One cloudy day, Tommy and Dill were playing a game outside when it started to rain. Tommy looked at the sky and felt a raindrop coming on his left arm.

"Dil, I think we should think about going inside. It's starting to rain."

"I don't think it is. It is a cloudy day, but I don't think it will rain on us."

"It can happen anytime soon, Dil. I feel a few of them. I'm going in."

"Have it your way, Tommy. I will come in when I'm good and ready."

"I will see you then. You can get yourself as wet as you like. See you later."

Dil didn't pay much attention to where his older brother had left or not. He now was pulling out some of the grass. He didn't care how much he had pulled from the ground.

"Where's your brother?" Stu asked.

He is Tommy's brother.

"He's still outside, pulling some grass," he answered.

"All right. I will call him in now."

"He told me he will come in when he's good and ready."

"I will see if I can change his mind."

"Good luck with that, Dad. He didn't answer me."

Now it was starting to come down, but he didn't care to stick around for his father to get his brother back in.

He headed to the restroom for a while, but didn't listen to Dil coming in the house because it was starting to come down now.

He slammed the door behind him. There still wasn't any luck on his younger brother coming in from the rain.

"I warned him and Dil. I won't bother with it anymore in the future," Tommy told himself.

He then stayed long enough until he finished washing his hands with soap. He and his hands felt a lot better. Then he returned downstairs.

"Dad, have you any luck with having him in?"

"No, Tommy. No luck at all. Can you try again?"

"He won't listen to me anymore. Just let him come in until he sees for himself that it really is raining."

Stu finally saw his son's point.

"I will give that a try. I do have to agree with you. He's old enough to care for himself," Stu said.

"Okay. He can catch a cold if he doesn't come in," he said to his father.

Once again Stu agreed with his oldest son. Tommy and Dil are now eleven years old. They may be the same age, but they see each other as twins.

They have a couple of friends who are. He thought of calling them today and see if they would like to come over, but decided against it. They probably won't come over anyway.

Still nothing from Dil. He must still be out in the rain, he told himself. Yes, he does care if Dil does get sick, and doesn't want to see it happen anytime soon.

About five minutes later, Tommy finally heard his brother come inside.

Dil found Tommy sitting in his room on his bed.

"Hi, Tommy. I'm back."

"That took you a long time."

"I know. There were some bugs that wanted to visit me, so I gave them some attention."

Tommy didn't care if his brother wanted to stay outside in the rain and hang out with bugs. That was strange of him anyway.

"Do me a favor, Dil."

"What's the favor this time?" he asked.

"Next time it rains, come inside right away so you won't get rained on like you did today."

"I'll try, Tommy."

"I'll just do it if I were you."

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do. I can make my own choices."

Tommy nodded his head and said nothing. Their mother, Dee Dee, was out of town for a few weeks because she had some old friends who wanted to catch up.

"When do you think Mom will come back?" Dil asked their father.

"I don't know how to answer that," Stu told him.

"I miss her anyway. I want her to come back home."

"She will. She just needs to get away from us for a while. We need that time to time, and it's your mother's turn."

Tommy saw their father was right.

"That makes sense, don't you think, Dil?"

"I don't know about that. We haven't seen her for a while. This is why I would want her to come back. I just don't want anything to happen to her."

"I know the feeling, but I miss her too," Tommy told him.

"That's cool. Maybe you and I could do that without her and Dad sometime."

"We will, Dil. But right now we're only eleven years old. I doubt Mom and Dad will let us do that at this age."

"I know, Tommy. You know what?"

"What's that?" Tommy asked him.

"I forgot. I had it in my head, but now I lost it."

"I hate it when that happens," Tommy said.

"Me, too. I want to play a game inside instead because it's really coming down."

Even Tommy saw for himself. His brother was right.

Then they both heard the thunder starting. It still scares Tommy once in a while when it does happen, but not Dil. He doesn't get scared easily like Tommy does.

"What do you have in mind?" Tommy asked.

"Do you want to play Memory? I haven't played it in a long time. What do you think?"

"Let me think about it, and I will let you know."

"You don't have much time to make up your mind."

"I sort of figured that anyway," Tommy told Dil.

"I will give you three minutes."

Dil somehow is the boss at this minute. Tommy is the older one, so he can be the leader, and not his younger brother.

"Let me go somewhere quiet to think about it."

"Where are you planning to go and think?" Dil asked.

"I don't know."

Then he left Dil behind.