
To Brand a Brother
When the world was six years old, school start came closer. Caleb and Abid were getting prepared for it by Mother who showed them the shapes and sounds of letters. The “O” seemed fairly easy, but then Mother said that the circle also meant “nothing”. The world of the grown-ups was confusing!
That summer, Mother’s sister married a man who was a real teacher and had a real Ford. A Sunday in August he came, picked the boys’ family up and took them to his house with the car. When they arrived, the twins stayed outside to explore the foreign area, but with no other kids or toys around they were soon bored.
It was then that Caleb noticed the Ford. The door was unlocked, so he climbed inside. This was something different from his little toy cars! With loud engine-sounds and attempts to turn the steering wheel and change gears, he was in boy-heaven. The pedals were definitely out of his reach, but he touched all other devices. Suddenly, he heard a click. He had pushed the cigarette lighter which had turned hot and was ready to be used. Proud of his success, he wanted to show Abel.
With his passenger next to him, Caleb demonstrated how a car sounded and how an experienced driver behaved. After a while, he nonchalantly pushed the cigarette lighter knob. When it popped out, he held it in front of his brother’s eyes, expecting signs of admiration. But no reaction came, so to convince Abid that he really had made the lighter hot, Caleb impatiently put it on his brother’s cheek. Now, there were several reactions: a loud scream, a flood of tears, and an intense, red circle glowing on Abid’s left cheek.
Crying violently, Abid ran into the living-room where he caught everybody’s attention. Mother stood up, and in front of the teacher-in-law, she loudly and correctly spelled out the letter that was engraved on her son’s cheek, “O, Abid!!!”
Hiding in a corner, Caleb wondered why Mother didn’t say that a circle also meant “nothing.”
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleA hilarious one. A nice one. No colour was mentioned in the story.
I’m glad you liked the story, Thompson. Thanks for your comment. If you check back, you’ll see that the circle that was put on Abid’s cheek was (intensely) red. I think that single little word is enough for Voice.club’s demands.
Did you notice the story has a subtle reference to the Book of Genesis?
Hello Christer – I’m very intrigued by this story, especially since you mentioned it in your comment about Inspirare. I know these boys must be you and your twin brother, which brings up a lot of questions. Did this really happen? Who was the brander and who the brandee? Did the scar last? I didn’t quite get the Biblical reference, except to Cain (Caleb?) and Abel (Abid?) Did I get it right?… Read more »
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you for reading and commenting, Fuji. As you already knew, this is a retelling of a childhood memory. The car on the picture is a Ford Taunus (existed only in Europe), the kind of car in which the crime took place. My aunt’s husband bought a brand (!) new version of this car after he had landed his first job as a teacher. Unfortunately, I was the one who was carried… Read more »
Christer, reading the story again I find it even more hilarious. Yes, I have seen the word, “red”, been used. I’m sorry for not taking note at first. Well, I didn’t realise the story was related to the Bible’s book of Genesis.Thank you for making me see that. I can see a variation in the name of Caleb’s brother.
I really like the last line here Christer. A circle or “O” in this instance most certainly meant something in the searing red circle left on the brother’s face. “O” that would hurt!
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI think I caused my brother some serious pain. But the big thing was that the branding mark stayed on his cheek forever. This was a catastrophe for my mother who wanted us to look identical and always bought and dressed us with exactly the same clothes. I so much wanted that red circle to mean “nothing”, but unfortunately it was talked about for a very long time. Thanks for reading and… Read more »
Hello, Christer. Your talent is very amusing. I salute you for turning a bad childhood experience into a very nice and great story. And you have shown well the infancy of a child who knows nothing in the world but to play. It was fun to think of the child’s definitions in the circle, in the letter O, and a zero / “0”. Well done.
Thank you, Lotchie! Well, now, more than half a century later, it’s easy to joke about it, but when I was a child it was very serious. Even if my brother didn’t have to go to hospital, it was very bad. My action added on to my already existing feelings of fear, shame and guilt. I was extremely shy and fearful as a child and my face often turned red as a… Read more »
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleHello, Christer. You’re welcome. Well! I’m not happy about that bad experience of yours, Christer. It was a traumatic experience that changed your personality and self-confidence as you got older. There I found a little fun and a smile, in the child’s definition of your story about O, circle, and zero. That he totally didn’t think that O, circle, and zero also meant pain and hurt that will leave a mark. And… Read more »
No need for apologies, Lotchie. The way I wrote it, it came out in an easygoing, bantering way, although it was serious enough when it happened. I think that it makes a story better if it contains various ingredients or layers, which make it possible to look at the story from different angles and react with more than one emotion. So all is well and I am grateful for all kinds of… Read more »
Christer, am I the only one who doesn’t think this story is funny, but instead thinks it is very sad? It must have been equally traumatic for you and your brother. Poor little guys. You had no way of knowing what that cursed car lighter would do and of course you didn’t mean your brother any harm. And yet you both had to live with the results the rest of your lives… Read more »
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleOf course, Julie, you are right in a very literal sense. It was a very sad and traumatic event and we were deeply affected by it since everybody studied my brother’s cheek and commented on the mark. It was the first thing our 1st grade teacher said when she saw us, “That makes it easier for me to tell the difference between you.” I don’t think it would have been possible for… Read more »