Hermanos [Brothers]

Era un día frio en otoño, pero eso no importaba a los dos niños jugando en el patio. Eran hermanos gemelos, y tenían no más de diez años. Nathan era el mayor por dos minutos, y también era el más alto y fuerte. Matthew, aunque era más chaparro, también era más inteligente y casi siempre encontraba maneras para ganar en los juegos de Nathan, menos en los deportes. Pero hoy no estaban jugando para ganar o perder, sino por el gusto que venía de saltar entre las hojas caídas.

Después de un rato, Nathan llamó a su hermano. “Ven rápido Matthew, ¡mira lo que encontré!” Matthew se limpió de las hojas en su chamarra y corrió a Nathan. En su mano tenía una pelota azul.

“¡Que genial!” Matthew exclamó. “¿Vamos a jugar con él?”

“No.” Nathan dijo con un aire de suficiencia. “Yo voy a jugar con él. Yo lo encontré.”

“Eso no es justo.”

“Pues para el otro ponte listo.” Matthew le sacó la lengua pero Nathan no más se fue a jugar con su pelota nueva. Por un rato, Matthew le observó en silencio, formando una idea. Se regresó a la casa y salió otra vez después de unos cinco minutos cargando una caja naranjada.

“¡Nathan!” Matthew llamó, y su hermano le aprovechó con sospecho.

“¿Qué es eso?” Le preguntó a Matthew.

“Mamá me dio una caja de galletas.” Matthew dijo. “Pero…”

“¿Pero qué?” Nathan preguntó con más interesa.

“Pues, no le puedo quitar la tapadera.” Matthew respondo, un poco triste. “No soy tan fuerte como tú, y entonces ni esta cajita de galletas puedo abrir. Pero tú si lo puedes abrir, ¿verdad? Como no, si to tienes tanto fuerza como un toro.”

“Por supuesto, todo eso es verdad.” Nathan confirmó. “Dame la caja y te lo abro, hermanito, si me dejas mitad de las galletas.”

“Ah, sí, ¿Cómo no voy a compartir por este gran favor?” Matthew le dio la caja a Nathan, quien puso la pelota en el suelo. Mientras Nathan trato de abrir la caja, Matthew recogió la pelota y corrió. Su hermano empezó a corretearlo, pero rápidamente se paro.

“Bueno, quédate con la pelota, y yo me quedo con la caja de galletas.” Nathan le quitó la tapadera a la caja y miró adentro, pero en lugar de sus galletas prometidas vio puro aire. “¡Oye, me hiciste trampa!”

“Yo te prometí mitad de las galletas.” Matthew dijo sin parar de correr. “Mitad de cero toda vía es cero. Tampoco te dije que tenias que dejar la pelota allí rodando.” Y entonces mientras Matthew corría al parque para jugar con su premio, su hermano arrogante se quedo con una caja vacía.

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[It was a cold autumn day, but that mattered little to the two boys playing in the yard. They were brothers—twins, no more than ten years old. Nathan, the oldest brother by two minutes, was also the tallest and strongest. Matthew, despite having smaller stature, was also the smarter of the two and almost always managed to find a way to beat Nathan at his games—with the exception of sports. Today, however, they weren’t playing to pick out winners or losers, but rather for the simple joy that came with jumping among the piles of fallen leaves.

After a while, Nathan called out to his brother. “Hey Matthew, come check out what I found!” Matthew brushed a few leaves off his jacket and ran over to Nathan. In his brother’s hand was a blue ball.

“Whoa, cool!” Matthew exclaimed. “Are we going to play with it?”

“No,” Nathan replied with an air of smugness. “I’m going to play with it. I found it.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Oh well, better luck next time.” Matthew stuck his tongue out but Nathan paid him no heed as he went off to play with his new ball. For a while, Matthew simply watched him in silence, slowly forming an idea in his mind. He went back inside the house then came out again five minutes later holding an orange container.

“Nathan!” Matthew called. His brother stopped and approached him with suspicion.

“What’s that?” He asked Matthew.

“Mom gave me a box of cookies,” Matthew said. “But…”

“But what?” Nathan asked, now intrigued.

“Well, I can’t get the lid off,” Matthew replied, his voice tinged with a hint of upset. “I’m not big and strong like you. I can’t even open a silly box of cookies. But you could open it, right? After all, you’re super strong—probably as strong as a bull!”

“Well yeah, of course that’s true,” Nathan confirmed. “Hand the box over and I’ll open it up just for you little bro—that is, as long as you let me have half of the cookies.”

“Oh absolutely, why wouldn’t I share in exchange for a favor like this?” Matthew handed the box over to Nathan, who set the ball he’d been holding onto the floor. While Nathan fiddled with the box, Matthew scooped up the ball and darted away. His brother started to chase after him, but quickly came to a halt.

“Fine, you keep the ball and I’ll keep all of the cookies.” Nathan yanked the lid off the box and peered inside, but instead of the promised cookies he saw nothing but empty air. “Hey, you cheated!”

“I promised you half of my cookies,” Matthew called back without slowing down. “Half of zero is still zero. And I never said you had to leave the ball lying around for anyone to waltz up and take either.” And so while Matthew ran gleefully towards the park to play with his new prize, his brother sat defeated on the porch with nothing to show for his arrogance but an empty orange box.]