Brother Sharpens Brother

Bratwursts

Chapter Five

Cole:

"INCOMING!!" 

    Cole's eyes widened and he let out a yelp before Jay plummeted into the water beside him with a laugh. Cole splashed him when he came back up and swam to the bank of the swimming hole, unclogging his ear with his pinkie finger before approaching the rope swing Jay had just used. "Are you both sure about this? The water may be infested with brain-eating amoebas." Zane warned them, watching skeptically from the bank as his puppy pummeled his reflection in the water with his paws. Jay stood bolt right to the tips of his toes in the water screeching, "Brain-eating WHATS!?" and looking fearfully around before Cole waved him off with a laugh. 

    "It's perfectly safe Zane, the water's circulating downstream and those things don't really live in running water anyways." Cole reassured, grabbing the rope and readying himself to jump in again. Zane seemed unconvinced as he warily watched Cole walk back with the rope and lunge into the waterhole with a yell. The puppy barked and wagged his tail at Cole's action, jumping up on his back legs and bringing his front two down into the water for a splash. 

    Zane eyed the water as Cole resurfaced, contemplating on whether or not to join him and Jay, or return to his arithmetic. He figured it wouldn't hurt to swim for a little while, the heat of midday was reason enough for that. "Come on Zane!" Cole yelled, splashing a little bit of water in the air towards the blonde but being careful not to splash him. Zane looked at the rope, then back to the water, and assured himself before he shyly took a hold of the swing.

    "Alright." He called back, his voice a little unsteady, "Here goes nothing!" He took a few steps back, holding on tightly and running towards the bank before he jumped off and let the rope take him farther across the water to let go. He dropped into the waterhole tailbone first and arms and legs in tangled confusion. Once he surfaced, he could hear Cole's wheezing laughter and Jay's chuckles at his landing before he was splashed by the raven haired boy. 

    "See? S'not so bad." Cole laughed, giving his shoulder a friendly push as he wriggled his brows. The puppy continued barking, this time running up and down the shallows as he watched the boys, all of his usual white fluff was soaked and dripping but he didn't seem to mind in the least. Zane wiped the water out of his eyes with a smile, agreeing with the older boy. The creek water was quite refreshing.

    Jay popped his head out of the water next to the two with a smile that left the freckles around his eyes in creases. "H-Hey guys, look! I found a crawdad!" He exclaimed as he pulled his left hand above the surface of the water. The small creature would have been more visible if his hand wasn't painted with runny mud from the creek bed. 

    "Oh sweet! Can I hold it?" Cole asked, holding out his hand towards the muddy crustacean with giddiness. Jay washed the mud off the creature by cupping his hands on the surface of the water and letting the gentle current do its work. Once he was rid of some of the mud in his hands, Jay handed the crawdad to Cole, being mindful of the creature's claws. 

 Cole was not as mindful.

     As soon as the raven haired boy tried to grab ahold of it, the crawdad snapped it's pincers and clamped onto the strip of flesh between his index finger and his thumb. Cole let out a pitched cry of pain, and tried to shake the small assailant from his hand while Jay tried helping him between giggles.