Issue date: June 4, 2000

STUDENT FICTION CONTEST
Great stories by teen writers
Winner:
"Reminiscent of Orange Juice After Chocolate," by Jenny Leong
Runners-up:
"Dancing" by Margaret Maloney
"Perfect" by Corin Heymann
 -- About the author
"Strawberry Tears" by Meghan Teresa Barr
"The Runner" by Derek T. Muller
"Wog Is Me" by Mary Rebecca Wilkinson Seltzer

Perfect
By Corin Heymann

Joey listens to the fishing pole hiss as it swings with his brother's stride. His big brother, Alex, is carrying him on his back. They have been walking through the woods for a long time. Half an hour ago, Alex picked him up because the trees were trying to catch him in their winding arms and the thorns along the path kept trying to snare him. Joey watches the limbs part and the malicious plants bow out of their way. They move for Alex, never once scratching his legs or forcing him to duck. Joey smiles, for he secretly knows that his brother is a god derived from all that is perfect in the world.

"Are you excited to go fishing?" Alex's voice is soothing. "My friends thought you weren't old enough, but we'll show them."

"Yup!" Joey giggles.

At last, they arrive at the lake. Joey peers into the water and it is so clear he can see a mosaic of pebbles and sand decorating the bottom. The boy knows the lake is clean because of his brother. The water keeps itself in perfect condition to please him because he is a god and it must.

"First, I'll show you how to cast," Alex says. "Watch me and then you can try."

Joey stares at his brother in silent awe. His arms are smooth and strong, like the sturdy trunks of the trees. His skin is painted a perfect hue of gold by the sun. Joey looks at his own scrawny body and cringes. He could splinter easily, but Alex is unbreakable.

With a light flick of his wrists, Alex sends the lure halfway across the water. He reels it in and passes the pole to the little boy. Clumsily, Joey throws his arms out and sees a tiny splash not very far from the undulating edge of the lake.

"Perfect!" Alex exclaims. "Let's wait and see if we get a bite."

A1ex sits down beside Joey and blinks up at the sun; it tries to blind him and fails. Joey also sits and squints up at the fiery orb, but he has to turn his head or squeeze his eyelids shut because the sun can penetrate his eyes and take his sight. He looks over at Alex. Perfect, he had said. Joey beams with absolute joy.

As they wait, Joey's senses sharpen, as if a part of his brother's harmony with the world has been transferred to him. He listens to the cheerful chatter of the birds, the sweet percussion of the wind tickling the leaves on the trees. When his brother inhales, everything gulps in unison with his breath and life pulses stronger than before. Alex makes the Earth alive. It is he who makes the animals scamper and the water glisten.

Joey feels the subtle tug on the pole just as Alex sees the line glitter in the sun.

"Reel him in before he gets away!" Alex cries out.

"I can't!" the little boy gasps. "You do it!"

"I'll help you," Alex offers, reaching over and clasping Joey's trembling fist.

The fish bounces onto the wet sand. The boy gapes in wonder and horror as his brother maneuvers the hook out of its mouth. He sees red smudging onto Alex's hand as the fish is freed. It flops on the ground, tossing in spasms.

"What's wrong with the fish?" Joey stammers.

"He's dying."

"What's 'dying'?"

"It's when something ..." Alex hesitates, looking into Joey's confused face, "... stops living."

Joey begins to cry. "Does it hurt the fish?" he sniffles.

"I don't know," Alex replies quietly. He puts his arm around the little boy and pulls him close.

The fish flips once more and lies on its side. Joey watches its mouth open and close, as if it were trying to beg for help.

"I don't want it to die!" he screams.

"OK, I'll put him back," Alex says gently. He cradles the small fish in his hand and returns it to its home. The boy is relieved when he sees it wiggle away.

"I don't want to fish anymore," Joey whimpers.

