To Catch Me

Tom had made Bill a temporary splint out of a fragment of a twig, which was now the size of a tree to them. He'd wrapped it around Bill's arm with some string he'd found in his pocket ["Along with the comb, jar of mayonnaise, and twenty pounds of margarine," Bill had commented, rolling his eyes] and was now carrying Bill piggyback as he started to walk in a random direction, hoping that it was somewhere around home.

"Tom," Bill sniffed from up on Tom's back.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we're ever gonna get big again?"

Bill's voice was so childlike and dependent that Tom knew he would listen to anything his big brother said. These were the times when Bill needed him most -- the times when both of them were in trouble and didn't know what to do. Bill wasn't much of a man of action: he let other people carry out plans he thought out. So when something like this occurred and he had to adapt to this totally new environment, he was at a loss.

Tom, however, had his gift of bravery. Even if he was scared, he didn't show it, and he sure didn't show it to Bill now. He powered on, gripping his brother's thighs tightly, and said, "We will. We'll get big again. Don't worry about it."

"But I am worried, Tomi."

Tom's legs felt like they were about to give out. He set Bill down gently and then turned around, scooping him up bridal-style and bringing him to a small hole in the dirt. Or, it would be small...if they were 170 centimeters again. Now, the hole was the size of a sewage tunnel. But it was mostly dry and had a roof to protect the twins, and so Tom brought Bill to it and sat down, pulling Bill into his lap.

"It's going to be okay, Bill. I'm not going to let anything happen that's not supposed to happen." Although he really wished he could be sure of that.

Bill fell asleep in his arms with tears in his eyes -- Tom could see them even though Bill's eyes were closed. He ran his fingers gently through his brother's spiky hair and kissed his forehead gently. "It's going to be all right," he whispered, even though Bill couldn't hear him. "I promise you that it's going to be all right."

___________________*___________

Bill had this "great" idea to climb up a flower and see how far away the house was.

Now, this would be a good idea that could probably help them out a lot...if the flower wasn't now approximately the equivalent of three or four stories high, and if the stalk wasn't only as wide across as Bill was.

Tom was kind of grateful because Bill said that he would do it. As long as Tom was on the bottom, he said, ready to catch him if he fell. Still, when Bill started up the stalk of the flower, Tom got a little nervous. He watched Bill carefully, trying to see when he started swaying and kind of hyper-aware, scared that his little brother would fall before he could catch him.

"Are you doing okay up there?!" he shouted, hands cupped around his mouth.

"Tom, I am abso-fucking-lutely fine! You don't need to worry about me--whoa!" Bill lost balance for just a second and Tom's heart leapt into his throat. Bill righted himself and shouted back, "See?! Abso-fucking-lutely fine!"

"If you say so!" Tom sighed and crossed his arms. Bill was too stubborn to admit that he might need help and so all Tom could do was to watch until Bill got into trouble.

He'd made it almost to the top and was yelling back down to Tom, "Hey, Tom, I think I can see the house from here!" when suddenly there was a shriek and a shadow enveloped the twins.

Tom didn't have to shield his eyes anymore -- he could see what was above them.

A bird.

Which wouldn't have been a big deal, if birds weren't now the size of humpback whales.

"Bill!!" Tom screamed, horrified as he watched the bird eye his little brother like he was some kind of tasty worm.

He could hear Bill's frightened voice say, "Tomi!" before the bird closed its beak on the back of Bill's shirt, lifting him up and snapping him up into its mouth.

Tom wasn't breathing. He couldn't breathe. The bird had just eaten his brother.

Bill's terrified screams came from inside the bird's mouth -- he hadn't been swallowed yet. The bird looked like it was having a somewhat hard time of forcing the tiny boy down its throat, and Tom took advantage of that to run to the bird's leg, which was about as big around as the Empire State Building. Still, he had to try. Tom sank his teeth into the bird's leg and it squawked angrily, flapping its wings and lifting off the ground.

Suddenly, they were about a foot in the air, which to the twins was now possibly the height of a skyscraper. Tom clung to the bird's leg for dear life but focused on getting it to drop Bill.

"Let...go...of...my...brother!!" he screamed, biting deep again.

The bird squawked a second time and crashed to the ground, temporarily disabled. Tom tumbled to the ground and watched as it started hacking and coughing, and in a hack, it spat Bill out.

Tom crawled frantically over to his brother, who was sprawled on the dirt, covered in bird spit. The bird angrily got to its feet and rose into the air, becoming a small speck in the sky as it flew off to whatever destination it'd been heading to.

"Bill?" Tom asked, his voice trembling. Bill's eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. Tom didn't care that his brother was sticky with bird saliva -- he curled up next to him and asked again, "Bill...? Please wake up...please."

Tears slipped down his face and he took Bill into his arms, holding him close. Bill's body was soft and limp and vulnerable in his arms.

He stayed that way, crying quietly into Bill's neck, until a raspy, breathy voice whispered, "I told you...I was...abso-fucking...lutely...fine..."

"Bill?!" Tom asked, overjoyed.

"No...it's someone...else...of course...it's...Bill."

Tom squeezed Bill tightly and dissolved into another round of tears. "Oh, Bill, god...I thought I lost you. I was so scared...I fucking love you, you know that? I do."

"Really...tired...Tomi..."

"Okay. Okay. That's fine. Go ahead and go to sleep. I'll be right here next to you when you wake up."

And so, against all odds, Bill fell asleep to Tom's fingers running through his hair.