2 - ‘Come gentle night…’

“When will you use what you have available to you, instead of running like the scared little rabbit that you are,” a voice growled in frustration.

Kemp sighed mightily and rolled over on the threadbare sheets to look at the man who was speaking. “Can’t I even get a few hours sleep before you come bothering me,” he replied as he sat up, taking a quick check to make certain he’d actually remembered to put on briefs before he’d fallen into bed only a couple  of hours ago.

“Not when you make such a fool of yourself.” The man in question sat down on the side of the bed, frowning at Kemp. “Are you always going to be such a wimp?”

I’m not a wimp, just not tall and bulked out like you are. Kemp looked at his brother, noting as always the thick, muscular arms and broad shoulders under the dark blue shirt, and the short military cut of his hair above the handsome, if somewhat patronizing face. What he said in reply was, “Just why are you here Leif?”

“Because of what you did. Or more precisely what you didn’t do tonight. Now you have the authorities looking for you as well as those men.”

Kemp shrugged in indifference, although in point of fact his brother’s words sent a wave of fear through him. “By authorities I presume you mean the police. Why would they be on my ass?”

“Because, you little idiot, it seems you dropped something when you turned tail and ran. To be precise, your wallet. The least you could have done was make certain your pants pockets didn’t have holes in them.”

“Wasn’t in my pants, was in my jacket.” Kemp sighed again, this time in frustration. There went his last ten dollars. “How do you know it was cops that found it?”

“The same way I know about everything that happened.” His brother tapped his forehead. “As long as you refuse to use what you have, I’ll be connected to you when something bad happens. If I hadn’t been busy elsewhere at the time I would have ridden to the rescue.”

“On you big white steed, oh, right, it’s a car these days isn’t it?” Kemp snorted, putting a hand over his heart. “My hero.”

“I’ll ‘hero’ you, you little shit. Just because you look like a ninety pound weakling doesn’t mean you have to act like one.”

“Actually it does. It goes with what I am.” He pursed his lips and made a limp-wristed gesture knowing it would annoy his brother no end, even though that was far from how he really acted. He relented when he saw the look of pity cross his brother’s face. “OK, so I fucked up tonight by letting them know I was there.”

“You fucked up because you ran rather than dealing with them.”