The Big Brother

Author's Note: A short two-shot for your enjoyment. Putting the finishing touches on a much longer story!

December 8, 2014

Jamie heard footsteps approaching and made an educated guess about who would have located him. "I'm over here, Danny."

Danny walked around the family gravestones, pausing to rest one hand on Joseph Reagan's stone. He found his brother sitting against the back of that stone. "You were supposed to meet us at the house an hour ago."

"Yep," Jamie agreed.

"When you didn't show up, I thought I'd find you here. And I'll bet you a beer that I know what you're thinking."

"No bet, Detective. Happy Birthday to me. I've now had as many birthdays as Joe got. Thirty-two."

Danny lowered himself to the ground and leaned against Mary Reagan's gravestone. "Thirty-two years, eleven months, nine days. That's how long Joe got to be your big brother."

"So he's still my big brother for eleven months and nine days? Is that what you're saying?"

"No, kid, he's always your big brother. He was born before you." Danny reached over to grab his brother's shoulder. "You know nothing was more important to Joe than being your big brother. Nothing he wanted more. So don't try to knock him out of that role too quickly."

"His early Christmas present. I know."

"Or his late birthday present. That's when he first started campaigning for a little brother. A few months before his fifth birthday, right after Dad and Mom left the three of us in Grandpop and Grandma's care for the first time. I'd been bossing Joe around, because I was his big brother and I could."

"There's a surprise."

"Stuff it, kid. Anyway, he was still down about that a few days later, after Erin and I were back at school. Mom asked him what was wrong…"

Mary Reagan put the last of the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and looked over at her four-year old son. He sat at the kitchen table, poking disinterestedly at his oatmeal. "Joey, aren't you hungry?"

Joseph Reagan shoveled a spoonful of the cereal into his mouth. "Yef, Mommy," he replied as he tried to keep the oatmeal from dribbling back out.

Mary sat down next to her son, watching as he ate a few more bites. "Tell me what's going on in your little head."

Joe looked up from his bowl of oatmeal. "Mommy, when's it my turn to be the big brother?"

"Maybe later," Mary hedged. "Why are you asking?"

Joe sighed. "Danny said I have to do what he says, 'cause he's the big brother. I wanna be the big brother."

"And when did Danny tell you this?"

"When you and Daddy were away last week. I asked him when it was my turn, and he laughed at me." Joe's lower lip started quivering as he remembered Danny's teasing. "Erin too."

Mary scooted her chair closer to Joe's and hugged him. "Oh, sweetie. They weren't laughing at you."

"Were too."

"Okay, a little. But mostly they were laughing because they know you can't be their big brother."

"Why not? I'm gonna get big. I'll be five next time it's my birthday."

"But Danny will be nine, and Erin will be seven. They'll get older each year, just like you do. You can only be the big brother of someone who's born after you."

Joe pouted. "That's not fair. I wanna be the big brother."

"But if you were the big brother, you wouldn't get to spend time with me. You'd have to go to school, like Danny and Erin. And we couldn't go to the playground whenever we want."

Joe's face brightened. "Can we? Please?"

Mary lifted Joe out of his chair. "Go get your shoes on. We'll leave in ten minutes."

Joe raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs to his bedroom. He grabbed his shoes out of the closet and stuffed his feet into them. Even as he started trying to tie the laces, the little wheels inside his head were still turning. He could only be the big brother if there was a younger brother. So he needed to get a younger brother. But they probably cost a lot. His friend Timmy's dog had puppies a few months ago, and Timmy's parents sold them for five dollars each! Baby brothers were probably at least that expensive. He only had a little bit of money left from his allowance, but his birthday was coming up soon, and birthdays meant presents! Suddenly, he knew what he was going to ask for as his birthday present.

Joe felt his fingers catch in the shoelaces and looked down at his left shoe. The laces were in a tangle, nothing like the tidy bows Mommy made. "Mommy!" He stood up and walked out of his room, careful not to trip over the dangling laces of his right shoe as he headed for his parent's room. "Mommy, I messed up my shoes laces again."

"Shoes laces," Jamie smiled. "I used to call them that too."

"Probably picked it up from Joe. He tried to use the right words once you showed up, but he'd forget sometimes," Danny reminisced. "But that's how Mom learned what Joe wanted for his birthday."

"It was a couple of weeks before I found out." Frank Reagan's resonant voice carried down to his sons. He took a moment to look over the family graves before he circled around to join his sons on the other side. "It was a few weeks later, on a day when your mother was worn out from dealing with her oldest." Frank looked pointedly at Danny.

