Chapter 3: Brothers, But Different

While Lesley worried about her mothering skills, Jethro and Luke Hans grew very quickly into teenage boys. They hung out together a lot of the time when Lesley was animal wrangling. One morning before school they had a conversation that went like this....

"Mrs Gonzalez sets the meanest homework, right? I'm looking at these equations and all I see are squiggle trails left by ink ants." says Luke

"Ugh! Tell me about it! I've got her old man for chemistry...it aint pretty. School is just the pits." 

"I know. There aren't even any girls our age to relieve the drudgery. I mean, like none. What's with that? It might as well be an all boys school or something."

"Umm, I don't mind that there's heaps of .....ummm guys though."

"How are we supposed to get dates for the Prom when there's just all guys everywhere?"

"I'm not going to Prom anyway, so it's all good with me."

"Well that's okay for you Jethro. But I need a hit of the fairer sex or I'm going to go insane." 

It seemed like all of Luke Hans attention these days went on scoping the town for girls, thinking about girls, or the lack of girls. because to Luke Hans, Appaloosa Plains seemed full of cowboys and ranchers and seriously lacking in cowgirls of any description.

Jethro saw his brother's pained expression. "Hey, why don't you and Kristofer get together and have a night out somewhere. There's that new juice bar in town, and the karaoke place. You could be each other's wingman."

The next day Luke Hans went over to Kristofer's house after school. They never did much at Kristofer's place because his mother was a total neat freak and threw a fit if anything was moved or ruffled.

"Wow. Man, your house is so crystal clean. I feel like even my breathing is messing the place up." said Luke Hans as they sat on the couch watching TV, which was basically the only thing they were allowed to do.

"I know. It's like being shrinkwrapped and put on display." agreed Kristofer.

"Listen Kris, we need to hit the tracks you know? We need to get out there and find where all the babes are hanging. I mean look at us, two not that bad looking guys, sitting in the house on a Friday night watching Deadliest Catch. What the hell is wrong with us? Let's go out tomorrow night, just to the juice bar or something? What d'ya say?"

Kristofer looked kind of scared. "I don't think my Mum will let me. She's always going on about how unhygienic those places are."

 Just at that moment Kristofer's mother Juanita arrived home from her job at the restaurant. She caught the last part of their conversation as she marched in the front door.

"Kristopher you are NOT allowed to go to no dive bar. You hear me?"

"Eeeeee" was the only sound Kristopher could make. 

"Hi Mrs Blanco. Ummm we're just really bored sitting in the house all the time, that's all." Luke Hans tried to explain. But Juanita didn't even stop to argue the point. She threw a look over her shoulder that would freeze Hell. Luke Hans thought Kristopher was close to wetting his pants so he let it rest.

 

"Jeez, looks like that's the end of that plan then." Luke Hans was peeved.

"You could go out with Jethro. You're lucky to have a brother your own age Luke. Why don't you ask him?" suggested Kristofer, trying to stop his friend feeling bad.

 

When Saturday came, Luke Hans asked to go along on Jethro's weekly fishing expedition up at the old cemetery. Luke Hans hated fishing and Jethro normally went on his own. But he wanted to talk to his brother. 

"So.... Kristofer is a no go. His mother is just super anal about him doing anything." he started.

"Right." said Jethro uninterested.

"So I was thinking, we could do it? Together, I mean."

"What's that?" Jethro was feeling cramped by Luke standing so close, he worried their lines would get tangled.

"Go out somewhere, get a social life. Meet some girls, you know!"

"Oh." Jethro just didn't have the same desperate need that Luke Hans had to go chasing after girls. He didn't see the point. He had urges for ever more radical colour tints in his hair. He was driven to shop for the latest cool jeans. He had a burning need to try a facial just to see if his skin could be more blemish free. He was excitedly saving up his allowance for a set of hair straighteners. But looking for a girlfriend featured nowhere on his to-do list.

He tried to let Luke Hans down softly..."I don't know Luke. Let me think about it."

