Rocío Cumplido González (cc) 2020 #preHalloweenstory #storiesforchildren #family

My little brother, the giant. Part two

I wait until granny’s snoring wakes up the neighbor’s cat to open the window and go out.

“Where can he be?” I think as I pray that the sheets from Ben’s crib hold me until I’m on the ground.

And when I hit it, I see it. A poker card stuck between the bricks.

“I know where Ben is!” I shout as I take my bike. “He must be there!”

I ride fast, without pressing the brakes, and when I pass the old bridge, I see the unexpected circus of Zazel.

************

“I’m not afraid,” I try to convince myself as I walk in the dark between the tents.

“I’m not afraid,” I repeat when the roar of a lion makes me jump ten feet in the air.

“I’M NOT, NOT, NOT AFRAID!”

“It doesn’t look like it,” says the voice of a girl from I don’t know where.

“You should have come during the day,” she adds. “In the light, this place even seems fun.”

“Who are you?” I ask.

“It should be me who asks that,” she asserts. “I’m not the stranger here, you are. But come closer if you dare, I’ll tell you then.”

 I follow the voice until I slam my face against the bars of a cage.

“Sorry,” she says, although at the same time she laughs. “You should have seen them, it’s not that dark.”

I’m about to tell her something, but when my eyes get used to the dark and I see her, I can’t.

She’s the girl that my friend said, the little girl with hair all over her face.

“I’m the bearded child,” she confirms. “But when the show is over and the lights are off, I’m just Eliz and nothing more.”

Clumsily, I tell her my name and ask her, “Have you seen my brother Ben?”

“The giant boy is your brother?”

I nod.

“Of course I’ve seen him!” she affirms. “Zazel said that he found him lost and offered him a true home.”

I stare at the ground, but not because of her face.

“But I don’t think he’s going to like it here,” she assures as she takes my hand. “No one here really does.”

I can see a tear in the corner of her eyes, holding on but without getting out.

“We stay in our cages all day long and only go out before the show. When it’s over, we are back here again. Every day is the same.”

I promise to help her and the others once Ben is safe, but she doesn’t seem to believe in what I just said.

“It’s a pinky swear, ok?” I insist. “I’ll find Ben, then my parents, and we’ll come back to help.”

She hooks my finger and tells me where Zazel keeps Ben.

As I run away; I wish I had asked my parents or the police for help.

“I hope Zazel doesn’t find me first.”

************

I walk into the tent, and that’s where I hear a lament. “It’s Ben!”

He's in a bigger cage, crying his eyes out. He has formed a lake of tears around.

“Ben, it’s me!” I shout, but not too loud.

“Daddy, Dad?”

He looks up with hope.

“No, it’s ME, Adam,” I correct. “Your big brother.”

He turns his back on me so fast that he forms a tornado and makes me fall backwards.

“No brother,” he says. “Adam doesn’t like Ben.”

“I do!” I shout and yes, I do it loud. “I’m sorry for what I said, Ben. It’s that… I’m not used to be a big brother. I never was one.”

He looks at me now.

“But with your help, I’ll learn. Our daddies love you and I do too.”

“Don’t let him trick you,” murmurs a voice behind me. “Empty words never work.”

When I turn around, Zazel is right in front of me. He grabs me by the shirt and lifts me in the air.

“Telling tales to my new big attraction, right?”

Ben cries, louder this time.

“Oh no, no Ben,” says Zazel bitterly. “Don’t tell me you believe what he said.”

Zazel has a strange twinkle in his eyes.

“Remember, families want normal kids and you’re not. You don’t belong to their world.”

“He does!” I reply as I try to kick him.

“Really?”

Zazel’s laugh makes me tremble. “He’s like a mountain while you…, you’re like an ant.”

“He’s taller than me,” I accept. “But he’s my little brother and I’ll look after him!”

Finally, I kick him.

“Break the bars, Ben!” I yell as I run away from Zazel.

Once he’s out, I climb on top of Ben and we crawl fast after Zazel. However, he’s about to get in a car and escape, but then…

“Stop right there!” says a police officer blocking his way. “You won't hurt a child again.”

Seconds later, we see our daddies.

“Adam! Ben!” they shout.

They hug me and together we hug Ben. We are a family again!

****************

Soon, more police officers come to help and we get everyone out of their cage. Now they will find a family who loves them.

“You kept your pinky promise,” says Eliz, smiling. “And in the right order!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” I admit laughing.

Suddenly, the tears of her eyes fall.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing, it’s that…” she stutters. “I don’t think there is a family for me. No one wants a child like me.”

“That’s not true!” I exclaim. And then, I feel a spark of magic in my head.

