At the enormous residence of the Casagrandes, one Ronnie Anne Santiago was sitting alone in her custom built room, staring at her half eaten frozen popsicle and letting her mind drift off into space. Just then, her older brother, Bobby, came in and brought in an exciting piece of news: "Guess what, Nie Nie. Grandma is making her famous chili tamales! You gotta try them; they are to die for!" However, much to the teen's dismay, Ronnie didn't so much as look up, even when he loudly busted open her door.
Immediately, his big brother instincts went into full effect as he invited himself in as he sat down next to Ronnie and went to work on solving her dilemma posthaste. "Oh, Nie Nie, you know I hate it when you're sad. So why don't you tell your big brother what's got ya down," Bobby said to her in an amicable manner while Ronnie finally looked up to her older brother's caring eyes. That was when Bobby started to notice that tears were beginning to develop within the pre teen tomboy.
"Bobby," Ronnie whispered in a sombre tone, "please go away..."
"You know I can't do that! I would never live with myself if I left you crying!" Bobby cried out in response, causing Ronnie to become a little less sad, but far more annoyed.
"You really aren't gonna leave until I tell you what's wrong, huh?" Ronnie groaned as the Latino teen nodded in response. Ronnie sighed, knowing there was no way out of opening up, and said: "Well...it's...it's just that..." Ronnie Anne started to whimper as Bobby held her close. "It's okay, Nie Nie. Just let it all out; everything will be just fine."
Ronnie finally relented and squeaked out in submission: "I miss Lincoln..."
Bobby raised his eyebrows. "What?" The young man asked in response, "You miss the Lincolnator? I thought you guys left on good terms."
Ronnie looked back while her eyes started to become red from her tears. "Yes we did, but I just miss him. I miss his cute white hair...I miss his kind heart...and I especially miss the feeling of whooping his butt at Muscle Fish..." Ronnie broke down into a state that she would never *dare* show anybody else, lest she want to ruin her tough girl image. But Bobby always saw straight through her, and this time was no different. He knew that he couldn't stand idly by as his dear younger sister wallowed in her misery.
With a new resolve in mind, Bobby st to work immediately. "Ronnie, I...may not be able to bring Lincoln back, but..." Bobby lost himself as he was looking for something to help Ronnie out of her sorrows. "Wait...how about some ice cream!" Of course! When in doubt, ice cream is always the solution!
Unfortunately, Ronnie shook her head at Bobby's proposal, which left him aghast. 'This is far more serious than I thought!' Bobby thought to himself as he went through his options once more. "Weeellll...how about we forget about the tamales and we can go to that pizza joint. I hear they have their meat pizzas on sale today!" Bobby said in a singsong voice added to the last part. However, Ronnie shook her head once again.
Now, Bobby was at a lost for words. Both of Ronnie favorite things were completely ineffective; what else was there to think of? Bobby began to feel sad himself as he was failing in his brotherly duty to cheer Ronnie up. But just as all hope seemed lost, Bobby thought of one last trick to attempt. With his trump card in his hand, Bobby quietly sank down below Ronnie Anne and waited for her legs to dangle over him.
Once they did so, Bobby sprung like a snake and grabbed Ronnie Anne, lifted her off the ground, and drew her in for a piggy back ride.
"AAhhhh! Bobby, what are you doing?!" Ronnie screamed in surprise as Bobby began spinning around making Ronnie become disoriented and queasy. However, soon after the initial shock wore off, it was replaced with pure joy and pleasure as she held onto Bobby and let her brother ride away her troubles as if they were never there in the first place.
After about 5 minutes or spinning around in place, Bobby finally put Ronnie Anne back on the floor and put his hands on her shoulders. "Soooo...you feel better now?" Bobby asked with a big smile as Bobby felt Ronnie small arms wrap tightly around him.
'Mission accomplished' Bobby thought with pride.
