Page 2 of Rescue

“Why’s Mom asleep, anyway?” Daltrey asks, gazing over at the house. He doesn’t look worried about it, and I wonder if there’s something wrong with me. None of my brothers seem at all scared about her sleeping during the day. Why does it give me such a funny feeling in my tummy?

“I don’t know, idiot,” Reed says. Yup, he’s getting mad all right. “All I know is that she’ll be mad if we wake her up.”

“So, are we playing or not?” Cash says. “Daltrey, go find your hiding spot, we’ll count again.”

“That’s not fair!” I cry. “Reed said it would be my turn next!”

“Daltrey didn’t finish his turn,” Reed says.

“Only because he was too dumb to sit and wait for us.”

“Hey!” Daltrey pushes me. “I’m not dumb. You’re dumb! A big dumb baby!”

“He’s crying again!” Cash says, throwing his hands up in the air.

I know that Reed said we needed to be quiet, but I just can’t help it. “I am not crying!” I scream as loud as I can.

“What’s going on?”

We all turn around, the icky feeling in my stomach growing really big and scary. There’s my mom, standing on the little back porch, looking out at us. She’s wearing a pretty yellow dress, and I know exactly how soft it will feel against my cheek if I lean against her leg, how it will smell like baby powder and something else sweet.

“Reed?” she asks, and I can see that my big brother is nervous.

“The kids are just being stupid,” he says, as if he’s some grown-up and not a stupid nine-year-old.

“Lennon called me a baby!” Daltrey adds.

“And he pushed me!” Cash says.

My brothers are the biggest jerks in the world. Now I’m going to be the one to get in trouble. I swallow as my mom steps off the porch, walking across the grass in her bare feet to get to us. She comes straight to me, bending down to look at my face. I rub my eyes quick, hoping she won’t see that I’m crying.

“You know you’re not supposed to shove your brothers,” she says, but her voice is soft. She doesn’t sound mad.

“They were being mean,” I say, feeling like a stupid little kid.

“We were not,” Cash cries. “Why does he always have to be such a baby?”

“That’s enough,” Mom says, standing. Cash immediately closes his mouth. She looks around at us. “My boys,” she says, shaking her head. “My wild, naughty boys.” But she doesn’t say naughty like it’s a bad thing. She’s smiling at us, like we make her happy. “You need to be kind to each other,” she says, her voice a little less happy. “I don’t like the name calling and shoving. You know that.”

“Sorry,” we all chorus, even Reed. No one likes to make our mom sad.

“All right, go on and play. Be nice,” she adds, looking right at Cash and then Daltrey.

“Yes, ma’am,” they say before running off toward the woods, Reed behind them. I know they want to get out of her sight before she decides we should be punished after all. I don’t follow them.

“What’s wrong, Lennon?” she asks.

I shrug.

“Then why don’t you go play?”

I shrug again. “Just don’t feel like playing.”

She watches me for a long moment. “It’s hard, isn’t it?” she finally asks, ruffling my hair. “Being in the middle.”

I don’t really know what she means, but she smiles at me and I feel a lot better anyway. “Having older brothersanda younger brother,” she explains. She always seems to know how to explain things.

“They called me a baby,” I say, leaning into her leg. Yup, her dress smells just the way I thought it would, and it feels soft against my cheek. “And Cash said I was crying and—”