The Calling (DrTrollinski & Zhai)

[Zhai]

Left...right. Mia's almost right turn was abruptly interrupted as her body leaned left to follow Carl.


"I don't know. I think I was just going crazy in meetings and needed something to focus on." Lies. Carl and Mia could pick up on each other's lies as if it had it's own fragrance. At the nape of her neck, she could feel her hair bouncing on and off her skin as she walked. Focusing on that, she continued following a half step slower than Carl, but still keeping up with him.


"I'm probably just exhausted, y'know?" Her voice trailed off as her hand pulled over her head in a half-attempt at a decent stretch, but quickly she dropped her hands to catch the escaping strap of her pack. "I need a bath and a twin to do my homework. You know any twins like that?" She bantered inquisitively to her brother, tapping the back of his shoulder.

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. I'll help you over the weekend." He said, sighing a little as he looked down at the floor. He knew that she was holding out on something, but he wasn't going to be persistent. He just wanted to know what she was truly thinking - he never judged her on anything, and only ever offered constructive criticism if it was necessary.


This time, however, he was genuinely worried. He tried not to look offended or upset by the fact that he didn't know what was going on, but he was doing a miserable job at that so far. He just wanted to get to Nandos and eat and try to forget about everything. That's all he wanted right now. He tried not to show his emotion to Mia, but even if he had his back to her, she'd probably be able to tell what kind of emotion was emitting from her.


".. What's the homework about?" He asked, trying to carry on the subject so that she hopefully wouldn't inquire about what was wrong with him. He didn't want to do anymore explaining tonight.

 

[Zhai]

"I feel like something bad is going to happen." If Carl spoke a few seconds longer, his whole sentence would have been cut into by her words; but instead her softer toned sentence tacked onto the last of his words.


Blowing out a chest full of air and tucking loose strands of her behind her ears, Mia choked the single strap of her pack on her shoulder, gripping it so tight she felt blood rush of her hands and a chilly sensation begin in its place.


"It just feels like..." What does it feel like? What word describes this indescribable feeling? This deep, boiling hot, icy cold, jumping off a cliff sensation in her gut that made her mouth parch and her muscles stiffen until they were sore. "...I feel sick."


Mia couldn't decide if she actually felt physically sick and wanted to go home, or sick where she needed the weight of a burger in her gut to subside the other sensations in the pit of her stomach.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He quickly walked her to a nearby bench and sat her down, and then reached into his backpack after ripping it off of his shoulder and pulled out a bottle of water. He unscrewed it and placed the bottle in her hand. He didn't want her to throw up - they'd had a good day so far. Perhaps the nerves had just overcome her? She'd had a long day - she just needed something to eat, surely.


"Drink that." He said quickly, forcing her to inch the bottle towards her mouth. ".. You just need some good food in you, okay? We'll get some appetizers ASAP when we get there." He smiled at her and gently rubbed her back. He knew how to be supportive as well - he was good at calming people down if they got angry or upset, especially Mia. He shuffled up closer to her and then took a quick look around.


".. I don't want to cause a panic, but... So do I." He sighed. ".. I just got the feeling not too long after we left the movie theater, I just--.." He sighed. ".. It felt strange. As if there was something here that was... out of place." He shook his head. ".. I think it's nothing. Who knows." He shrugged.

 

[Zhai]

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.” Mia’s voice trailed off into a whisper, the bottle lifting closer to her lifts and her mouth suddenly drying out to the point her tongue felt like it was sticking to the roof of her mouth and the air she inhaled scratched her throat.


Listening to Carl mirror her exact feelings – the one she finally had words for after he already put the words to them – Mia’s eyes lifted and swept the street. It was empty on the other side. It was empty on this side, too, minus their presence on the bench. There was barely any noises; a far off singing of a bird, a noisy dog, and the vroom of a far off car.


“I guess you’re right. I just need to…” An older Mia – older and not made of silk like her mother wanted – would have inserted that she needed a drink at the end; but young, present Mia could only think of food, sleep, bath, and making this feeling go away. “…need to eat. I feel like the bad feeling is just….”


Another weird feeling forced Mia’s eyes to do another sweeping glance around the area. Across the street, a short balding man steps through a whining iron gate of a residence onto the sidewalk. He looks left. He looks right. His hands pull together a too small leather jacket and his hands fumble in the smallish pockets, looking hard for something. Mia’s eyes continue to inspect him, up until the moment his heads whips across the street and they lock eyes.


