It was just a normal day, and being the average High School senior I was sitting on the couch watching ESPN before school as usual. I had to have my information for lunch that day, I couldn’t miss it. However this day was different. My younger brother, who gets away with everything decided he wanted to watch cartoons, and I knew he would. He gets whatever he wants, but I’m not going to let him watch the television without a fight today. He changes the channel without asking me if I was watching anything, So, I take the controller from him, and preceded watching Sports Center. That is where my mother came in. My mother is an extremely non confrontational person. Seeing me and my brother fighting over the television told me to be nice to my brother. I didn’t care today. Until she said the words that I will never forget. She said while looking me directly in the eye, “I think Gregory is really sick, I don’t know how it has happened. He’s only five years old, he can’t be that sick!” She was on the edge of tears and I knew she was serious. She loved both of us, and the thought of loosing either of us hurt her more than anything. However I hated how he always seemed to win! He knew he always won too. With the occasional comment when he said “You know mommy will let me if I ask her!” I was so sick of him being such a little brat. But this day changed my view of him. Halfway through his cartoon I heard my mother’s suburban pull out of the driveway. I knew he couldn’t win when she wasn’t around. So, I went up to him and told him that the show was cancelled for the day and that my show was scheduled to play in its place. But something was different today, I looked at his face, it was pale, extremely pale. I asked him if he felt alright. That is when I saw his little five year old body go limp. At first, I thought he was doing his average play opossum to win. But something told me he wasn’t. I called my mom immediately, and within two minutes she was back, throwing him into the suburban while I locked up the house, and missed ESPN anyway.
We got into the car, tires still smelling of burnt rubber. My mother never drives like she drove that day. She threw my body around in the back seat as I held my brothers still limp body. She didn’t even tell me to put on my seatbelt as she had done for so many years before. Today was truly a different type of day. We finally got to the hospital where the doctors noticed my mother’s crazy blonde hair and my brother’s limp cold yet breathing body. Immediately they rushed him to the Emergency Room. While I sat in the Emergency room, comforting my mother, promising her Gregory would make it. Yet I knew, from looking at her messy hair, smeared mascara, and shaking hands that this was a serious day. Not long after they took my brother into the ER a short Indian man in scrubs came out and told us that my brother was fine. That he would make it and we could take him home in a few hours. My mother leaped into the air, which in her early 50’s was a sight to see, all the loose yet stylish clothing floating through the air. She was truly relieved, and hugged the scared little Indian man wrinkling his scrubs. That night we took my brother home, where something that had never before happened occurred. My younger brother apologized to me! He said he was sorry he got so sick and I had to miss ESPN that I always watched. It blew my mind. How could such a small child have changed so quickly? Why wasn’t he such a little brat anymore? I don’t know what happened in that cold clean room at the hospital, but something changed my younger brother, and we’ve never been closer since.