My little brother the giant. Part 1

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.