Hidden, Marisa Diaz [reading books for 7 year olds TXT] 📗

Some people say that as siblings get older, they grow apart from each other. When they’re young, it is difficult to separate a brother and sister because they love to play video games, board games, and even games they’re created themselves, with each other all of the time. As they get a better understanding of the world, their own personal problems and surroundings, both siblings tend to stay closer to their peers at school. They no longer need a sibling to go to for advice or to play a game with whenever they are bored. However, this was not the case for my older brother and me.
We are just a few years apart and my brother has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. He was always there for me whenever I needed guidance and covered for me when I would leave the house without permission. He knew all of my secrets, wishes, and desires. No matter how bizarra these things were, he never judged me or tried to bring me down. Jason completely trusted me like I trusted him. All of his hilarious desires, fears, things he has regretted, and one secret in particular that he wanted to stay hidden. Nevertheless, Jason’s secret was going to be exposed at one time or another.
My father is always at work and my mother is a stay at home mom, so she is usually always home. However, my mother has recently been volunteering at our local church. Every Wednesday Jason and I had the house to ourselves.
On one particular sunny Wednesday, I was going to go to my friend’s house after school to work on a project together. However, my friend got sick so I had to walk home from school and do the project myself. I wasn’t too upset that my friend was sick because Jason had to do the same project when he was my age so I knew he could help me get an A. Naturally, I was very excited. I didn’t let my brother know I was coming home early, which was an extremely big mistake on my part.
I rushed into the house like a bolt of lightning, ran straight toward Jason’s room, and pushed open his bedroom door. Two pairs of eyes stared at me, completely in shock. Jason was on top of another boy in bed. I didn’t know what to think or what to do, so I slowly closed the door and went straight to my room. A few moments later, I heard the other boy leaving our house. Jason came into my room a few minutes after I heard the front door slam shut. As he sat down next to me on my bed, he began to explain what I had just seen.

* * * * *

Eating dinner as a family is an everyday routine for us: same time and place, along with a delicious home cooked meal. Some days we are all very quiet and don’t say or do anything, but eat what ever is on our plate. Unlike other days we’re laughing, joking around, and having a really good time. However, tonight wasn’t one of those nights.
My father, a hard-working, old-fashioned man, seemed to concentrate more on the television than his food; my mother, a loud, short, plump woman, ate her food peacefully as if nothing was going through her head; Jason, a scrawny 20-year old boy, was shaking wildly while moving his food in a circle around the plate with his fork; and me, feeling very uneasy as I sat silently and stared at everyone. As I started to relax and think that my brother wasn’t going to confess that night, Jason opened his mouth to speak.
“I have something I need to tell you.”
As if they shared the same brain, both of my parents stopped eating, turned towards Jason at the exact same time, and waited to see what my brother was going to say next. Even though the television was blasting, everyone forgot it even existed. Nervously, my brother whispered, “I’m gay.”
Those two little words were all my father needed to hear. He furiously leaped out of his chair, shoved his plate onto the floor, and seized Jason by his shirt. My mother jumped up as well and started to scream at my father to let my brother go. As if he was deaf, my father paid no attention to my mother.
“No child of mine will ever be gay,” my father told my brother. And with that, my father kicked Jason out of the house and into the cold weather, not caring where Jason went, if he had money or any clothes with him.
As soon as my father slammed the front door, my mother frantically ran to try and open it so that my brother could come back inside. My father, however, pushed her away and wouldn’t let her anywhere near the door.
As I stood there, shocked, different possibilities on how to calm my father down started to race around my mind. Looking at my father’s bright red face, I knew instantly that there was nothing I could do without getting hurt. All I could do was watch everything unfold.

* * * * *

Even though my father is no longer talking to my brother, every once in awhile I catch his looking at my brother’s baby pictures. Unlike him, my mother and I talk to Jason everyday, wishing my father would take him back in. Unfortunately, my father claims he stands by everything he said that night and has no regrets. Everytime Jason’s name gets brought up, there is a great deal of hurt in my father’s eyes. He does his best not to show it, but some things can’t be hidden.
Since that one incident, my mother has barely said a word to my father. This is very strange in my household because my parents never argue. Every decision that needed to be made was always handled perfectly. Fighting never occurred at home because my parents would agree on everything.
Everyone has a secret. Some are great and some are awful. No matter what the secret is, family is all you will ever have. Hopefully some day my father will stop thinking in the past and change his ways for the family and his only son.

Publication Date: 01-26-2010

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