Save Me Little Brother!

SAVE ME LITTLE BROTHER!

Jason was standing before the front to Cody’s white footed sock. He knew he couldn’t call up to his little brother, he was just too small. And Cody had the television set on. Jason figured he would have to climb up the footed slipper to his seven-year-old brother’s Doctor Dentons. Jason smiled for a moment. He always thought his brother looked so cute in those dark and light blue, one-piece pajamas.

However, these joyful thoughts soon vanished. The fourteen-year-old Jason’s mind was still reeling from the cold reality he had shrunk. The dreaded shrinking virus had made its horrible mark on him. Just less than half an hour ago he was at his regular height. Now he was smaller than one of Cody’s action figures. Trying to get his mind back to the task at hand, Jason looked up at the towering leg before him.
Rubbing his hands together, Jason began his trek up Cody’s leg. Grabbing hold of the warm, thick somewhat firm material to the front to Cody’s footed slipper, Paul began to scale the footwear. He crawled up and over the boulder size toes outlined beneath the stiff fabric. He ran over the top of the bus size footed slipper. It was so weird for Jason to think he was actually running over his brother’s giant foot. How many times had he tickled his brother’s tiny feet in the past.

Jason’s mind suddenly took him on a trip back in the time when he took Cody to the carnival. He remembered how happy his brother was and excited. With Cody in hand, Jason took him to the different vendors. There was a snake charmer, however, there was a large crowd and Cody couldn’t see. Picking up his brother, Jason placed him on his shoulders. Cody clapped his hands to the performance. And Jason remembered to the many times he and his brother would go to a movie matinee. Jason found the kiddy films boring but gave him a thrill to be able to make his brother happy. Jason loved his little brother very much.

Tears rolled down Jason’s face as he returned to the here and now. Jason was filled with such sadness as he thought, “I won’t be able to do the things that I use to with Cody. I won’t be able to help him with sports and other things.”

Coming to the blue, fleece covered leg, Jason looked up. The leg rose above him like a small hill. Jason felt like a bug. And he began to feel afraid. Grabbing the thick, fleece material, Jason buried his face in it and sobbed. “Cody, Cody please help me. I need you. Help me. I’m so scared.” Even though there was an age difference of seven years between the two brothers, Jason and Cody seemed to have a special connection with each other.

Cody was dozing in and out. Suddenly, he thought about his brother. Cody felt Jason was in trouble. “Jason, I could never think of you in any type of trouble. I would die if anything happened to you.” Cody sat there half-awake worrying about his brother. Shortly, Cody dozed off again.

Jason was half way up the leg. He hoped once he had made it over the knee, he would then be able to get Cody’s attention. Stopping for a moment. Jason looked up. He could see the Mount Rushmore size face of his brother. It was a colossal oval shaped face. It was capped with short straight brown hair that made a clean line across the huge forehead. To Jason he changed from a small little boy to some young titan.

Cody was startled out of his slumber when the movie he was watching had a scene that featured many explosions. And it became apparent to Cody he hadn’t seen his brother in a while. Jason was babysitting him while their parents were out. And it was not like his brother just to go off. Cody stood up. “Aaaahh,” screamed Jason as the huge, gigantic leg began to move. Jason hung on tightly to the thick, soft fabric.

“Jason, you in there!?” shouted Cody running toward the kitchen. The violent movements were too much for Jason. He fell off the leg. It was to Jason a long way down to the floor. Fortunately for Jason, the floor was covered with a shag rug.

Cody looked around the kitchen. There was no sign of Jason. He went to the cellar door and opened it. “Jason, you down there?” Still no answer. Cody put a finger to his lips trying to think. He walked over to the entrance to the darkened dining room. And once more called for his brother---no response. Cody went back into the kitchen. Had he gone into the dining room, and turned on the light, Cody would have found a pile of clothing laying on the floor.

Starting to stand up, Jason found he wasn’t totally unscathed by the fall. As he stood up, he felt a burning sharp pain charge through his left leg. Jason had twisted his ankle. As he was trying to stay erect on his good leg, Jason noticed movement a bit of a ways on the carpet that stretched before him like some strange, alien landscape. Whatever it was it was moving quickly. And Jason thought he could see a humped shape.

Cody gazed around the kitchen trying to think. That thought of Jason being in some form of trouble kept haunting him again. “What am I supposed to do?” he questioned himself with great anxiety.

Jason’s expression was one of horror. The thing traveling at fast speed toward him was a spider. “Oh shit,” said Jason trying to hobble away. As it grew nearer, Jason saw the spider was a brown recluse. Jason tried with all his might to get away but he knew he couldn’t. “Cody!! Save me little brother!!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “It’s no use, I’m going to die,” he thought to himself. Stopping his futile attempts of escape from the eight-legged horror, Jason said tenderly, “I love you Cody. You’re the best little brother a guy can have. Sorry, I can’t see you mature into a man.” Jason closed his eyes waiting to feel the pain of the spider’s fangs.

Jason felt his body starting to shake. And he heard a muffled series of pounding sounds. “Take that!” shouted a booming voice. Opening his eyes, Jason saw the spider was just yards from him when all at once a giant white and blue object came crashing down on the crawling nightmare. Warm, disgusting smelling goo and liquid splashed out on to him from beneath the giant object. Shaking his arms of the gory mess, Jason looked back up and saw the enormous front to one of Cody’s footed slippers.

He was so overjoyed, Jason forgetting about his injured foot jumped up in elated triumph. Coming back down on that foot, Jason fell from the excruciating pain. He tried to get up among the thick cords of the rug.

Cody blinked his eyes and moved his head from side to side questioningly. For down on the rug appeared to be a toy. But this toy was alive. “A tiny person? In our house?” questioned Cody with rising youthful wonder. The boy began to stoop down.

