Excerpt: Dreams of Nature

Cody stuck his head out of the living room looking for his twin at 5:30 that Thursday afternoon. Mom, for some reason had picked them up from school earlier than usual and told them that for the time being she was going to get them home before dark. He found his brother in the den across the foyer peeking out through the blinds at the street in front of the house.
“Hey, Bro.” he said. “Wanna play Go Cart Racer on the Xbox?” Denny was starting to worry Cody. He’d been quiet and withdrawn for the last couple of days. He hadn’t wanted to play anything or joke around as usual. Cody figured now that Dad and Paris had gone upstate, the could get in some good games or something.
“Nah. I’m good.” Denny said, eyes never wavering from the unchanging street.
Cody let out a sigh of exasperation and plopped himself down in the easy chair that dad liked doing his thinking in. “What the …” he checked to make sure their mom was nowhere in sight. She wasn’t. “Hell is wrong with you?”
Denny turned and looked seriously at his twin. “Nothing.” Is all he said.
“Bull crap.” Cody retorted. “You’ve been Mr. I don’t want to have fun anymore all week.”
Denny clenched his hands and took a couple of steps towards his brother. “Well, I’m sorry if I don’t like playing around after some asshole attacked my sister.” He nodded towards the street. “And got away with it.”
“What’s the big deal?” Cody said, shrugging. “The police are looking for the woman who did it. They’ll find her.” He crossed his arms over his chest. It’s not like you haven’t wanted to beat the crap out of her smug little face. We both have.”
Denny stared at his brother and wondered how they could be twins. He wondered if he even knew him. “The difference is we do know her. We love her. She can be a bitch to us.” He leaned forward and started jabbing his forefinger into his brother’s chest. “But she’s OUR bitchy sister. No one has the right to treat her bad if it’s not us, dammit.” His voice was getting louder and louder as he kept up his rant. “Not some cowardly old lady who beats on her for no reason and then gets away clean.” He stepped back and ran his hand through his hair.
“I was ten feet away when it happened.” He turned back to the window. “You had taken a bathroom break and didn’t come downstairs until it was all over.” He turned back to glare at Cody. “I was right there, and I didn’t see or hear a thing until Paris hit the floor.”
Denny was so wound up he didn’t notice that he had started crying. Cody did and was going to make fun of his brother’s water works when it occurred to him that maybe He was wrong. Denny just might have a point. India had been crying in her room before he came downstairs. She was upset and strangely sticking close to mom.
“And there was all that blood pouring out of her nose and her split lip.” Denny sobbed and swiped at his tears with the back of his hand. “Her hair was all messed up and her butterfly barrettes had been ripped out.” he sniffed loud and stared into Cody’s eyes, willing him to understand. “She was so surprised she didn’t yell or cry for like ten seconds. It was awful.”
Cody sat and thought for a minute. No matter what had happened, sitting around and feeling sorry for our family was not going to help anybody. He was a boy of action, and had figured that Denny was always going to be his partner in crime. He never expected his twin to have a sensitive side. That was the kind of thing that got beat out of you on the soccer field. Maybe he could do something to help his brother, and by extension his family. Maybe they could be partners in crime-solving.
Denny turned back to the window and resumed his watching of the street. No cars had gone by in the few minutes that he had been yelling at Cody.
“Denny.” Cody said.
“Yeah?” Denny answered, not taking his eyes from the street.
“Maybe I can help.”
“There’s only room for one of us in this window.” Denny pointed out.
“No. I meant looking for clues and stuff.” Cody explained. “Figure out who it was that hurt Paris and make them pay.”
“Mom says we’re not supposed to leave the house after we get home.”
“So, let’s not tell her.” Cody reasoned.
\Denny turned and stared at Cody. “Are you nuts?” he asked. “Mom will go ballistic if she catches us.”
Cody smiled. “So we don’t let her catch us.”