I'm lucky enough to have an older brother, not unlike Eliot, who would do anything to protect my brother and me. Sometimes that meant picking us up or dropping us off wherever we needed to go so we wouldn't have to walk at night, sometimes that meant reading fantasy novels and crossing out unsavory parts so his ten-year-old sister could get permission to read them. Sometimes it meant reassuring us (and at times even covering our ears) when our parents fought. So this one's for him. :) Thanks for reading everyone! And for your very kind reviews. They make me happy!
Eliot: 10
Alec: 6
Parker: 5
His siblings were listening at the bedroom door when Eliot got home from football practice, and he stood in the hallway for a minute watching them press their ears against the wood with identical frowns. Not like they really needed to be that close to hear the knock-down, drag-out fight that was going on in there, Eliot had heard it from the street.
He dumped his gear in the living room and went to retrieve the little kids, grabbing their hands and pulling them up. "C'mon," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "Let's go play in my room."
They followed him willingly, their hands clutching his, and Eliot shut the door to his room firmly. It almost blocked out the angry voices.
"What d'you wanna do?" Eliot asked them, keeping his voice upbeat even though what he'd really wanted to do this afternoon was be by himself so he could practice his Bruce Lee moves.
Parker shrugged listlessly and plopped down on Eliot's bed with an awfully heavy sigh for a five-year-old. Alec headed for the box of Legos under the bed. "Come see what I made," he said, his frown melting.
"Yeah, sure. What is it?"
"It's a spaceship like on Star Wars and it can fly through wormholes," his little brother replied eagerly.
Eliot nodded thoughtfully, inspecting the toy. "Cool."
Alec beamed at him. "Want me to make you one?"
"How about you make one for Parker? Parker, you want Alec to make you a spaceship?" he said, turning to the little girl flopped on his bed.
"Alec, can it be green? I love green. And can it have really big wings so it can go high?" she said, sliding off the bed and coming over to them.
Alec giggled. "It's gonna go in space not the sky! Do you want yours to go through wormholes too?"
Parker wrinkled her nose. "What's a wormhole? Does it have worms in it?"
Alec rolled his eyes, already fitting pieces together. "No! It's … it's a … Eliot, what's a wormhole?"
Eliot thought for a moment. He wasn't entirely sure himself but he thought he could come up with something pretty good. "It's like a tunnel but it can take you anywhere."
"Yeah," Alec said, nodding like he'd known all along. "But only some spaceships can go through it. Like mine. So you want yours to do it too?"
Parker bobbed her head eagerly. "So the worms can go anywhere!"
"There aren't any worms!" Alec cried.
"But I want worms!"
"Hey," Eliot cut in, knowing he had to head this off quick. "We better add some lasers so the aliens can't get you."
Both of them were big fans of that idea and they began digging around in the bin for suitable, weaponlike pieces.
Eliot snapped a few pieces together aimlessly, keeping one ear on his siblings and one ear on their parents. It sounded like they were wrapping things up. Their voices weren't quite so loud.
"Eliot, are Mommy and Daddy so mad that they never want to see each other again?" Parker asked suddenly.
"Nah. They'll get it figured out," he said. He believed it too, but it didn't always make these times any easier.
"Do they still love each other?" Alec chimed in. "'Cause Mommy always tells us not to use mean voices because we're family and we love each other. But they're not using nice voices."
Eliot fiddled with the pieces in his hand. He thought that maybe this was harder to explain than wormholes but much more important. "You know when Parker dropped your airplane out the window last week?"
Alec shot Parker a half-hearted glare. "Yeah. The wing busted off!"
"Airplanes are s'posed to fly!" she said with a helpless shrug.
"Okay, but 'member how you got so mad and you yelled at her?" Alec nodded, looking a little ashamed. "You couldn't help it 'cause you were so mad that she broke your stuff. But you still love Parker, right?"
Alec nodded, smiling a little.
"Alec said it was a accident that he yelled," Parker put in. "So are Mommy and Daddy using mean words on accident?"
Eliot frowned. That wasn't quite right, but in a way it was. "Kinda… Look, just trust me, okay? Mom and Dad still love each other."
They seemed to take him at his word and returned to building their spaceships, and Eliot listened carefully for the end of the argument, sticking together block after block.