The Golden Years chapter 6 ,7 and 8

Chapter 6 - Boar hunting

 The very next morning the men had realised that Master John wasn’t a nice man because after they read their replies that they have chosen to forgive them, he decided straightaway to tear all those pieces of paper as if they were fake letters and forced them to help him catch boars for breakfast despite their refusal.

They kept running around like crazy with their aching legs. As Peter and Joseph were walking back home, they spotted Master John and Tom coming. Peter who too was completely against animal hunting continued walking, he wasn’t in the mood to tell the leader the reason why because he was still mad at him.

Master John noticed that Peter had passed him by deliberately which made him lose his temper so he gave his spear to Tom and ordered him to go hunt the boars knowing that he would feel bad when he happens to realise that he’s handing out to his best friend and favourite grandpa two horrible punishments then he charged to Peter’s house and dragged them into the forest. He shouted at Joseph “WHAT KIND OF A FATHER ARE YOU? BECAUSE I COULD SEE THAT SINCE YOU WERE VEGETARIAN AND AGAINST ANIMAL HUNTING, YOU DELIBERATELY DIDN’T LET PETER PARTICIPATE IN THIS CHORE. IN HERE, PEOPLE ONLY LISTEN TO ME. YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR RUDELY INTERFERING IN OUR PRIVATE MATTERS WILL BE TO STAY AWAY FROM YOUR CHILDREN FOREVER OR ELSE YOU GET KICKED OUT” then he turned towards Peter “AND AS FOR YOU YOUNG MAN, CATCH ALL THE DANGEROUS BOARS ONE BY ONE WITHOUT USING A SPEAR TO BRING THEM TO US FOR OUR BREAKFAST SO HOP TO IT PETER”, Peter became outraged to hear the leader speak to his father with so much disrespect, “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO MY FATHER THIS WAY? YOU’VE CROSSED MY PATIENCE BECAUSE WHEN WE WENT SAILING, WE FOUND OUT THE TRUTH SO IF YOU DON’T APOLOGISE THEN IT WON’T BE TOO LONG BEFORE I REVEAL IT SO THAT MY BROTHER TOO CAN SEE HOW WRONG HE WAS ABOUT YOU, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”.

Master John became scared of him but tried to show that he didn’t give a damn by pretending to shake about “oooh, I’m shaking inside because I’m feeling so scared that you think people will believe you over me” then he came close to his face “you have absolutely no idea who you’re messing with and neither do your threats frighten me in any way Peter so if you even think about doing such a thing, I’ll throw you four out.  I’ll bully you as much as I please till you get the job completely finished, that’s the only reason I’ve kept you all alive so far.  I think that it would be best if you just quietly get on with your task now as I don’t have to keep you alive.”

He asserted himself “I’m not going to for I don’t fear you either so back off. If you dare do any further harm to anyone then I’ll make sure you shall pay the price for it”.

 Joseph explained “I agree with him because I think what you did with Jack was completely unacceptable. If you want to be liked as a leader then you better start being nice by doing the right thing so you can make a fresh start by not forcing the others or Fred to help you in this particular task ” , he lost his patience with them “I’m warning both of you for the very  last time to stay out of matters that don’t concern you because after you’ve turned against me, I’ve lost my trust in you and never wish to see your faces ever again”, Peter wanted to stop Fred for his own good  “I  will not let my brother suffer this way neither will I tolerate it so come on father , let’s get him out of this forest and back home with us for eating family breakfast together at the table instead” but Joseph stopped him “ Peter I know Fred very well, he can speak up for himself and I have complete trust that he too will do what’s right for him”.

As it happened, Joseph did turn out to be right after all because Fred did come up to Master John who was too busy focusing on the other men catching the boars “I have something very important to tell you about me so can we talk now please?” then he replied “Fred, can’t you see I’m busy? Just do as your told”, “no I’m afraid it has to be discussed now.”

Master John brought him to a corner “make it quick Fred, what is it?”
“I dislike this chore very much and choose not to do it for I wish to follow my vegetarianism. You have often treated me as if I really am your son giving me so much love and have always trusted me more with your chores so would it be ok to be reasonable about this particular one?”, “I’m the one in charge and just because I treated you like my own son doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll give respect to whatever decision you make.” The leader lied about his floor being dirty, “go and scrub off all the dust that spreads my floor in my house till it’s sparkingly clean right now”, Fred begged “I apologise if you felt that I disobeyed you. From now on I’ll obey your every command if I have to but please don’t make me feel uncomfortable.”

 “Fred I’m proud that you apologised to me. Let’s get back to the task”, suddenly out of nowhere a wild boar came running towards Master John with a rush and bit his legs using it’s sharp teeth then it ran out of the forest where nobody could find it leaving him rolling on the grass in complete pain screaming like a little child “FRED! TOM! PLEASE HELP ME GET ON MY FEET AGAIN.” His scream was so loud that Tom and Fred heard it despite being miles away “it’s ok Fred, I’ll go and help him” Tom said politely running to where he was.

