Free And Don't Bring Jeremy by Marilyn Levinson

What do I know about plants?”
    Mom patted my arm. “All right, Adam. Go wash your hands and set the table. I’ll talk to Jeremy after dinner.”
    Dinner was a silent affair for the three of us, since Dad was working late. For once, Mom made no attempt to draw us into conversation. Jeremy ate his food even more noisily than usual. Sometimes I’d catch him staring at me, scowling. When he did that I’d just look down.
    I helped Mom clear the table and then went down to the den to watch TV. There wasn’t any ball game on that evening so I flipped through the channels. Nothing. How did they expect a kid to get through the evening?
    I decided to go to my room and put my baseball collection in order. As I walked up the stairs I heard Jeremy running and then his door slam. I took one look in my room and screamed.
    “Mom, Mom, come here!”
    “What is it, Adam?” She sounded frightened as she hurried up the stairs.
    “Just look,” I said, making no attempt to stop the tears rolling down my face. “Just look what he did. That moron!”
    We both stared down at my floor. Jeremy had taken all of my baseball cards and ripped them in half.

CHAPTER 8
    Mom and Dad punished Jeremy for what he did. First of all, he had to apologize to me, which was something I could have done without. I mean, who cared if he said he was sorry? He’d deliberately ripped up my cards, hadn’t he? Also, he was grounded for a week. I made it my business to keep out of his way, but whenever he passed me on the stairs or in the hall, he gave me a dirty look and started mumbling under his breath. When I complained to Mom about him, she let out a deep sigh and said something about his difficulties being a constant burden to him and his level of frustration reaching its breaking point when I’d stepped on his plants. I just nodded as if I understood, which I did in a way, but all the old disappointments and grievances I’d always felt about Jeremy just came into my mind. The baseball cards were the last straw. The next day I noticed that he’d put chicken wire around his precious garden. Too bad he hadn’t done it sooner. It would have saved us all a lot of trouble.
    I decided to pretend that I didn’t have a brother. That I was an only child and that Jeremy was some kid my parents had taken in because he had no home and they’d felt sorry for him. I suppose it was a terrible thing to make up, but what good was Jeremy? I couldn’t play sports or games with him, or even talk to him. And as an older brother he was the pits. He never could help me with anything; in fact, I knew about more things than he did. I had to help him, and that wasn’t the way things were supposed to be. All he did was embarrass me. No wonder the other kids laughed at him. I’d just keep out of his way. And since it was the middle of June, that was an easy thing to do.
    I called Eddie a few times, just to talk. I laughed when he made jokes about Jeremy—even when he said my parents should send him away to a school that had locks on the doors and bars on the windows. It felt good while he was still on the phone, but I felt rotten about it as soon as he hung up. Once or twice I wondered if Eddie had deliberately drowned Jeremy’s plants. But I knew it was a dumb thought and put it out of my mind.
    The school year was winding down. As sixth graders, we hardly did any work anymore. It seemed we had an activity every other day, which was nice, since I was finally being included. First we had a picnic with the sixth-grade classes of the other two elementary schools in our district. We all had to bring our own lunch. Somehow or other, Danny and I got to sharing a blanket with Patty and Michelle. It turned out to be a good idea because we pooled all of our food and the girls had lots of cookies and cake. Just as we were through eating, two boys we’d played against in Little League came over to compliment me on my pitching. I could feel my ears growing warm and knew I was