Author's note: Kimiko is about four or five, and Ken is fifteen or sixteen.
by Terrie(striket@stu.beloit.edu)
Miko stared at the door. Her brother's room was always closed and locked when he wasn't around. And sometimes even when he was. Ken didn't like her in there and was okay with doing whatever it took to keep her out. But he must have been in a hurry today, because the door was partially open. And she knew he wasn't there -- she'd heard him leave not long ago.
She looked up and down the hallway. Her father was at work, and her mother was in the kitchen. She edged towards the door and looked in. "Hello? Ken?"
There was no answer and she pushed the door open further. The room was empty. Ken's bed was unmade, and on the desk, his computer sat, its screen softly glowing. She looked at it curiously, but didn't touch it. The computer was off-limits.
She wandered around the room, examining everything. He had shelves full of books, but not too many of them had pictures. And the ones that did, didn't have stories in them. His soccer ball was sitting next to his bed. She was allowed to play with that, but not inside.
She climbed up into the chair at the desk. She wasn't allowed to touch the computer, but there were other things up there, like the picture of her brother and the other boy, Daisuke. He came over a lot and was always really nice to her. Ken said that Daisuke was his best friend, which explained why he came over all the time. But sometimes they went into Ken's room and closed the door, and Miko wasn't allowed to bother them. She didn't have a best friend yet, but when she did, she wouldn't close the door and make her brother go away. She'd let him stay and have fun.
She was reaching for the picture when something new caught her eye. It was small, like a hand-held radio, or one of the electronic pets, with a small screen. The casing was black and dark grey. She picked it up and slide down to the floor.
She sat the thing down and examined it carefully. There were a couple buttons along one side, but nothing happened when she pressed them. She turned it over in her hands, trying to figure out how to turn it on, but she'd pressed all the buttons and they hadn't worked.
"Miko!" Her brother's voice was harsh and angry. She dropped the thing in surprise and turned around. Ken stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips. She'd rarely seen him that angry before, and she wondered what she'd done that was so bad. "What do you think you're doing in here? You know you're not supposed to be in here. And you're not supposed to be going through my stuff!"
Ken picked the thing up off the floor and looked it over. "You're lucky it's not broken."
Miko sniffled. "I'm sorry."
Ken sighed and sat down in front of her. "I know you didn't mean any harm. But you did break the rules. You're not allowed in here without me. And you know that. This," he held out the small black and grey thing, "is like the computer. It's a tool, not a toy. You can look at it if you want to, but only when I'm around and only if you ask first. Okay?"
"Can I look at it now?"
"No. Consider that your punishment for coming into my room when I wasn't here." Ken stood up and set the thing back on his desk.
"But you said I could look at it if I asked first."
"But you also did something you're not supposed to. Will you agree with my choice, or should I tell mom you were in my room?" He held his hand out to her. "Now, why don't we go set the table for dinner?"
"Okay." Pouting, Miko slipped her hand into her brother's bigger one and let him lead her from the room. She glanced back to look at the thing on his desk and then Ken shut the door. She headed towards the kicthen and let herself forget about it. Anyway, it wasn't important.
The End