I yelled for him to stop; but the act was in motion. What our middle brother saw as a gentle push, our youngest saw as cataclysmic.

It wasn’t the pain but the sick that triggered his eyes to burst with tears. Our middle brother instantly stuttered apologize to both him and myself, promising and crossing his heart that he didn’t mean to push him that hard.

I move past him to the youngest and propped him up, checking his body for wounds. His sniffling slowed as I consoled and him and pinky promised him ice cream we got home from the park.

I held his hand as we walked back towards our house. The middle brother held back for a moment, then shouted only one question.

“Is Dad gonna find out?”