The Bottom Shelf Review

My twin brother Waylon and I begin our walk up the driveway shortly after the bus drops us at the end. The bus drops us right next to our family’s produce stand. Every day, I stop to collect the money and take it to mom.

“Harper hurry up!” Waylon yelled from just a few steps ahead.

“Calm down, I’m coming. This is what pays your allowance you loser.”

His best friend Seth Wright hadn’t been on the bus because he just got his license after a year of trying. We all go to Arrowhead Falls High School together, and he lives right across the road.

I ran to catch up, and I looked over at Waylon who was glaring at the ground; his whole mood shifted from the bus ride where he was goofing off with our friends on the bus. Waylon’s whole personality had changed over the past two weeks. I couldn’t help but to want to know what was going on inside his head. Usually, Waylon had football practice, and I would walk home alone, but today was his first home game. Waylon was bringing down my mood, but I decided to ignore him.

As we neared the halfway point of our walk, I began to hear my favorite building. I love to go hunting with my dad and run hunting dogs. In our hunting dog barn located next to our big white brick house we have fourteen hound dogs. To any visitors this building just looked like a white building with paint chips, shingles falling off the roof, and mud on the windows. But to me, it meant so much more. When I was having a rough day, I found myself in this building. Waylon, on the other hand, despised every inch of this land except his bedroom. Waylon’s room consists of a sport theme. He had West Virginia mountaineer sports posters hung all over, football string lights strung across the ceiling, and typical navy-blue sheets.

As we entered the doorway to our three story, large white brick house, we stopped in the mudroom and took our boots off. I could smell the amazing smell of banana bread that mama makes every Friday. Waylon dropped his bag and immediately ran up the stairs to his room. I, on the other hand, walked through the dining room and into the kitchen to see my parents and little kids. Sloane didn’t go to school because she is two, and the twins Kyle and Ada are four so they do preschool at home.
           “Hey mama, hey dad.”

“Hey Harpy!” Dad was always so excited to see me.

“How was school?” Mom asked like usual.

“It was good. I’m going to my room, be right back.”

“Tell your brother to get his lazy butt down here.” Dad and Waylon had a weird relationship, and this is how they always talked.

I walked down the hallway towards the living room and up the stairs to the eight bedrooms. We all had our own thanks to my dad’s custom remodel. At the top of the stairs straight ahead was Kyle’s room, to the left was Ada’s and to the left of her room was Sloane’s. Then the other three rooms were for James, Colton, and Paisley. I headed to the opposite side of the hall to get Waylon.

“Hey Way. Dad said you need to come downstairs.”

“Great what did I do wrong now? Did I forget to feed one of the dogs? Does he need the dishes done again? Do the stalls need mucked?”

He didn’t argue, but he questioned what Dad wanted because they argued everyday. He got up from his desk and headed down with me. We walked back to the kitchen, and the kids were all sitting at the table with mom and dad.

“I’m going to go grab Colton from the bus stop.” I always got Colton shortly after we got home. For some reason they split up middle schoolers from high schoolers. He’s twelve so he could walk alone but it makes me feel better.

Outside at dad’s shop door that said NO KIDS ALLOWED. I started my four-wheeler and headed down the driveway. The shop was to the right of the house and parallel to the dog barn.

At the end of the driveway I waited for Skylar to come get her sister Savanna and brother Sebastian. The Wright kids and Gauge kids all got off the bus at our driveway and on the bus at their driveway. To my surprise I see Seth coming down their drive on his four-wheeler.

“Hey sunshine.”

Seth always teased me like that. I hate how much I didn’t hate it. He was the star junior wide receiver; he knew he had his ways.

“Where’s Skylar?”

“Wow, not even a hello.” He said mockingly and reached over to shove my shoulder.

“Hello, good to see you. Where is your sister?” 

“She’s feeding so I came down.”

I didn’t respond and the bus came to a screeching halt in front of our gravel drive. Colton hopped on the back of my four-wheeler, and Savanna and Sebastian hoped on Seth’s.

“Bye beautiful see you at my game tonight.” Seth shouted as he drove across the road.

He loved to play into the rumors about us and act like I came to Waylon’s games for him.

Back at home, I left the four-wheeler parked outside the shop to go get Paisley and James later. Then I headed into the dog barn and fed all the dogs and let them into their yard.

I then headed back inside and immediately froze. Mom was sobbing. Waylon and Dad screaming back and forth. Why did this always happen? Why can’t they just get along?

“Waylon the stalls haven’t been mucked in 2 days!” Dad was always screaming about this even though he knew how Waylon felt.

Waylon paused as he saw out younger siblings full of fear. Colton took notice and took them outside to help him start feeding the farm. I had gotten good at pulling the kids away from dad and Waylon fighting but watching Colton do it tugged at my heart. He shouldn’t see that.

“You know I don’t care about those horses or this farm Dad.”

“Yeah cause you’re a lazy free loader!”

“Jason that’s enough!” Mom pleaded.

Mom and Dad never fought, about each other, only over Waylon.

Waylon wasn’t a bad kid, he gets good grades, he’s the star quarterback, and he mostly listens. I think dad saw him as lazy because Waylon loved football more than he loved the farm. Mom took Dad outside to feed, and Waylon went upstairs to get ready for his game.

I was sitting in our living room with Sloane when I heard Waylon come down.

“Hey Harp, it’s about time to get Pais and J. I would but Seth is out front waiting.”

Oh sorry, I lost track of time. Good luck. love you.”

“Love you to Harpy.”

I grabbed Sloane and we walked out the front door to see Seth standing next to his truck.

“Hey gorgeous.”

“Shut up Seth.” Waylon and I said together.

We all laughed and headed down the driveway.

