Responsibility
January 22 1986
"Yakko, the burgers are done"!
He perked up, he was in the middle of playing with the ambulance he got for his birthday.
Yakko just remembered that his mom was making burgers for lunch. Without hesitation, he got up from his play and quickly exited his room. He raced downstairs and down the hall to the kitchen.
He saw his mom standing by the stove. Wakko was sitting in a highchair across the table. The infant was patting his little hands on the tray of the table. It seemed to Yakko that his brother was in a joyful mood today
Yakko pulled a chair out for himself, and climbed into it. He sat there grinning, anxiously awaiting for his burger. He watched as his mom flipped each individual patty in the pan. He couldn't wait to eat, he was starving.
As he waited, he observed his brother who was in his own world. He had nothing else to do at the moment, so it gave him a little something to do. Wakko was looking in his direction, a happy little grin on his face.
Yakko smiled back, he waved at his brother. To his surprise, Wakko started waving back, making small giggle sounds.
he laughed, what would life be like without him?
A few minutes passed by, and then a plate was put in front of him. On the plate was a juicy burger, placed between 2 buns, with ketchup dripping down it, it looked delicious.
"Thank you Mommy", Yakko said cheerfully as he picked up the burger, he took a huge bite out of it.
"You're welcome my dear, I'm glad you like it".
As Yakko chowed down on his delicious burger, he watched as his mom opened the fridge and pulled out a small baby bottle for Wakko.
Guess everyone needs to eat I suppose.
It just seemed to Yakko that his brother did everything differently than he did. He didn't eat the same foods, he didn't play with the same toys, and he couldn't walk or talk like he could.
He would ask his mom about this, but at this point he knew what to expect.
"Oh Yakko he's just a baby", she would say," you just have to wait until he gets a bit older".
He realized a long time ago not to ask the same questions over and over again. He has long understood that beatings and getting grounded was the only thing he would ever get out of it.
But today he felt different about the whole ordeal, he wanted to get more involved, he wanted to do the things that his mom would do with his brother.
Yakko looked over at his mom, who was feeding Wakko the bottle of milk. His cheeks were a tad puffy as the infant sucked from the bottle.
"Can I feed Wakko", he suddenly asked.
His mom, taking the bottle out of the baby's mouth, looked over at him with a slightly surprised look on her face.
"Well I definitely wasn't expecting that", she said," you never asked to do something like that before"?
"Yeah, but can I do it"?
There was some silence for a few seconds, Wakko started to look a bit ancy in the highchair.
She nodded her head.
"Alright Yakko, you could try it".
His face lit up, he was excited to try something new. It would be nice to do something a bit more grown up than the things he usually does.
Placing his half eaten burger down on his plate, he jumped out of the chair and ran in the direction of his mom.
"Alrighty, do you know how to do it Yakko"?
"I think so", he said slowly, he wasn't so sure about this.
She gave the bottle over to him, he stood on his tippy toes as he tried to reach the bottle up to his brother's mouth.
"Here you go, come on take a sip"!
He saw his brother lean his head closer to the bottle. Yakko watched as he started to suck on the tip of the bottle.
Yakko started to feel pain in his legs, he never thought standing on his hind legs would be this painful. He tried to stay put, but he couldn't. His legs finally gave out, and he dropped the bottle on the floor.
"Oh NOOOO", he screamed as the milk spilled all over the place.
Wakko soon started crying, he made his hands into little fists and started pounding on the highchair.
Fantastic, Yakko thought to himself, I made a huge mess, and now my brother is having a meltdown!!
He felt like he was going to cry himself, this was so embarrassing. His mom lifted his brother out of the highchair and tried to calm him down.
"Shhh, there there", she said in a calm voice,"don't cry, it's ok".
Wish she would say the same thing to me.
Yakko saw his mother start to look down at him, he gulped, he knew he was in big trouble.
"Yakko, can you please grab a paper towel and clean up the mess"?
"Yes Mom", he said quietly.
Yakko opened the door to his bedroom, his toy ambulance was sitting on the floor next to his bed, just the way he left it
He decided to continue playing with the toy, he wanted to forget what happened a little while ago.
He laid down on the floor, got into a comfy position, and continued playing with the ambulance just like he had been.
But it just couldn't get off of his mind, the memory kept playing in his head. Yakko saw the milk fall to the floor over and over again, it kept rewinding like a vhs tape.
