Author's website: http://www.learnlink.emory.edu/~sdelcul/index2.html

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer. Somebody's got to defend Ray's honor and explain the brother-naked connection. Oh, and the bunny has a name. Please send comments, questions, compliments, and otters to sdelcul@yahoo.com.

Author's Notes:

Story Notes:

"Aw, Ma, do I have to?"

"Yes, Carlo. You know how your father gets, and we're already late."

"But Ma, do you know what I had to go through to get Julia's father to let her come over when you weren't here?"

"Carlo Joseph Vecchio. Give your brother a bath and put him to bed." She caught her breath and continued more calmly. "Then you can spend some time with Julia."

Carlo sighed the worldly sigh of every sixteen-year-old boy forced to care for a younger sibling. "Yes, Ma."

"Good boy. We'll be back around 10."

She went upstairs. "Raymondo."

A young boy looked up from his puzzle. "Yes, Mama?"

"Your father and I are going out. Carlo will put you to bed. Be a good boy and do as he says."

"Okay, Mama." She smiled at his earnest little face and kissed his forehead on her way out.

Ten minutes later, Carlo came upstairs with a cup of juice. "How do I look, Ray?" Putting the drink down, he spun around.

Ray laughed at his older brother. "You look awful."

"Yeah, well, I hate you, squirt. Hey," he looked down at the puzzle. "isn't that one of mine?"

It was a puzzle of a baseball field, with large patches of brown and green. Its 500 pieces had been too much for Carlo's patience.

"Mama asked me to. She said she wanted to see the picture."

There were maybe twenty pieces left, and Carlo could tell that Ray had started with the outside, logically, and then worked on the hardest parts, the big patches. The only place left to work out was home plate and the dugout.

"Wanna finish it before bath time?"

"You gonna help?"

With those big eyes looking up at him adoringly, how could he refuse? "Sure."

For the next few minutes they worked on the puzzle quietly.

"Looks like there's a piece missing, kiddo," he said with a grin, but Ray wasn't buying it.

"What's in your hand?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing."

"Oh yeah?"

Carlo laughed as Ray grabbed for his hand, dragging Ray on top of him until they were wrestling for the last piece. Giggling, Ray pulled back and jumped on his brother. When he rolled off, his leg knocked the cup off the table, spilling bright red cranberry juice all over Carlo's good shirt.

" Fuck! How could you be so clumsy!"

"I'm sorry, Carlo. I didn't mean to."

"You never mean to, Ray. Do you always have to make a mess of everything?"

Soundlessly, tears began running down Ray's cheek.

"Aw, geez. Stop crying, will you?"

Ray tried, but he continued sniffling.

"Come on now, stop crying." The clock downstairs chimed eight. "Julia's gonna be here any minute! Okay, we can do this. Let's go."

Carlo grabbed Ray's arm, pulling him towards the bathroom. Turning on the shower, he quickly disrobed. "Come on, Ray. Quick."

Quickly rinsing the cranberry juice residue from himself, he splashed Ray just enough to get him wet. He did wash behind Ray's ears, knowing that his mother would check when she kissed Ray good night after he was asleep.

Turning off the water and stepping out, he grabbed a towel for himself, and passed one to Ray. "Here, dry off."

His room was closer to the bathroom, and he got dressed again quickly. Helping Ray into his pjs, he lifted the sheet so Ray could climb into bed. As he was walking toward the light switch and the door, he heard Ray mutter something. "What?"

"I'm sorry, Carlo. I didn't mean to spill." Ray's voice wavered, and he didn't say anything further.

He sighed heavily. "I know, Raybit. I'm sorry that I yelled at you; I didn't mean it either." Putting on his most pitiful face, he asked, "Forgive me?"

Thankfully, Ray was grinning again, easily able to forgive his brother. "Bedtime story?"

About to answer, he heard the doorbell downstairs. "That's Julia. Hold on a sec." Carlo went downstairs and let Julia in. Remembering Ray, he went upstairs. When he opened the door again, Ray was asleep and he'd already kicked the sheets down to his chubby little toes.

Carlo pulled the sheets up to cover Ray, dropped a kiss to his forehead and went back downstairs to entertain his guest.

End Try a little harder by silvina: sdelcul@yahoo.com

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