"Come on Josh, we're gonna miss the bus!" I say grabbing. My brother's arm and pulling him out the door.
"Ow!" he screeches, "Let go! Let go!" He tries pulling his arm away and I realize how right my grip on him is. I loosen up on his arm and hold his hand instead. "Where are we going?" He asks in an irritated voice.
I stop walking toward the bus and crouch down in front of him and take his other hand. "Okay Josh. I'll tell you but you have to be quiet okay?" He nods. "We're going on a trip. Think of it as one of your special missions. You can be a spy who's running away from the bad guys. Under no circumstances can they catch us. That's your job, okay? Keep a-" He cuts me off.
"Who are the bad guys? It's Andy and Tabitha isn't it?" He looks at me suspiciously.
I have to admit he is a smart kid. But too smart right now. I don't want him to understand what's going on he's too young. The foster parents we've been stuck with for the past three months couldn't care less of what happens to us as long as they get their money from the state. I couldn't stand to live there anymore. They made Josh so miserable and depressed. All they let him do was go to school and sit at home. They never bought any toys for him and they never played with him. He's doing horribly in school because the other kids think he's weird because he doesn't live with hack real parents. How they know this is beyond me and the teachers don't seem willing to do anything. It breaks my heart every time he walks in the door coming back from school with a blank expression as if he doesn't care anymore. And it looks to me like I'm the only one who can and will do something about it.
I smile at him and say "Exactly now you have to watch out for them can you do that for me?" He beams with happiness to get away from here and our horrible foster parents. He nods vigorously and let's go of my hands to run over to corner of the side walks. Then he flattens himself up against the fence and peers over the side like he's in some spy movie.
The headlights of the bus become visible as it comes closer. I look over at Josh and whisper "Come over special agent Collins, our getaway car has arrived!"
He looks at the bus as it pulls up and his eyes widen as if it's some cool black convertible loaded with spy gadgets. It's better he sees everything this way. His eyes are too delicate to see the truth of the harsh reality that I'm forced to live in to protect Josh.
The bus door opens with a screech to reveal a plump and cheerful looking woman sitting in the drivers seat. She turns her head to look at Josh and smiles.
"How old is he?" She asks still looking at him. "He's five" I reply taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. "I'm not five! I'm five and a half" Josh says indignantly. "Oh! How silly of me Josh! I must be getting pretty old to forget an important fact like that!" I say with a little forced enthusiasm.
I step on the bus and pay the fee for both of us. Pulling my brother along behind me I stop in beside the first seat. There's a scraggly looking man with dirty hair and what seems to be some kind of alcohol bottle inside of a paper bag. I don't want to be anywhere near him. He's staring at us warily.
"Slide in you get the window seat so you can keep an eye out for the bad guys"
"Okay!" He slid his way over and peers out the window. "The coast is clear"
The bus driver gives me a questioning look. I wink at her and sit down next to my little spy.
