When Mom stomped on the brakes,

the green station wagon with faux-wood panels slid across the wet pavement

right into the path of the oncoming car. Things

in the car went flying.�So did we.

Nothing could be done to avoid

the crash. It was too late.�She had told us

boys to stop fighting even before we backed out of the driveway.�Said it distracted

her when she drove.�I think she just said it so we wouldn't fight.�As

always Twin Brother Mark, Big Brother James, and Older Brother Richard didn't

listen.�I, on the other hand, always did, me being the little angel that I

was growing up.

Halfway to the neighborhood

swimming pool, Mom turned around for just a second to tell us for the

tenth time to stop arguing.�Mark had called me a bugger-eating,

cootie face, and I just couldn't let him get away with it.�I jumped him.� We

rolled over James and back over Richard.�The green station wagon with faux-wood

panels rocked side to side.

Mark had told James that I

was in love with Jennie, the new girl that sat right in front of me

in Mrs. Crabtree's class. She always smelled like

coconuts.�Jennie, not Mrs. Crabtree.�Mrs. Crabtree always smelled like an old

person.

All it took was a second!�We heard the other car's tires screeching and

horn blowing, but by that time, it was too late. Mom was already halfway through

the red light when she yelled, "Hold on, boys!" I yelled