My Brother's Keeper by Adrienne Wilder

laughed. “Jesus, how insane does that sound? Someone tries to kill us and now we’re going to sit down and eat ice cream like nothing happened.” He waited for Jon to say something. When he didn’t Ellis said, “Am I losing my mind?”
    “No.”
    “Then tell me how I can even think of eating ice cream right now.”
    “Because you’re not doing it for you, you’re doing it for Rudy.” Jon walked over and put a hand on Ellis’s shoulder. “You okay?”
    “I’m not sure.”
    “Do you want to go to the hospital?”
    “I don’t need a hospital. Just…why is this happening to us?”
    “Bad things happen to everyone. But we’ll be okay.”
    Rule number four… “Do bad things have to happen?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Do bad things have to happen? Or can you stop them?”
    “I think some things we can stop and others are just too big.”
    “What do you do when it’s too big?”
    Jon smiled, but his eyes remained dark. “You survive the best way you can.”
    “Do you think we will?” It was difficult for Ellis to swallow around the lump in his throat. “You know, survive this.”
    “Yeah. I do.” Jon kissed him on the forehead. “Tell Rudy I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
    Ellis went into the dining room, but the table was empty. He found Rudy in the kitchen on his knees with his head in one of the cabinets.
    “If you want ice cream, you better stay out of the cookies.”
    Rudy scurried to his feet and shut the door. “I didn’t touch it.”
    “Only because you didn’t find it.”
    “I can never find the cookies. Why can’t I find them? I find everything else.”
    “Because I’m really good at hiding them.” Ellis pointed to the dining room. “Go in there and sit. I’ll bring you a bowl of ice cream.”
    “Can I get my own bowl?”
    “If you’re careful.” Ellis waved a hand at the cabinet. “Go ahead. Just be careful and don’t drop it.” Ellis watched Rudy in his periphery while he got the carton from the freezer.
    His brother opened the cabinet, lifted one of the bowls from the stack with exaggerated care, and set it on the counter. “There.”
    “Good job, now go sit at the table while I fill it up.”
    “Is Jon going to eat ice cream?”
    “In a few minutes. He’s taking a shower.”
    Rudy was halfway through his bowl of ice cream when Jon came downstairs dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.
    He pulled out a chair with a black and blue hand. “Couldn’t wait for me, huh?”
    “I had to eat it or it would get squishy,” Rudy said.
    “So where’s mine? Or did you eat it too?”
    Rudy spoke around a mouth full of chocolate chip mint. “Ellis put it in the freezer so it wouldn’t melt.”
    “Hang on and I’ll get it.” Ellis stood.
    “I can get my ice cream.”
    “No, you sit.” Ellis retrieved the bowl from the freezer and set it on the counter. The cuts and bruises covering Jon’s arms and neck stood out in stark contrast against the white shirt. Jon said he loved him, but no words could describe the depth of that love in order for Jon to keep risking his life for them.
    As many times as he had, the odds of him surviving had to be running out.
    Cold washed over Ellis, He gripped the counter.
    “You bringing that in here anytime soon?” Jon leaned against the doorway.
    “Uh, yeah. I’ve just got to get a spoon.” When he turned back around, Jon was right in front of him.
    Jon’s strong hands cupped Ellis’s face. “Where’s yours?”
    “I didn’t want any.”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah. I’ll just watch you and Rudy eat.”
    “I don’t mind giving you some of mine.”
    “I know.”
    There was no doubt in Ellis’s mind the man he loved would give him anything and everything even if it killed him.
    ********
    Jon sat on the couch, but only because Ellis insisted on cleaning off the porch alone. The empty jug of bleach and a bottle of dishwashing liquid sat beside the door. Every so often, water would slap the house as Ellis hosed the