It’s a late summer afternoon, birds chirping, fireflies glistening in the dimly lit field behind the house.  The sun saying goodnight in a creamy orange wave across the sky.

From the house a woman’s voice calls out

“Dinner! Boys, dinner is ready!”

The two brothers, James and Jonathan, have been playing in the field all day.  Cops and robbers, baseball, wrestling, and tag.

James taps Jon’s shoulder and yells:

“Tag, you’re it!”

And sprints off toward the house, Jon runs after him trying to keep up.  James has always been faster though.  Mostly because of his extra-long legs. 

The two boys are about the same age, only about a year apart.  Jon is the oldest at ten, and James is currently eight, but not for much longer.  Tomorrow is James’ birthday, and he will officially be nine.  This is a big age, and a big year.  It’s the year that James is allowed to go to school with his brother.

James and Jon have always been close.  They do everything together, other than go to school that is.  However, that changes this year. 

At the table the boys talk about the day in haphazard excitement, food half hanging from their mouths.

“Today we were running..”

“You were running, I was jogging.”

“Yeah, I was running Jon was jogging.”

“After a June bug.” Jon interjects

“Yeah, a June bug! He was flying this way.. and that way.”

James flails his arms back and forth mimicking the sound of the insect with a buzz.

Shoveling food into their mouths, they speak at the same time.

“It was so fast!”

“Easy boys, easy.  You’re gonna choke if you eat like that!”

James, while drinking some iced tea gives his dad a thumbs up and says.

“You got it daddy-o!”

He instantly begins to choke on some tea, and coughs. After his coughing fit, James looks up with watery eyes, smiles, and nods to his dad.  Jon and mom start to laugh, while dad looks at James with an ‘I told you not to eat so fast’ smirk on his face.

After dinner, the kids turn to run toward the door, and are instantly grabbed by their collars.

“Where do you kids think you’re going? You need to get washed up, and then get ready for bed.”

The two boys pout, and whine.

“But dad! We want to catch fireflies.”

“If you take your showers fast enough, we can have a wrestling match before bed.  Tomorrow night we’ll catch fireflies after James’ party, if that’s what he wants to do.”

The boys sprint upstairs, stumbling as they reach the top. 

“Be careful not to slip in the shower!” Their mother’s words float behind them as they run.

“We’ll be careful!”

The next morning mom carefully sneaks into the boys room, and wakes up Jon with a whisper.

“It’s time to get up sweetheart, we need to make James’ cake.”

Jon perks up and slinks out of bed like a worm, as to not wake his brother.

While mom and Jon work on the cake, dad is at the grocery store buying all the food they need for the party.  James asked for cheese burgers on the grill, so obviously those are on the menu.  But also, hotdogs, some vegetables and fruit for skewers, and the ingredients for their dad’s award winning mac and cheese.  He actually won best mac and cheese at last year’s state festival! 

James wakes up to the smell of waffles, sausage and maple syrup.  He is greeted with happy birthdays, and a present.  A new pair of shoes, which James is ecstatic about.  His older pair had gotten a hole in the toe when he slid for home plate playing kickball.  

“Now I definitely won’t catch you!”

Jon says laughing as he punches James in the shoulder. 

The guests start coming over around one in the afternoon.  More presents, and smiling faces.  All of their friends and family pour in, same as any party, but still always a joyous occasion.   

The children play in the back yard, as they always do, playing games and creating tournaments.  Today the kids line up for race tournament.  Of course, James wins every heat, he was always the fastest in his friend group because of those oddly long legs.  But this time, it was all because of those new sneakers.  The kids look down, and marvel at the magic of James’ new shoes.    

As the year moves on, James and Jon are happy to finally be in the same school together.  They get to play at recess with each other, which makes the day move by infinitely faster.  The bus rides are better too, now that James can play ‘touch the ceiling’.  A game where kids in the back of the bus jump as they hit a bump.  The goal is to bounce high enough to touch the ivory colored ceiling of the bus.  Because of those long legs, James has gotten closer than anyone ever. 

But being in the same school together isn’t all good.  The brothers get to meet eachother’s friends, the ones that live too far away to come over and play. Jon doesn’t like James’ other friends, they are mean sometimes.  Making fun of Jon’s glasses or how some of the other kids are awkward.  But James does like some of Jon’s friends, faces always buried into books answering James’ questions with snarky comments and a tone that says ‘How couldn’t you know that, idiot’. 

The overall relationship of James and Jon stays relatively sturdy.  They still play games, and love being near eachother.  But as time moves on, as all things do, their interests shift and their time together fades with it.  James goes onto technical school to become a mechanic, not because he was unsuccessful in school, but because he loves vehicles. 

Jon continues to go to traditional college, taking higher-level chemistry to become a chemical engineer.  He wants to be on a team that develops a new eco-friendly fuel source.  James might not understand all of the science, but he is always interested by what his older brother is working on.. even though he loves the rumbles and smells of a traditional engine. 

