When your younger brother grows up, most likely it will come as a bit of a shock. You will be doing lots of growing up on your own—graduating from high school, moving away to college, developing your own life, staring your college graduation and future in the face—and suddenly you realize that while you were doing all your growing up, alas! Time did not stand still and your younger brother is indeed growing into his own person.
You’re shocked when you wander into his room one day and he’s watching … MTV?!? He’s far too young for that, you think, and just when the words begin to form on your lips, you suddenly realize he’s fifteen. When you were fifteen you were nearly all grown up, a young adult with a job and school driving permit making your own choices. Is it possible that he is nearly all grown up?
Now that you stop and think about it, the evidence if mounting. Remember the time you went to see Lord of the Rings with him, and amidst all the swashbuckling and swordfighting and intricate plot and numerous characters with names beginning with ‘G,’ you find that you have no idea what the hell is going on. And just when you’ve come to terms with this, and have decided to instead focus on the eye candy, er—actors, the younger brother leans over and whispers, “That guy’s had the ring for years and has gone mad from its power.” You look over in shocked silence. He obviously knows what’s going on and you don’t. In other words, he knows what’s going on and you don’t. He’s the more informed, the expert, the one with the answers. And, even more shocking, instead of feeling as if you’ve gone through the Twilight Zone or come out the wrong end of a timewarp, you’re … impressed.
Gradually you become more aware of the person he’s turning into. He makes you laugh—and now it’s not just because he says stupid but hilarious remarks, but because he’s actually funny. His emails have the wry, off-the-wall tone distinctive to the other entertainer in the family; your sister. He can impersonate many actors and is especially good at never breaking character.
And now, you are not the only one looking out for others. Now when you go to see movies, he leans over and whispers to you, “You may want to leave. You’re not gonna like this scene coming up.” But when you don’t, and spiders the size of houses begin scuttling across the screen, he pats your arm and asks gently, “Do we need to leave?” as you convulse and shake your limbs to get the hairy gigantic arachnids that are now crawling on you off. Afterwards, he doesn’t even say, I told you so.
But despite all this, you still go home and discover the crumbs and spills all over the floor that he and his posse left for you. You find yourself wanting to smack him or at the very least shake some sense into him. But instead, you satisfy yourself with giving him a lecture on responsibility and cleanliness, culminating with a scream, “What’s wrong with you?” And suddenly, you’re transported back 15 years and in your mind’s eye, you see the puckered face of the newborn brother with his shiny, perfect nose and eyes squinted shut, and his tiny, pink fist wrapped around your pinky finger. You cringe at the memory of the day your six-year-old self accidentally dropped him and the hysterical weeping in the locked bathroom that followed. You remember the time you lost him for thirty seconds in Hallmark and the panic-edged horror that chomped your heart. You remember your first year of college when he called to tell you he loved you and missed you. And the answer to your own question hovers in your heart. What’s wrong with him? Absolutely nothing.
