Chapter 8: Sweet Freedom

May, 2009

Sunlight poured into the living room through the blinds that covered the windows, telling Theodore that it was late in the afternoon and that night was approaching. The fact that he'd made it through two months of going to 11th Street Alternate School was in itself a miracle. True, he had come close to losing his top, especially when one of his fellow students annoyed him with questions or commenting on something that he was doing, like with his writing or his frustrations with trying to figure out the answer to a difficult math question. One boy had even told one other student that the chipmunk was writing about him. Theodore, on the other hand, simply considered it a coincidence that the boy had the same exact name as his skunk character: Erik Matthews.

Now he could relax, but when the thought that he had to go back to school the following day crept into his mind, his good mood was suddenly ruined. He picked up the remote in hopes that some television would distract him. These days it was hard for him to find anything entertaining. Chuckling to himself, he recalled at least one show that he had quickly become a fan of: World's Dumbest, a program on the network known as truTv that featured video clips of people acting in idiotic ways with celebrities offering comical comments. It was the only reason why he bothered to watch television on Thursday nights.

Theodore decided to go upstairs to play some video games, passing Alvin and Simon along the way. When he walked in the room, he discovered that the controller to the video game console was missing. It was strange since the controller was usually found in the first drawer of Alvin's dresser, where his video games, T-shirts, and boxers were kept along with the controller with its cord wrapped around it. When he searched through all three drawers for the supposedly invisible controller (he was sure to put things back in their proper space afterward), he went back downstairs to see that Simon and Alvin were getting ready to leave. "Have either one of you seen the controller to the PlayStation?"

Simon nodded as he took a drink from a can of soda he held in his hand. "Yeah, we both know where it is, but we're telling you where."

Theodore glared, having a pretty good idea why his brothers weren't letting him use the controller in the first place. Just to test his hypothesis, he asked, "Why?"

"Because we know you," Alvin spoke up. "As soon as we leave, you'll get on the Internet and look at that furry stuff."

Theodore folded his arms, his expression the same. "And how do you suppose I'll do that when there's no modem to connect the PlayStation to the Internet?"

"You'd find a way around that," Alvin suspected.

"Precisely," Simon agreed, nodding his head, "which is why I'm taking my laptop with me."

It was hard for Theodore to remain calm. "Alvin, Simon, hand over the controller . . . now!" He held out his hand. "All I'm going to do is play some video games and that's all."

"Bull," Alvin snapped. "You can't fool us that easily." With Simon, he began to make his way out the door, but was suddenly stopped by Theodore. He stared at his chubby brother who was blocking the front door with his body, his arms and legs spread out to prevent either one of them from opening the door. The chubby chipmunk, he noticed, did not look happy.

"You two aren't going anywhere until I have that controller," Theodore growled.

"I swear, you have an addiction to the Internet," Simon groaned.

"I do not," Theodore objected. "I'm just going to play some video games, that's all."

"Look, Theo, we're not stupid," Alvin said. "You're not going up there to play video games, you're going up there to look at pictures of animals doing each other."

Theodore inhaled slowly, trying his best to maintain his composure. He lifted a finger. "I'm only going to say this once more. Give me the controller before you really start to upset me."

"Allow me to repeat myself," Simon said. "We . . . are not . . . going to . . . give you . . . the controller. Surely you can find something better to do. Read a book, do some artwork, watch some TV, or take a nap. You could probably use one, anyway."

Theodore sighed in defeat, knowing that there was no way of getting through to his brothers. "Fine. You two do whatever you want. I'll be upstairs in the bathroom taking a hot bath." With his hand gliding along the handrail, he made his way upstairs without so much as a second glance at his brothers as they left the house.

With My Brother's Keeper completed and My Brother's Keeper: Between the Years still in the process of being written, Theodore considered getting My Brother's Keeper published. He knew that it would not be easier, though. For one thing, he would probably have to make some changes to the story that he wouldn't like, such as changing his characters to humans and taking out the religious stuff so as not to offend people. Plus, the publishing company would most likely charge him a large sum of money before they would publish his work. While his family and friends had liked the book, they had suggested that he make his characters human so they were more relatable. They claimed that using animals as characters was not only childish, but also very mature. When he thought of this, he grew annoyed. Why was that movie companies like Pixar could use whatever they wanted to make characters, even going as far as using cars as characters, but yet he couldn't use animals as characters because they weren't relatable? He wondered if that were so, then why did all of Pixar's films get nothing but positive reviews when they used things like cars and toys as characters and people could relate to them and the problems they faced? Surely anyone could relate to a binge eating raccoon struggling with the temptation to overeat. He could.

