Brothers Forever

Kernigan woke up to find his room messed up from yesterday’s play date with his friends. His head seared with pain. The 7 year old boy got out of bed and tried to avoid the obstructions from his path to the bathroom. He stumbled over his toy car and fell face flat on the carpet. It did not hurt much though. Kernigan groaned. He sleepily stood up and headed towards the bathroom.

He came out of the bathroom and kneeled down. He picked up a portion of his toys and tossed them into his basket. He looked at his alarm clock. Today was Sunday. That meant no school. ‘Whew. I think I should take a bit more rest today.’ He took the remote and turned on the AC. Then, he jumped on his bed and proceeded into a silent sleep.

The snores of Kernigan Lamar filled the room. The cold air came out of the AC and filled the room with utter comfort. Then, as if to disturb the comfort, Kendra Lamar entered the room with a calm expression. She turned on the lights. Kernigan lifted himself up with his eyes half open. His headache had stopped. ‘Mom. What happened?’ She answered, ‘What happened is that you have to go to Comoseus’s house for playing. Don’t you remember? Come on now, get up. And look what you have done to your room. Clean it and come down for breakfast after bathing, all right?’ She turned and left the room. Kernigan got out of his bed, and cleaned his room quickly. He took a bath too. He had already brushed his teeth in the first visit to the bathroom early morning. He soon headed downstairs for breakfast.

Kernigan came down the stairs giddily. There was Valrico Lamar sitting on the dining table reading the newspaper. ‘G’ morning Mom and Dad.’ Kernigan said. They greeted him back as well. He sat at the dining table waiting for breakfast to arrive.

 Soon, breakfast arrived. Kendra sat at the dining table after serving breakfast to everybody. In front of Kernigan was bacon, sausages, fruit loops with warm milk, and pancakes. He ate breakfast while talking to his parents about the tests he had tomorrow in school. He bid goodbye to his parents and headed off to Comoseus’s house.

Kernigan walked straight through the street. There was his friend’s house. He rang the doorbell. There was a pudgy boy standing at the door. He wore a green Reebok t-shirt and shorts. He had brown, pageboy hair. It was Comoseus. ‘’Sup dude.’ Kernigan said, ‘I’m all dude and no human. You?’ ‘I am as well,’ said Comoseus. Since Kernigan could not pronounce his name- he called him Como for short. Kernigan entered the house and went straight to Como’s room.

Kernigan greeted Como’s family members. Kernigan really liked Como’s house. Como’s family members were really nice to him.

Anyway, Kernigan went with Como to his room. There, on the left of the aisle, was Como’s room.

There was a basket filled with toys. In the corner of the wall was a bookshelf filled with books. Beside the bookshelf were two beds stacked on top of each other. The bottom one was of his 5 year old brother, Corman. Corman was sitting on the carpet arranging the toys.

 Kernigan said ‘hi,’ to Corman and he said ‘hi,’ as well. They played for a long time. Then, Como’s mom came in to give some cookies. Kernigan watched drearily at the two brothers together. The thought made him want to cry. He had always wanted a brother. It would be so much fun.

He played for what felt like hours until Como’s mother stepped into the room. She said in a sweet voice, ‘Kernigan, you’re parents just called me and said that you have to come home for lunch.’  Kernigan stepped up and said goodbye to everyone. He left the doors of Como’s house.

He entered his own home. There were his mom and dad looking delightful when Kernigan entered the house. ‘Come on, it is time for lunch. Then we will have family talk,’ Valrico said. Family talk was a program that the Lamar family had every Sunday. They talked about new stuff and plans that they were making. For Kernigan, they were always exciting and tense. (Mostly because it included of getting to watch TV with everyone.)

And so he ate. The dining hall was silent except for the plates clicking and clacking. There wasn’t much for lunch. There were cheese enchiladas and some of last night’s dinner. After lunch, they all sat in the living room. Kendra and Valrico looked at each other. To break the tenseness, Kernigan turned on the television and put Caillou on Amazon. Then, Valrico held up his hand and said in a calm but serious voice, ‘Kernigan, you will have to put the brakes for today. After the discussion, I will allow you to watch TV in your room. For now, you will just have to pay attention.’

Kernigan looked sternly at his father and tried to detect any anger or problems. (Not literally!) After detecting, he found nothing useful. It looked like Valrico’s brain gave scans as if to say, did you find what you were looking for. If not, please try later. And get out of my system! Then, he turned off the TV. He noticed that he was staring at his father and quickly turned his attention to the TV screen.

