“Meghan Jacoby. H-hey. We weren’t doin’ notin’.” He backed up a few steps
adding, “He fell on his own!” The bully then scurried off, his two toadies at his
heels.
Meghan jumped off her perch with a satisfied smirk.
“I should have just given him two more black eyes,” she boasted. She held out
her hand, offering to help her brother off the ground. “You can thank me any
time, Little Bro.”
Colin stubbornly ignored the offer and dragged himself out of the mud. He
collected his mud-ruined book and walked toward home. Meghan’s longer stride
easily allowed her to catch up and she sauntered along side him.
“Okay. Fine. Don’t thank me.”
Colin still did not answer.
“Nice move by the way,” she continued, ignoring his brooding demeanor.
Mockingly she repeated, “I think I am actually older than you… good way to get
your head bit off, Little Bro.”
Colin stopped abruptly, clenching his teeth. “I tried to block you."
“Yeah, I sensed that. Why?”
“Maybe I am tired of having someone in my head all the time!”
“You think you’re tired of it! Your head is exhausting.”
“Then why don’t you stay out?”
“So you would rather have your face full of mud and your underwear pulled up
over your head right now, then?”
Colin, now fuming, stormed away as fast as his short legs would allow him.
Could there be anything worse than his sister coming to his rescue? The fact
that she was his younger sister (yes, by only two minutes, but still younger),
would always make it worse!
“Ah! Will I ever grow?” he screamed silently, successfully blocking the thought
from her.
As they neared the campsite, Meghan, sensing his irritation, attempted to
smooth things over.
“Colin, we can’t help that we hear each other’s thoughts. Just try a little
harder to block me out if you don’t want me to hear.” It did not have the helpful
effect that she had hoped it would.
Colin pushed past her and into their uncle’s travel trailer. Their uncle, Arnon
Jacoby, sat inside, tinkering on a toaster. His eyes widened at the sight of Colin,
covered in mud, but before he could ask what had happened, Colin spat out,
“Don’t ask!” and disappeared into the bathroom.
“Don’t tell me those same bullies are back again?” Arnon asked Meghan, when
she entered a moment later. She nodded yes and sat down, helping herself to a
glass of juice.
“I wonder if I should have a talk with their parents.”
“Yeah! If you wanna get him killed!” she scolded her uncle.
“You’re probably right,” he agreed after a moment.
