Brother's 10th Birthday

There’s a story in my family that always makes me cry — it’s so tender and full of the struggle and the love that defined so much of life. This draft is an attempt to honor the spirit of that story.

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedThey can go on and think I stole that bike.Don't blame them for thinking itwhen the insides of my pockets hold more air than money --have done for all my life.It's not about the smile on a brother's faceor even his promises to remember forever.Not about the way his face looked last week when his friends rode away and he had to stand there in the dustwatching them go. It's about the way he wanted to cry,let his face crumple up and --just as he pushed his fists into his eyes --he saw me, he dropped his hands,came running to me, smiling, saying,"Nothing's wrong today. I didn't like those knuckleheads anyway."