Author's Note- This is a Zigzag's past fic that actually jives with my first fic. In that I mentioned he had a sister at age ten! So this is from his sister "Samantha's" POV

"Samantha Leigh Gardner! Please set the table," Mom says to me. I'm only 5 and I still have to set the table. My older brother Ricky sets in front of the television watching a blank screen. Mom told him no more television, but she can't call that watching television so he is allowed to do it. Everyone in my Kindergarten class and the whole school make fun of me about my older brother. I know he is a little weird, well, maybe more than a little - but he can't help it. Mommy says Ricky has a disability and that his mind plays tricks on him. Ricky isn't my real brother but I like him like a real brother.

Sometimes Ricky doesn't talk to me, or look at me. It's like he doesn't know I'm there. But when he is in a good mood he is always nice to me. Sometimes we go to my room and he will play games with me like "Candyland." I always beat him at Candyland but I think he lets me win on purpose. Ricky has a tutor that comes over every day too. He has to work for two hours. Ricky says that his tutor is evil and he is plotting against us. I hide in my room every time that mean tutor comes. Mommy says that the tutor is a really nice man and that Ricky is just paranoid but I don't know what paranoid means. Ricky is my favoritest person in the world. He walks me to school and he is my friend.

I don't have any other friends. Nobody likes me because of who my brother is and because I can't read little words like the rest of the class. All of the other Kindergarteners are reading little words but I can't read anything. I don't know any of my letters or anything. Momma and Daddy say I'm just a late bloomer but everyone else calls me stupid. Well, everybody but Ricky. Ricky knows I'm not stupid. He says that sometimes it's hard to get it at first. I'm hoping he is right because I don't want to be stupid.

"Sammy! Pay attention, honey! Get the table set! Daddy is on his way home!" Mommy says looking over at me. She always says things really loudly when she's impatient. She looks a little sad, like she knows what I'm thinking. I also have a minor case of ADHD. Mommy says it stands for "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." Mommy thinks I'm getting a 'mental disorder' like Ricky. I think that means she thinks I'm going to be crazy too. But Ricky isn't crazy and I'm sure of it...he is just a little different! Not wanting to make Mommy mad I hurry up and set the table and then run into the living room and stare at Ricky from beside the couch. After a minute he looks up and smiles. That's the sign that he is in a good mood and will be nice to me. I walk over to him and sit in his lap.

"Hey Rick," I say grinning. He smiles at me.

"Hey Sam," he says, turning back to the blank television.

"Hey Ricky, can we turn it on Sesame Street?" I ask.

"Sammy, I'm watching something," he says irritably.

"SAMANTHA! LEAVE YOUR BROTHER ALONE!!" Mom yells from the kitchen. Ricky looks over at the television angrily. He hates it when mom says stuff like that because he thinks she means he is crazy. I think that all Ricky wants is for someone to believe in him, but I'm not a counselor like Mr. Jasper. I wrap my arms around Ricky's neck and whsiper in his ear, "Mommy doesn't mean anything by it Ricky," I tell him and I stand up. When I'm walking away I turn back around a little and I see that Ricky is smiling a little.

Then the door opens and Daddy walks in. "LINDA, SAMMY!! COME HERE! I'VE GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU!" He says REALLY loudly. Maybe the whole family has a problem with yelling. Mommy runs out of the kitchen and and I come from the living room. He is standing there holding two boxes. He hands me one and hands Mommy the other one. I open it and see a beautiful doll. Mommy opens hers to see a pretty dress that's two sizes smaller than what she wears. (Mommy loves it when Daddy gives her clothes smaller than what she wears because it makes her think that Daddy thinks that she is skinnier than she really is. But the truth is Daddy just buys dresses 5 sizes smaller than what she looks like she wears to make her happy.)

"Daddy! Its so pretty!" I tell him, brushing back my beautiful doll's golden curls.

"Sure is sweetheart! She looks like you, except wth lighter hair," Daddy says.

"But where is Ricky's present?" I ask him, staring at my doll. Daddy slaps his forehead.

"Oh gosh...I forgot to get him one." I look up at Daddy. Ricky is standing in the doorway looking in at us. He looks like he doesn't care but my feelings are hurt.

"Daddy," I say. I hand the doll back to him. "I don't want it," I tell him and storm up the stairs and into my room. I love my Daddy but sometimes he is a real jerk! I can't believe that Daddy forgot about his son. I know Daddy and Mommy must've loved Ricky, at least when he was little anyways because there are loads of video tapes and photos of him around the house.

A few minutes later Ricky comes into my room carrying the doll in one hand and a TV Guide in the other. I look at him a little strange and he grins at me. "Fred, I mean...Dad gave me a TV Guide for a present," he says, handing me the doll. I want to tell him that a TV Guide only costs two dollars at the grocery store, but he looks so happy I decide not to. We sit down on the bed for a little while and Ricky pretends to like the game we are playing with the dollies. When Mommy calls for us to come eat Ricky picks me up and we go downstairs.

"Ricky! Stop that! You're going to pull your back out!" Momma scolds as he puts me down in a chair.