It’s coming.


A hot, thick feeling erupts from the pit of her stomach, up her chest to her throat, and fills her mouth. This time – it isn’t that weird sensation from before; it’s a movie-theater mixture. Erecting from the bench and leaning over the back to the edge of a lawn’s dying grass, the contents of her stomach empty on the ground.

 

[DrTrollinski]

The man looked strange, but not really suspicious. Carl was shocked when he saw her throw up and he quickly took her by the arm and helped her up, and then ran her down a nearby back alley and followed it until they were out on a street that wasn't too far from where they were. He just needed to get her out of there and cool her down.


"Jesus..." He sighed and then looked around. ".. Come on, we need to get you inside some place and just sit and relax for a while, okay?" He said, and then pulled her into a gentle hug and started softly rubbing her back. "It's fine, okay, sis? We're gonna' be just fine." He said soothingly, "You just ate too much junk food at the cinema. Perhaps you got a bad nacho, or maybe the salsa wasn't right - I didn't have any of the salsa, so that might be it." He explained, holding her close now that they were right on the edge of the alley and beside the street. The streets were quiet.


".. Let's go to Nandos and get some lemonade, alright? Do you want to put on my jacket for a while? It's not that warm, but... if you're feeling cold, it might help out a little." He offered.

 

[Zhai]

If the gagging weren't so overwhelmingly horrible, Mia could have found the indirect humor behind the salsa-nacho reference, but her stomach was convulsing violently. There was no more coming up and out, but there was no relief to the dry heaving. It was painful and felt forever. Carl at her side was soothing emotionally, but physically her body was rioting.


Minutes - it felt like hours, though - later after the heaving slowed, the muscles relaxed, and she could inhaled a deep, lung fulfilling breath, Mia pulled down the sleeve of her thin, long sleeve and wiped at the corners of her mouth in between spitting whatever was left in her mouth. The bottle of water was still in her hand, gripped so tightly it crunched and buckled in on itself, and half the water had shaken out from the bench to the alley.


Mia took a mouthful, swished, and spat. Again; one more time. There was a lone piece of gum in her back pocket that her fingers felt for and brought forth, the silver wrapper discarded and the stick softening between her rushing chewing teeth. "I'm fine. I'm okay. I don't know what...what happened back there. It must have been the salsa."


Standing straight again, taking deep breaths to dismay her stomach from going to hell again, Mia turned and faced Carl. "That was fucking terrible." Mia didn't curse often. It meant something when she cursed. When Carl cursed, he was angry. When Mia cursed, something was awful and that was awful.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Well, it can go and be 'fucking terrible' somewhere else, can't it?" He grinned at her and then pulled her into a warm hug. Carl was a big softy in a sense - he liked hugging and affection the most out of the two. He was very kindhearted, but when he was at school, he'd usually settle for just a smile and a little chat - he didn't like letting his personal life intertwine with his school life. Or vice versa. Outside of school, he was viewed as a really kind guy - aside from when he got angry. "As long as you don't go dying on me, I'll be fine." He chuckled weakly and rubbed her back again.


After a couple more minutes he pulled away from her and then gave a gentle smile while sighing through his nose. ".. Let's get a move on, shall we? We'll have something simple as an appetizer, eh? Garlic bread, some lemonade, and definitely no nachos." He laughed a little and playfully slapped the side of her arm in a long-winded swing in hope that she'd perk up just a little bit.


It was just the movie theater junk food, he was sure. Sort of.

 

[Zhai]

Carl’s quick swipe sent Mia’s arm flopping away from her body and slapping back down to her side. Being a sibling – a twin sibling with a brother as her counterpart – she was used to his pokes, playful slaps, banter, and everything else that came with a male sibling. They used to rough each other up when they were younger, attacking one another at the most unlikely moments. Mia recalled the time her brother tackled her in the hallway and they both went barreling down the stairs like a couple of dropped balls; at the bottom of the stairs, although sore from the multiple impacts, Mia and her brother still managed to laugh about it. They laughed about it sometime after the incident had happened. Sometimes, when her was passing the stairs or slipped down them a little, she instinctively remembered that time and smiled about it.


