ORDINARY BROTHERHOOD
Todd hopped along the road on his way home from school. He had been kept behind in detention again. This time he wasn't too bothered seeing as John, Brian and Rogue had managed to get caught too. Right in the act of hiding stink bombs under the teachers' desk. Well any way the others were mooching home complaining about the injustice of it all and Todd, tired of hearing them ranting and raving had gone on ahead. As Todd neared the entrance to the Brotherhood front drive he saw Mike sitting out front in a collapsible deck chair which looked ready to break at any given moment.
Mike was the only one Todd really got along with in the Brotherhood house seeing as he didn't treat him like a simpering moron.
"Too bad you guys got caught in the act." Mike said with his eyes still closed as he lounged in his deck chair.
"Yeah well it was a stupid prank anyway, Yo."
"No good just lying back and giving up you know."
"I haven't given up Yo! I'm just……" Todd tried to explain.
"Todd! Mike! Tea!" He turned.
Tabitha was standing by the front door waving.
"Coming Tabby!" Mike yelled back.
He unfolded himself from the deck chair, all six foot of him, and looked down at Todd.
"You may as well come and have some tea. Keep your energy up. You'll need it."
Todd scrambled up and hurried to keep pace with him.
"How old did we say the old lady was?" Mike enquired.
Todd tittered at this.
"Pietro's 16. And Fred's nearly 17. Not today though. Hope I don't get as dumb as that when I'm 17."
"Fred is not as dumb as you all fear. He's what I call S.D."
"What's S.D?"
"Selectively dumb. You know just as much as you want to. And if I had to spend most of my day with Pietro I wouldn't want to be all there if you get what I mean."
Todd chuckled at this.
They trudged up the steps and into the dining room where the birthday party was being held.
Pietro was sitting at the far end of the table, though all that was visible was the odd wisp of white hair because he was behind a large cake on a high stand.
The cake was forested with candles.
"Hey Pietro" said Todd. "Happy Birthday."
"Thanks Todd" Pietro replied.
"What about me?" Mike asked as he entered the room.
"I know perfectly well who you are." Pietro replied huffily. "Your that good for nothing louse that ran over Thomas." (Thomas was an ill-favoured tomcat that had got in the way of Mike's car earlier that year.)
"That's me." Mike said mildly.
"He was a shining jewel of a cat." Pietro said stubbornly.
"You're a jewel." Lance said sarcastically as he sat down in his chair.
Todd sat down between Mike and Rogue as everyone began eating.
"Well what's there to tell?" Tabitha asked.
"we got detention for stink bombs!" Rogue said with her mouth full spraying food on most of the occupants of the table. Silence reigned after this remark.
"The thing I remember most of that shining jewel of a cat was his utter sweetness. Not a hint of malice in him." Pietro muttered. All heads now turned his way.
"That cat was the most evil thing to walk the earth if I had a dollar for every time I got bitten or scratched by it I'd be rich by now." Lance told him indignantly.
"Lance!" Pietro whined.
"The best thing Mike ever did was run over that thing!"
"Not on purpose of course." Mike added. Silence fell again.
"What about my portrait?" Rogue said pointing to the black and white sketch of Pietro that was to be his birthday present.
"What's the use of that you never finished it." Pietro proclaimed.
Rogue slumped down in her seat and gave him her trade mark glare.
"The candles!" Tabitha yelled and marched to the head of the table to light them.
"The crackers!" Lance said following suit.
"What crackers?" Brian asked inspecting the area around his plate.
" I put them out." John declared.
"Put them out where?" Lance enquired through gritted teeth.
"In the lake……" came a soft reply.
Everyone turned to look at Betsy.
"On the table." John concluded frowning in Betsy's direction. "Eve helped me."
"Good God .Eve" Mike said going pale.
"She's not here, Yo." Todd added.
At the far end of the table the candles blazed.
"Look we'll have to find her after the cake." Lance said.
"Ahhah!" Mike crowed as he dislodged a cracker from under the napkins.
"Here Todd pull this and then Pietro can have a sodding hat" Mike said offering Todd the other end of the cracker. Todd took hold of it and tugged.
CRACK!