John bolted back into his own new room, heart pounding with fear. Mike was so . . . so BIG now! And so strong! He had picked his little brother up like John was nothing! Closing his eyes, he gradually calmed down, his breathing evening out.
Only to jump when Mom called, "John, come on! It's time to go!"
Go? Go where? Not to school; it was a Saturday.
Pulling his door open, John went downstairs. There he found Mom, Dad and Mike waiting impatiently for him in the hall, the former putting on their coats while latter wore blue jeans and his football jersey. John craned his neck back to start up at the arrogantly handsome adolescent face of his new, super-jock big brother! Mike towered over even their Dad! He stood at least six foot five and his sculpted, magnificent musculature seemed much more suited to a pro football player rather than a mere high school athlete. Seeing John's scrutiny, Mike sneered and flexed his right arm, his huge bicep bulging up bigger than his little brother's head!
A feeling of mingled fear and worshipful awe swept through the tiny ten year-old. It wasn't just his age and body which had changed; his emotions had been altered as well. At that moment he found out what it felt like to live his whole life in Mike's vast shadow, simultaneously being afraid of and desperately looking up to his vastly superior, He-Boy big brother! So overwhelmed was he by this emotional reaction that he didn't hear what his father told him.
"John! I said put your coat on! We've got to leave now if we want to get the best seating for your brother's game."
"Game? What game?" John instinctively asked.
Mike rolled his eyes in response, and Dad looked at him like he'd just asked what 2+2 was.
"His football game, of course! Come on!"
With his sister having already gone out, it dawned on John that this would be the perfect time to sneak back into Mike's room and regain the wishing stone, assuming he could get them to leave without him.
"Dad, I don't really feel like it. I'm just going to stay home, okay?"
"Very funny, mister," Mom replied, taking his coat out of the closet and handing it to him. "You know you can't stay home alone at your age! Besides, don't you want to cheer Mike on?"
Dang! He'd forgotten he was only ten. There was no way they were going to let him stay home by himself.
Beaten, John slipped on the coat and followed his family out to their Jeep. Mike got in the front passenger seat, while John and Mom rode in back. The whole drive there Dad was verbally pumping his eldest son up, making it quite clear how much he relished Mike's amazing athletic ability.
Dad parked as near to the football field as he could; the parking lot was really full! They'd barely gotten out before Biff rushed up to them.
"Hey, Captain, how's it going? Ready for the game?" the eighteen year-old asked, slapping hands with Mike. In spite of being two years older, Biff was utterly dwarfed in sheer size and muscle mass by the hulking sixteen year-old he was greeting. And CAPTAIN!?!? That meant Mike was Captain of the Varsity Football team, as a sophmore! Who would have ever expected his little brother would grow into such a mighty, muscle-bound colossus as a teenager???
"You know it!" Mike replied in his deep, confident baritone. Then he turned back to his family. "See you guys later. So long, squirt," he finished, ruffling John's hair. The ten year-old flinched away from the painfully powerful touch before watching the two jog off toward the gym. Great! Now he was going to be stuck in the bleachers for hours watching the football game, with no chance of getting to the stone.
What John didn't realize was that the wishing stone wasn't at home at all; it was in Mike's pocket, where the older boy had always kept it since he'd received it as a gift from their grandfather.