“I’m never eating nachos again. Not the ones you buy, at least.” Mia fooled around, smiling widely and softly pushing the back of her brother’s head.


“Where’s our bags?” Looking around, Mia only found a half gone water ball that she was holding. There was the absence of her backpack strap on her shoulder and the missing weight was discomforting. All her school books, homework, notes, and even her wallet – despite how little money there was in it – was all in her back pack.


“Alright, I’m ready.”

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. Shit..." He said in a whisper, he instantly turned back and then ran her back down the alley and around the corner so they were back where they started. He had his money with him, so that was priority, but that wasn't the main problem here. All of his own schoolwork and his books were in there, both stuff that he'd written and was reading - the homework was replaceable, but everything else? Not so much. He had a USB stick in there that had stuff he'd been working on, stuff that was personal and were his own ideas. God, if he lost that, he'd have to start everything all over again.


He ran at more of a sprinting speed until he reached the corner. He turned it and looked back to the bench where they'd left there stuff, and sitting right there, was one boy. A boy in the same Grade as them. He had the same sort of build of a body as Carl did, but he didn't seem to care. He was going through the bags, and now, he'd just gotten to counting out the money that was in Mia's wallet.


The bastard.


Carl felt his fists clench up into fists of rage. What the hell was he doing with Mia's stuff? Oh, this mother fucker. He was going to pay - Carl had some energy to burn off before they went for dinner, anyway. Mia knew fully, that even if this kid innocently put the money down, Carl would be no calmer whatsoever. The only person who was truly good at calming him down was his father - if it was Mia that was involved in the situation directly, there was absolutely nothing she could do.


It was about to go down.

 

[Zhai]

Mia remembered why she never joined the track team. Just that little sprint through the alley and back to the street left her sucking in a few deep breaths, or maybe it was because she’d just thrown up the contents of her stomach on the side of a wall.


“Ugh, jeez..” Mia was smiling, about to joke again with her brother about her thoughts about not joining the sports teams, when her smile immediately dropped. Her head whipped towards where Carl’s focus was, and there she saw it; some guy had gone through their things. There were textbooks on the bench and ground, loose papers fluttering with anticipation in the light wind, and other random things. In his hand, though, was the dark glossy purple that Mia recognized; she could almost feel the softness of the leather wallet on her hands as if she were holding it and smell its distinct sweetness from a long time ago, when an entire bottle of perfume stained its surface. The smell never subsided.


He was plucking things out of the folds of the wallet – card, card, card, card, money. Mia’s insides clenched and she sucked in an audible hiss, watching him count the bills. How much was it? She couldn’t remember; forty or fifty, maybe?


Without even having to look at Carl, Mia could feel the heat of his anger; it made her skin prickle and her heart quicken. “Carl, please. It’s not even that much money.” She stepped in his view, grasping his shoulders until her knuckles turned white; her eyes stared into his. It’s strange, it’s like looking at herself if she were even half enraged as Carl about this. Mia couldn’t even remember the last time she was angry.


“Carl, come on. It’s just a few bucks. Don’t worry about it.” Mia was hardly breathing and felt overpowered by Carl’s own presence, his angry and accelerated self. She tried to breath calmly and slowly, wishing blindly on being a twin and all the bullshit from class about twin-telepathy; if she was calm, maybe Carl would be, too. It didn’t seem like it was working, because she could feel his breath washing on her face, strong and fast.

 

[DrTrollinski]

It didn't work.


He stormed up to him after brushing by Mia, his knuckles white from how tightly his fists were clenched. The boy looked up with a shit-eating grin, but then he realized who he was stealing from. The person who had gotten into a dozen fights, and won the most of them - he'd made a big 'oops', and the grin instantly faltered. He just stole from this guy's twin sister. And by god, he was pissed. The kid, however, was absolutely shitting himself.


But wait. Why did he have to back down? He stood up, the wallet in hand, and then looked at Carl as he approached. No, he'd be fine. Carl wasn't that good at this sort of thing... Right? He didn't tower Carl, in fact, Carl towered him by at least a couple of inches. When he didn't back down, he started to panic. He tossed the wallet in his face and it bounced off his forehead, and a few coins spilled from it and rolled about on the sidewalk.


He hit him.


