Chapter 3 - Giants

Lex knew exactly what his father was doing. He was making Julian into a burden on Lex, a competitor for his attention and combative focus.

This time, it had almost worked. Lex worried about spending the evenings alone with Julian; it should have been something to look forward to, but something always went wrong, something out of his control. What should have been an enjoyable time always turned out to be a disaster, not that Julian seemed to make the connection.

And preparing for a corporate event for weeks where he was supposed to be declared the successor, only to have that title ripped away from him at the last moment for no apparent reason, that stung. Not the bitter disappointment of losing something he had desperately wanted, but that hot twinge of rejection. He could never be good enough, no matter what he did, and over time, he was starting to make peace with that, but it was still frustrating to remember that his success or failure in pleasing his father had absolutely nothing to do with him or any of his efforts.

Obviously, his father was trying to make him resent his little brother. A little part of him resented the fact that his father had almost certainly been planning to do this when he had a second son in the first place, but very little of that leaked over into the way Lex felt about Julian.

But the corporate party itself? Lex was relieved not to have to go. Those parties were miserable.

He was pretty sure he had done well convincing his father he was disappointed, but as a side effect, he had almost definitely convinced Julian. That was always a tough tight rope to walk, because it didn't hurt for Julian to have a little bit of resentment for his brother, just to maintain the authenticity of the show they put on, but at the same time, the last thing Lex wanted to do was to truly hurt Julian.

"Finish eating," Lex said.

"I don't like tomatoes," he whined, poking at the pasta with his fork.

"Pick them out."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but eat your spinach. It's good for you."

Julian pouted.

"I know you like spinach."

"I'm not hungry."

"Yes, you are."

"You're not the boss of me."

"Do you want me to tell Dad?"

Julian's eyes were wide.

Lex hated using that ammunition. One of these days, Julian was going to call his bluff. In the meantime, it scared him too much. "Eat. I'll let you have ice cream."

"Yay," Julian said, and he shoved most of the spinach in his mouth and one bite. With his mouth full, he asked, "How do you eat so fast?"

"Chew and swallow. And I don't, you just eat slow."

"Do not." But he giggled.

Lex took a long, slow breath. He figured as long as nothing was going wrong yet, he might as well enjoy the time with his brother. "So, what do you want to do tonight?"

"Color," he said. "And do a puzzle with you. And watch a show. And then you tell me a story."

"You've got it all figured out."

"Dad says it's good to make a plan and execute it."

"I guess that's true."

"Dad is really smart."

"Yeah, he's smart." Lex knew Julian was too young to hear the unspoken caveats.

"He's probably the second smartest person in the whole world."

"Yeah?"

"After you."

"Me? What about, like, Einstein?"

Julian giggled. "Einstein's dead!"

"I suppose you're right."

Julian put down his fork. "Can I be done?"

"Three more big bites?" He had finished the spinach, at Lex's command, but he hadn't even gotten through half of his pasta.

"But my tummy hurts."

"Come on. Just three." Lex wouldn't have minded, but he worried about what his dad would say if Julian lagged behind in expected growth. He didn't want Julian to grow up with nasty remarks about his height running through his head, like Lex had grown up with a nasty remarks about his baldness.

Julian obeyed, although the bites he took were more like nibbles. "Now it hurts even more."

"Go bring your plate to the kitchen. The cook already took off."

"What? Why?"

"Because you took too long. Now, go pick out a puzzle."

"Coloring first," Julian said.

"Right. Do you know where your crayons are?"

"Yeah."

"OK, go get them."

Julian got up from the table and ran off. He forgot his plate, and he almost tripped over his feet, but Lex didn't comment. He just brought the plate in himself and came back to the table.

Julian was walking a lot slower when he came back. He sat down the crayons and some paper, and he climbed back into his seat, sitting on his knees.

Lex took a piece of paper and a couple of crayons for himself.

"What are you drawing, Lex?"

"A car." He wasn't a great artist, but he had drawn a lot of cars over the years.

"Oh, cool." Julian grabbed a crayon. "I'm going to draw a car, too."

Lex drew very slowly, knowing that Julian would be copying every line to the best of his five-year-old ability. When he finished, he turned the paper toward Julian. "How is that?"

"That's good." He sat back and started to put the crayons back in the box, but his hands were shaking.

"Julian, are you OK?"

"Yeah," he said. "We have to make a puzzle now."

"Let's go up to your room," Lex said. "We can do it on the floor."

