The Tipping-point twins14:44 Jun 09 2015
Times Read: 632
The Tipping-point twins
The twins hadn’t wanted the company of their younger brother, but they’d had no choice.
“You’re not going camping without him,” their mother had scolded, as they’d tried to do exactly that.
But, they had been caught at the kitchen door; dragged back inside, literally and, told to wait: and at that, phones were checked, for the time and text.
Ellis and Ellery were tall, with collar-length short wavy hair. They were sixteen and, their younger brother was fourteen, with hair a little darker than his siblings. And, his build was short and he still had his puppy fat, unlike the taller and slimmer twins.
A half hour later, the three had walked to the field at the back end of the woods, where the old house had stood.
Few knew the story of the “naughty boys” home: but Adam knew more than most, which did not surprise the twins at all: their younger brother did so like conspiracies.
“Like few recall the local landowner round here having a daughter into some heavy drugs, way back in the sixties…” he told them, arms gesticulating wildly as he spoke.
“And his hippy daughter got so-spaced out on acid… well, she ended up in a turret room of the house, where the field is now… well away from the family, she was just such an embarrassment…” the young teen explained, his voice tinged with excitement as he knew ‘stuff’ that his brothers did not.
He did not mind following the pair, not this time; although there had been times when then had been oh-so different.
The twins had always resented their little brother and this night was no exception: they were already running late and, now they had ‘him’ in tow…
“Do you think they’ll be there?” Ellis hissed.
“Better be,” his brother replied, “After all, we paid for the weed the girls are bringing…”
“Whattcha talking ‘bout?” Adam asked, aware that the twins were talking about something interesting: they talked in whispers a lot.
“Oh nothing,” Ellery told him, as they neared their intended campsite and, the two girls standing outside near a large family size tent, a small fire already blazing away.
“What took you so long?” Helen, the older and shorter of the two asked.
“His mother!” The twins snapped in unison.
“Hey, she’s your mother too!” The youngster snapped back, fists clenched.
“Hey now, don’t be cruel to him,” Lisa told them, drawing Adam to her capacious bust, hardly restrained by the top she wore, to entice Ellery, who she adored.
“The little scrots used to it,” Ellis explained, taking the beer that Helen proffered.
“Even so… you don’t have to treat him so… mean…” Lisa clarified, kissing Adam on the top of his head, before ruffling his hair.
“Now c’mere…” Ellery enticed, holding his arms open.
Lisa stepped away from Adam and walked across to Ellery, who she kissed full on the lips, allowing his hands to roam wherever he wished.
“You get our tent,” Ellis explained as he threw his shoulder bag to the floor by Adams feet, “We’re gonna be staying with the girls…”
“And you’re not going to tell mother, are you?” Ellery added, looking over Lisa’s shoulder, an edge of real menace to his voice.
“Erm no,” the youngster assured him, as he bent down to pick up the bag containing his brother’s tent: he had the one he’s used at cub camp, theirs was better.
“Well, we’ll leave you to put it up… sleep well…” Ellis laughed, as he entered the girl’s tent, after Ellery and Lisa.
And the laughter continued well into the early morning, as Adam lay fully clothed on top his sleeping bag, waiting.
Finally there was quiet, so he left the tent, plan in mind.
Adam crossed toward the large tent and, the flap zippered down and, he smiled as he applied superglue to it, then stepped away.
“You two never follow the news, you’re so into your sports and games and…” he continued to mutter, as he walked round the tent, squirting lighter fuel onto the outside, from a can he had acquired from his late father’s garage.
“You’ve never heard of the tipping point… well, I have…” he explained away, as he rooted in his pockets, for the lighter he had picked up from his brothers room.
Adam liked the irony of using the small clipper with the nude lady on it: “After all,” he reasoned, “It’s like they’re helping me, somehow…”
He flicked the wheel with his thumb, smiling again, as he watched the flame form.
“See, the Earth can sustain seven billion and the tipping point is when there’s nine million people on it and, they cannot be sustained…”
Adam applied the flame to the tent, where he’d splashed the lighter fuel and his smile became a grin, as he watched the flames take hold.
“And, you see…” he giggled, “When I came along, there was a tipping point in our mother’s household…”
Adam turned away from the flames, as those inside screamed and, slowly he made his way back home, to his mother, an explanation already forming in his mind.
‘They were mean to me Mum…’ he’s tell her, ‘I awoke on my own, to their screams… it must have been them smoking, those funny cigarettes… again.’
Adam smiled at the thought of the fuss that she would make of him, calling him her “brave little soldier”, for suffering as he had.
“And… there’ll be ice-cream…” Adam told himself eyes twinkling with pleasure, as the fire engine passed, its siren’s blaring…
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