They sit in silence and Joey tries to forget the fish. He concentrates on the warmth that blankets him, sucking in the humidity that saturates the air. The heat pushes into every pore, crawling down his throat and stinging his eyes. He imagines the sun piercing through the Earth and out the other side. Joey notices that Alex does not mind the burning air. The sun may rule the Earth, steaming the water and roasting the land and creatures at its whim, but his brother remains untouchable. Determined to win the battle against the sun, Joey turns back to the sky and clenches his lids tight. He feels thousands of burning fingers touching his cheeks gently; then they press into his flesh. Sometimes the breeze tugs the fingers away, but they grope back. Joey listens to the sounds that beat rhythmically around the lake, hoping that the sun might grow bored if he ignores it. The sun slinks behind a wisp of cloud and he feels triumphant, almost as strong as his brother.

"I'll always love summer," Joey says. "Summer is perfect because I can be with you every day"

Alex smiles down at Joey and ruffles his hair. "Nothing is ever really perfect."

A thin flash of silver floats on the surface of the lake. Joey scrutinizes it and realizes it is a fish, but it isn't swimming. He shivers as if a few flakes of winter have drifted onto his stomach and a wail launches off his tongue.

Alex knows what is wrong because, as a god, he is omniscient.

"Hey Joey!" he shouts, startling the boy. "Look at that rope!" They gaze into the branches above that snake in and out of one another's embrace. "I'll get that rope so we can play on it. Watch!"

Joey glances back at the water for an instant, but the silver sliver is gone. It must have swum away.

Alex glides up the trunk with more agility than any animal the boy has ever seen. He reaches the branch and with a yell, flings himself into the air, gripping the rope. He tumbles and the breeze catches him in its invisible hand, guiding his movements. He laughs over his trick. His laughter booms across the surface of the water, frightening it so that it trembles with tiny ripples. Joey grins, knowing that nature will violate its rules for his brother. Everything yields like soft clay to his will and he shapes it to his desire.

Suddenly, Alex stops swinging and gazes out into the lake. Joey chases his stare to a monstrous rock, jutting from the water like a tooth.

"Know what I'm going to do?" Alex's eyes dance like fire. "I'm going to swing up really high and fly over that rock."

Joey watches him climb into the tree and leap like a frog into the air. The wind pushes him high, and Alex releases his grip. Joey freezes fearfully, but clings to his logical pride in knowing that his brother can do dangerous things. Alex soars so close to the sky he can poke a hole in the clouds. The boy draws in a sharp breath as his brother narrowly misses the vicious peak, making the jump perfect. But there is no explosion of water as he comes down. Instead, Joey hears a dull slap and then the lake merely mumbles. He shrieks, waiting for Alex to squirm back to shore. He does not come. Joey crashes into the water, paddling clumsily, the questions knocking him like waves: How could the rock do such a thing? How can I save a god?

Joey reaches the rock and worms around to Alex's side. The sight makes him want to turn, wide-eyed to the sun and beg for blindness. His brother is half-sprawled across the part of the rock that had snuck out to hurt him. He hangs weakly onto its rough surface, his muscles writhing like the fish. His back and shoulders are covered in a slick cape of blood that the water drinks away, turning pink where it envelops the rest of his body. His breathing is erratic, its melodic cadence gone. Joey sobs, and Alex opens his eyes at the sound.

"It's like falling asleep," he struggles, his smile burning through the pain. "Like fall turning into winter. The air is getting colder ... but it's peaceful ... quiet ..." He sighs, jagged and unsteady, and then slips limply down into the water as if he were designed to die like any other being blemished with mortality.

The boy turns away, tears dripping hot and wet off his chin. He waits for the world that his brother created to end. But it pulses on the same as before and he remains also, letting the tears roam freely down his face.

The world skips circles around him, and he detests summer.

Corin Heymann Newport (R.I.) Daily News reader Heymann, 17, a senior at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, R.I., will study biomedical engineering at Boston University this fall. Sponsoring teacher: Patricia Ustick.