Frank had finally pushed the last of the day's worries aside and joined his wife in sleep when someone knocked quietly on the bedroom door. Then Joe's little voice carried into the room. "Mommy? Daddy?" Then more knocking.

Frank forced himself toward wakefulness. He looked over at his wife, who was sound asleep. Mary had spent a frustrating day dealing with Danny's latest trouble at school and managing the needs of their two other children, and had made it clear that any child-related crises were his responsibility tonight. "Come on in, buddy," he responded quietly.

Joe pushed the door open. "Daddy? I can't sleep."

Frank drug himself out of bed and walked over to the door. He picked up his little boy. "What's wrong?"

"Had a bad dream." Joe snuggled closer against his father.

Frank walked over to the soft rocking chair and sat down. "About what?"

"J'raffs."

"Giraffes. Well, we don't see many of those here in Brooklyn," Frank reassured his son while he rocked the chair. "And I hear they stay away from people if they can."

"Good. 'cause they're scary," Joe responded.

"Now, Joey, you're getting to be a big boy. Big boys can't be scared of all giraffes."

"It'll be okay when I'm a big boy. J'raffs only eat little boys."

"Giraffes eat little boys?" Frank asked.

"Uh-huh. They walk around, looking in upstairs windows for little boys. That's why their necks are so long. And then they reach in and bite off the little boy's heads and eat them like cab-badges."

"You mean giraffes like cabbage?"

"No! They like little boys' heads. They just munch them up like cabbages. Unless the little boys curl up under their blankets and stay really, really quiet."

"Ah." Joe's story suddenly began to make sense to Frank. "Your big brother told you this, didn't he?"

Joe nodded. "And I tried to be quiet. I did. But then I had a bad dream 'bout the j'raffs."

"The giraffes won't bother you. Danny forgot to tell you we have special windows. You see the wood grid on the window?" Frank pointed toward the mullioned bedroom window. "Our windows all have that grid. Giraffes can't fit through," Frank told his son as he continued rocking him. "You're safe in this house."

Joe stared at the window. "'kay. But it'll be better when I'm a big boy."

"Your birthday is coming up soon, isn't it?"

"I'm gonna be five." Joe held up all the fingers on his right hand. "One, two, three, four, five!"

"That's right. Five years old. And what does my almost five-year-old want for his birthday?"

Joe had been waiting forever for someone to ask him that. "A baby brother."

"A baby brother," Frank repeated as he thought of a way to respond. "Well, I'll see what I can do. Why do you want a baby brother?"

"So I can be the big brother. So I can tell him what to do. And he'd have to do it, 'cause I'll be the big brother," Joe replied.

"Hmm. And would you tell him scary stories about giraffes?"

"No," Joe responded quickly. "That's not nice. I'd tell him nice stories 'bout tigers and elephants."

"Tell me a story about an elephant."

Joe thought for a minute. "There was a boy who had a pet elephant. He fed the elephant bananas and leaves. And the elephant gave him rides around town. And he used his trunk to blow water on fires to help out the firemen. And …" Joe paused for a minute.

"Do they help out the policemen, too?"

"Yes! They chase the bad guys and step on them until the p'lice get there. And sometimes they blow water on big brothers, when they're mean." Joe yawned widely. "The end."

"Ready to go back to bed, my boy?"

"Um-hm," Joe mumbled sleepily.

Frank stood up, carried Joe back to his room and carefully tucked him into bed. He returned to his own bed.

"Frank, what did Joey need?" Mary turned onto her side as Frank lay down.

"He had a nightmare about giraffes."

Mary yawned. "It was our trip to the zoo a few days ago. Too much excitement and too much sugar."

"Or too many stories about child-eating giraffes from his big brother."

"Daniel. That boy," Mary muttered as she rolled onto her back. "Frank, I don't know if those two can share a room much longer."

"We could put Danny and Erin together, and let Joe share a room with the new baby," Frank commented with a smile.

"New baby?" Mary asked. "Do you know something I don't?"

"I know Joe wants a baby brother for his birthday."

"I thought he'd forgotten about that. He wants his turn to be the big brother."

Frank scooted closer to his wife and wrapped an arm under her shoulders. "I told him I'd see what I could do about that wish." He leaned in to kiss the side of her neck.

Mary laughed and elbowed her husband in the stomach as she rolled onto her side. "See what you can do some other time."

