“Scotty! Hey Scotty!? Are you awake” Scotty scrunched his eyes further shut and said, “No.” “Oh. Ok. Hey! How can you answer me if you’re asleep?” Scotty groaned. His parents told him that he’d wanted a little brother when he was little, but he didn’t believe them. Who would want someone like Lexie following them around all the time? Scotty rolled over and looked at Alex. “I’m awake now,” He growled with a distinct glare in Lexie’s direction. Lexie, as ever, remained oblivious. “Have any more weird dreams?” Lexie asked. Scotty flopped back down on his bed and thought about his answer. He was always having weird dreams. He’d had dreams about meeting an angel, and about this weird boy who shot brown hard things out of his body ever time he sneezed, and about this weird old bald man who knew everything. His most recent dream was the strangest, though. “Yeah. Yeah, I have. I had this one dream where I was alone in a wasteland, and every time I looked at anything it disappeared. Everything was red-“ “That’s a lotta blood. Cooool…” Lexie added. “Not blood. It was just red. Everything was red. And I saw a little bit of smoke, and there was this giant robot that looked like it had been ripped in half…” “So what Happened then?” Lexie asked. “You woke me up. Again,” Scotty complained. “I had a weird dream too,” Lexie told Scotty. Scotty then realized the real reason Lexie had woken him up. “I was all growed up. I mean, I had to be at *least* fourteen years old, and that’s almost ancient. There were a whole bunch of bad men trying to fight me, but all I had to do was point my hands at them and they’d explode. It was *way* cool.” Scotty realized Lexie was all set to chatter on for awhile, so he told his brother, “Good-night, Lexie,” Hoping he’s take the hint for once. No such luck. “When I grow up I’m gonna be in the army. I’ll be the best captain *ever* even better than the superheroes. Everyone will want to be in my troop cause of me. And I’ll make sure everyone behaves and nobody’s mean. I’ll get broccoli outlawed. I can’t wait to grow up.” Scotty turned back over to tell Lexie, “I don’t never wanna grow up. I’m just gonna be a kid forever and ever and always have fun.” “But you gots to grow up,” Lexie said. “All the grown-up stuff’s gottta get done.” “You can do it,” Scottie said. “You like grown-up stuff. You can do all the grown-up stuff, and I can do all the kid stuff.” “My brother the beach bum,” Lexie crowed. “You’ll be like all those old guys at the beach that never do nothing.” Scottie threw his teddy bear at Lexie. “G’night Lexie.” Lexie turned off the lights. “G’night Scotty.”
