The Bigs and the Littles

The Bigs lie to the Littles I’m Twana and I’m twelve. Alan, my big brother, is seventeen. Tall, skinny and weird. We call him “the stork of our home”. Alan moves sluggishly and speaks, slowly, a broken language. Our mom is fond of him and is scared to death of him being seduced by girls. But girls mean nothing to him. Alan has the heart of a baby. He loves sparrows a lot. We, and Lana, our little kid sister, lived happily, until one night Alan and I, with our friend, Zhilman, did a dangerous thing and discovered a secret in both our families’ life, and became aware of the secret life of the big men in our society as well. Our stork couldn’t stand it and left to where he thought he would hear no lies. I was left alone, thinking of revenge on whom we thought to be the cause of our families’ misery. But not quite alone; I had my friend Zhilman with me. I hated Zhilman before, but he became my revenge-partner. Zhilman! A plump, big-skulled, red-faced, noisy kid who thought of himself as a movie star.