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They sat at the circular table for lunch as normal. As had been the routine since forever, they sat in age order, with Scott on Jeff's right, and ending with Grandma. Tin-Tin, when she was home, would sit between Alan and Grandma.
Today, Grandma and Tin-Tin were missing, having gone over to the mainland in the morning for some shopping. Alan was looking particularly pleased with himself as he helped himself to the dishes laid out before them. As had become the norm, Scott barely filled his plate, and he sat there stabbing the potatoes as if they had personally offended him.
Alan's good mood seemed to be lifting everyone else's, and there was light conversation between them. Virgil started to hope that Scott had finally begun to get out of the funk he was in as his brother made an effort to just chat with him.
Halfway through the meal John joined them, eating his own meal and chatting with his brothers as if he was present on Earth with them. A couple of minutes later Alan cleared his throat noisily, trying to get everyone's attention. The conversation stilled, the men around the table pausing in their eating.
'I, um, I have an announcement,' Alan said, cheeks beginning to flame as all eyes turned to him. 'Er…' 'Get on with it, Alan!' jeered Gordon, elbowing him roughly and getting a filthy look in return with a hissed 'shut up, you're not helping.' Jeff merely looked at Gordon, eyebrows raised slightly, and he stopped immediately.
Alan huffed. This should have been the easy part! They were his brothers, the men he looked up to more than anything else in the world. And besides, the hard bit he'd already done. So he took a gulp of the juice beside him and tried again.
'This morning Tin-Tin agreed to be my wife.' There. He'd said it. There was a second of stunned silence, then the table erupted in shouts and cheers. They all knew about the pair's relationship, but no-one ever thought that they would make it official.
In the midst of all the congratulations there was a clang. It fell into a naturally quiet moment, so it sounded far louder than it probably was, and everyone stopped talking to look. To look at Scott, who had dropped his fork onto his plate. Whose face was showing shock, but also something else. Before anyone could say anything, Scott had pushed away from the table and left without a word to anyone.
'Well, how do you like that!' exclaimed Alan. 'He didn't even wish me congratulations!' The young man frowned, and his mouth set into a hard line, a warning to all his family that he was about to blow his top. But it was Jeff who stood up and placed a hand on Alan's arm. 'I'll deal with this, Alan. You all finish your meal.' And he strode from the room.
They didn't need to be geniuses to know that the two men were back to being at loggerheads. The shouting was loud but the words indistinct. The anger was palpable.
The meal was left unfinished. John, Virgil and Gordon were doing their best to bolster their younger brother. Alan was swinging from being devastated at Scott's behaviour and outraged. They dragged him away to the games room, where the shouting couldn't be heard, and Alan allowed his brothers to attempt to cheer him up.
They played for a couple of hours, Virgil surreptitiously allowing Alan to win and Gordon thrashing him every time. It honestly made Alan feel a little better that his brothers were treating him normally.
Neither Scott nor their father reappeared.
After two hours, however, Alan's patience was wearing thin. The anger was coming back. He had expected that his dad would get through whatever his eldest brother was experiencing and that Scott would at least come and apologise.
Virgil and Gordon could read the expressions on their brother's face, and they knew their diversionary tactics were no longer working. Alan was going to blow his stack, and with Tin-Tin and their Grandmother both off the island, there would be no-one to help calm him down.
So when Alan growled and threw his cue down and stormed off, his brothers were not far behind. As they reached Scott's door the klaxon sounded. Everyone stopped. Scott shot out of his door and barrelled straight into Alan.
Who drew his fist back and hit his eldest brother hard enough for Scott to go sprawling.