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Rated: E · Short Story · Family · #1573541
Short story about how we take for granted the knowledge of kids.
“Steve, don’t you think Wolverine would look better if his suit was all black instead of yellow,” Billy questioned his older brother, while they colored an X-Men coloring book together.
         “You can make him any color you want him to be,” the 18-year-old high school senior said.  Their parents were gone for the day, and it was Steve’s responsibility to keep an eye on his 6-year-old brother.  Steve knew that his parents were at their divorce lawyer’s office, but Billy was clueless that anything was wrong with their parents.
         Steve took the black crayon out of Billy’s hand and said, “There is something I need to tell you about Mom and Dad.”
         “Are they going to bring back ice cream for us?”  Billy questioned.
         “No!  This is serious Billy, you need to listen to me.”  Steve exclaimed
         “I think I want to color Rogue red, because they both start with the letter “r”,” Billy said.  Now Steve was starting to get a little frustrated.  He wanted to tell his little brother that their parents were about to get a divorce, but he didn’t know how to explain it to him.  He didn’t know if he would understand anyway.
         Billy was ferociously coloring with the red crayon, and he was paying no attention to the frustration on his older brother’s face. 
         “Billy, Mom and Dad are having some problems,” Steve said in a quiet tone.
         “Maybe they should try to color.  My teacher says coloring will help to relax us,” Billy explained.
         “No they are not having that kind of problem,” corrected Steve, “they are having a problem between each other.”
         “Are they having a fight,” questioned Billy.
         “Ya, they are having a kind of fight.”
         “What color should I make her shoes, Steve,” Billy said with a puzzled expressioned face.
         “I don’t care what color her shoes are.  This is serious, Billy!” Steve shouted.
         Billy’s eyes started to well up with tears.  He looked up to his older brother so much, and he couldn’t stand to ever make him mad.  But Steve hated to see Billy cry, and he felt very bad that he had raised his voice at him.  The divorce was really starting to get to Steve, and he needed to talk about it, and let Billy know what was going on.  But all Billy wanted to do was color.
         “Billy, I am going to try to explain this one last time.  Mom and Dad don’t like each other anymore,” he explained to Billy.
         “My teacher says, when you don’t like somebody, you should do an activity with them, like coloring, then you might find out that you have something in com… con…com…you might be the same,” Billy explained right back to Steve.
         “I wish it worked like that, but coloring won’t work for Mom and Dad.  You have to understand something.  Dad is moving out, and we are only going to see him every other weekend.”  Steve said.
         “Oh, you mean Mom and Dad are getting a divorce.” Billy responded.
© Copyright 2009 Abe Anthony (actsofabe at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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