A little while later, there was a knock at the door. His heart skipped a beat, he knew exactly what was going to happen. The door started to open, he quickly got up from the floor. He just stood there, waiting for what was about to happen.
He watched in fear as his mom entered his room.
"Hey Yakko can I talk to you"?
Brace yourself, spanking doesn't hurt that bad".
He sat down on his bed, His mom sat down next to him.
"I'm so sorry", he said,"it was an accident, I really didn't mean to! I was only trying to help, please don't spank me, please don't.."!!
"Yakko stop", his mother boomed,"you're not in trouble, calm down"!
Yakko didn't say anything, he just sat there looking at his mom.
"I came here to talk about what happened earlier, I'm not mad I promise".
Yakko suddenly felt a burst of relief, perhaps his mom wasn't as mad as he thought.
"I understand that you were only trying to help", she continued,"but even though things didn't go the way you wanted them to, it doesn't mean you were no help at all. You showed a lot of responsibility, did you know that"?
"What does that mean"?
"What, responsibility? It means to have a sense of control over something. In this case you had control over your brother..".
"But I'm not controlling him", he interrupted.
"Well not literally", she said," but helping feed your brother...you know that was a responsible thing for you to do".
Yakko thought about the word he had just learned, responsibility, having control over someone. He felt proud, mabey dropping the milk on the floor wasn't so bad after all.
"You really think I showed responsibility?", Yakko asked.
"Absolutely,"she declared," you know, your brother looks up to you, he sees you as a role model. It's your job as his older brother to help guide him, and make sure he grows up to be as smart and respectful as you".
She pressed her finger against his nose, Yakko always loves it when grown ups boop him on the nose.
He was extremely happy, he couldn't believe he had been so worried.
"Do you think Wakko will grow up to be just like me", Yakko asked.
"Well..depends on if you guide him or not".
He wrapped his arms around his Mom, she did the same to him.
"I will", he said,"I promise".
"Check this out Wak"!!
Yakko reached back into his hammerspace, determined to pull something out of it. He had been practicing for over a month now, and so far he only pulled out a measly spoon.
While he was overjoyed when he pulled out the object, it was not quite what he had in mind.
He stood in front of his brother, sitting down on the couch, sticking his tongue out slightly, watching in interest.
He decided he wanted to pull out a rubber duck for his brother, as a way to make up for what happened earlier.
Yakko imagined what the duck would look like, a yellow duck, with an orange beak. He kept repeating the thought in his head, and soon enough, he started to feel something form in his hand.
He was overjoyed, today could be the day.
Please pull out something, please pull out something, he kept repeating in his head.
Yakko pulled out his hand, his jaw dropped, he nearly fainted. In his hand was a yellow rubber duck, with an orange beak, it even had bold letters reading Wakko Warner on the front. It was exactly what he had imagined in his mind.
"Yes I've done it", he exclaimed," I did it I did it"!!!
He plopped down onto the couch next to his brother, he held the rubber duck in his hand.
"Here you go, big brother Yakko made this just for you"!
Wakko grabbed the duck from his hands, the infant held the object close to his face, observing it with his big puppy-like eyes. He then squeezed the duck, it made a loud high pitched squeak sound.
The baby scrunched up his face, he looked like he was about to cry.
Oh no not again!!
Yakko intended on making his brother happy, not cry. He had to think of something to cheer him up, and fast.
He then remembered how his dad used to cheer him up when he was sad, make funny faces. They always make him laugh, and he would always feel better.
Yakko took a deep breath, he then stuck his tongue out. He rolled his eyes around in circles, and placed his hands by his ears.
Please work, oh Pleeeease work!!
Wakko seemed to have cheered up, he looked up at him in interest. He was relieved, it worked!!
But then suddenly, Wakko stuck his tongue out, and put his hands against his ears, just like he was.
Yakko was amazed, his mom was right, his brother really is a copycat. He laughed joyfully, Wakko was laughing slightly too. He pulled his brother closer, putting an arm around him, ruffling his head.
Ellenia just couldn't stop, she couldn't look away for a single second. She watched from the kitchen as she watched Yakko spend time with his little brother.
For a while, she was a little worried that her oldest son might have been jealous of his brother. But now it seemed like Yakko couldn't spend a single second without his brother. She was so proud of them, she was so lucky to call them her children.
End of Chapter 5