Brothers

Flash Fiction

Brothers

“You should talk!”

“I talk all the time!” Jared said.

“Yes… that was just a saying…” Ben snapped back.

“Because you “said” it?”

“No, a ‘saying’ is just a short sentence that means something.”

“Don’t all sentences mean something?”

“Yes… I mean those particular words always mean something… else?”

“You sound confused...”

“OK. I can do this… A “saying” is a sentence people say, and use to tell other people something, but not the something the person actually wants to says… Ah… this is getting worse…”

“And more confusing. Just tell me what you were going to yell at me about!”

“Who said I was gonna yell at you?”

“The look on your face when we started this conversation.”

“Which was?...”

“You might as well have had a pin holding up a sign across your shirt that said, ‘You screwed up!’”

“Really? Am I that predictable?”

“To me, yes… So, what is it I missed??”

“The vine needs trimming.”

“The forsythia?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll take care of it. See how much shorter conversations can be without all those other words!”

“OK. Well, since we just used up the amount of time it would take to actually trim the forsythia, it’s lunch time.

“Cool! Let’s go have lunch!”

“I will… but since the last thing that has to be done is the forsythia bush, you will not, at least, until it’s done… I’ll be in the truck,” he started walking away.

“Or… you could help me, and then we could both go to ‘Sandy’s Buns,’ together and have a better lunch than the peanut butter sandwiches Mom made, before we are due at the Taylor’s yard…”

“Seriously?”

“Absolutely!”

“Let me grab my clippers!”

And the brothers became great friends again, like every day since Jared was born, twenty-three years ago.