So Many Times

Baby Brother Chapter 2

Are you sitting? He asks. You need to sit. What’s wrong? I ask. Are you ok?

Baby brother floats through the moonlit doorway wearing dark glasses, slumps into the couch, falls asleep. Middle brother frowns, leaning against the kitchen door frame, caught between the good son duties of annual holiday dinner host and wishing he was with his friends instead. I press myself to the walls, holding my breath and waiting for the evening to end. Isn’t it wonderful that we’re all together? Mother says.

Mother is in her glory. We sit in a circle. We each open a present, one at a time, just as she directs. We do this for her, to bring her imagination to life. Baby brother yawns. I’m just tired, he says. I can’t sleep well, he says. Middle brother scowls. I want to fall into my smile and disappear through the floor. We are lucky to be such a close family.