My Autobiography

9.

Slowly but surely, Jaun and I started to truly and whole heartedly hate our step father. Our main reason for this was that he favored Liam and Cole more than us. You may be thinking that it is fairly reasonable and I agree. To a certain extent.

Uncle Jacob excluded Jaun and I from everything whether it be family conversations or trips at the park to play. Do not get me wrong- we were present; he just completely ignored us wherever he could.

It was almost as if he frowned upon us.

Jaun had it worse than me. I do not know why, but to this very day, Jaun is hated by that man and Jaun has taken many hits because of it.

Jaun wanted my mom to see the man she had married for who he really was and thought that selling her cigarettes would do the job and if not that, it would keep her alive for longer. My mom told Uncle Jacob that Jaun was smoking when she found a carton of cigarettes in his school bag. Uncle Jacob made my brother smoke a whole carton of cigarettes in front of him- non-stop - and still had the decency to ask the thirteen-year-old boy if he was doing alright the next morning. He even gave Jaun a hug.

Uncle Jacob would palm everything off on my brother just because he is the eldest.

"Go entertain your brothers," he would say. "and do it properly because you're the eldest."

Or

"You're the eldest and a boy so you need to pick up the dog shit for me."

I still helped my brother pick up the dog crap. We put construction site masks on which we sprayed with lavender toilet spray and tied plastic bags around our hands before we set out to do the job.
We would take turns in what we had to do. I would hold the bag open first while Jaun dropped the poo inside for the first half and then we would swap. When we were done, we covered the filled plastic bag with another one to make sure there were no leaks before we threw it away.

With us, it was what was fair was fair.

Another thing that was not fair to Jaun was when we made cards for mom. One day in particular stands out.
Jaun and I were making Mother's Day cards for the next day and were sure to stay quiet so as not to get Uncle Jacob angry. I was feeling proud of Jaun because it had been a while since he had made a card for mom. His was simple with cartoon cars and stars on it whereas mine was full of sloppy and excessive patterns.

When we were done, be both showcased our cards to Uncle Jacob for approval. He told Jaun that he had to make a new card for mom because she would definitely not like it. Jaun got up and walked back to the table with his head bent. He was not going to redo his card to mom.

Uncle Jacob, when I showed him mine, took it and smiled up at me while I stood.

"And? What did he say about yours?" Jaun asked when I got back to the table.

I bit my lip and looked down at my card with a blush.

"Thought so." was the last I heard from my brother that day.

Needless to say, the next day we all gave our cards to mom. Jaun's stood out. You know why? It was not the cover but what was written inside that made my mom cry. They were proud and happy tears. Jaun had the power to do that.

So, in my point of view - not just because I am his sister - you cannot blame him for that time he laughed at Uncle Jacob when he walked into the closed sliding door after changing a lightbulb that would not work a week later.