 

Monday morning came and Luke Hans reluctantly traipsed out to the school bus. Dreading another relentless day of all male companionship except for Mrs Gonzalez, and she was borderline.

On the bus Jethro noticed how down Luke Hans looked. He didn't like seeing his brother so distressed. So, reluctantly, he agreed to go out with him that Saturday night. It was a long time coming.

It seemed to Jethro that Luke Hans could talk about nothing else all that week.

"....and Ethan Parrott says he goes to the Roxy nearly every single week and it's chock full of hot chicks and they don't ever even ask for his ID!!"

At first Jethro just went along with Luke Hans' enthusiasm. Joking, "That's because Ethan Parrott's uncle owns the place dummy - and anyway he looks so old because he never moisturises."

Luke Hans cracked up.

But by Friday, Jethro had had his fill of Luke Hans babbling on about girls and Saturday night. He had sought privacy in the bedroom they shared and was trying to figure out an essay plan for an extra tough assignment on the history of Simbots. Luke Hans found him and started messing around with the light pen and Prospera, Lesley's burmese cat, all the while prattling excitedly about the night out and their chances and foolproof methods of asking a girl on a date. Luke was sending more than the cat dizzy.

 He then bent down and started practicing on Prospera, asking her to go on a date with him. The cat meowed in response "See Jethro! I told you I could get a date. I told you my method is foolproof!"

 But Jethro had had enough. "Luke Hans! For Gods sake! GIVE IT A REST!! You are doing my head in. We're only going to the JUICE BAR. For ONE drink. It's all we can afford anway, we can't afford to take girls out." Jethro it seemed had a hot temper and a short fuse and Luke Hans realised he'd better zip it or the boys night out could be off.

That night Luke Hans had a dream. In it Jethro was standing in the dark, alone, outside a nightclub, while Luke Hans watched him from inside. The rain was streaming down, soaking Jethro to the bone. Luke Hans called to him, over and over, he called until his voice was hoarse. But Jethro stood dead still in the dark, wet night, gazing out at some unseen thing in the distance and never looked or saw Luke Hans calling him.

Lesley didn't exactly approve of the boys going out that evening. But she realised they were growing up and they needed their freedom. She had to trust them eventually, so at breakfast she gave them a list of do's and don'ts in her strictest parental voice. and they nodded and mmmm'd in agreement. It would be fine, they said. "Stop worrying so much Mum."

The evening itself was kind of a let down. They even went to Roxy's Karaoke Bar in the hope that all the hot chicks would be there. But the place was full of cowhands and old fairies. Luke Hans and Jethro felt like fish out of water. "God this town sucks." Jethro called out to Luke Hans. "Lets get out of here" Luke replied, let down, depressed and frustrated with disappointment. Jethro felt almost as devastated, there was nothing in this town that seemed to speak to his soul. Inspire him. Or give him chills. It was just drab. He felt out of place and wrong.

But the next day brought an unexpected event and an unmistakable change in his feelings.

They'd just finished breakfast when the front door clicked open.
"Hi, all, I'm Sammie. Sammie Pagan and I'm your new maid. Lisa died, I'm not sure if you were told? Anyway you've been assigned  - me! Hope that's okay, haha."
Lesley, opened and closed her mouth, then did a double take and drew in a sharp breath as she watched the most gorgeous hunk of manhood she had ever seen, strut across her kitchen floor and survey the condition of her bench tops.

While his mother leapt into the path of the handsome and debonnaire Sammie, Jethro felt a rising heat start at his toes and spread deliciously up his entire body, until he felt as though his head was on fire. The name Sammie Pagan seemed to etch itself onto his fast beating heart. He could hear his mother in the background chatting to Sammie, explaining where the cleaning products were and telling him to watch himself with the downstairs loo because it overflows at the slightest provocation. But all Jethro could think was - wow! And how can I not make a fool of myself when I try to talk to him.

Meanwhile as Sammie Pagan sashayed past the slightly flushed looking Jethro on his way to hit the bathroom, he smiled knowingly to himself and felt a satisfied glow. He was sure to be appreciated at this household, he got a pretty strong vibe about that. Finally.