The Beck Brothers

The Beck brothers are a team, all five of them. This was literally true when they were in school and there was sports involved. A brother would who was choosing would pick a brother, and then another and another. No one at school would pick on one Beck as he or they would have to take on all of them before too long.

The Beck brothers have no sisters, so they are not at their best when dealing with the female of the species. At this moment of time, not one of them has a girlfriend. The women in their lives had to compete with the brothers for attention and Saturday nights.

They had never even had a female pet. All of their dogs had been males, and were very much like the brothers were.

The only female in their lives was their mother. She was one tough little lady. None of them, nor their father would talk back to her or not comply with what she wanted. She had to be strong, and she was.

The Beck Brothers Are Invited to a Party

           A friend and workmate of one of the brothers, Fred, was asked on a Monday to a party that was going to take place that Saturday. The friend knew what was going to be asked of him when he invited Fred. He was asked whether the rest of the Beck brothers team could come as well. Of course, he said ‘yes’, as he knew that otherwise friend Fred would not come. It was not a matter of a ‘plus one’, but a ‘plus four’. And that had nothing to do with wearing shorts that came down four inches below the knee. 

Going to the Party

The boys were ready to go. They had put on their going-to-a-party outfits. The clothes they wore were quite similar, not identical, but you knew that they shopped in the same store for their clothing. They all hopped into their SUV, the tires then squealed as they left the driveway At a rapid pace, they drove across town to the party.

The brothers arrived ready for action, with a couple of cases of beer. They entered the party house with great gusto and sound, so that everyone was soon able to notice them, whether they wanted to or not.

Then they dispersed, spreading themselves thin into every room that had occupants. This was standard Beck brother party behaviour. They would know pretty much everything and everyone at the party, and could talk about them later.

The brothers had spent about an hour and a half at the party when Donny walked into the main room. He was with a slender woman with long dark hair. They were showing signs of having a rather intense initiation to each other’s company. When they parted company she patted him lightly on his right hand. 

           Donny walked over to two of his brothers, Fred and Frank, and talked to them rapidly about the woman he had just met.  He was obviously besotted with her. They wondered why he had left her company, that is, until he spoke. Well boys, I have had a lot to drink, the bathrooms are taken, so I am going to go outside and ‘water the weeds’, a family expression for going outside for a pee.

           After he closed the door behind him, two other brothers joined Fred and Frank. They were happy to hear about Donny’s good fortune. His last relationship had broken his heart, and that had been over a year ago. They talked about how good this was going to be

           Then they saw a sight they wished they hadn’t seen. What appeared to Fred and Frank to be the same woman they had seen with Donny, was standing very close to another man, their brother Dave. The two stood hand-in-hand.

           What could they do? This could very easily start a fight between Dave and Donny. Fighting among the brothers was something they all tried very hard to avoid. It had rarely happened when they were children, and absolutely never when they had become young men. They were close. They were a team. They were the curves of a long-standing family circle.

           Fred and Frank discussed their strategy as to what they should do. Nothing seemed to provide a solution to the problem. Then Fred said, “Let me do the talking boys. I have a plan.” So when Donny returned from watering the weeds, Fred walked up to his younger brother and said, “I hate to tell you this bro, but I have to tell you something about the woman you were just with.” “You mean the lovely Laura,” Donny replied with a very big smile.

           “Donny, I heard people talking about her. Apparently she’s married to a much older man, and is a shameless flirt at parties when he is not with her. She has broken many a heart. You don’t want to be one of them, my boy. You don’t want to be one of them.”

           Donny looked shocked, “But I thought…but I thought that she really liked me.” 

“She probably does for a little fling, my brother, but nothing more. She’s not good for you.”

           Donny sadly nodded his head, accepting his fate. He then headed straight for the drinks table, to refill what he had just emptied in the nearby woods.

           Then the brothers went to find their other brother Dave. He was standing hand-in-hand with the woman they had quickly grown to dislike as a troublemaker. 

           Fred walked up to the two of them and said, rather brusquely, “If you don’t mind, madam, this man here is our brother, and we need to talk to him on some rather urgent family business.”

           She just nodded her head and let go of his hand. The four brothers walked away.

           “What’s all this then?” said Dave “What is so urgent that you have to take me away from this lovely lady?”

           “Let me tell you something,” said Fred, then telling him the same lies that he had told Donny. The other boys just nodded their heads in full agreement.

           Dave, like Donny before him, accepted that what his brother was telling him was the truth. His brother would have no good reason to lie. He headed for the drinks table.

A Sudden Startling Revelation

Then came a sudden startling revelation. Another woman walked up to the woman they were trying to free Dave and Donny from. The two women were mirror images of each other, even in the clothes that they wore. They were clearly sisters, possibly twins.

Fred was the first to realize the mistake made. “Well boys, we have some explaining to do. Follow me.” They walked up to the two women, and Fred explained what had just happened. He apologized on behalf of his brothers Donny and Dave, with the other two brothers apologizing with him, although neither of them had said a word of the lie. 

One of them went to fetch Donny, and dragged him by his harm to the meeting place of brothers and sisters. The women laughed, saying that this was not the first time something like this had happened. One walked over to Donny, the other one to Dave. Hands were held lightly.

The liars were forgiven. The family circle remained unbroken. Perhaps on this night, it had grown larger.