"Yeah." Julian lead the way, but he walked at a fraction of his usual speed, and he clung to the railing for dear life as they ascended the stairs.

Something was wrong, again. Lex just wished he knew what had caused it. "Hey, kiddo, I think it might be bedtime."

"No! It's not bedtime. I always have some playtime after dinner before bed."

"I know, but you took so long to eat—"

"No! Not longer than other days!"

Lex would have to disagree, although he knew it had probably only been a few minutes. "OK, we can finish your plan, but let's do it quickly."

"I am going quickly," Julian said, while climbing up one stair every five seconds.

Something was really, really wrong. "Julian? Look at me?"

Julian turned around on the stairs, and he lost his footing. Lex was glad he was as close as he was; he broke Julian's fall and scooped him up into his arms. The kids face was looking really green.

"Julian!"

"I think I'm going to throw up."

Lex raced up the stairs and got him to the bathroom just in time. Julian lost the entirety of his dinner, then he looked up at Lex with teary eyes.

"I think I might be sick."

"You think?" Lex wet down a washcloth. "Are you going to throw up again?"

"No. That was all of it."

"OK, kid, just hold still." He knelt down and wiped Julian's face clean, starting with his eyes and ending with his nose and mouth. "Let's get you ready for bed."

"I'm tired."

"I know. Come here."

Julian held out his arms, and Lex lifted him to sit on the counter. He rummaged around under the sink to find a thermometer, and he felt Julian's for head while sticking with her monitor under his tongue. Then, he kept an eye on his watch for a couple of minutes, before he took it out.

99.6. Not severe. But still a fever.

"OK. It's not too bad. Can you brush your teeth?" He lifted Julian down from the counter.

"I don't want to," Julian whined.

Lex started to wonder if he had been sick all evening and just hadn't shown symptoms until now. He tended to whine when he wasn't feeling well. "It'll make your mouth taste better."

Julian wiped his eyes. He stepped back to the counter and grabbed his toothbrush.

Lex went to Julian's room and pulled out his pajamas. When Julian came in from the bathroom, Lex helped him to change, then he helped him into bed.

"What about the puzzle?"

"We'll have to do it another day." Lex tucked in the covers around him.

"What about my show?"

"There will be time for that tomorrow." If Julian was still sick, he might even get a free pass on schoolwork.

"Can you tell me a story?"

Lex considered him for another moment. His face was pale, his eyes at half mast, but Lex figured worst-case scenario, he would fall asleep halfway through the story. Lex sat on the edge of his bed. "A long time ago, there was a tribe of people who were being attacked by an enemy army."

"This one," Julian said quietly, and he smiled, rolling on his side.

"The enemies brought a challenger. A 9 foot tall giant. The people of the good tribe we're all too scared to face the challenger because he was so much bigger than them."

"'Cept the littlest one," Julian mumbled into his pillow.

"Yep. A young boy went to speak to the leader of the tribe, saying he would fight the giant. His family all thought he was too small, but everybody was too scared to take his place."

"He's going to win." The words came out as a soft whisper.

"No spoiling the story."

"Sorry."

"The boy went down to a nearby stream, filled a sling with five pebbles, and came back to face the giant. He swung the sling around his head and let it free—"

Julian sat straight up. "And the rock went into the giant's brain!"

"That's right. The boy was a hero, and the giant was dead."

Julian grinned ear to ear. "I like that one."

"And do you know the lesson of the story?"

Julian scrunched up his face, laying back. "I forget."

This was something Lex's parents hadn't agreed about. He remembered his own father telling him the story over dinner one night and asking, "Do you know the moral of the story, Lex?"

"To be brave?" Lex had asked, no older than Julian at the time.

His father chuckled. "Bravery is the same as stupidity in the face of tactical disadvantage. No, the important thing is to have the right tools at your disposal."

"No, don't tell him that," his mom said, and she looked up at Lex. "God was on his side. That's why he defeated the giant."

"It never hurts to have the right allies," his father had conceded.

"Lex? What's the lesson?"

Lex looked up at Julian. "That giants exist. But if you have the right people and the right resources on your side, it doesn't matter how big or small you are. You can defeat them."

Julian tucked in, beaming. "I like that story a lot."

"Me too," Lex said, and he kissed Julian on the forehead. "Get some sleep."

"Good night. Love you."

"Love you too."

Lex turned out the light on the way out, but he left the door cracked and the hall light on. He'd end up turning it off when he came back to put himself to bed, anyway, and in the meantime, Julian could use as much help with his own giants as he could get.