"I don't want to take a nap!" I protested.

My mother hid an impatient sigh, her hand lightly resting on her swollen waist. "Please don't argue, Shimown. You're a growing boy, and children must learn that there is a time to play and a time to rest."

Emmi was beginning to move slowly, no doubt because her ankles had swollen to three times their normal size. She frequently fell ill, unable to keep food in her stomach, but since she ate the strangest mixtures of food, I was hardly surprised. She looked as if her weight had more than doubled, but perhaps not. She always did claim I was prone to exaggeration.

Sulking, I lay down on the bed I shared with my brother, for my family was too poor to allow us the luxury of separate rooms. It wasn't fair being so young! I had to stay home all day and content myself with playing outdoors or helping Emmi with the housework, for despite her growing size, she seemed to be weakening by the day, unable to do the simplest task without moaning in pain or falling asleep.

"Are you already asleep, Achina?" I queried.

He groaned. "I almost was until you came in the room!" As an afterthought, he added, "And I told you to call me Andreas! If I'm going to be a man of business, I need a Greek name!"

I sighed in disgust. "Man of business? You've got nearly a decade before you grow a beard!"

I didn't know what a decade was, but I was proud of myself for repeating what Abayi had often told him.

My brother used to be my dearest friend. Emmi always claimed that Achina liked to hold me when I was a baby. When I became old enough to walk, Achina would take me for walks in the garden to see the flowers and the birds.

However, he had never tolerated any of my foolishness. When I cried for no apparent reason, he would stand akimbo and scold me. At first, Emmi and Abayi tried to talk some sense into us both, telling us to treat each other kindly, but as the years passed, they realized it was a lost cause.

Achina had saved my life once. I was gaining independence, but in addition to being fussy, I had always been impetuous. Years before I was ready to do so, I decided the time had come to climb my first tree. I screamed until Achina relented and lifted me to the lowest branch.

"Be careful, Shimown!" he warned. "Sit very still."

Pretending not to hear him, I grabbed the nearest branch. It was so close that I could fit my tiny hand around it and easily step onto it. The next branch was also close enough for me to pull myself up.

Realizing he had made the biggest mistake of his life, Achina hurried up the tree after me. Having longer limbs due to our difference in age, he soon reached the branch where I was resting.

"No higher!" he scolded. "Abayi will punish us both!"

Once again, I chose to ignore my brother, and I reached for the nearest branch. It looked so close, but this time, I misjudged the distance and fell. I remember the fear that I was going to tumble to the ground and hurt myself. Looking back, I realize I easily could have broken my neck.

I started crying, but Achina's quick reaction saved me. He caught my ankles as soon as I began to slip.

"I've got you, Shimown!" he exclaimed.

I was still crying because I was afraid. Although my brother had a strong grip on my ankles, I was dangling from a tree with my head toward the ground. I didn't care for the experience at all. Not only was it frightening, but it hurt terribly to have my entire weight supported that way.

Achina was trying to work his way to my knee as carefully as he could. He didn't want to let go of me, but he couldn't sit in a tree all day and hold me upside down as my blood rushed to my head. He had to get a better grip.

"Don't you kick me!" he ordered. "I know it hurts, Shimown, but you can't kick!"

It was so hard not to kick! I was afraid and in great pain, and as my brother got closer to my knee, my feet dangled strangely in the air. With a strong pull, he accidentally scraped the backs of my legs against the tree.

"Your knees are over the branch now," he told me. "I need you to bend your knees very tightly over it. Get a good, strong grip."

I usually got into a heated argument with my brother when he tried to boss me around, but this was one of the few times in my life when I wasn't up for a fight. I actually did as my brother said. I would have obeyed anyone who could get me out of the tree.

"I'm going to let go of one of your knees now."

"No!" I shrieked. "You'll drop me!"

Achina ignored me. "When I do, I need you to grab my hand. I'm going to count to tlata, and when I do, you grab my hand."

"No!"

"Chad…treyn…tlata!"

With a frightened shriek, I reached up desperately, surprised to catch my brother's hand. Achina gave a quick, strong pull, and I was sitting on the branch beside him.

"Don't you frighten me like that!" he scolded. "Don't ever do anything this stupid again! Do you hear me?"

I heard him, but I couldn't help myself. It seemed my nature to be a headstrong fool.

A few days after I had climbed my first tree, I found a knife in the kitchen. Emmi had always told me not to touch it, but she had gone to the well for water. What if I just touched the handle?

I tentatively reached out and tapped it. Seeing that nothing bad happened, I picked up the knife. Maybe I could just cut one leek, just the tiniest slice.

Before I had a chance, Emmi returned from the well and snatched the knife out of my hand, which she then slapped, reminding me that I could have hurt myself, or even another person.

Afterwards, my brother whispered, "I never played with knives. Emmi and Abayi knew they could trust me!"

Despite always having a lecture prepared at a moment's notice, Achina was a wonderful companion. We would play together for hours. When he got old enough that Emmi started making him help with housework, my brother still found time for me between chores.

Everything had changed when the day arrived that Achina was old enough to go fishing with Abayi. I rarely saw my brother, for when he was home, he slept most of the day. When he was awake, he was usually in a bad mood.

"You mustn't blame him," Emmi often reminded me. "Your father has him working very hard."

"How hard could fishing possibly be?" I demanded. "You sit out in a boat under the stars, throw your net in the water, and pull up a fish! It's not advanced mathematics!"

Emmi simply rubbed the sides of her head, as if trying to relieve a migraine. "Please don't argue, Shimown. You'll understand someday."