~An Act of Brotherly Love~

Someone once said, "You are the hero of your own stories."

It was March 16th, 1990, Family Night at Chuck E. Cheese, the pizza parlor from hell, and the gathering spot for Alex's 4th birthday.

As anticipated, it was a chaotic birthday celebration. This particular, unruly, space was obviously created with a subliminal, sensory overload for children in mind. I dreaded every trip to this muggy, loud and smelly pit of unfamiliar people. It didn't matter whether the visit was for one of my own son's or someone else's child, I hated it.

However, on this particular visit, this dreadful place became the perfect setting for a true act of brotherly love and one that set the stage for my youngest child to become the unexpected hero of his own story.

My sons, Tyler and Alex, were happily frolicking in the "infamous Bed-o-Balls," enjoying life at its fullest, when Tyler, the older son, suddenly encountered a bit of friction from a brother-sister tag team. They'd apparently become overwhelmed with an urge to fire plastic balls directly at his face and head. Being the Strategy Master he was, Tyler elected to rely on his non-violent defensive nature, which revealed his very own, verbal version of the "nanny, nanny, nanny" plan.

It was, indeed, an impressive plan and, from the sidelines, I was silently giving him the 6 year old Highest-of-the-High Road Award. He'd positioned himself deep into a corner of the stinky ball arena and proceeded to make unattractive facial gestures at the enemy. This, of course, only added fuel to the fire and, naturally, convinced the brother-sister team to take further, more violent measures. Suddenly, Tyler found himself at the mercy of the ruthless duo who (forget the plastic balls) had not a second thought of throwing closed fist power punches at will.

It all went down so fast, and, as I was realizing this sinister sibling team had lost there little ever loving minds, I remembered my younger son was in there, somewhere! Where was little Alex? Without warning, and seemingly from thin air, appeared, Super Baby Brother! This 4 year old one-man rescue squad lunged into the middle of the crime in progress, pushed She-Devil aside and cold-cocked He-Devil square in the jaw! That punch was all it took, the brother-sister team knew that Super Baby Brother meant business and they promptly backed away.

Alex, standing directly in front of Tyler, the slightly shaken Strategy Master, polished off the scene with these youthful words of wisdom, "You guys leave my brother alone!"

Enough said, Tyler and Alex forgot the brutal attack as quickly as they had been subjected to it and continued their long awaited romp in the infamous Bed-o-Balls.

Learn more about this author, Tami Hastain.
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