Juxtaposition.
"Something happened to him in his first 8 days. I don't know what it is, but after that he changed and doesn't like to see nobody get pushed around." - Chuckie
Tommy recognized the white walls of the hospital. He learned to associate them correctly by observing that the only times they went there was when they were sick. But there was nothing wrong with either of them. And it had been exactly eight days since Dil's birth.
He knew this day would come, for it was exactly at eight days old when he himself had a surgery that caused him unnecessary pain and suffering.
He remembered how painful it was, lying there, being restrained with clamps as doctors used tools to forcibly probe underneath his foreskin, ripping it from the head before removing it all together. He recalled feeling pain for the next weeks without understanding why.
He had now come to understand that the whole experience was unnecessary, for he recalled the time when they had a small inflatable pool in their back yard and Chuckie's shorts accidentally fell off. He recalled staring at him curiously as he noticed the difference between Chuckie & himself. He was naturally puzzled by why his parents had chosen to have this surgery performed on him at eight days old. Couldn't it have waited? Shouldn't he have gotten a say in the matter? What if he actually liked having a foreskin? Chuckie's parents didn't have him go through it, so why did they?
It was obvious from countless of Dil's diaper changes and Chuckie's behavior that their bodies were normal and they didn't suffer any problems because of it. Tommy on the other hand, sometimes felt pain and discomfort when he walked. But even worse than the unnecessary pain he'd gone through was that he'd never get to know what it was like to have one. And because of this, he wanted his brother to have the choice he didn't have, so he was going to try to stop the surgery from talking place.
As the doctors took Dil away, Tommy started to cry. It was the only form of communication he had.
The parents took him out of the room to let the doctor do his job, but they could still see everything through the big window. He started crying louder as he saw the doctor strapping his brother down on what they used for his procedure.
"What's wrong, Tommy?" His mother asked as she tried to calm him down.
He tried reaching for the door, but it was out of reach, so he tried the window, but it proved pointless as his parents were still clueless as to why he was crying. But his cries were so loud that they got the attention of an assistant that happened to be passing by.
"Is that his brother in there?" He asked.
"Yes." His mother replied.
"It's okay, little man. It's just a snip." He said as he turned towards Tommy.
Tommy's crying only intensified. It wasn't just a little snip. Hearing him try to diminish the pain he'd gone through was quite appalling.
"It's your brother that's getting circumcised, not you." The assistant laughed.
"Dil's brother is circumcised too." His mother said.
The doctor's assistant then took a different approach and said, "You guys know that circumcision is unnecessary, right? There are really no medical advantages to circumcision. And there's really no reason for circumcising him right now. I mean, if he really wanted to, he could get circumcised once he reached the age of consent; there'd be nothing stopping him, but if he gets cut right now, there's just no way to get it reattached or anything."
"Yes, but we're jewish!"
"Actually, there's a new ceremony for jews called the 'Brit Shalom' that does away with the blood ritual and replaces it with a naming ceremony. Some of them involve the washing of the baby's feet as a way to welcome him to the world. And according to the law, since his mother is jewish, he is automatically a jew too. I'm only saying this because I've heard some jews like David Cross complain about it."
Tommy's crying had calmed down a bit and was mostly sobbing as he felt a change in their mood.
"Well," his mother said, "I guess we could wait. I mean, it is his body, so it should be his choice, right?"
"We could one day tell him about how he saved his brother from being circumcised." His father smiled.
The doctor's assistant went into the room and explained everything to the doctor and then brought Dil back shortly afterwards.
Tommy looked back at his brother and smiled as their parents carried them back to the waiting room, where they were met with Chuckie's parents for moral support. They put their children down and let them go in the play area.
"Tommy, what happened?" Chuckie asked. "We could hear you crying all the way over here."
"They were gonna hurt my brother, but I stopped them, didn't I Dil?" Tommy said playfully.
"Why would they hurt him? Isn't this place supposed to make you feel better when you're sick?" Chuckie asked.
"They hurt me a long time ago too." Tommy said, showing Chuckie what he meant.
Surprised, Chuckie said, "Sorry Tommy, I didn't know."