“You’ll be my little sister!” I declare. “I’ll look after you and Ben. Everything will be ok.”

“You should ask your daddies first,” she says. “Maybe they don’t want me there.”

“I'm sure, they’ll want,” I say. “Anyway, you leave them to me. Dad and Daddy are easy to convince, but just in case I’ll make a wish.”

The end.

Rocío Cumplido González (cc) 2020 #preHalloweenstory #storiesforchildren #family

My little brother, the giant. Part one

A wish is made of magic and dreams.
It starts in your heart and climbs to your ears.

It whispers, “I’ll be back, you just have to wait and watch.”

And then it’s gone,
it flies away as the wind blows.

One day, soon, your wish will come true.
But maybe not the way you thought it would.

I lean my feet against the wall to get a better view. The dining-room window is too high for me, and I can’t see the street.

“Where are Dad and daddy?” I moan, jumping.

“They are coming, Adam,” says granny, looking worried at the wall. “I’m sure they’ll be here in no time at all.”

I wish I could believe in her, but I can't trust her! She once said that when I turn seven, I’d be as tall as the red maple tree in my backyard.

“But I can’t even hold on to the lowest branch!”

I place a chair near the window, ready to spend the day watching the street like a detective. However, I’m terrible at it. I jump every time someone walks down the street.

“Not him, not them.”

“Are you ready?” asks granny smiling. “Are you ready to be a big brother?”

“Yes, I am!” I answer. I try to be brave, but I’m not sure yet.

“Well, let’s see!” says granny, looking through the window. “They are finally here!”

Before she can blink, I open the door and run to the street.

“I’ll hug him first!” I yell. I can’t believe my wish has come true.

However, in the street, there is just dad. There is no sign of where daddy and my little brother are.

 “Where is him?” I ask. “Where is my little brother?”

Dad points his finger at the end of the street.

“Right there.”

But even though I stretch my neck as much as a giraffe’s, I can’t see where they are.

Until…

A farm tractor pulling a huge baby pram appears in the street, and in the cabin, there is my daddy! He is driving it!

Suddenly everything goes dark and I can see the stars.

“The body of my little brother covers the Sun!”

“He is not a baby!” I shout when they stop in front of us. “I asked for a baby!”

Dad and daddy look at each other, then at me, and then they smile.

“Don’t you want to meet your little brother?” asks daddy, jumping out. “His name is Ben.”

“Little…?” I mutter, “He is a giant!”

“But he is a baby,” clarifies dad and he takes ME into his arms. “He is just taller than you are.”

*********

We move into an immense house, perfect for Ben, but not for me.

“Help me, please!” I beg lost in the cupboard where my parents try to keep the cereal box away from Ben.

... And every time I have to de-climb the entrance stairs to catch the school bus.

… And when I need help to go out of the bathtub.

“You must understand it,” says dad. “Your little brother is bigger than us.”

“I can see that!” I reply, annoyed.

And I’m not the only one…

My little brother the giant never goes unnoticed. People always want to know everything about him, and a little or nothing about me.

“You can make a fortune out of him, you know?” assures the owner of a circus.

He shows to my parents some papers.

“You just have to sing here, and I’ll take good care of him.”

Dad and daddy rip up the papers in his face and threatened to call the police if they ever see him again.

“If you change your mind, go to The Unexpected Circus of Zazel,” says the man, and he throws a poker card in the air.

“I think Ben will be happier with a more suitable family.”

We spend the rest of the day inside the house, playing old games that my daddies love to turn around. But I can’t stop thinking of Zazel, and I wonder:

“Would I be happier if Ben was with another family?”

************

“That circus is so cool!” tells a friend at school. “There is a little girl with hair all over her face, a boy who has no hair at all and even more…”

“A unicorn with two horns!”

Now, I want to visit the circus and see all those children and creatures.

“You’ll never go near that place,” forbid daddy and dad. “That Zazel is a very dangerous man.”

“But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!” I beg. “I really want to go there!”

But then again they say… “NO!”

“And all by his fault?” I explode and point to my little brother. “If Ben wasn’t part of this family, I could go to wherever I wanted!”

They don’t have to tell me; I know I’m punished until the end of the century. However, in my bedroom I look at the door, waiting for one of them to knock.

“Is your little brother here?” asks dad worried.

“Obviously not,” I respond with a snort.

Dad opens his eyes wider. His lips tremble.

“Don’t leave your bedroom,” he orders me. “I’ll call granny. She’ll stay with you.”

Dad runs downstairs before I can say a word, so I stick my ear to the door to understand what’s going on.

But when I do, I don’t want to believe is true. “Ben has escaped and I know it’s for what I said.”

To be continue…