He decided to not change a thing about his story until he had a professional read it and give him their opinion on the story. While he was not looking for any awards for the book, he was looking for his voice to be heard. It irritated him when he thought of the fact that kids younger than he was getting their books published, and he envied authors like J.K. Rowling and Stephen King for their success. He thought of himself as a good writer, but knew that he was nowhere near as good as a writer like Edgar Allan Poe or William Shakespeare. With some more practice, though, perhaps he could be. It would be a miralce if he could get anyone to publish his book. After all, first-time authors often struggled to get any money off from their book, much less getting it published.

Theodore didn't take the chance of getting his book published right away, however. He wanted to finish his schoolyear before he focused on such a task. With the last day of school approaching fast, he didn't think it would be too long before he would be looking for a publishing company to publish his book.

It irritated Theodore that he didn't start having fun at 11th Street Alternate School until near the end of the school year. Since he was one of the students who stayed on his best behavior, he was one of the students who was allowed to attend a luncheon with Angela and the other good-natured children at a restaurant known as Mariah's.

The luncheon was held on the third week of May, one week before the schoolyear ended. Theodore made sure that his school clothes were washed, wanting to look his best for the special occasion. Aside from Angela, Mr. Hunter would also be attending the luncheon. Since it would take them thirty minutes to get to the restaurant, they boarded the bus at exactly eleven A.M. to ensure that they were able to eat lunch at thirty minutes past eleven.

The bus hit a bump, causing Theodore to suddenly lurch forward. He grabbed onto the seat in front of him to steady himself, then turned back to the book he was reading. Upon Simon's recommendation, he had decided to read The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer. He made sure to pay close attention to how the author progressed the story as he read since his biggest challenge with writing was keeping the story moving at a steady pace and trying not to make the story too boring.

Eventually, he got tired of reading and put the book away. He took out a small sketchbook and a pencil. He began drawing a picture of his skunk character Marshmallow. Just like he'd envisioned her, he drew her in a diaper, a T-shirt, and a pink bonnet. He put a pink pacifier in her mouth and a baby bottle of warm milk beside her. He gave her an angry expression, as if she wasn't pleased with the attire that he'd put her in. Still, he couldn't hide the smile on his face. In his opinion, she looked adorable. Absolutely adorable. However, drawing the picture had been difficult with the bus constantly jerking him around in every which direction. He was quite pleased with his drawing. If Simon had a printer with a scanner, he could have posted the picture on Deviant Art.

Sadly, the punishment of not being allowed on the Internet was still in effect, at least until the end of the schoolyear, Theodore hoped. He hoped that once May ended, he could go back to using Simon's laptop to get on the Internet to read fanfiction, look at peoples' drawings on Fur Affinity and Deviant Art, and watch videos and listen to his favorite songs on YouTube. He wished, though, that he had his own laptop to do such things. He knew that Simon had things to do on his and knew that his older brother didn't like him using his laptop all the time.

To get his mind off his punishment (just two more weeks to go, Theodore, he reminded himself), he decided to draw another picture. This one was easier to draw since the road that the bus was going down wasn't as bumpy as the last one, resulting in the chipmunk not being tossed around as often. This picture not only featured Marshmallow, but also featured Erik as well. He drew Marshmallow lying in Erik's lap as he bottle-fed her. Like babies often did, the white skunk gripped the upper part of the bottle with both paws while Erik held the bottom of it with one paw while his other one gently held Marshmallow's head. He drew a smile on Marshmallow's face and drew a white circle in both her eyes and Erik's eyes to make them appear shiny. He also drew a smile on Erik's face while the overweight skunk bottle-fed his baby sister. This picture made Theodore smile as well. His drawing skills had certainly improved over the years and the picture he'd drawn with Erik and Marshmallow was better than the one he'd drawn with just Marshmallow, at least in his opinion.

He drew a third picture: a picture featuring Erik and Colin. In this picture, Colin held Erik in his arms, comforting the fat skunk from the thunderstorm occurring outside the window that Theodore drew to the right of the two characters. The thought of them being gay lovers suddenly crept into his head and he had the urge to draw a picture of the two of them having anal sex. He shook his head, knowing that he was getting the idea because of Amarimasi's pictures that he still had on the flash drive. He swallowed hard and fought the urge and instead began drawing a picture of Erik holding a stuffed teddy bear that he called Mr. Snuggles.