It was a solid swing, right to the jaw. A right hook. The kid dropped like a sack of hammers and hit the floor with a thud, and before he knew it, Carl was sitting right on top of him and taking jabs and swings at his face. He was feebly blocking only a couple of his punches with his arms, but the rest of them were connected.


"Say you're fucking sorry, right now!" Carl screamed at him, and kept on swinging.


"I'm sorry!" He cried out.


"WHAT?! I can't hear you!"


"I'm sorry! Just stop!" He cried, tears finally flowing down his cheeks. Carl gave two more punches and then let him go. The boy was dazed, but he instantly dashed away from him and hobbled off down the street. Oh dear, Carl had blood on the knuckles of his right hand. He looked at them and then took a couple of shaky deep breaths to calm himself down - when he had outbursts, not much could stop it. He'd had anger problems ever since a young age, and he didn't know how to control it. It was quite sad, really. Carl didn't like acting like that, but when he got angry, everything just became a blur.


He crouched down and then started to pick up the coins and tucked them back into the wallet, and then slowly began dividing the bits of paper and the books after figuring out whose was whose. He didn't know how to control his anger, and now that it was over, he was upset. He was sniffling, he had tears in his eyes, but he wasn't crying. Oh, no. Carl very rarely cried - he only ever cried if Mia got badly hurt, which wasn't very often. He didn't say a word. He just kept picking up all of the stuff and getting it back in order.


He hoped that Mia would give him the water from her bag so he could wash his hand. He'd given her his water, so he could do with the favor being returned. He didn't want to walk into Nandos with blood pebbled across his knuckles.

 

[Zhai]

That was very fast. Everything happened so quickly and it was so intense; like the climax of a movie, where all the action is compiled into an eye flinching, mind crunching chaos and the only thing you can say is…nothing.


After Carl escaped her grasp and rushed past her, Mia didn’t turn around for quite awhile; standing half turned on the sidewalk, her eyes lingering in the empty space ahead of her and her fingers flinching at her side. Even if she couldn’t see it – she could hear it; the scuffling of shoes, something heavy hitting the floor, and exchange of angry words and remorseful ones. At some point, her hands ceased their lifeless twitching at her sides and one of them reached for the only treasured thing she hadn’t left in her backpack – her phone. When Mia’s eyes looked into her palm, she was clutching the wide purple device, staring at its mirror face – her face. Her thumb hovered over the power button and she mentally dialed the first number she remembered, going over the exchanged conservation with her father and begging him to come get them.


Damn it. Mia couldn’t bring herself to turn around to look at what Carl was doing, but she also couldn’t bring herself to call the one person who could stop him.


When it sounded like it was over, she turned her body the rest of the way to look down the path and see Carl picking up pieces of the mess. Mia walked slowly down the pavement, shoving her phone into her pocket; and she stopped just next to Carl, “Maybe we should just…head home?”

 

[DrTrollinski]

He quickly shook his head and then reached up and wiped his eyes, followed by taking hold of Mia's bag and shoving all of the stuff back into it, and then handed her the bag without a word. He slung his own bag over his shoulder and then rose to his feet, sniffling a little. He was getting even more upset now, and he wasn't even trying to hide the tears. They were just pouring down his cheeks, but he wasn't sobbing or crying.


"Let's just go and eat something... Please..." He begged to her in a whimper. He still wanted some Nandos. It'd help to take his mind off of everything that just happened. Mia knew as well as he did that Carl didn't like fighting or flipping out at people - in fact, he hated it. It really did upset him. He didn't start walking, though. He wanted Mia to lead the way for him - he felt so small and pathetic after that little scrap he had.

 

[Zhai]

The bag felt so heavy when Mia took the straps into her grasp; the bag didn’t feel heavy because of the books or the papers, but it felt heavy in other ways. Maybe it was how she felt – or how Carl felt – and she just blamed it on the backpack. Looking at the white exterior, she could see there were small scuffs randomly; the zipper was bent a little, like the boy was rushing or his hands were too strong for the weak metal, and there was a split one of the straps. Never minding her damaged and violated pack, she slipped one arm through the good strap and tightened it against herself.