‘So, uh, where were we? Oh right, we were doing Family Talk. So…,’ Valrico fell silent. Kendra took a deep breath and said, ‘Ready?’ Valrico replied, ‘Yeah.’ Kernigan said, ‘Wait…hold on. What do you mean Re…?’ He didn’t get to finish his sentence because of Kendra Lamar laughing. Kernigan asked, ‘What happened?’ ‘Oh,’ said Kendra, ‘we forgot to tell him. Well…’ Valrico and Kendra sang in unison a song that Kernigan didn’t know. Then they said ‘We are having a child.’ Kernigan’s heart skipped a beat. ‘What are you saying?’ And then he finally understood. ‘Is it true?’ He asked. Kendra said, ‘Yes it is true!’

         You are going to have a brother/sister soon enough. So you are going to stay at home while dad and I go visit the hospital.’ After an hour of resting, Kendra and Valrico headed to the hospital just near their house.

         While they were at the hospital, Kernigan watched TV in his room. He waited impatiently for his parents to arrive.

After a long time, his parents arrived home looking very cheerful. ‘The doctor said to come after two weeks for the operation. We are going to have a child after a period of a fortnight,’ Kendra was saying to Valrico. Kernigan remained happier than ever. He was cheerful in school and didn’t often get quarrels with his frenemies (Friends and/or enemies) at school.

         The day of the operation . . .

         Kernigan woke up gasping for breath. He saw that there was still an hour before his alarm rang. He brushed his teeth and headed downstairs. The house felt empty and hollow. Normally he would hear her mom screaming out something like, ‘Valrico, your phone is ringing,’ but today, he didn’t hear anything like that. He went to the garage and saw no sign of their Hyundai Creta. He went to the kitchen and saw a note in his dad’s handwriting, G’ morning dude, sorry we couldn’t take you to the hospital. You were sleeping deeply. And mom was having pain, so we had to go. Breakfast is in the fridge. Thanks for cooperating, Valrico. Kernigan took a deep breath as he finished reading the letter.

         ‘Ok?’ He said and headed to take a bath. After coming from bath, he ate breakfast. He mostly had milk. (Two glasses to be accurate.) He went to his room and started reading a book.

         He finally opened his eyes and closed the book because he heard a noise. He realized that he had fallen asleep. It sounded like Valrico. He jumped off his bed and hurried downstairs.

There was Valrico Lamar standing at the doorstep. He looked sweaty, as if he came as fast as he could. ‘Kernigan, you want to come to the hospital with me? And guess what, you have a baby brother!’ Kernigan stopped dead in his tracks. He didn’t move an inch of his body. Sweat trickled down his neck. ‘What?’ He asked slowly. He went to the patio and got his shoes. He juked out his dad and ran towards the car.

It was an annoying drive for Valrico. That was majorly because of Kernigan blabbering out questions about his brother. Thankfully, Valrico made it out of the trip alive. They reached the Golden Hospital. There were nurses all around the place. Kernigan thought the hospital smelled bad. They went to the room in which Kendra was. It was deserted except for a woman lying down with her eyes open. In a nearby cart was a crying noise. Kernigan hurried to the cart and saw a small, naked boy moving hither-wither. Kernigan closed his eyes and announced a name for the boy. ‘My brother’s name shall be Alfonzo. Any objections?’ Kendra and Valrico both said ‘no’ in a cheerful unison.

After a week, Kendra was dismissed from the hospital. Kernigan and Valrico had gone shopping for Alfonzo’s clothes and food. They had a party to celebrate Alfonzo’s birth. At last, Kernigan had what he had always wanted. He would put all his time into his well being. (Well, mostly for six months.) He finally had a brother!

Four years later. . .

‘Mom,’ cried the voice of an 11 year old Kernigan, ‘Look, ouch, I got a splinter, please help me.’ Then cried the voice of Kendra, ‘Honey, look, I am busy in the kitchen and I also need to help Alfonzo for. . . Hey what are you doing?’ Alfonzo crawled out of Kendra’s control and went to the living room. Kernigan groaned, ‘Now days, it looks like mum and dad don’t care about me anymore. It’s like they just see Alfonzo as their son. Not me!’ He ran to the kitchen and took a knife and cut the splinter off. He pulled out the inside of the splinter from his skin. ‘Ouch,’ Kernigan screamed. Blood came down from his fingers and slowly fell on the ground. Blood leaked like crazy. Kernigan went to his room and took some medicine. He went to the bathroom and let the cold water pierce the wound. Then Kendra called Kernigan down.

Kernigan came slowly down the stairs. He saw Kendra’s angry face and became confused. Then Kendra spoke in a voice that he didn’t know, ‘Kernigan, what is paint doing on the floor. What if Alfonzo had fell and hurt himself. What would have we done?’ Kendra Lamar had never raged at him in the past eleven years. She had always respected him. But not today. Why was that? Kernigan’s eyes filled with water. Then Kendra took a cloth and cleaned up the blood (Or in her sense- paint.) She spat the cloth at him and left the kitchen. Kernigan had a sudden feeling of nostalgia. He went up to the room as tears fell out of his eyes.