He was suddenly lurched forward. Luckily, he wasn't busy working a picture at the time. He looked up to discover that the bus was parked in front of the restaurant known as Mariah's. He turned his gaze to Angela and waited patiently for any instructions that he and the others would be given.

Angela rose from her seat and turned to the group behind her. "Since you are all very good at being on your best behavior, then we should have no problem with you being good while on this trip, right?"

The group nodded.

Angela smiled. "Very good. Mr. Hunter will lead you inside and have you seated. Mr. Hunter?"

The black man stood up with a clipboard tucked under his arm. "Okay, let's go!" He pulled a lever beside him, opening the bus doors. He departed from the bus with the group and Angela behind him.

A young woman took them upstairs and had them seated in a room separate from the restaurant that had been reserved for them. Unfortunately, they were not allowed to order their meals. They were all given the same thing, but at least they were allowed to order their own beverages. They discussed their future plans upon going back to their public schools and upon graduating from high school. The young woman seemed excited when Theodore told her that he wanted to become a writer after college.

Theodore was reminded of his story Sick of Living (Or, How to Love a Skunk) when the young woman read a story about two kids becoming friends when they literally bumped into each other one day after school. Just like Erik had done with Colin, one of the kids admitted to the other a few years later that he had been planning on killing himself upon arriving at his home. However, he did not mention any of this to anyone in the room. What he wrote was his own personal business, no one else's.

The following week, Theodore and the others got a special lunch, as if it were a way of saying good-bye to the students. They were given pizza to eat during lunch with their choice of soda: Sprite, Coca-Cola, Mello Yello, or Dr. Pepper. They were also allowed which pizza they wanted: cheese or pepproni. Theodore chose two slices of cheese pizza and a bottle of Mello Yello. He sat with his fellow troublemakers, eating his pizza and washing it down with his drink. He wondered why they couldn't have done things like going out to eat or ordering pizza for lunch all the time. Why did they have to wait until the end of the schoolyear to do such things? He shrugged when he couldn't figure out an answer and continued to eat his food.

After lunch, a game was played in which each student earned a prize. There were less than fifteen students, so there were plenty of prizes to go around. Roughly, there were only twelve of them. Since he enjoyed reading so much Theodore got a book written by Keven McQueen called More Offbeat Kentuckians. He only knew one Kentuckian from history class: Daniel Boone.

Finally, on the twenty-seventh of May, Dave picked Theodore up to take him home so they could begin planning their vacation. As they were passing Angela's office, they were discussing going to the graduation ceremony at Warren Central High School to celebrate Alvin, Simon, Brittany, and Jeanette graduating from high school.

"He can't go to a high school graduation," Angela called.

With Theodore alongside him, Dave walked in the woman's office. "Excuse me?"

"Until he starts back to school in September, he is still considered a student here and therefore, is still not allowed to go anywhere near his former school," Angela explained.

Dave's expression hardened. "You're kidding me, right? I was told that today was his last day here."

"By who?" Angela stood up, glaring at the black-haired man in front of her.

"Ms. Hood, the principal of his former school!"

"Really? Well, that's not I was told by the school board. As you know, Mr. Seville, the school board is superior to any school principal. The school board states that until he starts his junior year of high school, he is still a student here."

Dave sighed. He tugged at Theodore's arm. "Come on, Theodore, let's go." He led his chubby son outside the school to his car.

"There, perfect," Simon declared, adjusting Alvin's cap. He took a few steps back to admire his work. "You look good! Take a look for yourself." He gripped Alvin's shoulders and turned him so that they were both facing the mirror. He smiled at their reflection. "What do you think?"

Alvin spun on a heel, allowing his navy blue gown to twirl. "I do look good." He turned and smiled at his brother. "Are you excited about tonight?"

Simon nodded. "Totally." His face brightened as the sound of a closing door was heard. "Dave's home!" With Alvin beside him, he went downstairs to meet Dave and Theodore. His face fell when he saw the expression on Dave's face. "Is everything all right?"

Dave shook his head. "No, everything is not all right. Apparently, Theodore cannot attend your graduation tonight because according to the principal at 11th Street Alternate School, he's still considered a student at the school until he starts his junior year of high school in September."

Simon and Alvin looked at each other, blinked, then glared at Dave and Theodore.

