inside. Now!” Mara shouted, pointing at the house.
    “How did you cut off your finger?” Deuce asked.
    “I didn’t cut off anything,” Earl answered with a look at his wife.
    “He’ll tell you when he gets inside.”
    “But Ma,” Ty said, sounding almost exactly like Earl had a moment earlier.
    “Inside!”
    Grumbling, Ty turned, and the procession tromped into the house. They headed for the living room, and Ty threw himself onto the couch. Zane sat next to him with a little more dignity, but Ty could tell he was tense. Zane and Earl hadn’t hit it off the first time they’d met.
    Mara pointed for Earl to sit in the nearby recliner, and he did so without protest.
    “I’ll get the disinfectant and the gauze,” she announced as she left the room.
    Deuce sat on the table in front of Earl, and he and Ty both watched their father out of the corner of their eyes, either trying to judge his mood or waiting for him to speak.
    “So, Dad,” Ty finally tried, drawing the words out as he turned his shoulders toward Earl.
    “It was an accident.”
    “I certainly hope so.”
    “Don’t be a smartass.”
    “Can’t help it, runs in the family. What happened?”
    “Your mother cut my finger off with a set of garden shears. That’s what happened,” Earl answered, his tone neutral. Although, he did manage to make the word “mother” sound like a curse.
    “Did you . . . deserve it?” Deuce asked shakily. Either he was afraid of asking the question, or he was trying not to laugh. Ty was inclined to think the latter.
    “A little bit,” Earl said. “She was out there pruning that big ol’ gardenia bush, and I was trying to get the mulch under it just right as she did it.”
    “So, you . . .”
    “She told me to wait, that I was going to lose a finger.” Earl looked toward the kitchen and then back at Ty and Deuce. He snorted. “I asked her, did she think I was stupid? Then a couple snips later, whack. Off went the finger. And you know what that woman said to me? I said, ‘Mara, you cut my finger off.’ And your mother said to me, ‘Well, Earl, who’s stupid now?’”
    Ty laughed out loud before he could stop himself. Deuce snorted and cleared his throat before giving up and grinning. Ty could picture the scene as if he had witnessed it himself, and he couldn’t seem to stop giggling.
    “It’s not really all that funny,” Earl said, offended. Ty’s only response was to lower his head into both hands and laugh more. The more Earl protested, the harder Ty laughed. Soon he fell to his side against Zane’s arm and covered his face as he cackled.
    “If it makes you feel better, Dad, we were worried,” Deuce said, though his voice wavered.
    “Yeah, he looks it,” Earl said. He was watching Ty with what might have been affection, though.
    “He does have personal experience with finger injuries.”
    “That’s ’cause he’s a dumbass,” Earl said.
    Ty howled as he pointed at his father. “That must run in the family too!”
    Earl eased back into his chair and shook his head as Ty finally wound down and tried to catch his breath. “Good thing it wasn’t the whole hand. You’d ’a’ been in hysterics.”
    That caused another peal of laughter. Deuce bit his lip and looked away so Earl wouldn’t see him grinning, and Ty could feel Zane chuckling against him.
    Mara walked into the room carrying a basket of first aid gear and frowned at them. “He told you how it happened, huh?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Zane managed to say.
    Ty cleared his throat and sat back up, fighting for a little decorum as he wiped at his eyes.
    Mara sat down on the end of the couch near Earl and placed her basket on the floor, then gestured for Earl to give her his hand.
    “Why don’t you let one of the boys do that?” Earl suggested as he held his hand away from her.
    “You think I can’t doctor you after thirty-seven years of marriage?”
    “You’re the one that cut it off in the first place!”
    They were all still chuckling as they headed for the kitchen to eat the late dinner Mara had