My Brother’s Keeper - 22

Jerry managed to avoid the others killing him by dint of volunteering to fix breakfast. While he did, Tad and Roy got dressed for the day.

After he was dressed, Tad went down the hall to rap on the guest bedroom door. When Roy opened it, Tad saw that he had begun packing.

“So you are still planning on leaving,” Tad said quietly.

Roy nodded. “Look, right now you think you could put up with the two of us being here, but what about a week from now when you realize you have two non-working leeches on your hands; ones with a badass punk looking for them. Better we go before that happens.”

“I can understand what you’re saying, but what if we can do something to change that?”

“Do you think I haven’t tried?” Roy’s voice was tight with repressed anger.

“No. I’m sure you have but you’ve been trying on your own. Now you have a friend who’s willing to help. Between us we just might be able to figure out something that works.”

“Fat chance,” Roy muttered. However he did stop putting more neatly folded clothes into the backpacks, which Tad took as a hopeful sign. “I guess,” Roy said hesitantly, “we can at least talk about it.”

“Talking’s good. It’s a start. First however we’d better see what Jerry’s come up with for breakfast.”

Roy chuckled as he walked past Tad into the hall. “He used to be a decent cook, for a kid, so it’s probably edible.”

The breakfast was more than edible. Jerry had found a box of pancake mix and a couple of bananas which he’d added to the batter. When Tad and Roy arrived in the kitchen they found a large platter of pancakes in the center of the table with butter and syrup next to it. The table was set and Jerry was just pouring glasses of milk.

“No coffee?” Tad said in feigned shock.

“I couldn’t find it,” Jerry told him.

“In the freezer.” Tad got the bag and soon the coffeemaker was doing its job while the three young men sat down to eat.