There are two guys who always competed to prove who’s best but they also love and respect each other. What can we call them?
You can call them my brothers, Tim and Chip. They were competitive in nearly all things, from board games to playing tag, or shooting hoops on our back yard patio, but always, they were best friends.
They often argued and you’d swear it would come to blows, but it never did. It was okay for them to argue and pick on each other, but anyone else who threatened or attacked one, or the other, the interloper became the evil villain and he’d better run like hell.
One of the things they both loved was hanging out with friends at a pond at the top of a huge hill in town. Everyone just called it “The Big Hill”, as in, “Hey, let’s do the pond on The Big Hill!”
It didn’t matter what season it was. They climbed The Big Hill for adventures with their friends year round. They loved trading deepest secrets, skipping stones, or taking turns saying the worst swear word they could think of, but weren’t allowed to say at home.
One cold winter day, the group of friends headed up The Big Hill to the pond to slide on the ice and bounce stones to see who could make them go highest. Racing with Tim, Chip got there first and ran out onto the frozen pond to do the first slide. Just as he got to the center, the ice broke and he went into the freezing water.
Tim dropped down and belly slid to the hole in the ice. He grabbed Chip’s arms and pulled him out. The two belly-crawled back to the side of the pond. Chip was shivering uncontrollably by then. His teeth were chattering, his lips had turned blue and Tim knew he had to get him home, fast.
He picked Chip up and began the long walk down The Big Hill, with Chip’s clothes already freezing and partially stiff. Tim carried him all the way home, with the rest of the group, silent and worried, trailing behind. Once home and it was all over, Chip was fine.
Through the years, that day became a memory. But I’ll tell you something, Chip can still hold a crowd in the palm of his hand when he tells the story of how his brother once saved his life.
It’s all about love and respect.
Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
CJ’s World is reader supported.
If you enjoy my writing, please
be a paid subscriber and balance
the Karma. Thank you.
Blood is thicker than water. Siblings may toss stones at each other, but when the time comes save one another.
Cute story. I had two, actually three brothers, but one who died young, I never knew, my other brother, John died. ( I can't remember the year ) but I had off from work on Black Friday before Thanksgiving and I drove to Downingtown to visit him.. I believe he died the next day! My brother was much older than me. My brother , G., who. is still alive, just turned 90 this month! And both brothers married when I was a child. My Brother, G. married in Sicily to a girl he knew when they were growing up. My other brother married in Downingtown when I was about 4 or 5 and I remember getting sick at the reception and I threw up! My brother, G., was in the Navy when I was a child and I wrote to him a lot! I wrote mostly letters when I was a child but my handwriting was terrible! Maybe I printed! My brother G. and his family lived with my mother, my father and me until the early 60's when they moved in next door. Our house was becoming overly crowded and I had to share a bedroom with someone! . In 1975, they moved a few blocks away.to a house they are still living in. My nephew now lives next door, since my brother still owns the house.