“That’s mine! Give it back at once.”
“No, I want it, I want... Amma...”
“Give it back.” Slap, slap.
Amma marched into the room. “What’s going on?” she demanded. Suresh looked guilty. “Did you beat your baby brother?” she asked him.
“But amma! He took my...”
“Suresh!” Amma was firm. “I have told you a hundred times not to beat him. If you have a problem, you come to me.”
Baby Brother, all of three, sniffled and said, “I want that.”
He was pointing to the brand new Superman toy that Suresh prized and was keeping so carefully out of the little fellow’s reach.
“Give it to him, Suresh,” Amma told him gently, “He will play with it for some time and give it back to you.”
Of course, Baby Brother did give Superman back to him. Except that, by now, Superman had lost his glowing shield and his arm was revolving a bit loose on his shoulder. Suresh gritted his teeth. He was close to tears. Life was not fair. Oh why did he have to put up with a younger brother?
His best friend Amit had come a visiting. Suresh excitedly pulled out some of his favourite toys and they had a good game of good soldier vs bad soldier going. In the middle of particularly exciting part of the game when Amit’s soldier was jumping off a helicopter on a bad guy, Baby Brother toddled into the room, rubbing the sleep off his eyes with chubby fists. “Anna,” he exclaimed excitedly, “Me too, me too!” “Oh, no,” groaned Suresh, looking at Amit, who was grinning from ear to ear.
Baby Brother was certainly not shy. He plonked himself in the middle of the game, dislodging a few strategically placed soldiers, and began playing with the toys. Amit grinned and try to grab the soldier from his little hands. “No, no,” said the little fellow, “Gimme, I want it.”
“Give it to him,” said Suresh resignedly, “Let’s play something else.” But Amit wasn’t listening. He was busy teasing Baby Brother. He was putting the soldiers away, out of the reach of his little hands and saying, “Now try to get them.” Baby Brother jumped a few times, his arms outstretched upwards, but of course, the toys were well out of his reach.
Suresh felt a tightness clench his throat. “Hey Amit,” he said, “Leave him alone.” “Look at him jump!” laughed Amit, then turning to the little fellow said, “Jump higher... higher, come on!”
The little fellow jumped up and down saying, “Please, please... I want it...”
“Hey, what’s with you?” Suresh demanded, grabbing the toys and thrusting them into Baby Brother’s hands. Amit had now turned sulky. “I was just teasing him,” he said. “You can’t tease him,” replied Suresh quite angrily, “He is my brother and these are his toys too.” Amma, who was just then bringing in some milk and snacks on a tray, smiled to herself.
After Amit had left, Suresh sat down to complete his homework. By his side sat his Baby Brother playing... with their favourite Superman toy.
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