Free Linked by Barbara Huffert Page B

was fearless. After a few days of peeking under the porch as she left the snack, she decided she didn’t believe me. She hadn’t seen anything or heard them moving around so she concluded they must have moved away.”
    “So she stopped?”
    “She would have if I hadn’t gotten two of my friends to hide under the porch. One grabbed her foot through the steps and the other rolled around, scraping the boards with a stick and growling.”
    “Why didn’t she tell your parents or other sisters? Didn’t she wonder why she was the only one they were after?”
    “I told her the trolls weren’t the greedy kind and only needed one child to keep them happy. I said I had been the one when they first picked our house but they wanted her instead. I explained that she wasn’t allowed to talk about it with anyone who didn’t already know they were there or they’d get mad and eat the whole family. I said it was up to us to protect the others. I even volunteered to put her treat in the hiding place so she didn’t have to get too close.”
    “You were awful!”
    “Yeah, I was. Especially since I didn’t think ahead to when school left out for the summer. I made up some lame story about weekends but I forgot about summer. When Giti couldn’t figure out how to sneak her cookie or cake out of the house after lunch, she started having bad dreams. She’d flop around and whimper until Mom or Dad woke her. She started crying every time someone left the house but I was too busy with my buddies to pay much attention. She held out a whole week before my parents got her to tell them.”
    “What did they do to you?”
    “Dad took me to the garage and explained all about the responsibilities of being a big brother as well as a good man and pointed out how my behavior went against most of them. He always had the uncanny knack of knowing when to yell and when a reasonable discussion would be more effective. Mom, on the other hand, usually yelled until she got it out of her system unless it was one of the rare occasions when she was too angry to say a word. When that happened she’d just stare instead. We would all be together, like at dinner and in the middle of a conversation she’d give the offender a look that said it all.”
    “Was this one of those times?”
    “Oh yeah. She was waiting when Dad and I went back in the house. I’ll never forget the expression on her face. I could see how much I’d disappointed her. I felt like the biggest failure in the world. I wanted to fall down and cry at her feet but I was too afraid she’d push me away so I just stood there, wishing there really were trolls who would open up the floor and eat me.
    “Dad eventually took pity on me and told me to go apologize to Giti and then go to bed. He said that they’d decide my punishment later.”
    “What was it?” Tori prompted when Guy got lost in his memories.
    “Officially, what you’d expect. I gave Brigit my share of all the goodies Mom baked for the same amount of time I’d taken hers, was grounded with extra chores and had to tell my friends’ parents what I had them do. Unofficially, I opened myself up to ridicule because I became the one to derail schemes that would hurt others the way I’d hurt Giti.”
    “Protector of the innocent at nine. What about your mom and sister?”
    “My sister was easy. After the first week she was trying to sneak me cookies. I promised I’d never lie to her again and that if she was ever afraid of anything, no matter what, she could come to me, knowing that I would never make fun of her and would help however I could.
    “Mom kept her distance so long I thought she’d never forgive me. Imagine all of us at the table, my sisters all talking over each other, Mom and Dad trying to make comments to each of them and talk to each other, Dad asking for an update on my extra duties and my older sisters doing their best to include me because, even though they were pissed at me for tricking Giti, they knew