Later that chilly September afternoon, we headed to Waylon’s game. We got to the stadium and found our seats at the top of the bleachers at the 50-yard line. This was Waylon’s first game as starting quarterback.

They won 59-13.

We headed home to start dinner, and the Wright’s came over. We always have pizza on Friday nights, and the Wright’s usually join us.

Waylon and Seth came in just as we finished cooking. We all sat around the dining table. We all talked and laughed until I looked up and saw dad glaring at Waylon, and I knew what was about to happen.

“Who wants to come help me turn the animals in?” I asked all the kids.

Seth gave me a concerned look but got up and gathered his siblings. I took all my siblings except Waylon and the Wrights headed home.

When we got to the barn I realized I forgot the flashlights to go check the fenceline, so I headed back inside but told my siblings to wait outside. I headed into the mudroom and could overhear Dad and Waylon going at it.

“Waylon you need to start caring about more than yourself and that stupid football. This farm is your legacy and you’re the one trusted to keep it running after me.” Dad was half screaming at Waylon but his voice was cracking almost as if he was getting sad.

“Dad I love this family, but I can’t do it. I don’t want this life. I have big dreams and I want to chase them.”

“No, you don’t want this life you just want everything handed to you. Don’t talk to me about my family. You’ve been disconnected from this family for years. You don’t help with your siblings, you barely spend time with your twin sister, and you even ignore the stupid dog you wanted.”

I finally found the flashlight in the junk bin and headed back outside to check the fence line.

About 30 minutes later, we all headed inside and it was quiet. Mom and Dad had gone downstairs to their room and Waylon upstairs to his.

I let the dogs outside and then headed upstairs to Waylon’s room.  

“Hey Way.”

“Hi Harp.”

“You ok?”

“Yup.” Waylon said and got up and went to the bathroom. That was my sign he didn’t want to talk about it.

On Saturday morning, Waylon came out to help us feed. I was surprised, but happy. I don’t know what all happened, but when I heard Dad tell him he had been disconnected from the family for years, I knew that had to sting.

We all went inside when the chores were done and had breakfast together, but Waylon and Dad went into the shop. This was scary and I just hoped they both came out with all their fingers.

That afternoon I took a break from homework and knocked on Waylon’s door. We shared a bathroom and it connected our two rooms.

“Come in.”

“Waylon, can we be the close twins we used to be for a minute?”

“Sure Harper come here.” As he slid over on his bed.

We talked and he told me about last night with Dad. I never know what to say. Waylon is my best friend, but I’m also a daddy’s girl.

“Way, I want you to know I’ll always be here.” I told him as I walked across our bathroom.

He flashed me a smile and hit play on his tv.

That night Seth picked up Waylon for practice, and we were doing all the normal chores.

Mom’s phone rang and she stepped out of the dog barn to answer it.

“Harper, quick get the truck!”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s your brother, he went down at practice.”
 I ran to get the truck while mom got dad. I drove Mom to hospital, and dad stayed home with the kids until Mrs. Wright got there.

At the hospital, Waylon was so happy to see us, but he was clearly crying. Seth was right by his bedside and jumped to give me a hug when I walked in. When the doctor walked in, he didn’t let go either.

“Mrs. Gauge, Harper? We just got MRI results. Waylon, it looks like you tore your ACL, MCL, and PCL.” I’m so sorry. We’ll get you scheduled in with our sports medicine doc to see what’s next. If I had to guess I’d say football is over.”

Waylon got surgery a week later to repair all three ligaments. The following few weeks were rough for not only Waylon but all of us. Seth felt guilty because he was there, my dad felt guilty for their fight before, and mom and I just randomly cried. It felt like Waylon hadn’t come out of bed for 6 weeks.

We had Veterans Day off school, and this was the first day Waylon came out of his room. He came out to help me feed the beef cattle on his crutches.

“Hey Harp?” Waylon sounded concerned, and this scared me more than anything.

“Yeah?”

“I think this farm and this life isn’t so bad after all. I mean I can’t play football anymore, so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my future, and this doesn’t look so bad.”

I couldn’t help but smile at this. This is all I’ve wanted from Waylon for years. To have my twin by my side on the farm. Every day following, Waylon continued to help us, and he spent more time with us. I hated to say it, but he made everything so much better. He had such a goofy personality that it was hard to not have fun with him when he was back to his old self. Dad and Waylon still fought but it was rare and it wasn’t so intense. They became more forgiving of each other. Waylon would even volunteer to go out to the barns. When hunting opening day came, Waylon wanted to go out to the woods with dad, so I let him. I usually go with Dad, but they needed this time together.

On Christmas Eve, I was helping Mom and Dad wrap the kids presents in the living room after they went to bed.

“Mom, Dad, Harper.” Waylon called for us from the kitchen. “I need to talk to y’all.” He was making food for tomorrow.

I could only hope he was going to tell mom and dad what he told me about a month and a half ago.

“What’s up bud?” Dad asked, wrapping his arm around Waylon’s shoulder.

“Since I don’t have football anymore, I don’t think I want to go to college. I want to stay here and help keep this farm going. I know Harper loves it but I love it too. I’m just sorry it took me so long. Dad I’m sorry we haven’t always got along. Mom I’m sorry we stress you out and Harp, thank you for being the glue and protecting the younger kids.”

Mom and Dad grinned from ear to ear. I knew they had been waiting for this news.

“It’s ok Way we’re twins so I’ll just have to build a house next you.” I said jokingly and gave him the biggest hug.

“I’m sorry to son. I love you no matter where life takes you.”

We all laughed together and shared a group hug. Then we finished our Christmas Eve activities with so much to celebrate. This was the best Christmas present my parents could have asked for. It’s so nice to see Dad and Waylon get along and work together.