"Are you serious?" Alvin demanded.

Simon seemed just as furious. "Hasn't he been through enough?"

"Oh, by the way," Theodore spoke up, "as soon as I get the chance, I'm going to post all of my old stories back online, just as soon as I rewrite all of them."

Simon smiled and raised a hand. "That won't be necessary. While I did delete your stories from , I did not delete them from my computer. I have them all saved and whenever you're ready, you can post them on the Internet. While you're staying here, you can go about doing so. As far as I'm concerned, your punishment of not being allowed on the Internet has overstayed its welcome. It's not right for me and Alvin to get on the Internet and not you. Therefore, starting today your Internet privileges are hereby restored."

"Will you be all right staying here by yourself?" Dave asked Theodore.

Theodore nodded. "Oh, yeah, I'll be fine. I'll probably eat a sandwich or two, watch some videos online, then fall asleep while listening to some music. You guys go ahead and have a good time. You can record the ceremony for me."

"Still," Alvin said, "it doesn't feel the same without you."

Theodore chuckled. "I know what you mean, but you guys at least try to have a good time without me. If it weren't for Ms. Lawler, I could go with you, but . . ."

Simon checked his watch. "We don't need to be there by five, but I'm sure we can think of something to do for two hours and thirty minutes."

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't very hungry at lunch today," Alvin admitted. "I could go for something to eat."

"You could come with us," Dave offered to Theodore. "Afterwards, we could drop you back off here and go to the high school for the graduation ceremony."

"Are you sure it's not too much gas?" Theodore inquired.

"Not at all," Simon replied. "Come on, I'll let you use my laptop along the way so you have something to do."

Theodore nodded and grinned. "Well, I'll like to make some changes to my stories before I post them online again. Okay, go get your laptop and meet us outside in Dave's car."

Simon began heading upstairs. "You shouldn't have a problem getting on the Internet in the city. Aside from the countryside, you can get wireless Internet pretty much anywhere. I would advise you not to try doing so in the countryside, because it's impossible to get a good signal all the way out there."

"I thought your laptop came with a built-in broadband card." Theodore began following his older brother.

Simon readjusted his glasses. "It does, but it's at Verizon getting replaced. For the time being, we'll have to rely on wireless Internet." He walked in the bedroom that the three chipmunk brothers shared and retrieved his laptop from his bed before walking back over to Theodore, who stood in the doorway. "Does it bother that I still have some sites blocked? You know, like the one that features that bunny and that fox doing . . . stuff to each other?"

Theodore shook his head. "No, though I must say I am going to miss looking at that stuff. However, I'm trying my best to avoid looking at things like that. It's not healthy."

"Well, at least some good came out of this." With his laptop tucked under one arm, Simon wrapped an arm around his little brother as the two made their way down the stairs. After making sure no one was watching, especially not Alvin, he gave Theodore a tiny kiss on the cheek. "If you tell anyone about that, so help me I will kill you." He smiled at Theodore, letting his little brother know that he was simply toying with him.

To make Theodore feel better about not being able to join them at the graduation ceremony, Dave decided to let the chubby chipmunk pick where they ate. Since the ceremony was a special occasion, Theodore didn't want to pick a fast-food restaurant, but rather wished to go to a restaurant in which they could talk with each other as they ate.

"Olive Garden it is, then," Dave said, taking a right as a red light turned green.

The four of them spent over an hour at Olive Garden, mainly because they waited so long for their food to arrive. As they waited, they discussed what types of colleges they would like to attend based on their interests and fields of study that they would like to major in upon going to college. Theodore confessed that he didn't his brothers or Brittany and Jeanette to go away and hoped that the four of them would stay with him and Eleanor in Los Angeles. To his surprise, Alvin and Simon agreed that staying close to home would be best so they wouldn't have to travel very long during the holidays. Luckily, there was a college a few miles away from Los Angeles that suited both their needs when it came to their career of choice. Alvin wanted to get a degree in comedy and become a stand-up comedian ("like Jeff Dunham," he added with a laugh), which surprised no one in particular. Meanwhile, Simon wanted to become either a scientist or a scholar, and this too did not surprise anyone.

It was only after he was dropped back at home that Theodore felt a deep sadness in the pit of his stomach. Pretty soon his brothers would be away from home, only if it was by a few miles, leaving him alone with their father. He supposed that life with Dave wouldn't be too bad, but the fact that he'd be living with Dave by himself didn't make him happy. He had always envisioned his brothers living with him and Dave until after they finished college to live out their dreams.

