"Jem goes gold! Glitter and Go-o-old!" Isaac sang off-key, waving his favorite Jem doll around in the air not in time with the music.
Taylor peeked around the edge of the doorway. Isaac looked so very happy and pleased with himself.
With Isaac's Pizazz doll tucked firmly under one arm, Taylor tip-toed into the room so that he, too, could watch "Jem & the Holograms". After all, he looked more like one of the dolls than Isaac did.
Isaac turned and scowled when he saw his brother creeping into the room. "Taylor, the TV is mine, Mom said so. You have to leave."
Taylor's bottom lip trembled and his eyes watered. "But, I wanna watch Jem too! I'm gonna marry Kimber."
Isaac stuck his tongue out at Taylor. "Nuh uh. You're gonna marry a Misfit! And... that's my Pizazz doll, you little freak! Mommy!"
Taylor backed away slowly from his advancing brother. "Don't call me a freak!" he cried, before bumping into the doorframe on his way out.
Isaac ran over to Taylor and bopped him over the head with his Jem doll. When Taylor started crying, Isaac grabbed his Pizazz doll and pushed Taylor out of the room. "You're a bad boy and you're not gonna be a superstar!"
The last thing Isaac heard as he shut the door and contented himself with his favorite TV show was Taylor running down the hallway, shrieking to their mother. Holding his doll protectively, he turned his attention back to the TV and waited. Yup, here she came. The footsteps were right on time.
"Clarke Isaac Hanson, what did you do to your little brother?"
Isaac looked up from the screen with wide, shining eyes. "Nothing, Mommy. He came in here with one of my dolls and hit his head on the door and dropped the doll and ran away yelling for you."
Diana raised an eyebrow. "Isaac, Taylor hasn't had your dolls all day. He's been in the kitchen with me. You're not lying to me, are you?"
Isaac shook his head and grabbed his Kimber doll and started brushing her hair. "Nope. Taylor's a poopy-head. He's the liar. Does this mean I get more brownies than he does 'cause Tay always eats more brownies than I do even though I'm bigger."
Stifling a laugh, Diana tried her best to look serious. "Isaac, I think you need to apologize to Taylor. And you always get the same amount of brownies."
Isaac gaped. "Mom! I didn't do anything!"
Diana sighed. "Ikey, hush now and go say you're sorry. And don't worry about missing Jem, you've got this episode on tape and you know that."
Isaac sniffled and set his doll down on the ground. "But, Mommy... I'm gonna be a rock star just like Jem. How'm I gonna be a rock star if Taylor keeps stealing my dolls and my brownies?"
"Don't worry, baby, I think there's other things that can help you to be a rock star." She smiled. "Jem doesn't eat brownies, right?"
Ike wiped his nose on his shirt sleeve. "Well... not on the show. She eats fishes and veg-et-ables."
Diana walked over and picked up her son, feeling his arms slide around her neck. "Well, there you go, Ike. You can be a rock star if you eat your vegetables."
"Eww! But no one else in the neighborhood eats their veggies!"
Shaking her head, Diana started carrying Ike out of the room. "That's not true, Ike. They're probably just all lying. Besides, your brother Zac eats his vegetables."
"Mommy... he also eats crayons."
Diana wrinkled her nose. "Thanks for letting me know, honey."
Taylor looked up from his coloring book as his mother reentered the kitchen, carrying the current bane of his existance.
Grabbing his pink crayon in one dirty hand, Taylor began to walk of, dragging his coloring book behind him.
Diana set Isaac down in a chair and walked over to the sink. "Taylor, get back in here. Ikey is going to apologize to you."
"Nuh uh! Only if I get a brownie!"
Diana groaned. "I thought we discussed this?"
Isaac shook his head vehemently, sitting down crosslegged on the floor and clamping his mouth shut tightly. Taylor had reemerged and was standing in the doorway, rubbing his nose with a grubby fist. "I helped make the brownies, Mommy. I should get more."
Hopping down from the chair, Isaac walked over to Taylor and grabbed his pink crayon and broke it in half. "No. You always get more brownies, you meanie-head."
Taylor looked down at his crayon and fell down to the ground, bawling. "My crayon! You broke my crayon, you dickhead!"
Diana gasped. "Taylor! Where did you hear that word?"
Taylor looked up from his temper tantrum with the wide blue eyes that always seemed to bring adults to their knees. "Tony," he responded, naming Isaac's best friend with no remorse.
"Mom! He's lying again!" Isaac screeched, wanting desperately to bring his Adidas sneaker in contact with the side of Taylor's head.
Diana frowned and grabbed the platter of brownies from the table and set them on top of the refrigerator. "Boys, I'm going to go call Tony's mom. You two can stay here and work out your differences. If you don't, no brownies."
Watching their mothers retreating back, Taylor glared at his brother. "That was my favorite crayon, Isaac."
"You got my favorite doll sticky with your gross hands, Taylor."