Jason was in complete awe of the incredible bulk that his brother made above him. He felt a cushion of air press down on him as his titanic little sibling crouched down above him. “I feel like I am in the presence of a God or something,” commented Jason with some nervous laughter in his voice. He tried to get up but his injured ankle and thick fabric of the rug made this difficult.

It seemed unreal to Cody as the toy size person seemed to be struggling in the thick strands of the rug. “Are you ok?” asked Cody.

“Cody, it’s me, Jason! Jason! You saved my life!” shouted Jason.

Cody started to hear faint; high pitch shrills. He thought he could make out a few words one being Jason. “Jason?” he whispered to himself. Cody started to become confused. Anxious to hold the tiny living toy, Cody reached down to pick him up.

Jason once more was filled with awe at the pure size of the giant thumb and forefinger that came down from on high towards him. He too started to become nervous for he hoped his brother would be careful with him. Two huge fingers carefully clamped on to his back and front. “Cody,” he said almost in a state of euphoria. For his little brother had been his deliverance from a horrible death.

Cody placed the tiny man in his hand. Squinting his eyes, Cody asked in a dreamy sort of voice, “Jason? Is that really you?”

“It is Cody! I was struck by the shrinking virus! You saved me from the spider!” Jason dragged himself over to the huge thumb and wrapped his arms partly around it and pressed the side of his head against the warm, tough feeling skin. Unexpectedly, Jason found himself drenched in warm, salty liquid. He looked up at Cody and saw tears running down his face. “What’s wrong!”

Cody replied sniffling, “You’re so tiny. And that spider was going to eat you.”

“But he didn’t Cody! You Saved me!”

Smiling slightly, Cody ran an index finger over his brother’s tiny head several times. “I’ll always protect you Jason,” said Cody with a sincere determination. Moving his hand closer to his face to get a better look, Cody noticed his brother was covered with gunk. He too could small a rank order coming from him. “I think you need to be cleaned up.”

“Yeah!” shouted up Jason. That spider’s guts made a real mess!”

Cody ran to and up the stairs to the second floor. Going into the bathroom, Cody placed his brother on the side of the bathroom sink. He reached up and opened the medicine cabinet. He took out a small box of Q-Tips swabs. Running some warm water over a few, Cody began to clean his brother off. The Q-Tips to Jason were the width and length of street lights.

Jason was rather proud of his brother. Cody was very gentle. “Thanks Bro! I feel much better!” Cody made a shy smile.

Looking puzzled, Cody asked Jason, “Why don’t you stand up?”

“I sprained my ankle! It hurts too much!” shouted Jason to his gargantuan size brother. Jason did not want to tell his brother it was because he fell off his leg. He didn’t want Cody to feel bad or guilty.

Jason feeling spent from all his exertions and emotional trauma of the day felt tired and started yawning.

Cody seeing his brother was struggling to stay awake, suggested to Jason, “Why don’t I put you in my pocket and you can rest.” Jason nodded. Picking Jason up, Cody placed him into a side pocket to his pajamas. Jason again was in wonder of his enormous brother. And Cody’s giant and powerful fingers that gathered him up carefully; placing him in a dark, vast abyss. In the warm interior of the pocket, Jason nestled himself into the soft fleece material. Before fading off, Jason thought, “So strange, I’m in my brother’s pocket.”

Over an hour later, the parents returned home. Not seeing Jason around, the father asked Cody, “Where’s Jason? Is he all right?”

“Well-ah-not really daddy.”

“Come on son. What happened? Where is he?”

Cody answered, “He’s sleeping right now in my pocket.”

“Your pocket?” questioned the mother. Cody nodded.

Seeing his parents were becoming alarmed and annoyed, Cody reached into his right pocket. He looked up at them kind of nervously. Removing his hand from the pocket, Cody told them rather proudly, “I saved him from the spider.” Opening his hand up, Cody said, “You see. It was the shrinking virus.” His mother gasped. And both parents looked down at the very, tiny, tiny form of their son with wide eyes. “He’s only sleeping.” Cody gently nudged Jason with a finger. Slowly, Jason woke up.

“My poor, poor son,” spoke the mother who began to sob.

Seeing the distress his parents were in, Jason shouted up to them, “I know this is weird. But really, I’m ok. And Cody has been taking care of me.”

For several hours Jason and his parents talked and tried to come to grips with this. “Son,” said the father. “I just want to let you know your mother and I will look after you. We’ll deal with this.”

“I’ll look after Jason too. I promise.” Gazing down at his brother, Cody asked, “Can I take care of him?”

The parents were silent for a spell. Then the father told Cody pointedly, “Its’s a great responsibility son. I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Dad and mom. I’m sure he can,” spoke Jason.

The parents knew Jason and Cody were close. Talking it over with each other, the father told them, “Ok, we’ll try it out.” Pointing a finger at Cody, the father told him, “Its way past your bedtime.”

A little later after they cleaned up, Cody went to his bedroom and climbed into his bed. He placed Jason down on his chest. Jason found himself half submerged and lost in the folds of the blue and light blue fleece material. He gazed up with great admiration at his brother.

Cody looked down at Jason. “I will always look out for you,” said Cody who stroked his brother’s back. “I always will.” Finding it almost next too difficult to stay awake, Cody picked up Jason and with his other hand unzipped the front of his pajamas slightly. He placed his miniscule brother inside and down on his chest and zipped the pajamas back up. Jason curled up in the warm darkness of his brother's love and fell to sleep.

Drifting off to a deep slumber, Cody in a groggy and weak voice mumbled, “I will always look after you.”

And he did.

THE END