Together on holiday break James jokes with Jon.

“Once you create this new fuel source, I’ll make the engine that runs it! Then we’ll both make out like thieves.”

Jon goes on to talk about a mechanical engineering team that has created a potential engine for new fuel sources.  James doesn’t understand everything, but he smiles in awe none the less.

“Well, then I’ll be the first mechanic to specialize in fixing those engines!”

Jon smiles, and puts his arm around James.

As time moves on, the country gets particularly heated over the behavior of one group of people.  The Peabody Group hit headlines when they refused to agree to new restrictions on how to address the Kinfolk. 

The Kinfolk are self-proclaimed leaders of society, they own everything from entertainment businesses to social forums, and believe it is their duty to usher in a new era.  From their prospective, they believe the Peabody Group is holding society back, and the country would be in a much better place if they would just play along.    

The Peabody Group on the other hand holds the stance that nobody should be forced by law to address anybody in a way that is different from anybody else.  That people can choose what they want, even to the chagrin of others.   

This prospective is highly controversial because the Kinfolk have come to run the ebb and flow of general society by owning the platforms in which information is disseminated.  The Kinfolk belief system permeates the majority of their society, and preaches and idea that Kinfolk is the way to a safer, happier and healthier world. 

Both James and Jon have always been Kinfolk. Raised that way by their parents, and have always been fascinated by what is new in the world.  Constantly focused on how they can make the world an even better place in which to live. 

That was true until about one year ago when James began dating a girl from the Peabody Group.  In fact, her father is the leader of that group.  Today, he was arrested for not bowing to a member of the Kinfolk as he walked home from the grocery store.

The moment James finds out, he calls up Jon.

“Hey bro, they took Celia’s father today.  There’s going to be a big gathering at the capital jail so we can get him released. Can you be there?”   

“James, I start a new job tomorrow. I’m not going to be able to come.  But also, what do you expect, he broke the law.  If you break the law, you get arres..”

In the middle of speaking the phone call drops.  Jon thinks to himself for a second, worried for his brother, and hopes that James will be okay. 

Within an hour every channel and news media ablaze with:

Breaking News:

Assault on capital jail. Peabody Group suspected. 

Breaking News:

Violent jailbreak! Still counting the Kinfolk casualties.

Tonight at 11:00:

Expert explains psychological factors that lead to Peabody violence.

Protect Your Children:

Does Peabody violence in schools prevent Kinfolk children from learning.  Expert explains.

 Another hour passes from the breaking news, Jon is watching his favorite show ‘Test It’.  A show where scientist have to build a complex Rube Goldberg machine to complete one mindlessly simple task.  This episode, two groups are pitted against eachother to create the most outrageous machine to cook a basic omelet.   

The channel flickers, and switches over to the Kinfolk leader sitting at his desk. 

“Good evening, As I’m sure you’re all aware, tonight there was a violent assault on one of our capital buildings. More specifically, the jail where we were holding Henry Brubaker for treason.  Mr. Brubaker, leader of the Peabody Group, failed to bow to a member of the Kinfolk earlier today.  He was promptly, but respectfully commandeered by law enforcement and brought to our new government holding facility.  The compassion of the Kinfolk people always shows true.  With the law being newly passed we were merely going to inform him of the proper methods of greeting a Kinfolk, and then release him the next morning.  Unfortunately, Mr. Brubaker found it necessary to incite a violent riot, and commit treason against this great sovereign nation. 

 As the Kinfolk leader speaks, Jon can’t help but pray that his brother made it out okay. He pictures James sitting at home watching the same broadcast, picking up his phone to break up with Celia because of the violence her father incited.

“Damn PGs always causing problems for us all.”

The broadcast continues:

Because of the events that transpired this afternoon, I regretfully must come to a decision.  The violence and danger the Peabody Group has consistently placed on our country is inexcusable.  Therefore, tomorrow will start Project Reformation.  We will escort every Peabody person into their own zones within our cities.  These zones will be heavily video monitored, and enforced to ensure safety. In these zones, Kinfolk educators will take the time to compassionately teach the rules of society to every Peabody person.  The goal is to reform these people, so one day we can all live in harmony.

 Jon goes to bed, wondering about his brother, hoping he hasn’t been corrupted by Celia.

In the morning Jon is woken up by his phone ringing on his bedside table.  He answers.

“Hey Jon, I don’t have much time.  They are going to take Celia to one of those zones, I’ll be going with her.”

Angry, Jon scoffs.

“James, stop it! Break up with her! We are Kinfolk, and have always been Kinfolk. She is corrupting you!” 

“Okay then. Just wanted to wish you good luck on your first day of work.”

The call clicks off.

Jon shakes his head, angry that his brother doesn’t see the truth. 