“Uh…yeah.” What the hell? The rim of Mia’s eyes felt sore, like how she felt after crying through a long night and getting up the next morning. They felt roughed and used, rubbed too much and dried out a little. The salty tears that welled up in her eyes burned, forcing her hands to whip up and dab her eyes. Mia felt like she was being an emotional wreck, but she pulled in a deep breath and nodded, even if Carl couldn’t see her.


“Let’s get out of here.” Mia hesitated to turn, but did it quietly, and walked back down the direction they were headed before all of…all of this happened.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl didn't really speak much to her on the way there. He was expecting... a hug, or something. Or some form of support. He never looked like he appreciated it and always seemed very emotionless whenever someone tried to hug him or give him a pat on the back and tell him that he was 'okay' - he did appreciate it, secretly, but he never revealed that to anyone. He just felt so... empty, he didn't feel like he deserved their sympathy. Ever since a young age, he'd realized how much harm he'd caused to people because of the anger, and when he saw how much damage he'd done, he never really publicly accepted comfort or soothing words. Well, soothing words were something he accepted, but not anything else. Not on the outside.


He sort of drifted behind her a little. He didn't want to walk beside her because he still felt so ashamed. It looked like he'd really shown himself up, and her as well. He wanted to prove that he was a big defensive brother who cared about his sister, but right up until the moment he walked through the door of Nandos. He stayed silent - he decided he'd let her do the talking to the person who would take them to their table and give them the menus, and all that. He felt that if he tried to speak, his voice would just be a mere squeak.

 

[Zhai]

Mia couldn’t keep count of how many times the hostess asked how many people before she waltz off around the restaurant and came back to ask again. Frustrated, she waited until the hostess turned away again; grabbing the strap of Carl’s backpack and pulling him with her, she weaved through towards a back corner where the crowd thinned out. There were fewer people back there and an empty booth, cleaned and set for more people. Mia plucked the ‘Reserved’ card from the edge, threw it under the booth’s table, and scooted onto the left side of the booth.


After already sitting, she rethought her actions, contemplating if she should redo that entire situation or just act like it didn’t happen. Mia was nearly about to rise from the booth when a waitress slid two menus on the table top, whipped out her notepad, and stared between Carl and herself. “Drinks?”


“I want a water.” Mia could use a glass of water; she almost asked for two, because she felt that as nervous as she was, she could drink all of one in a second.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl didn't say anything at first. He wasn't really sure if he wanted anything to drink right now - he felt like cracking a joke and saying 'whiskey' or something like that, that his father had very kindly let him try once.


He hated it. He almost threw up when it literally burned his throat. He swore to himself that he wasn't going to be trying that again for quite a while. He looked up at Mia with shy and sad eyes, hoping that just once she'd be able to read his mind. She couldn't, obviously. He looked up at the waitress for only a second, and then looked back down at the table as he linked his hands in front of him on the surface of it.


".. Soda... Please." He said softly, he watched as the waitress flashed a smile and then wandered off, and then he looked up at Mia for another brief moment. His lip quivered but he quickly sucked it inwards to suppress it. He quickly rolled his eyes down to look at the table again, and then he blurted out two incredibly weak and shaky words.


"I'm sorry."


He didn't feel like it was him that needed to apologize. Neither of them did, in his eyes, but... He suddenly felt like his sister hated him, and that broke his heart more than anything that had happened tonight.

 

[Zhai]

They were seconds away from speaking at the same moment, Carl's words leaving his mouth faster than Mia's words; but she followed right after him, "No, I'm sorry."


Mia didn't know what she was exactly apologizing for but she felt like it needed to be said. Was it because she didn't try harder to stop Carl? Didn't try harder to intervene in the fight or maybe she should have called their Father, like she intended to? The phone was in her hand, her Father a dial away and he would have been there in a second. Mia thought back to the beginning before the fight even happened, before they left the bench at all and rushed down the alley; maybe they should have taken their bags, or maybe she should have just tried harder not to be sick.


Clearing her throat and flipping the two sided menu front to back, Mia spoke softly again, "I'm kind of feeling a sandwich still."

 

[DrTrollinski]

He didn't say anything after that. He bit his bottom lip and then just simply waited. He wanted his drink so that he could swallow away some of the sadness with a nice glass of soda. He just wanted to forget about it - he'd probably go off and cry to their father once they got home. He did that a lot of the time - he never really spoke to his mom about that sort of thing, because the last time he tried, she went absolutely crazy. He didn't like it when that happened. It just made him more angry and upset.


