Monkey In the Middle

Complete Story

"Let me get it! I want a turn!"

"Sure, Jake, it's your turn just as soon as you catch the ball." Alex tossed the ball over Jake's head.

"Come on, you almost had it that time. Here, I bet you'll catch it this time." Trevor tossed it back to Alex, letting it sail out of Jake's reach as the younger boy tried to jump high enough to catch it.

"That's not fair! You're throwing it too high to catch!"

"I don't know, Jake. Trev and I seem to be catching it just fine."

"That's cheating!"

"You're such a whiner. First, you said you wanted to play with us, and now that we're playing with you, you're still not happy."

"That's 'cause you're just being mean to me!"

"If you don't want to play with us, Jake, then don't."

Jake stormed off, leaving his older brothers alone.

"He's such a pain," Alex remarked, making sure to say it just before Jake made it out of earshot. Inevitably, it brought Jake barreling back to pummel Alex ineffectively, screaming denials and invective. This, in turn, summoned their mother from across the house, who proceeded to grab Jake and deposit him in his room for a time out.

"I don't know what got into him, Mom. We were playing ball, and then Jake got upset that he couldn't catch it and threw a fit," Alex explained.

Trevor eyed his older brother but waited until she was actually out of earshot before saying anything. "That was a little mean."

"He's been bugging me all day. 'Play with me, Alex,' 'Look at my drawing, Alex,' 'Wanna play with my new toy, Alex?' Now he'll leave me alone for a little while."

"Yeah...but, it doesn't help when you get him all upset. Now he'll be in a bad mood all day."

Alex shrugged. "As long as he stays in his room, whatever."

"Gee, thanks. That's my room too, that I can't go into all day without him screaming at me."

Alex shrugged again. "So don't go in your room. Anyways, I'm off."

"You're off?"

"Yeah. I'm hanging with some friends."

"We were going to shoot some hoops until Jake demanded to play."

"We were going to shoot hoops an hour ago. Don't be like Jake, Trev."

And with that, Alex walked off.

Trevor sighed and made several nasty gestures at Alex's back as he walked off. All mentally, in case mom walked in. He thought about going to play some video games but figured he should go check on Jake, even if he was a whiny kid. He went to the shared bedroom, still wishing his mother would let him share with Alex since they were only two years apart. Jake was only 7, and their mother seemed to treat him like he was much less mature than Alex just because he shared a room with a little kid. The other week, she'd even gone and bought him spiderman underoos, as if any teenager would be caught dead in underoos.

He poked his head into the room. "Hey Jake, you ok?"

Jake looked up, not crying, to Trevor's surprise. He was munching on a box of Cracker Jacks, actually, so Trev slipped into the room.

Jake grinned smugly. "Mommy gave me popcorn cuz you were mean."

Trevor sat on his bed and sighed. "I was trying to get you to catch it, Jake. Besides Alex won't play with me either."

Jake pulled a small necklace with a gaudy medallion on the end out of the box. "Coooool! It's a magic medal! I'm gonna be a wizard-like Harry Potter!"

Trev grinned a bit at Jake's enthusiasm. "Sure, Jake. Do some magic so Alex will stop being so mean." He figured it couldn't hurt to play along. "You can practice on me. Just don't do anything permanent, ok?"