Week Ten: Kinsellas

Bell

Jesse's first bike was a treasure Wade discovered at a yard sale. They'd saved up, pooled their money and took turns trying to ride it home with a flat rear tire. It was a blue girl's bike and Wade, much to Jesse's frustration, took great pleasure in teasing Jesse about the girly bell adorning the handlebar for most of the summer.

The first day back at school, another boy seemed to find it just as funny- but the next day Wade rode to school alongside him, and Jesse noticed the boy had a black eye and nothing more to say.

Book

There were nights when Earl kept a clear head, when he wanted to be a family, and he would settle onto the couch with his boys and pull out a book, old and worn with dog-eared pages, and he'd read until they'd both nodded off and carry them each off to bed. Even in the joy of these quiet evenings, he had to bite back his bitterness, his anger that he wasn't a better father to them. They deserved better than him, and he wanted so badly to give it. His failures haunted him, and he reached for another drink.

Candle

They lost power a lot, either because their house was set away from the rest of the town, or because Earl had forgotten to pay the light bill. It had almost become a kind of game for them, really- Wade was in charge of the candles and matches because he was older, and Jesse gathered whatever snacks he could find. They'd build a tent out of blankets, chairs and whatever else seemed useful on their bedroom floor, crawl inside and make shadow puppets and tell stories with a flashlight late into the night, until they eventually drifted off to sleep.

Bowl

When Wade was around, it meant Jesse wasn't far behind. Townsfolk frequently joked that the brothers were a two-for-one deal. The town librarian was always pleased to see them, despite Wade's lack of library etiquette. She particularly loved Jesse, who happily joined the children's summer reading programs despite Wade's teasing. However, should Jesse ever win a prize- typically a free pass to the local bowling alley- she was always sure to slip a second in for the older boy. For all his sass, it was him who walked his little brother over to the library once a week, after all.

Blade

He was late. Typically he was in too deep to remember a Little League game at all, so he was already doing better than usual just by showing up. From across the street, he couldn't make out Wade's shape anywhere on the field. It wasn't until he made the gate entrance he saw caught sight of both his boys on the sidelines, little Jesse red-faced with wet cheeks, but smiling as a uniformed Wade entertained him by making silly noises with a blade of grass.

Guilt weighed heavily in his chest, and he couldn't bring himself to move any closer.