He took a face wash and sat in his room. He turned on the TV and tried to divert his mind. But he didn’t have enough time. His dad came in his room. He also looked enraged. He spoke in a monstrous voice, ‘Kernigan, mom told me what happened. Don’t you have another place to drop paint?’ Kernigan protested, ‘But, I . . .,’ ‘No buts,’ Valrico interrupted, ‘don’t you have a bit of common sense that someone could slip? Someone could hurt themselves. Especially Alfonzo! He is little you see, you got be careful. And . . .’ ‘Leave!’ Kernigan ordered in the cruelest of voices’ he could muster. Valrico got up from Kernigan’s chair and left the room, cursing under his breath.

 It was all because of Alfonzo. All because of him. ‘Alfonzo,’ Kernigan hissed! He then, out of tiredness made a stupid suggestion. ‘My family doesn’t know me anymore.’ Kernigan sobbed. ‘They don’t need a worthless Kernigan Lamar in their lives. I wish I could just leave this house and never wander in this neighborhood ever again. Yes, that is perfect.’ He felt energy surge through his body.

He gathered his stuff for tomorrow. His parents and his brother were going to Walmart for some work. That would be the perfect time for abandoning the house. With that thought in mind, he fell in to a deep sleep.

Waking up early is not an easy task. Well, at least it isn’t with Kernigan! He woke up lazily. He went down the stairs after brushing his teeth. His mom and dad greeted him good morning and he greeted him back. (I think he forgot about the plan. But don’t remind him!) Kendra and Valrico were both very happy today. Their cheeky moods reminded Kernigan of the plan. His expression changed from normal to furious. (Like a bull’s expression.) He sat at the dining table and ate breakfast. Trying to keep his face normal in front of everybody.

After eating, Kendra said, ‘All right, kiddo. We are going to Walmart for grocery. You are going to stay at home. ’ Kernigan tried to force a smile, ‘Yeah sure mom.  Y- You guys go ahead.’

 While they were leaving, Kernigan tried to put his most ferocious glare straight into Alfonzo’s eyes. For an answer, Alfonzo laughed (Ha, Sucker!). Kernigan stormed upstairs and into his room.

He saw from his bedroom window the Hyundai Creta leave the neighborhood. Walmart was very close to the Lamar house, so Kernigan would have to hurry. And Kendra Lamar had memorized the directions in Walmart, so she could the groceries faster.

He took the bag in which he had some clothes and his ipad. He gathered the food that was in the refrigerator. He was set. Then, just for good olds sake, he went to explore this house for one last time. He went to his room first, he found his books and found them standing on the bookshelf. He took some of the books. He remembered that he didn’t have time so he speeded things up.

He just took a glance at his mom’s and dad’s room. But his legs froze while he was leaving. He couldn’t just leave this room. He went inside and looked at their stuff. It felt good. Though, Time was running out. He had taken up ten minutes for the two rooms. Or his stopwatch was going too quick.

Nope! His stopwatch was working perfectly fine! He looked through his stuff and came at the front door. What he didn’t realize was the Hyundai Creta entering the garage. His mind was probably ordering every part of his body to surrender to the brain.

Kendra came from the side door and right behind Kernigan. He turned around and yelped. ‘What are you doing at the doorstep?’ she asked. ‘And why are you carrying as back pack?’ ‘Um, that’s because I was planning to surprise you?’ Kernigan said in a panicked voice? His dad and brother also entered from the garage. Alfonzo chuckled as soon as he saw Kernigan. That was a funny scene.

Then his dad went into the garage and brought back a gift – wrapped box.  Kendra and Valrico both said ‘Early Happy Birthday,’ to Kernigan. His heart stopped (Not literally!). Then, Alfonzo tried his best to speak but only managed to say, ‘Whaapy Hurtday.’ Kernigan laughed. They then all went inside. Kernigan told his parents what his plans and intentions were.

They weren’t mad. ‘I can understand that could happen,’ Valrico said, ‘but understand that. . .’ ‘Alfonzo is little. He needs our support and help. We also helped you as much as we helped him. You don’t need to make quarrels with your parents and your brother. You both have to stand strong and solid together!’ Kendra finished Valrico’s sentence. Valrico resumed, ‘Yeah, anyway, where do you want your party to be hosted?’ Kernigan said, ‘Um, I think I will celebrate at home this year.’

A week later. . .

It was Kernigan’s birthday party. He enjoyed it a lot. He invited lots of people. He had a chocolate mocha cake. It was super delicious. After the party was over, he opened his birthday gifts. The gift he liked best was an Xbox one x. That was gifted by his parents.

He now knew that his parents loved him and cared about him and Alfonzo.

 He had learned something new this year. He had learned about solidarity. He was to stand strong with his brother. (Just like you would too with your siblings!) Kernigan remained happy ever after with his brother, Alfonzo…