Moving slowly, Theodore made his way up the stairs and to the bedroom that he shared with his brothers. He stopped at his bedside and pulled out a package of diapers from underneath his bed, followed by a baby bottle and a small jug of milk. He put on a small T-shirt that stopped at his waist after he took off his green sweater, then lied down on his bed and put on several diapers before he finally felt comfortable with how thick they were. Finally, he poured himself a baby bottle of milk and began sucking on the nipple, slowly drawing the milk from the bottle and into his mouth. A smile crept across his lips as he felt something long and fleshy poke through the front of his diaper and rub against his belly. He was happy once again.

As the milk began to fill him with a state of sleepiness (and fill his diapers with urine), he recalled a review that someone had posted on one of his stories. True, it had been a positive review, but the reviewer had presented a common complaint that he'd received from a lot of his fans:

"Another great chapter from you! Keep up the good work! You're a great writer! However, I find the use of baby items . . . tasteless. But, eh, you're the writer. Do whatever works for you. Again, keep up the good work and update soon."

At the moment, he could not recall the name of the person who had left the review and it didn't particularly matter at the moment. As thoughts of nostalgia filled his head, he suddenly realized why he often wrote about his characters being treated like babies and why he himself enjoyed wearing diapers and drinking from a nursing bottle. It was because he, like so many others on the Internet, was a teen baby, a teenager who suffered from a diaper fetish and loved to be treated like an infant. At first, he thought that there was something wrong with him. He figured, though, that as long as he wasn't hurting anybody, there was nothing wrong with him wearing diapers and drinking milk from a baby bottle. He was just grateful that no one other than him and his fellow dipaer lovers on the Internet knew about his secret fetish. With the hope that no one ever would find out about it, he drifted off to sleep, dropping the empty baby bottle by his bedside. He rolled over onto his stomach while he continued to fill his diapers.

Dave, Simon, and Alvin didn't get home until eight o' clock. Seeing their brother fast asleep, the two chipmunk brothers decided not to disturb him, though as to why there was a package of diapers by the chubby chipmunk's bedside and why the chipmunk's sweater was discarded a few feet away from his dresser, they couldn't help but wonder. Still, they decided that it was Theodore's personal business and decided not to meddle in it. If Theodore enjoyed dressing up like a baby, who were they to judge him. The two of them brushed their teeth in silence, then went to bed.

June, 2009

Theodore was thrilled about the schoolyear being over. The chipmunk was in desperate need of a vacation. Unfortunately for him, he and the others would not be going on vacation until the end of June and near the beginning of July. This was just fine with Theodore since it would give him time to attempt to get his book published and do some more writing for his second novel My Brother's Keeper. In the meantime, he would continue to attend therapy meetings with Ashley throughout the summer, much to his annoyance since he felt that doing so would only end up ruining his summer. With the thought of his book possibly getting published over the summer, the idea of attending therapy wasn't enough to dampen his good mood. It was only until both Alvin and Simon approached him to discuss something in My Brother's Keeper that he began to wonder whether or not they'd find out about his secret fetish. Considering the fact that he had fallen asleep on the night of their graduation before he'd had a chance to put away his baby items, he thought that maybe they had.

On the morning in which Alvin and Simon questioned about something odd in his novel, Theodore sat at the kitchen table eating his breakfast. With Dave being at work, the three of them didn't have to worry about their father finding out about the chubby chipmunk's diaper fetish, and Theodore prayed that the man wouldn't any time soon.

Seeing two shadows cover the table in front of him, Theodore glanced up at his brothers to see the both of them giving him a curious look. "What?" He set his Pop-Tart down and wiped his mouth.

"Oh, it's nothing," Simon said, sitting down beside the chubby chipmunk with Alvin. He held up a stack of papers for Theodore to observe. "We were just looking through the latest version of your novel My Brother's Keeper, Theodore, and there are an awful lot of references to diapers and bottle-feeding in this one. For example, in one scene Colin is walking through the park with a new character named Marshmallow while she is sitting in a stroller wearing diapers and drinking milk from a baby bottle. In another scene, Colin is being bottle-fed by Erik's mother since she believes he is anorexic and decides to feed him herself."

"We find it . . ." Alvin struggled to put his thoughts in suitable terms so as not to upset his little brother. ". . . disturbing and uncomfortable. I mean, you're the writer. You can do whatever you want, but, uh, I would suggest taking this stuff out since we think it would make your book better."

