a brother's love

I came inside one night from an errand and after starting to make a light-hearted comment I stopped—so struck was I by Jed’s unusually grim demeanor. He somberly informed me that Isaac was in big trouble—a rarity around here. Why? Because during play sparring with light sabers, Isaac had smacked his little brother on the head with his—hard enough to make Lincoln cry—though Jed wasn’t there to see firsthand just how hard or intentional it was. The light sabers had been shelved for a week and the offender was sequestered in time-out.

Lincoln was gently whimpering and had retreated under his “Bee Tee”—his beloved hand-sewn-by-Great-Grandma blanket—on the living room floor.

I went to the door and murmured, “We’re disappointed in you, Isaac,” before closing it shut. But judging from his ashen expression, Isaac seemed pretty penitent about his crime. He even appeared to me to be in a self-punishing position—head squished into the crevice of the seat of the glider, feet awkwardly splayed over the arm rest.

I proceeded with dinner preparations. After about ten minutes I had all but forgotten the severity of the incident and called out, “Dinner time! Isaac, you can come out of time out! Come eat, Boys!”

Typically they quickly scurry in at meal times, but after several minutes neither had emerged. And it struck me that the house was curiously quiet.

“Dinner!” I again hollered. “Isaac, you can come out! The food is ready!”

After several more moments of boys MIA, I began to be perplexed. These are hungry little critters. So I went to find them. Lincoln had abandoned his cocoon in the living room, so I proceeded to their bedroom. But when I pushed open the door I stopped in my tracks—totally unprepared for the site.

Lincoln had snuck into the room and had squeezed his little body onto the glider beside the perpetrator; they were coiled up, one practically on top of the other, little towheads pressed together. In silence. Lincoln’s Bee Tee was wrapped protectively around them, his tiny arm squeezed snug, comfortingly, lovingly, around his big brother’s shoulders.