"Yeah, well, that's just 'cause you never let me watch Jem with you and you know I'm gonna marry Kimber and you're jealous."
"You are not going to marry Kimber! You're going to marry...Madeline." Ike grinned maliciously.
"Eww! No, no, no. The only girl I'll ever love is Kimber. Ikey, you can marry Madeline."
"Taylor, she's five like you. I'm almost 7. I'm far too old for her."
Taylor stuck his tongue out at Isaac. "No. You're just a dork. You play with your hair in the bathroom and pretend that you're Rio. I think you have a crush on Jem."
Isaac shoved Taylor against the wall. "No. I like Jerrica."
Taylor shoved back. "Same thing, different hair!"
Isaac glowered. "She's totally her own person, Taylor! Besides, you like Sandy from the Noozles."
"Nuh uh! That show's for 4 year olds, or babies like Zac."
Issac huffed and turned his back to Taylor. "You are a baby. That is, unless you help me get the brownies."
Taylor's eyes went wide. "But Mommy put them up and told us we couldn't have any."
Isaac sneered. "Goody goody Taylor. I'm getting the brownies, and I don't care if you do or not!"
Taylor threw down the half of the pink crayon that he was still holding. "No. I'll help. You'll fall down if you try it."
"If Mommy catches us, I want you to say you're the perpetrator, okay? Do you know what perpetrator means?"
"No."
Isaac smiled. "Good."
Dragging a chair over from the kitchen table, Isaac climbed carefully onto the chair, his sweatpants riding up a little. Taylor tried to pull his own chair over, but it was promptly wedged in between two other chairs and he wasn't strong enough to pull it out all the way.
"Um...Ike?" He began.
His brother turned and scoffed at his brother's obvious weakness. "Let me help you." He grinned, yanking the chair out.
However, Taylor hadn't been fast enough to get out of the way of the chair and it promptly knocked him over against the countertop. Taylor fell to the ground and whimpered as he put his hand up to his head. "Ikey! I... It's... Bloody!"
"Oh don't be such a baby." Isaac smirked.
"But it really hurts!"
Rolling his eyes, Isaac made his way over to Taylor and pulled him forward to look at the back of Taylor's head. His eyes widened as he saw that the blood was gushing out. Quickly, Isaac grabbed one of his mother's clean dishrags and pressed it against Taylor's head. "Just hold it there while I go get Mommy."
"But, Ike! It hurts a lot. Don't leave!"
Isaac looked around quickly and saw his Kimber doll lying on the floor. He picked it up and handed it to Taylor. "Here. Kimber will watch over you. Just... don't get blood on her. I'm getting Mommy."
Taylor sniffled and clutched the doll to his chest with one hand, holding the dishrag to his wound in another. He heard his mother's frightened "What?" from the next room, and the next thing he knew she was on her knees beside him, holding him, and doing all the wonderful things that mommies always seem to know how to do.
Diana cradled Taylor to her chest and kissed his forehead. "Isaac, what happened?"
Taylor sniffled. "Mommy, I was the perpetuanator."
Diana smiled. "What, baby?"
"I don't know, but I'm it. I promise."
"No, mommy, it's my fault." Isaac scuffed his toe on the ground, looking admittedly shamefaced.
Diana shook her head. "Will one of you just tell me what happened?"
Isaac walked over and pushed some of Taylor's hair away from his face. "I was trying to get the brownies and Tay was trying to help and I was pulling a chair out for him and he was in the way and hit his head on the counter on the counter, so I gave him Kimber to stop him from crying and went and got you."
Diana shook her head and hugged Taylor a little tighter, though his sobs were turning into nothing more than small whimpers. "Isaac, why were you trying to get the brownies?"
Isaac wiped his nose on his sleeve and looked up at his mother with wide eyes. "I don't know. I just wanted them."
She sighed. "But, baby, I told you no brownies until you two made up."
"We did make up, Mommy!" Taylor jumped in. "Well...sorta."
Diana sighed again and continued holding the rag to Taylor's bleeding head. "Well, I can't say I'm proud of how you acted, but you were working together as a team and, Isaac, I'm proud of you for coming to get help when your brother got hurt and for letting him hold your doll so that he wouldn't cry. So, I guess I'll let you have brownies now. But, only one for each of you because dinner will be in a little while."
Isaac caught Taylor's eye, and was slightly surprised to see it wink. Grinning, he winked back a little. "Mommy, would you like me to get a bandage for Taylor's head?"
Diana pulled back the rag and noticed that the bleeding had stopped. "Oh, no, Ike. I don't think that will be necessary. It's already mostly healed."
Isaac nodded. "Taylor, I'm very sorry that your head got hurt."
"I'm sorry I took your doll."
"I'm sorry I hit you on the head."
"I'm sorry I told on you."
"I'm sorry I called you a name."
"I'm sorry I called you a di--."
"I think that's enough sorries for right now, guys. How about those brownies?"
Taylor licked his lips and thrust the Kimber doll into the air. "Yeah!"
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