"If you want to publish this copy, then that's fine," Simon proclaimed. You can do whatever you want. However, I don't think many people are going to like reading about an eighteen-year old raccoon being bottle-fed by his mother."

"Or about an eleven-year old white skunk wearing diapers," Alvin added.

"Is this stuff . . . bad?" Theodore inquired.

Simon shook his head. "No. In fact, many people online write stuff like this all the time."

"Especially on that Fur Affinity site that you go on so much," Alvin agreed.

"Not to mention Deviant Art," Simon added. "Plus, I've seen some pictures on some skunks and other animals in diapers and being bottle-fed on my computer. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, Theodore?"

"I thought I deleted those," Theodore grumbled. He gave his brothers a concerned look. "You guys aren't going to tell Dave that I like . . . doing those things myself, are you?"

"No, you don't have to worry about that," Alvin reassured his little brother. "I recommend that you let your therapist read this and see what she thinks."

"Or, you could write to that KJ-52 guy you like so much and see what he thinks," Simon suggested. "He could probably help you out more than she could."

Theodore nodded slowly. "O-Okay."

"Great!" Simon chuckled. "So, no hard feelings, right, Theodore?"

Theodore shook his head. "No, no hard feelings."

Alvin patted his shoulder. "Good. I hope you understand, Theodore, that we're passing judgment on you or nothing like that. We'd just like to understand why you write about these things."

Theodore swallowed. Telling his brothers why he wrote about such things would be hard, but he knew that telling Dave or his therapist the same thing would be a lot harder. "It's because . . . I'm one of them. I, uh, I . . . have . . . a diaper fetish." He exhaled. For some odd reason, he felt better, as if a large weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Like I said, there's nothing wrong with that," Simon said. "If those things are what makes you happy, then we have no right to judge you." He looked up to see Alvin getting himself something to eat. "Ah, I might as well get myself some breakfast as well." He rose from his seat and walked over to the cabinet that Alvin was bent over.

"Are there any other changes that you'd like me to make to the story?" Theodore asked. While his brothers were very critical, he did appreciate their advice and their honesty.

"Yeah," Simon agreed as he opened a package of Pop-Tarts. "There are an awful lot of references to getting fat in your novel, especially when it comes to Colin. In one scene, he gets fat from eating all the food in the kitchen." He chuckled. "He actually looks really cute when he's fat, don't you think?"

Theodore chuckled himself.

"You wouldn't happen to have a fat fetish, too, would you?" Simon asked Theodore. He bit off a corner of the Pop-Tart he held in his hand.

Theodore rubbed his neck and gave his brothers a nervous look. "Yeah . . . Yeah, I do."

"Well, there's no need to be ashamed," Simon reassured him. "After all, we each have something that arouses us. Right, Alvin?"

Alvin straightened up from the cabinet having found his breakfast: a granola bar. "Might I make a suggestion? I suggest that you take out all the religious stuff since all that does is ruin the story, in my opinion. Having your characters go on and on about God, the Bible, and all that hooey is really boring and ruins the action in the story. Plus, I find it offensive and I am sure that many of your readers will as well."

"I was going to say that exact same thing," Simon said. "I've noticed that in an awful lot of your stories, Theodore, that you talk more about the Bible than your characters or the action in the story. Doing that only distracts the reader from what's going on in the story and causes them to forget about the main plot in the story."

Theodore nodded. "I hear what you're saying. That's exactly why I hated Fireproof."

"Oh, thank goodness, I'm not the only one who hated that abomination of a 'movie.'" Simon bent his fingers as he said the final word, putting emphasis on it to make the film appear like something it was not. "You know it only got a forty percent approval rating on the tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes?"

"The Passion of the Christ did slightly better, but not by much," Theodore said. "It only got a fifty percent approval rating."

"Now that we've got your story straightened out, let's talk about where we'll be going for summer vacation," Alvin suggested. He bit off one end of the granola bar he held in his hand. "I was thinking somewhere like Florida."

"Alvin, we're going to the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee," Simon corrected his brother, like he always was.

"We'll be flying there, I hope," Theodore said.

"Of course we'll be flying there," Simon cried. "There's no way we're driving all the way over there. Besides, it'll be a great opportunity for you to get your mind off the hell you've been through these past few months."

Theodore smiled. "Good. Two weeks of relaxation is exactly what I need."