Chopping wood

>Apple Anon is with his grandsons at the farm and he has a idea for them.
>He takes his them to the stump where he would normally chop wood and brought the axe with him.
“Alright boys, since your Pa is about to leave for important work and you’re staying with your Grandma and I, I think you three should learn something important. Today, ya gonna learn how to chop wood. Watch what I do.”
>Anon then puts a piece of wood on the stump.
>He examines the grain of said piece for the best spots or for any cracks and adjusts it properly.
>Last piece of preparation before he chops, he grabs the piece of crayon he brought
>Preparing properly, he firmly grips it and prepares his swing.
>Once he is in proper position for his swing, he brings the axe down, splitting it in two.
>The three kids are in awe that their grandpa is so strong, but they can’t say they’re interested in what is doing something he normally does.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help ya with marking it.”
>He could tell they’re not enthused.
>Before he hands one of them the axe, he improvises a little.
“Alright, let’s make it a challenge. If one of you can split these pieces of oak in one swing like I did, I’ll be sure to take you three and your sister to the arcade and all of you get 25 bits of tokens each.”
>He sees excitement in all three of their eyes.
>Anon holds the axe out and sees which one of them will get it first.
>First one up to the plate his Dakota, the middle child.
>Anon puts a piece of oak on the stump and marks where the best spots to land on would be.
>Dakota then gets the axe ready.
>Seeing his poor form, Anon butts in and helps his grandson real quick, getting him to position properly.
>He then does it properly and swings the axe and looks at the result.
>He sees he only made it maybe a half way through.
>Dakota looks a little disappointed and Anon decides he needs to speak up so he doesn’t.
>”Don’t worry Dakota, that’s pretty good for your first time,” he tells him with a smile.
>This cheers Dakota up.
>”Now, don’t forget to finish what you start,” Anon tells him.
>Dakota then pulls the axe out of the wood he started and swings again, this time splitting it upon the second time.
>Anon gives him a thumbs up and moves the wood out of the way.
>He then places a new piece of wood on the stump and retrieves his axe.
>Anon then of course marks the best spots to land for whoever wants to try.
>He then holds the axe out once more and asks, “Alright, who’s next?”
>Yukon, the youngest of the three walks up.
>Anon sees his shaggy, part yak grandson and hands him the axe.
>Maybe he shouldn’t baby him, but he can’t help but assist the boy’s position properly before he tries to do it himself.
>Yukon then swings with all he can and sees how he does.
>He gets maybe a third through.
>Yukon doesn’t look as disappointed and pulls the axe out to hand it back to his granddad.
>Anon then stops him, saying, “What did I say earlier?”
>Yukon then says it as his grandpa did, “Finish what you start.”
>It takes him a few more swings before the piece splits in half.
>As he did with Dakota, he gave little Yukon a thumbs up.
>He handed the axe to the last one left, Caddo.
>Before Caddo gets to swing, he of course prepares the piece of wood like he did for his brothers.
>Anon notices he seems more confident compared to his brothers.
>He notices that Caddo didn’t need help with his positioning.
>Caddo then brings the axe down and hits the wood in the perfect spot.
>He then sees that he made it only a third of the way through.
>With another swing he splits the wood.
>Before Anon could say anything, Caddo asks, “Can I try again?”
>Caddo clearly wants to get him and his siblings those tokens for the arcade.
>Dakota then butts in, “Yeah papaw, I want to do it again.”
>Yukon then says he wants to try again.
>Anon smiles, seeing he won.

>At the house of the Apples, Utah talks to his mother.
>His daughter, Virginia, was out of earshot and in the kitchen, waiting for a cooking lesson from her grandma.
>He already gave her a hug and goodbye.
>”I can’t tell you how glad I am when you said you can look after them for a few days.”
>”It’s no problem, sugarcube. Ya know me and your Pa would do it any time.”
>Utah then leans down and gives his mother a hug.
>As they separate from the hug, AJ then says something he didn’t exactly want to hear.
>”What Ah’m more worried about more is you,” poking his chest while he was still leaning down.
>”You don’t need to worry, Ma. I’ve done things like this plenty of times, both alone and with others. Besides, I got Rory and Prism with me this time around. It’ll be fine.”
>”Ah sure hope it is.”
>”When isn’t it? Don’t worry, I’ll be gone for a week at most,” Utah tells his Ma with a smile.
>As they walk out, they see what Anon is doing with his grandsons.
>Utah and AJ smile.
>”You think he did the trick where he chopped cedar and he got them to chop oak?”
>”When wouldn’t he?”
>Virginia then comes outside, wondering where her Pa and Mamaw went.
>Once she sees the two of them, she hugs her grandma and she hugs her back.
>Even though Utah does get a little entertainment from this, he decides he’s going to intervene at least this one time.
>He walks toward them and sees his sons, noticing all of them soaked in sweat and tired.
>His Ma and daughter follow closely behind.
>”So what did you offer them?”
>”A trip to the arcade and twenty five bits of tokens each,” Anon happily says to his son.
>Utah then says something loudly enough so his sons could hear him as well.
>”How about this, if I can do it, you take them to the arcade.”
>The tired eyes in his sons now grew curious.
>None of them can say they’ve seen their Pa chop wood.
>Anon shakes his hand with his son, “Ya got yourself a deal.”
>They watch in curiosity.
>Utah grabs the axe and makes a small indent in the wood, placing the axe on the stump.
>The curiosity that was once on their faces immediately turned to disappointment.
>He then grabs the piece of wood and gets enough grip.
>With that indent he made, he was able to tear the wood in half with his hands.
>All three eyes widened, and they started to yell in excitement.
>”One trip to the arcade, right?” Utah asks his Pa with a smile.
>”Of course.”
>He then hugged all three of his sons.
>”Alright, you three promise to behave.”
>They all yelled yes they promise.
>”Okay, one of your Ma’s will be here to pick you up in a few days. They better hear from your Mamaw and Papaw that you three behaved.”
>They of course said they will.
>”I’ll see you four in a week at home,” Utah tells them.
>As he leaves, he waves goodbye to his children and his parents, thinking how wonderful things turned out and would never ask for anything different.