10-03-2011, 11:56 PM
After Johnny scrubbed the muck off of his handsome, European face, his pale skin was visible at last. Although he hardly tanned even after training in the boiling sun all day, he had a slight tan line nonetheless. He stood up and walked over to the garbage bin to throw away his empty cigarette box, only to find a strange looking boy in front of the bin. The boy reminded Johnny of the first time he met his step-brother by his father’s mistress.
It was on an early spring day, just before Johnny’s baby-sitter died, that his father told everyone the news. The only reason he told them then was because the boy’s mother was gravely ill and the father had decided to adopt him. The boy was the same age as Johnny. His twin siblings looked over-joyed, but Johnny pondered on how his mother felt. With one sibling holding his right hand, the other his left, he walked outside to meet his half-brother. At the bottom of the steps leading to their house stood a pale boy with brunette hair and green eyes. He actually didn’t look too bad. He had the nose of his father and the eyes and hair of his sweet, baby-sitter mother.
Johnny let go of his two sibling’s hands, walked down the steps, and looked into the eyes of the mistress’ child his father bred. Then, he smiled, took the boy’s hand, and walked toward the garden. Once there, he let go of his hand and asked him as politely as possible what his name was. Johnny wanted to know it before declaring a full on war, but the boy didn’t respond. He looked so fragile and frightened that Johnny sighed and told the boy that he wouldn’t hurt him. That he’d be his friend and that as long as he listened to him and obeyed his wishes, they would get along just fine.
A few years passed by and Johnny and the boy he thought he’d never get along with were the best of friends. At least, they were until Johnny’s mother sent the boy to America to study. Johnny couldn’t believe that they would take away his best friend, beside his twin sisters, of course. Yet, he knew his step-brother would be able to get into the heart of his father’s business this way.
Now, Johnny looked at the boy in front of him who made these memories resurface. He didn’t know how or what his half-brother was doing, but he wished he did. As he had done a long time ago, Johnny politely asked this newcomer, for he had never seen him around, what his name was.
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