Danny snickered. "Child-eating giraffes. One of my best stories."

"I bet you couldn't wait to get another younger sibling. Another little person for you to torment," Jamie commented.

"Danny always did like to cause trouble," Erin added as she joined her siblings and father. "Like when you tried to tell Joey we could buy him a little brother. It must have been only a week or so later. We were at the house for Sunday dinner…"

It was a rainy spring Sunday, and the Reagan family had gathered at Henry and Betty Reagan's home in Bay Ridge for Sunday dinner. Danny, Erin and Joe sat on the back porch, waiting for dinner to be ready. Normally, they'd be playing cops and robbers in the backyard, but the steady rain had confined them to inside, until their grandmother had banished them to the porch with instructions to sit quietly for ten minutes until dinner was ready.

Joe tugged at Erin's arm. "Erin, I'm hungry. How much longer?"

Erin looked at her new watch, a present for her recent seventh birthday. "Eight minutes."

Danny snickered. "Like he can count to eight."

"I can! I'm almost five! Almost a big boy," Joe insisted.

"Prove it, kiddo," Danny challenged.

"One, two, three, four, five, seven, eight. See?"

"Missed one."

"Did not! I started with one."

"Well, you missed a number further up."

Erin glared at Danny as Joe's expression fell. "You almost got it, Joey. Remember to count both thumbs." Erin spread her fingers out. "One, two, three, four, five…" Erin wiggled the thumb on her left hand. "Six, seven, eight."

Joe looked down at his own hands. "Oh yeah. Six. Well, I'll get it right when I'm a big boy."

"And when do you think you going to be a big boy, squirt?" Danny asked.

"On my birthday. I'll be five. A big boy."

"Nah. You'll be five. But you'll still be little."

"Will not. I'm gonna get big. Bigger than you," Joe insisted. "Because I eat my breakfast. Mommy says that's what makes you grow big."

"So what do we have to get you for your birthday?" Danny asked.

Finally, one of his siblings had asked that question! "A baby brother," Joe quickly replied.

Danny laughed out loud. "Yeah, like I can afford one of those."

"Danny," Erin scolded. "He's serious."

"So is the baby shop. They make you wear a suit and tie just to get in the door. And you have to talk really quiet. And they're expensive."

"Tommy's mom sold their puppies for five dollars. Are babies that much more?"

"Lots more. At least, I heard Erin was. When we went to the baby store for you, Mom and Dad shopped in the sale bin. Got you at a big discount."

"They did?" Joe frowned. Something seemed wrong with Danny's story. Was this like his giraffe story from a few weeks ago?

"Yup. But if a baby brother is what you want, I'll break open my piggy bank, put on my best suit and go down to the baby store. Erin could help out too. Between the two of us, I bet we could find one in the clearance sale bin," Danny told his brother.

Erin punched Danny's arm as hard as she could. "Stop making stuff up, Danny. You don't buy babies. That's not how it works."

Joe looked from one sibling to the other. "It isn't?"

Danny laughed. "Nope."

"Well, how does it work?"

Danny suddenly stopped laughing. "Uh, ask Erin."

Erin glared at her older brother. "Joey, Mommy has to have the baby."

"How does Mommy have a baby?"

Erin looked at her watch. "Well, looks like it's time for dinner!" She quickly got to her feet.

"Erin, how does Mommy have a baby?" Joe asked again.

"Ask Mommy or Daddy." Erin ran into the house, followed by Danny.

Joe stood up and followed his siblings. "Erin? How?"

Henry closed the door behind his youngest grandchild. He'd arrived at the porch door just in time to hear the tail end of his grandchildren's conversation. Joey was a persistent little boy. He imagined his son and daughter-in-law were going to be having an important conversation with their son very soon.

"Francis, you did have that conversation with Joe, I assume?" Henry asked as he approached the family.

"Pop…"

"What? Got tired of waiting in the car for all of you. And Jimmy's won't hold our table all night. Not even for Birthday Boy." Henry gestured toward Jamie. "Let's go, kid. Time to get to your birthday party."

"Is there going to be a cake at this event?" Danny asked as he and Jamie stood up.

"With candles," Henry said. "Lots of candles."

"And Jamie, if you blow them all out, maybe you'll get that girlfriend this year," Danny teased.

"Ha-ha, Danny," Jamie snipped back.

Danny threw an arm around his brother's shoulders. "You know what Joe wished for when he was blowing out his candles on that birthday, don't you?"

"Yup. He told me…"

Continued in Chapter 2.