Moment In Time

Chapter 73

Chapter 73:Sibling Bonds
(Takeshi)

"Are you ready, Lambo?"

The seven-year-old made a fist and punched the middle of his baseball glove. "Ready!" he called, eyes narrowed in concentration.

Yamamoto gripped his baseball and got into his pitching stance. Though his natural instinct was to throw it as hard and fast as he could, he managed to tone down his throw for the small child. "Here we go!"

The ball sailed through the air in a perfect arc. Lambo kept his eyes on it, shuffling his feet as he tried to imagine where the ball would land. He stuck out his glove, by instead of the ball landing neatly inside it hit the ground with thud.

"Darn." Lambo's face fell. "I'm not very good at this."

"You don't have to be," said Yamamoto with a gentle smile. "We're just having some fun. That's what matters."

"I guess so," he sighed. He picked up the ball and tossed it back to Yamamoto, who easily caught it with his baseball glove. He wound up and threw it, but it went too high and sailed past the treeline of the forest that made up the back end of the park.

"Sorry." Yamamoto smiled sheepishly.

"I got it!" Lambo raced across the grass and towards the trees. He pushed aside some branches and stepped through the tall grass. He found the baseball sitting a few feet away and he hurried towards it.

"Rrrrrr..."

The soft snarl caused Lambo to freeze, hand hovering over the white ball. He looked up and locked eyes with a raccoon, who lurked in the bushes, watching him with gleaming eyes. "Um...hi," he greeted, feeling relief that it wasn't a more dangerous forest creature. "Hey!" he called over his shoulder. "Guess what!"

"What?" came Yamamoto's amused reply.

"I found a raccoon!" Lambo glanced back at the critter, who was now crawling slowly towards him. The child took notice of the white foam that surrounded its mouth and the menacing way it moved. His eyes widened and he scrambled back in fear."Take-nii-!"

But Yamamoto was already flying through the trees. Startled by the sudden, much larger intruder, the raccoon snarled and took off. Yamamoto glowered after it before crouching down near the shaken boy. "Are you okay?" he asked urgently, taking Lambo's arm and checking it for any bites or scratches. "Did it get you?"

"Nuh-uh." Lambo latched onto Yamamoto's hand and the older boy helped him up. "What was wrong with it?"

"It probably had rabies," said Yamamoto, leading Lambo out of the forest. "Raccoons are nocturnal creatures. That means they come out during the night. So if you ever see one during the day, stay away from it."

"Okay." Lambo peeked over his shoulder. "Your ball is still in there."

"That's okay." Yamamoto ruffled his hair. "I've got lots more at home. I don't know about you, but I think I'll stay out of there for a while."

"Me too. Thanks for coming to get me...I didn't know something was wrong with it."

"Don't worry about it. Besides, an older brother has to look after his younger brother, right?"

Lambo beamed. "Uh-huh."

And this was the day he officially gained his second brother.

...