“Do you need any help?” Hunter asked.
“I’ll let you know…please stay here and keep my mate safe.” After seeing his cousin nod, Carson ran outside, finding the path to take him where Galen was. Fear flared in him, giving wings to his feet.I can’t lose Galen.No, please, please…he’s just a little boy…please!Rounding a bend, he saw Mrs. B holding Rune in her arms while struggling to keep a patch of gauze on Galen’s forehead.
“Hey, Mrs. B,” Carson called, slowing down so as not to scare Galen. “I came to help.”
“You are a lifesaver,” replied Mrs. B. “Galen tripped over his brother and cut his forehead. Is Eamon home?”
“Yes, he is,” Carson said, kneeling down in front of Galen. “Hey, buddy, can I look at your forehead?”
“Am I dyin’? Eamon said I was dyin’,” Galen cried, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Lifting up the gauze, Carson found a small, deep cut and was relieved to see the bleeding was already slowing. Pressing it back against the wound, he asked, “Galen, can you put your hand over the bandage for a minute?”
“O-o-kay,” Galen sniffled.
Carson pulled his shirt out of his pants and tore a strip off the bottom of it. Placing his hand on the gauze patch, he said to Galen, “Okay, I got it now.” Then he carefully wrapped the shirt strip around the boy’s head over the gauze, before tying the ends to keep it in place. “There, now you look like a pirate.”
“I do?”
“Yup, let’s go show Remy.” Scooping Galen up, Carson headed back to the cottage.
“Am I goin’ to have a scar?”
“Do you want a scar?” asked Carson.
“Yeah…pirates always has scars,” Galen said, touching the bandage. “Will it be big?”
“No, buddy, not that big,” Carson smiled.
“But big enough to see, right Carsso?” asked Galen.
“Yup, big enough to see.”
“Cool! Wait until Eamon sees it…he’s gonna want one. He always wants what I have.”
“That’s because he wants to be like you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yup. I used to follow my older brothers around because I thought they were cool.”
“Did they mind? Sometimes I wish he didn’t.”
“I can understand that. Sometimes, you just want to do something by yourself.”
Galen’s eyes widened. “You know?”
“I do,” Carson said. “Being a big brother is a lot of responsibility.”
“What’s sponsibilty?” asked Galen.
“Well, Eamon feels safe with you…he knows you will protect him…”
“I do…I always protect him,” Galen said, solemnly.
“Yeah, I know you do because you’re a good big brother,” Carson said. “That makes you responsible.”
“Uh-huh, I’m sponsibilty,” Galen smiled.
