Trouble Twins
"Jimmy? Jim? James?!" I say annoyed that my brother is still asleep.
"Henry?" He turns toward me still half asleep.
"Yeah come get dressed we have to run before school." I say throwing his running shoes on the bunk.
"Right," Henry yawns and rubs his eyes. "Its our last day of school."
I know what he's thinking that tomorrow we can run in the morning then come home.
"And sleep in." Jimmy said finishing my thoughts for me. He stands at out dresser picking up a green shirt that Grandma got for Christmas last year. "Yours," Jimmy toss it to me picking up that I wanted to wear it today.
"Thanks man your red shirt in on cloths line still Mary forgot to bring it in last night." I say, we both know she was to busy flirting with Shane to remember. We both role our eyes quietly slipping out of room, pass Mary's pink room and tip-toeing past MJs' room. He wasn't a morning a person like Mama and Mary. They all loved sleeping and waking one of then up before it was time would be instant death.
"Morning Boys'," Dad said entering with the basket of laundry that Mary was suppose to bring in.
"Hey Dad." We say together. I start to pack lunches as Jimmy looks for his shirt. Our house balanced in that three of us needed a full nights sleep and the other three could get and run five miles around the colony. I'm done with our lunch's and Jimmy has his shirt in his school bag, we'll shower and change in the gym before school starts.
"Its a shame you boys aren't interested in being soldiers." Dad said watching us as we move knowing what the other doing or moving out of the way as one of us pass the other.
"Hey." We say together now that we're awake we'll start to talk in unison and finish each others sentence's.
"You have MJ." I start.
"And we don't play well with others." Jimmy finished for me.
He shakes his head "I tried. Now remember Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Josh's family are coming over for dinner to celebrate Mary's graduation."
"Got it Dad," I say knowing that the teachers are sad that Mary is going her final years of high school then she be off to her apprenticeship. It was all she talked lately going OTG and not the lake or to the training field were Gracie Taylor taught survival. She wanted to go deep into the jungle.
"Henry come on." Jimmy said taking for fruit from the bowl.
"Bye Dad," We say leaving the house.
)()(
Running in the morning is like flying. You feel like nothing can touch you and you have wings on your feet. I don't remember a time when we aren't running or together Jimmy was a part of me and I was a part of him. Our run ends at the school it goes from kindergarten to the 8th grade so our cousins Travis and Emily are here the rest are in the high school or have jobs. I want to be a teacher and teach history at one of the schools and Jimmy he wants to appritence with a potter who makes ceramics bowls, cups vase's, etc. We don't talk about it yet but one day we'll be apart from each other.
"Henry?" Jimmy waves a hand in front of my face.
"Sorry bro," I take my breakfast we're sweaty and smell.
"Henry?"
"Yeah Jim," He wants to ask something but its complex.
"Remember when Commander said that we we're allowed to have pet dinosaurs eggs after Slashers incident."
"Jimmy you didn't?" I ask half amazed that he has a secret of half hurt that he kept it from me.
"We were in Survival class Caption Taylor and I kinda got lost but it was the advanced class so if I was missing only you would miss me. I found this nest in a ledge by the old water falls."The Lucas Falls that's slasher territory." I say louder then I should've.
"Well I guess that phainsour should've know that because she was dead and most of her eggs were broken."
"Most?"
"There were two that were still whole so I brought them back to our house."
"James!" I can't believe he did this and I didn't know about it. "There are eggs in our house?"
"In the basement. I hide them in a box of our old baby cloths near the hot water heater." He's trying to look ashamed but smile is daring to escape.
"Why are you telling me now?"
"I looked in the eye and they're about to hatch any day now. Henry I want to fly, really fly like they could do in future." He's pleading now.
"The first person they see will be the one they see as Mama. I can't do this without you."
He's right I do want to fly its been our dream to fly over the colony to place unexplored. I take a deep breath "Fine. But if we die I'll kill you."
"Deal."
"So, what now?"
"We finish school check on them when we get home." He said with a knowing tone, he had this lying thing down.
"I can't lie." I whisper as we sit in our desk.
"Why do you think I waited so long to tell you," Jimmy said as the teacher comes in.
"What do they eat?"
"Fish mostly in lean times they'll go after road kill or very fatty fruits but in early development they need fish," Jimmy said.
"Mr. Reynolds something you feel the class should know?" Miss Jenny our teacher and Kara's roommate asked.
"Um...Baby dinaours need to be fed mouth to mouth for the first six weeks of there life." The class snickers.
"That is true," She said smiling it was never good when a teacher smiled. Bad things happened when teachers smiled. "I think for our last day we should play a game." Taking out many casts' of foot prints she said. "I would like it Mr. Reynolds to tell me, which, dinosaur this is?"
"Nokyo-Raptor. From the size of the print I'd say its a adult female. You can tell its female from the the extra toe." Jimmy point to the extra tow on the left.
"And this is?"
"Carno," He looks at the toe measuring with his hand. "Young male a hatchling of about ten weeks."
"This," She mad now what he doesn't know is that Jimmy is like Aunt Zoe. He loved the dinaours that surrounded over home from the minute he saw them.
"Is a juvenile slasher, female."
"This?"
"A adult Broncosouras, can tell because its to small to be a male but to big to be a Juvenile."
The bell rings I took Jimmy's' bag. "Lets go brother," I say grabbing his collar.
We run home arriving just in time to see Mom leaving for the market. "Boys don't you run enough in the mornings."
"Sorry Mom." We say together.
"I'm going to the store stay here till in case your cousins come over early." She said kissing us on the cheek.
We look at each other, she never leave us home alone "Basement." I say entering the house. Throwing our bags in on the kitchen table I take out the Carno meat I saved from lunch just in case, Jimmy did the same.
"Are you ready?" I ask its not to late to give them to Malcolm and he'll take them someplace else.
"Yep," He opens the door. I hear it the and so does Jim.
"Oh my God." He said as the Pterosaur's are flying around the basement. One of them looks at Jim. It dive bombs him causing him to fall but he's to busy laughing.
The other one lands looking at me. I bend down holding out the meat its stringy like cheese the ptero looks at then at me. "Its good." Taking a bit of it just so it knows. Slowly the little legs move then in a flash it in my hand eating.
"Oh. Henry it like me." Jimmy has his in the crock of his arm like a baby he's slowly rubbing the stomach. "I read about in the eye they need to rubbed and fed every four hours. Also talking to them helps them to learn English so they'll understand us."
"You no speak English?" I ask the mess of skin in my lap. Its a boy I think Jimmy is the dinosaur man not me.
"There both girl. Girls have the verticals marking," Jimmy said reading my mind.
"A girlie, girl." I rubbed the top of the head. "That's okay I'll make up a tom-bird."
"I think I'll mine Hailey. Like the comet its going to pass around next year." Jimmy said in coo voice.
In my normal voice I tell my bird "I'm not going to talk like that but I do think your cute so I'll call you Alicia. She's a tough woman, married to the Commander they have a daughter Gracie. Don't tell anyone I told you but she tougher then her parents but because she was born here like us."
"Henry?"
"Yes, We're crazy for doing this."
"What will we tell Mom and Dad?"
"Tell them we're turning this into our workout room, were we can workout and play music as loud as we went." Dad wasn't a fan of music it was the 2149 music we got from Uncle Josh.
"That might work."
Looking at Alicia I'm already thinking about flying she wants to fly to I can feel in her. The powerful heart in her small body. "One day, girlie we'll be flying so high in the big blue sky."