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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of "A Man is Known by the Company He Keeps" (without using the actual phrase). (01/31/08)
For most of our lives, or at least the part of it I could remember, my brother Jake and I had spent it apart. He was 7 years older than me. He was a teenager and had his own life.
Breakfast was spent getting ready for school. Lunch was spent at school. On the rare Saturdays he was home, Jake would take his meal up to his room or to the media room to watch some PG-13 movie that I wasn’t allowed to see. Sunday, he was up at the church from 9:15 in the morning until 5:00 at night doing more things that I could keep up with
Sometimes, he brought his friends to our house. I got to know one, Clair, really well. Until I turned 11, she was my babysitter. I got to know her better than my brother. I had a little bit of hope that if my brother was hanging out with girls like her, he must be an OK guy.
My brother must have been smart, because he graduated from college a year earlier than he was supposed to. Once again, I watched who his friends were to get an idea. Clair followed him to the state university. When he started to date Clair, my hope rose.
The time came when my mom died. Never before had I ever experienced such pain, thinking of the separation that laid between us now. It gave me some comfort to know I would see her again when I died, but for now, not being able to hug her and tell her goodnight and even to fight with her as I went through high school haunted me as I went to bed each night.
My brother and Clair both came home for the funeral. My brother gave me a hug and told me that everything would be OK, but it felt more like a stranger coming up to me in the consolation line rather than a family member. Clair came up to me after, and told me to call her whenever I needed anything. I ended up calling her at least once a week, and she came up to visit me two times a month.
As I visited with her, I got to know my brother. He was apparently a neat freak, and very good at sports. He didn’t play anything big, like football, but he ran track and did some sort of intramural sport. He and Clair were very serious about their relationship, but had promised to put God first in everything. I soaked up everything I could about him, and found myself wishing I could get to know him better.
I got my chance a year later.
My dad was diagnosed with heart cancer, and it was already at a stage where there was almost no hope. When he died, Clair and Jake were there once again, Clair wearing her engagement ring on her left hand, to comfort me and this time, my brother came with an offer to move in with him.
Not even for a moment was it aquward. Through Clair, I had gotten to know the kind of person my brother was. I learned the things he believed in, and many things about him. Clair was so madly in love with my brother, that she wanted to tell me absolutely everything she knew about him. Apparently, she had been doing the same thing with me.
I hadn’t quite realized how much though, until one day when I was on my way to camp. I was in my car headed towards the church. He came driving up behind me, flashing his lights at me. I pulled over as soon as I could, and he ran up behind me with a white bear in his hands.
“You forgot this,” he said breathlessly. Tears formed in my eyes as I reached toward the bear my mom had given me when I was only a couple of years old. I never slept with it anymore, unless I was away at camp. I had never told him that.
“How did you know I slept with this?” I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders.
“I guess it’s just, you’re so much like Clair. She still sleeps with her stuffed animal when she’s away from home, and well, I figured that you might be the same way.”
He gave me a hug, and I held him tight before heading back to my car. I stroked the bear, and smiled.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Marita Vandertogt
02/08/08
What a beautiful story. Very creative in the way you made Clair the connector between the MC and her brother. I love your voice in this piece... really well done!
Laury Hubrich 
02/09/08
Very good story. Creative. It really held my interest. It was so sad, though, that she? had to lose both her parents before she got to really know her brother. Was your mc a girl? I couldn't tell unless I missed something. You have a typos. Make sure you try to catch those before you enter. You have a good piece of writing here! Keep up the good work!
Laury
Laury Hubrich 
02/09/08
Well, in case no one else tells you, please put a line between your paragraphs. It will make it much easier to read:) Again, good job!
Laury
Marlene Austin
02/09/08
Tender portrait of this family. :)
Joshua Janoski
02/12/08
I liked this story. I wasn't sure if it was a fictional story or a true story (I assumed it was true). It's very cool that Clair was able to be the bridge between the two siblings and help them get to know one another.