".. No... You don't need to be sorry, I just--.." He shook his head. ".. Just get a... a chicken wrap, or something... Or a single fillet burger." He shrugged weakly and cleared his throat. ".. I'll be getting the double fillet burger, but--.. whatever you get, I'll pay for." He said, and then looked down at the table nervously again. He felt so... crushed.

 

[Zhai]

"Carl, if you don't cheer up, I'm going to have to shout that you're paying for everyone's meal from here to the other side." Mia smiled and her eyebrows jumped up in her own humor, looking briefly at Carl and then back to her menu. It was going to be hard to cheer Carl up, because he was bruised and beat up about earlier.


The waitress slowed to a stop beside the booth, set their drinks down, and continued down the wide aisle with a drink-filled tray balanced on her shoulder with a single hand. Behind their booth, Mia could hear a couple in a heated but hush disagreement; their voices were quick - stabbing each other quietly as they hissed back and forth. A family of four got up from their seats, the two children bouncing around their parents and weaving through the close tables towards the exit.


Mia smiled at the children. They used to do that. Mia remembered Carl and her were never silent. Never still. Never serious. Their Mother used to tell them to hush and stop being so 'childish', even though they were in fact children.


"So what will it be?" The waitress' voice was dull and she stood with her weight on one leg, like she'd overworked her right side and couldn't hold it up. Mia withdrew from her memories, looking up at the waitress and then back to Carl.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl saw them and couldn't help but let out some tears. The children reminded him of the time when he was just a stupid child who couldn't control what he did at all. At least he was happy, though. At least he forgot about it. He wanted to be that kid again, the one who chased his sister around a busy restaurant just for a bit of fun. He didn't ever care what his mother said. He listened to his mother more when he was young, but now, he sometimes blanked everything he said.


"I'll take the... Double chicken burger with all the dressing. Lightly spiced, same for the fries." He said as he picked up his soda and sipped it, and then looked up at Mia. He hoped that she'd treat herself for once. He didn't want her to hold back just because he was paying.

 

[Zhai]

"Um...uh..." The tears that swelled in Carl's eyes were all Mia could stare it, watching his blue eyes glitter from the moisture. It almost looked like...either Carl was about to cry or he was already crying, just not big enough tears to leave the rim of his eyes.


"I'll have the salad, please. Dressing on the side." Mia smiled small at the waitress, who was quiet as she scribbled on her pad, not even bothering to repeat it back to them and double check it. Her pen stopped moving, her eyes bounced from Mia to Carl, and her hands slipped the menus off the table, under her arm - and she was gone down the aisle again.


Mia sipped her water, about to place it back down on the table, but grabbed it again to take a bigger mouthful. "Carl, what happened earlier....it's okay."


Setting the glass back on the table, Mia reached across the table and placed her hand on Carl's hand.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl stood up and then walked over to Mia's side as her hand rested on top of his own. He threw his arms around her and started sobbing, but quietly. He didn't want others to hear him. He had his head bowed onto her shoulder, and now he was just letting it all out. Hopefully they could enjoy the night now.


But salad. Really?


"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm sorry." He sobbed to her. He just couldn't get over it. He as praying that she didn't view him any differently now, but for some reason, that's all he felt like he deserved.

 

[Zhai]

"Carl, please..." Mia's arms struggle to rise and embrace him, restrained by his powerful grasp. Finally, her hands crept around his back and then her arms followed, fully taking Carl into her arms and pressing him against her body. "Carl it's okay. I don't blame you. It's okay."


Mia can feel the moisture of Carl's tears soak through the thin fabric of her shirt; the tears are warm at first, then cold, and warm again. She can tell he's continuing to cry.


Talking into Carl's ears, Mia can't tell if she's talking loud enough or not. Her voice sounds barely there as she whispers next to his ear and hopes the words reach him. "Just let it out, please but there's nothing to be sorry about. I won't mention it to anyone. It's between us, brother. It's between you and I. Always."


When they were younger, Mia remember they made promises to each other and it was 'always'. She recalled once her brother promised to share his snack with her 'always'; to invite her to play with his toys 'always'. She made the same innocent promises back, but they were always kept.