Apologies

Cyril was feeling a bit sick after our belomisian adventures. The rain, he said. The exhaustion. It had taken a toll on his immune system, and now there we were.

Cléo was ready to watch over him for the night, but one look at the deep blue circles below her eyes made me shake my head.

“Cyril’s sleeping in my room tonight,” I decided. I’d be the one making sure my little brother was alright, the two of them deserved some type of peaceful sleep.

In the end, he didn’t even wake up once. He just snored louder than usual.

The morning is rainy as well. It doesn’t scare Cléo. She’s the first awake, the first to run outside. In minutes, she’s soaked in the warm tropical rains, but she’s having the time of her life.

Her twin comes to join her. Even above the drizzle, I hear them whispering. Well, Cyril is making an effort to whisper, Cléo is clearly oblivious as to why he would want to.

“Just talk to her,” I hear her say. “We’re not kids anymore, she’s not going to pout refuse to help with your homework!”

So in Cyril goes, ready to tell me about how he refuses to go tramping in the jungle again.

I tell him I already know. I’m really sorry I was hard on them — guess I forgot it also took me a while to get used to the exploring. I pushed them way too far.

I don’t know if my brother’s a good forgiver, but I’m a great apologizer.

I agree that we’ll never have that kind of jungle hike again, and we’re cool.