My thick headed brothers

I was in the woods looking for mushrooms, fruits, berries, and herbs just like I did every day. The sun was shining Through small gaps in the forest canopy and the red autumn leaves swayed in the wind making a gentle wrestling sound. A nearby stream gently flowed near me quietly bubbling and splashing against the rocks along its banks.

I bent down to pick the herb my mother had asked me to find that we called strawberry grass. We called it that because it had a light red color the same as the strawberries we grew in our garden. I knew it had a different official name than that, but my family always used our own names for herbs. My mother told me that our family had been doing this for generations to keep our remedies content secret from others. Why the ingredients for remedies that were only used for the small village just beyond the forest needed to be kept secret never made sense to me, but I was not one to question my mother and father. This was a trate that I prided myself on.

My mother and father had always told me and my brothers that there were people who sought how to make our remedies, for reasons unknown, and to keep them secret, our ancestors came up with different names for all the herbs we used that where only known by our family. Due to this all of us called the herbs different names than outsiders did.

Not that I didn't know what outsiders called them. Unlike my brothers, I like to study, so I always asked to read the books. I knew the traditional names and our family names for the herbs and anything else we put in our remedies. I doubted this knowledge whatever come in useful to me, but I had it nonetheless. Besides, it's always better to have too much knowledge than not enough.

Two of my brothers preferred brute force instead of thinking most of the time. My mom said it was just because they were boys, but I didn't think that was true. My father was levelheaded and love to study. If it was something to do with them being boys wouldn't my father be the same?

Anyways, it really didn't matter that I knew this none of us other than mother and father had ever been off our mountain or out of our forest. They told us that this was a special place where our family grew up for generations. Eventually, when we got older, we may move down the mountain far away to a town where my uncles live but we may not. Our parents told us it was completely up to what path we were meant for. I didn't know what that meant but I also really didn't care.

If it was something really important, my parents would tell me, and if it wasn't, I didn't need to know. I just wish my brothers could understand that they were always questioning my parents, wanting to learn more wondering why we couldn't go outside and why no one ever came to us.

Personally, I had better things to do with my days then worry about things that I couldn't change. My goal was keeping my family happy and healthy, and I did that by finding herbs and other things that my family needed out in our forest.

I never understood why my brothers always wanted to go down the mountain with my parents and out of the forest when they sold their remedies. It just sounded like a lot of walking to me, but they were adamant.

Raymond, we always called him Ray. Was the oldest. He had a thick head of light brown hair, blue eyes that look like the sky, and pale skin just barely kissed by the sun. He grew like a weed being the tallest among us which made sense since he was the oldest at 14.

He Is very kind and caring. He always looked out for me when my other two brothers tried to gang up on me or take my stuff, but he still was always looking for something more to do with his life which confused me. I didn't think he needed anything more. What more could he ask for, life was great here. he said this line of thinking was very shortsighted of me. I didn't argue with him. He was probably right and I was just too young to realize it but again that's didn't matter to me. I was just happy the way I was.

Mitchell, Known to the rest of the family as Mike and known to me as Mikey was the second oldest and the most outgoing.There wasn't an inch of our forest or mountain that he hadn't tried to get to, but tried was definitely the best word for it. As adventurous as he was, he wasn't very good at thinking ahead and that caused him to not get very far. he usually ended up having to be carried home by Ray with a sprained ankle or a lump on his head. Even though he is crazy he is very sweet. He's always making sure that we were happy and if you weren't, he would go out of his way to make you smile.

He was 13 going on 2 in my opinion. He never acted his age. He had realy blonde, curly hair and green eyes, not the bright, shiny kind, the kind more like a dirty weed. He had freckles on his face which really stuck out with his overly pale skin. The only place that tanned was his arms. He had a very severe farmer's tan as my father called it. He was a bit short for his age. Mom said that was because he ran around too much so he used up all his energy that he needed to grow.

My third oldest brother is Benedict and we called him Ben. He was more quiet, he like to go off on his own and carve sculptures out of wood. I always knew where to find him because we both like the same places. If he was in a good mood, he would let me sit with him and I would read a book while he carved, but him and Mike together oh my gosh, he turned into someone else! those two were trouble when you put them together. He was the brains and Mike was the bronze and put them together and they could get a lot done which always caused me trouble.

Ben has really dark brown hair and eyes. his hair was straight as a board. he's the only one of us who Didn't have the complexion of a snowman, which was odd because he stated in doors more than any of us!

The one thing they all had in common is that without me, they would've died a long time ago!