Nation
"Alright, Jason," Sam said, walking into her house carrying several large bags. "Here you go."
She dumped the bags onto the sofa next her eighteen-year old son, who had been playing a videogame.
"Um…what is this stuff?" Jason frowned, reaching into the bag and pulling out a large pillow.
"Stuff for your dorm!" Sam said.
"I need three different lamps for my dorm?" Jason asked as continued to rummage through the bags.
"Yes!" Sam said. "See, this one's a desk lamp. And then this one's a floor lamp…I guess we'll put it together when we move you in, and this one is a tiny clip on lamp so you can read in the dark."
"Well what is this?" Jason asked, pulling out another package.
"Oh, that's really cool," Sam grinned. "It's a closet shelf. See, you hang it in your closet and then you have all this extra space to store your clothes or books or whatever."
"Um, mom, thanks for all this, but since when do you even step into stores that sell things like closet hangers?" Jason smirked.
"What? Am I not allowed to make sure my first child going off to college is prepared?" Sam defended. "Jason, you're gonna be like, a million miles from home in just three weeks! I want you to have everything you need. Besides, I brought Carly shopping with me so…"
"Hopefully my dorm is big enough for everything," Jason chuckled.
"Well you can kick your roommate out if you have to," Sam said. She glanced over at the T.V. "Wait a minute, you were playing this same game when I left to go to the mall four hours ago!"
"Yeah, I'm on a roll," Jason nodded. "See, I just saved the zombie nation from a vampire attack and now I kill enough-"
"Jason! Are you seriously going to spend your last few weeks before college playing videogames?"
"Well what else am I supposed to do?" Jason said. "Eileen already left for college."
"There are other things to do besides hang around with your girlfriend," Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"Pfft, like what?"
"I dunno, but you'll have to find something," Sam said. "Because no more videogames while you're home."
"Mom!" Jason moaned. "I can't believe you're grounding me during my last three weeks at home!"
"You're not grounded," Sam said simply. "Think of this more as a…selective restriction."
"That's the same thing!"
"Well too bad!" Sam said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna take a nap. I forgot how much I hate shopping…"
Jason groaned as he hastily turned off the television. "Now what?" he said. "No girlfriend, no videogames…it's like the universe is punishing me for something."
Just then ten-year old Tyler came into the room and plopped himself down next to Jason.
"Let's play!" Tyler said happily.
"Play what? Mom won't let me play videogames," Jason said.
"So? We can play something else," Tyler said. "Hey, you can drive us to the park to play football."
"I don't like football," Jason said.
"Basketball?"
"Nope."
"Okay, we can go fishing then!" Tyler beamed.
"Neither of us know how to fish, Ty," Jason pointed out.
"But I want to do something," Tyler said.
"Then go bug dad," Jason said, getting to his feet, heading towards the stairs.
"But-"
"I'm gonna go web chat with Eileen," Jason said as Tyler followed him upstairs.
"But I-"
"Later," Jason said, stepping into his bedroom and closing the door, leaving Tyler standing alone in the hall.
…..
That evening Jason stood in front of his closet, figuring with nothing else to do, he might as well start packing.
Just then, he heard a knock at his door and his father came in.
"Oh, hey dad," Jason said.
"Hey," Freddie said. "What are you up to?"
"Just getting some clothes ready for when I go down to Cal Tech," Jason replied. "Is California really that cold? Do I need a jacket?"
"Well your mom's already bought you about three so I think you're safe," Freddie smiled. "I don't think she's ever shopped this much. She could give Carly a run for her money right now."
"Probably," Jason agreed.
"Anyway," Freddie continued. "Tyler's downstairs…he's a little bummed, you know."
"Why? Did the twins hide his football again?" Jason said.
"No," Freddie replied. "He said you wouldn't hang out with him this afternoon."
"Oh," Jason shrugged. "Well I was busy."
"Doing what?"
"Moping about not playing videogames," Jason said. "You know mom grounded me!"
"She said it was selective restriction," Freddie pointed out.
"It's the same-"
"I know, I know," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "But look, Jason, I think it's important for you to spend some time with Tyler these next few weeks before you leave."
"What are you talking about? I spend time with him," Jason said. "I just ate dinner with him!"
"I mean doing stuff that's just the two of you," Freddie said.
"Why?"
"Because, Jason, he's going to miss you when you move away," Freddie said. "I mean he's already asking if we can move down to California with you."
"Er, that-that's not actually a possibility, is it?" Jason frowned. "Not that I wouldn't love that, but-"
"Relax, we're not moving," Freddie assured him. "But my point is Tyler's really going to be impacted by you leaving."
"He'll be fine," Jason said dismissively.
"I know he'll be fine, but there's a difference between him being fine and him being upset that you left without even spending an hour of real quality time with him."
"Does he really care that much?" Jason said slowly.
"You're his big brother, he looks up to you more than you realize," Freddie said.
Jason sighed. "I never thought about that."
"Hey, you have three weeks," Freddie smiled. "You still have time."
…..
The next day Jason took a deep breath as he knocked on his younger brother's door and poked his head inside.
Tyler was laying on his bed, reading a comic book.
"Hey, Tyler," Jason said. "Er, you-you busy?"
"No," Tyler replied. "I was gonna try and jump over the pool with my bike but Ashton tattled on me so now mom and dad won't let me anywhere near my bike."
"Ah," Jason nodded, stepping into the room and sitting down next to him. "Well…um, as you probably picked up by now from mom's shopping sprees, um, I-I'm moving out in a few weeks."
"I know," Tyler said sadly. "You're leaving me."
"Hey, I'm not leaving you, Ty," Jason said quickly. "It's just, well, I have to go to college and my school's all the way in California. It would be a little difficult for me to make the commute from here to there everyday."
"I guess," Tyler mumbled. "But it's still not fair."
"Come on," Jason grinned. "It's not like I'm dropping off the face of the planet. I'll be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and for a week in the Spring. Plus there's the summer too. And we have the Internet. We can web chat and email and all that stuff. Plus you know if I don't call here at least a few times a week mom will destroy me."
Tyler laughed.
"So see, it's not gonna be that bad," Jason continued. "Just…different."
"You're really gonna call and visit and stuff?" Tyler asked.
"Promise," Jason said.
"Good," Tyler said.
"And, well, I was thinking…" Jason said. "Since I only have three weeks left here, that it would be fun if the two of us hung out for a little bit."
"Really?" Tyler said excitedly.
"Yeah," Jason smiled. "So how about you and I drive over to the Go Karts track?"
"Go Karts?" Tyler exclaimed. "No way! I love Go Karts!"
"I know," Jason chuckled. "So let's go, bro."
