i was sitting on the couch and terry was cooking dinner.
it was seven, and mom was already in bed. she said she was too tired.
in front of me, the tv glass lay on the carpet. terry said that ian peek was being awarded a nobel prize for investigative journalism. he didn't tell me how the tv broke.
"what's investigative journalism?" i asked. terry didn't tell me. he just said i wouldn't understand. terry hasn't left the house since ian peek told gotham city he was batman. his girlfriend came over and terry said mom told her to go away. he has no visitors.
"here twip. take your food." terry dumped the plate full of spaghetti in front of me. "i'm gonna have a nap. i need to get away from life. if you need me, wake me up and i'll help."
i watched terry take off his shirt as he went into his room and shut the door. neither mom or terry were talking to me. why?
i went to my friend leo's house. mom was shopping. terry was home. i wanted to play with lego bricks. instead of playing with lego bricks, he started asking me what it was like to be batman's little brother. i kept asking leo to stop but he wouldn't listen. so i asked his parents to tell him to stop. they didn't. they told me i should answer leo's question because they wanted to know too. i didn't want to answer so i asked mom to pick me up.
"mom, why did leo keep asking me about terry?" i asked.
"people are curious about batman," she said.
"why are people curious?"
"it's part of human nature."