Moe stepped cautiously into his house. It was awfully quiet. He couldn't hear Mikey playing, or Ma doing anything.

" Mikey!," He called," Ma!"

Mikey, who was eight, came tearing around the corner at the sound of his beloved big brother's voice.

" Moe! Moe!," He called," You're home!"

" Hey buddy," Moe patted his little brother's shoulder," Where's Ma?"

" She got called into work,"Mikey explained," About an hour ago."

" You've been all by yourself?," Moe asked.

" Yeah," Mikey nodded excitedly," I've been all by myself."

Moe looked at his watch, it read 7:30. Mikey had to be in bed in half an hour.Luckily Moe didn't have any homework left. He and Tessa had done it at her house.

" Okay Mike," Moe exhaled hard," Why don't you go get your PJ's on, and you and me'll make popcorn, and read a story?"

" Okay Moe!," Mikey chirpped happily. He loved it when Moe read him a story. Ma was always tired, Dad was never home. But Moe would read to him, and he would make up voices for each of the characters. It was fun to listen to Moe read stories.

After Moe had gotten Mikey settled into bed, and Mikey had fallen asleep, Moe flopped down on the couch, and closed his eyes for a second. It was about 8:30 when he had finally got Mikey settled. The kid kept popping up, and wanting another story, and asking for a drink.

Right now, Moe was wondering when Ma was going to come home. He considered calling her at work, but her boss didn't like for her to be distrubed. He even considered calling Tessa, remembering her promise from earlier. He knew she wouldn't care if he called now, but her mother probably would. He scraped that idea, and sat up.

Moe sat up and rubbed his tired eyes with the back of his hand. H should have been getting ready for bed himself, but he didn't like to crawl into bed when nobody else was home. Mikey was, but he wasn't much help if someone broke in.

He got up, and went around the house to check the door locks, and the window locks too. When he had satisfied himself with that, he took a quick peek into Mikey's room. Mikey was sound asleep, his mouth ajar, snoring slightly.

Moe smiled to himself as he pulled the door closed behind him. He was careful to leave it open a crack, so he could hear if Mikey needed him, or if something was going on in his room.

Back downstairs, Moe flopped back down onto the couch, and grabbed the remote. He flipped through channels in a groggy fog, half drifting to sleep, the other half battling to stay awake.

Finally the tired side won, and Maurice drifted into an uneasy sleep.