The Code War

by Ciaran Nagle

  'My brother,' whispered Nancy. She stared into Jabez's eyes, seeing him in a different light from before, almost as though she was looking at someone new.

  'My brother,' she repeated.

  'If you'd like.' Jabez knew he sounded nervous.

  'I've always wanted a brother.' And Nancy's eyes became misty and turned into pools and then torrents as tears streamed down her face and fell onto her 6-point star and soaked into her V-neck top. She threw herself at Jabez and wrapped her arms and legs around him. She hugged him around the neck crying, 'Jabez. My brother. My brother. Jabez. I've found you.'

  Then while sobbing into his collar she thought about the brothers of Brother and how she had nearly built her life around them while all the time a real brother was watching over her, caring about her. At last she unhooked herself from Jabez's wet neck and stood down. They went on walking, hand in hand.

  'Next month is December,' Jabez continued, 'and I was thinking, now that we're reunited as a family, perhaps you'd like to celebrate Hanukkah with me and then Christmas on the 25th.'

  'Hanukkah and Christmas? We can do both?' Her star bobbed around on her chest as she span towards him.

  'Of course,' Jabez replied.

  'Well, I'll check my diary and see if I'm available. But pencil me in for now.'

  Then Nancy whooped and leapt in the air for pure joy and jumped up and hung onto the branch of a tree and swung her legs wildly while Jabez watched and laughed in surprise at her sudden girliness.

  When she jumped down she had a spring in her step and swished her hips as they continued to walk.

  Jabez placed his arm around Nancy's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. His sleeve snagged unexpectedly as it passed behind her and he looked down at her back.

  Just above her shoulder blades, a few inches each side of her spine he could see a pair of bony swellings, maybe a half inch long, poking upwards. There were no feathers on them of course. It was far too early for that. But there was no doubting what they were.

  Nancy rested her head on his shoulder.

  'Jabez, my brother. You're a darling. Did you know that? A darling.'

  'Thank you, Nancy,' he murmured. 'You're an angel.'

  ###

  Thank you for reading The Code War. I really enjoyed writing it for you. If you liked it, would you consider going to your favourite bookseller website and leaving a favourable comment? I read everything that's written.

  Also check out my blog at thejshot.com

  Thank you.

  Ciaran