He saw his father covered in blood so he slowly lifted him up and helped him to walk to their house.

Tom stuck a bandage on his feet “don’t worry, I’ll inform the others that you got attacked by a vicious boar” then he gave Tom a vicious look, “Tom, couldn’t you and Fred at least have had the common sense to kill that beast even before it got to me if you were clever enough to know that it was a boar? Your biggest mistake was that you were so busy hunting the other boars that you forgot to protect me at the right time you useless fellow. I’ve thought of just the perfect way to make you useful again.  You should take training lessons from an expert spear fighter whom I admire very much called Bob unless you prefer to wash my dishes everyday?” Tom began to see his father being so displeased, “no don’t say that because it can hurt inside. I’m sorry if I wasn’t quick enough to rescue you but you should at least be grateful that I came to help you when you most needed it so I really don’t find it necessary to be coached by somebody else when I’m already a strong, well-muscled boy so please can you give me another chance?”

  Master John’s face went completely red, “HOW DARE YOU ANSWER ME BACK BEING SO INSOLENT? THAT’S SOMETHING WHICH I WILL NOT TOLERATE FROM ANYONE. MY DECISION IS FINAL AND THE TRUTH IS I DON’T CARE ABOUT OTHERS. THEY WILL ALWAYS LOOK UP TO ME AS LEADER. I WILL BE THE POWERFUL ONE AMONGST ALL OF YOU AND YOU NEVER WILL BE MY SON AGAIN SO GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU FILTHY PIG.”

Chapter 7 - Joseph tells Tom about his past

Back at home Joseph and Peter were proudly congratulating Fred while having supper sitting at the dinner table because Fred had finally spoken his mind to Master John. Peter gave Fred a brotherly pat on his back “well done Fred, I feel really proud as your brother to see that you did the right thing fulfilling the responsibility of being the eldest in the family.” Joseph tried to convince him “now do you finally believe that it was your mother all along who has really cared about you and not Albert?” then Fred’s anger suddenly rose up hearing the mention of her again, “didn’t I warn you earlier to not mention that woman again? the next time you both do that same  big mistake again, not only will I never forgive you for life but I won’t speak to you either”.

Tom went crying to Joseph’s house because he remembered his childhood days suddenly that whenever he used to be upset about something and couldn’t get any sleep, Joseph was the only person  who would read his bedtime stories so only his grandfather could cheer him up once again.

 He knocked on the door wiping his tears “grandpa can you open the door please because I want to talk to you?” Joseph heard him and opened the door “what’s the problem you’ve got to share with me Tom? This is the first time I’ve seen you like this so I’m also willing to talk it out, do come inside.” Joseph sat him down at the dinner table sitting next to him.

Peter and Fred looked concerned about him too, “my father became angry with me for not rescuing him on time when the boar bit him and since I refused to take training from an expert sword fighting teacher , he kicked me out of his house refusing to understand this small mistake of mine , I know very well that you are the only one who can make the effort to convince him in some way or the other so can you go and have a word with him for my sake, please?”.

“Tom, I cannot do this particular wish of yours because I’m polite and this is not our real home so I’ll give you good advice, try and prove to him the next time that you can be well worthy of being called his son again by fulfilling all the challenging chores he hands out to you taking it like a brave man if you feel you don’t need a teacher.”

After hearing what Joseph said it raised a very important question to Tom’s head “ you have made a very good point grandpa but how come you’ve been in this island for the last 15 years if this isn’t your home?” “Tom I would only share this with you since you’re my favourite grandson. My story takes place years ago in London when I was a very poor man with hardly any money left to spend on anything so it was my responsibility being the man of the house to go and collect food for my family from the market everyday. The great thing was that me and Stella were always happy as a family despite our terrible state but all that completely changed one day when I accidentally bumped into a rich lady in the market. I was in a rush so I kindly asked her to move since the queue was very long, she replied back rudely saying that I had to wait longer with patience whether I liked it or not because of my misbehaviour and that’s when for the first time in my whole life I lost my temper shouting at her then she went to complain to the two big guards who were standing in the market giving a false complaint that I have been rude with her just because I was the one whom was getting impatient. They locked me up in prison. My wife was sensible enough to figure out that there must be a good reason behind as to why I wouldn’t show up yet so she too came to the market and asked the same guards where I was so they escorted her towards me but unfortunately that turned out to be the last time we could ever meet because she had just left me behind there with my children. I had no other choice at that time but to get to this island but you should consider yourself lucky that there’s a second chance left for impressing your father.”

Tom smiled “you know grandpa, after hearing your story, it’s taught me a very valuable lesson in life which is if there’s a will then there’s a way so I’m going to take the right path for myself, don’t worry, I know what I should do next.”