While we eat Daddy tells us about a new assistant he has at work. Ricky stares at the wall the whole time and doesn't eat anything. "Ricky! Why aren't you eating?" Mom asks.

"I can't eat this," he mumbles, looking down at his plate.

"Why in the world not?" Daddy asks.

"Because it has a hole in it and I bet somebody poisoned it using that hole," Ricky says, poking at his biscuit with a fork.

"Ricky, that is foolish honey! Eat your biscuit" Mommy says. Daddy gives him a no-nonsense stare.

"Ricky, if you don't eat that biscuit I'm gonna shove it down your throat!" Daddy warns. Ricky stands up so quickly his chair falls onto the floor. He runs upstairs and into his room. I watch him and bite my lip. I feel tears running down my cheeks because I hate it when Daddy says that kind of stuff to Ricky. When I told Mr. Jasper about it (he is my counselor) he said that Daddy is going through a stage where he is grieving because he thinks he lost his son, when in reality his son just needs extra help now. Mommy gives Daddy a mean look.

"Fred! You scared her! Sammy, it's alright. Daddy didn't mean it! Ricky isn't going to get a biscuit shoved down his throat!" she turns to Daddy again. "Fred, go upstairs and apologize to him right now!" Mommy says. He sighs and stands up to go apologize to Ricky.

When I wake up in the morning our house keeper, Mrs. Loren, is downstairs. She is fixing some grits for our breakfast and listening to the radio. Mrs. Loren is only 30 years old and she is a very nice person. She is the only person, besides me, that I think actually LIKES Ricky. Even Mommy and Daddy are mean to Ricky now. Mrs. Loren always helps us with our homework and everything, Mommy and Daddy are too busy and sometimes they are mean. Mr. Jasper says they are just scared. Mrs. Loren is the nicest persn I know besides Ricky. I sit down at the table and kick the table leg a few times to get her attention. She turns to me and smiles.

"Hey 'Mantha! Your parents went to work already," she says. That is no surprise to me because they almost always go to work early. Daddy is a lawyer and he is always going out of town on business trips. Mommy is a social worker and she has to work all day to get children to be treated better. Sometimes I think Mommy must be really different at work because sometimes she is downright mean to Ricky. "Ricky left for school early, he said he wanted to be early today..the poor boy...today is the anniversary of his parents' death," Mrs. Loren says in a half-whisper voice. I bite my lip. Every March 22nd Ricky acts all weird in the mornings and smells like smoke in the evenings. Mrs. Loren finishes fixing breakfast and after I eat I go to school.

In the middle of Reading Time the principal (Mrs. Torre) comes in. "I need Samantha Gardner for a second," she says to my teacher, Ms. Kelly.

"Samantha, go with Mrs. Torre," Ms. Kelly tells me. As I follow Mrs. Torre down the hall she says: "Samantha, your parents are here to get you...something about your brother setting fire to a portable clasroom." I feel my eyes go all wide.

"RICKY! IS HE OK!?" I ask. She gives me a sharp look.

"Samantha! Use your inside voice!" Mrs. Torre tells me just as sharply. I ignore her.

"Is my brother alright?" I ask again. She shakes her head.

"I don't know hon-" but it's too late. I'm racing down the hall to the office. I want to see my parents right that second. When I finally reach the office I fling open the door and see my Daddy sitting in a leather chair. He looks very angry, and stony. Mommy is standing up and she is crying. She runs over and wraps her arms around me tightly. When Mrs. Torre makes it to the office we are already leaving.

I feel very weird on the way to the fire and rescue building down the street from my school. When we ride by the high school where Ricky goes I look out toward the playground. There is a lot of smoke and a little blaze coming from a classroom. I decide that must've been the one Ricky set on fire. I clench my fists really tightly and hope that my big brother is ok.

When we make it to the rescue building I run in and look around wildly. Finally I spot a blonde-headed boy sitting in the corner with a blanket around his shoulders. Ricky. I wonder for a second why he has a blanket around his shoulders since he was rescued from a FIRE but then I notice he has been crying. Soot is smeared on his left cheek and he is rocking back and forth. I run over to him but a police lady stops me.

"Sorry honey, you're not a police officer, or his mother," she says. My mom walks up behind me.

"I'm his mother," she says. The woman looks from my mother to Ricky and raises an eyebrow. My mother and I both have black hair and brown eyes, while Ricky has blonde hair and blue eyes. The woman nods though and finally lets us through. I run over to him and fling my arms around him. He has a TV Guide clutched to his chest but it isn't the one Daddy got for him. This is a brand new copy for the brand new week. He acts like he doesn't see or feel me there and he just ignores me.

The day Ricky left for camp was hard for me. I was kind of mad at him because I wouldn't have left for camp without him and he did it to me. He said he didn't want to go, but I don't believe him. I mean... why would anyone NOT want to go to camp? He also said he didn't mean to burn down that building but nobody believed him but me. A part of me didn't believe him either, but I told him I believed him because he is my brother and I love him. I have a new friend now. Her name is Charla and she is new at my school. She is helping me read my letters that Ricky sends me. She is even helping me write letters to him.

Mommy says Ricky will be back in 20 months, and I can't wait.