Brothers

A sly yellow cat runs down the palace hall and young Thor runs after it. "If I try," he says in his shrill excited voice. "I can be a hero! Ha ha!" He sees the cat eying the fishbowl in their mother's chamber grins. "Aha! Think you can steal our mother's pretty fish, do you Fluffy? Well take that foul beast!" and he grabs a big book off her bookshelf and hurls it at the cat.

A loud crash echoes down the empty halls and Thor gulps, staring at the mess he's made. "Uh oh..." He tears back down the hall crying. "Loki! Loki!"

He skids to a stop in the hall and remembers a place his brother likes to hide. Under the hall side table. He lifts the red table cloth and crouches to peek under it. Little Loki is laying on the floor under the table reading, his legs propped up against the wall.

"Loki?" Thor begins.

"Yes..." he asks, not paying much attention to his brother as he gets to an exciting part in the book: a favorite hero of his: Lawrence the Clever is confronting a villain who has him wrapped in chains. "I have you now Lawrence the Clever!" the evil giant is laughing. "Yes you have me," Lawrence is saying in dejection. "Your bron was too much for my mind, I suppose I shall die here..."

"Surely not!" young Loki panics. "He must have a trick up his sleeve!" He grasps the book as the dialogue continues.

Meanwhile Thor weepingly tells the story of the mess he's made in their mother's chambers and Loki responds with grunts as he hears not a word his brother is saying, eyes riveted to the pages.

"Mhm..." Loki responds.

"And now..." little Thor moans, leaning his head back on the table. "I don't know how I shall tell her! Oh, Loki what shall I do?"

"That's nice Thor..." Loki mutters.

At this point Thor starts to wonder if Loki is paying as much attention as he at first thought. In fact, he begins to wonder if he is paying attention at all! He peeks back under the table cloth at his brother...

The great giant is raising his huge spear over Lawrence the Clever as the hero cowers and trembles in fear. "This is the last day!" the giant insists. "The last day that Lawrence the Clever shall draw breath!" The spear is thrust down and Lawrence screams in pain!...

Thor jerks Loki from under the table by the leg and Loki screams, pummeling Thor in the chest with his fists. At first his startled mind imagines that he's Lawrence the Clever pummeling the great giant with punches, but once he realizes it's Thor he doesn't bother to stop.

Thor looks at him tiredly, holding him up by his leg and glaring sarcastically at his attempted assault. "Don't do that, Thor!" Loki whines, crossing his arms and giving up the attack. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! Don't you ever interrupt me it the middle of my book again, do you hear?"

"Yes I hear. I can hear fine..." Thor grumbles sighing and pouting. "But you're the one who didn't hear! I was telling you an IM-POR-TANT STO-RY!"

"Fine. What?" Loki moans as Thor half drops half sets him down, head first down against the wall. He picks up his book again and begins reading where he left off, propped against the wall where Thor dropped him.

"Well it went like this..." Thor begins. Then he frowns and yanks Loki's book away. "And don't read while I'm talking to you! It's not nice."

Loki grumbles and crosses his arms. "Who said I was nice?"

"Well this is how it went," Thor begins, scooting closer to Loki. "I wanted to be noble..."

"How kind of you."

"Don't interrupt," Thor corrects. "That's not nice either."

"I hardly think lifting your brother by the leg is the height of society."