While in the shower, Jon thinks about something positive.  The Kinfolk educators, with the help of James, will take the time to teach Celia the proper ways to act.  Jon sighs in relief knowing that everything will work out perfectly. 

Finally, the day of anticipation arrives, Jon’s first day of work! He is incredibly excited to be working with a team of scientists focusing on agriculture and compost.  Not the new fuel source he had been dreaming about, but a good steppingstone in that direction. 

His crew will be doing research to create a new formula, that when sprayed on garbage will promote plastic decomposition.  The goal is to create a substance that can make plastics highly biodegradable on contact.  A pretty good first duty from Jon’s prospective. 

The crew is broken up into two groups, the chemists who mix the concentration of chemicals, and the testers who do the research to see what works.  The testers relay their findings back to the chemists, and the chemists make adjustments. 

The first day is enjoyable! Jon loved discussing the complex nature of chemical engineering with other experts like him.  Within one month they developed their first vial based on theories about the bioavailability of certain compounds in plastic.

The next day they receive communication back from the testers stating that the first batch is too weak, and wasn’t generating the proper result. 

One month later, a new vial is sent to the testers based on different theories of chemical reactions. 

The next day the chemists receive notice that this new substance needs to be stronger.  The testers recommend that higher concentrations of the same chemicals used should make the substance perfect. 

Over the course of the next few months, gifts pour into the research center from Peabody family members and friends as proof of the successful project.  The researchers well up with joy at the thought of their reformed loved ones reentering society. 

Knowing how stubborn James and Celia can be, Jon knows it will be some time before he receives any message from them. 

Another month passes, the chemists successfully concoct the appropriate formula, and get the okay from the testers.  When this happens the designation of the center changed from research to application.  Jon’s daily duties changed as well.  He no longer works in the laboratory, but instead works on a rig.  He sits behind glass, and watches as bags of trash move on a conveyer belt through a machine.  He pulls a lever which closes the machine door, pushes a button to release the formula they had created, and then pulls another lever to drop the trash into a bin.  The bin is then moved, and dumped into a landfill to create a large compost.        

Jon’s day is pretty bland now, he’d much rather be in the lab creating something new to help the environment.  Tedium consumes him.  He watches black trash bags move into the machine, pulls the lever to close the door, pushes the button to release the formula, and pulls the next lever to drop the bags into a bin below.  Over and over, the same repetitious activity for ten hours every day. 

Jon just keeps telling himself.

“If this works, I’ll be able to gain credibility. Got to keep working.”

Later that day, finally, something from James.

“Good! They must be making progress.”

Jon begins to unwrap the short, but wide package.

“Took them long enough!” He says laughing.

In the package is a book, with a worn brown leather cover.  So worn in fact, the binding is split, and the leather strap holding the book closed is cracked from the tension.  On the cover in gold letters simply stamped is the word:

Journal

Jon pulls the strap open, and reads the first entry.

 August 20^th

Today is my birthday! I am officially 8! I spent all day wrestling with dad, and Jon.  We had a tournament. I lost.. Jon was too strong. But that’s okay, cause I’m faster!

Jon smiles as he remembers the day from long ago. He completely forgot about the journal his brother got that year.  Jon wasn’t even sure he still had it. 

He opens much further into the journal.

December 4^th

I met this amazing woman today. Her name is Celia.  I think I’m going to ask her out.. I wonder if she likes go-carts?

 Jon laughs, and thinks to himself.

“James always loved doing things. Sitting still to watch a movie was definitely not one of his strong suits.  But go-carting, that was right up his alley.”

Jon pages deeper into the book.

March 30^th

I’ve been dating Celia for a few months now, and I’m happier than I have ever been.  She brightens up every part of my life, and makes me smile.  I know my family tries, but I can tell they don’t like her because she’s a Peabody… But once they get to know her, I’m sure they’ll love her!

 Jon laughs again, and jokingly says.

“No James, run! It’s a trap.”

He pages through to the end of the journal to read the most recent entry. 

The only words listed on the final page, no date present:

Why do you hate me, brother?

Tears well up in Jon’s eyes.

“I don’t hate you, James. You’re one of my favorite people.”

For the rest of the day, Jon is caught up constantly thinking about why James would write that.  He loves his brother, and would never let anything bad happen to him.  In a typhoon of thought, Jon can’t focus on his already tedious work, and pulls the release lever too early before the bin moves under the machine. Black plastic bags pour out onto the dirt with multiple thuds.  Jon startled shouts to his supervisor.

“Sorry, sorry!”

He looks down at the mountain of trash bags laying on the ground.  Something is different.  A few of the bags tore open from the fall, revealing pale bodies.  Two oddly long legs stand out among the gore.  The same legs that would always beat Jon in races, the same legs that would hang out from under a car in the mechanic shop, the same knees that Jon would tend to with bandages when he fell… 

The words appear like a flash of lightning in his mind.

Why do you hate me, brother?