Joshua's Plotter

Sat on his stool in the shed out back, Joshua was just sanding down the last of the six citrine pebbles he had found near the shore of the creek, when he heard the sound of rapid footsteps approaching.

The door swung open with gusto, a warm breeze sending some of his hair flying into his field of vision, then the door shut as quickly as it had been opened.

Joshua did not need to look up from his work to know who had come in even before he spoke.

"You never saw me!", Tobias hissed.

- "‘Kay."

When he heard the sound of metal scraping against metal and something falling behind him however, he did look up from sanding his pebble and turned around to see his brother try folding himself up to fit into the lower cabinet.

Joshua reached out wordlessly with his foot and shut the cabinet door for with it, thinking that even the youngest Twiggs was outgrowing this particular hiding spot.

Not one minute passed before the door to the shed swung open again, revealing his eldest sister, looking rather agitated, with something indistinguishable sticking to her curly hair and parts of her face.

"Where is he?!"

- "Who?"

"Tobias?"

- "Never seen that kid in my whole entire life."

"Uh-huh."

He was tempted to rat out his brother. Whatever his sister had planned for him, Tobias surely deserved.
But alas, he had agreed to hide him. For now.

"I heard someone run past that way," he moved his head towards the cabinet and gave his sister a smirk. He only just managed not to comment on her fancy new hair-do.

"But I cannot be sure who it was, of course."

With that he turned back to working on the gift for Martha, barely holding in a chuckle. His siblings would settle this themselves, even though he would have loved to help his sister more to get Tobias for whatever he had done today.
There was always next time.