One night I was sitting in my kitchen half-listening as my 15-year-old brother Tommy antagonized(招惹)my 12-year-old brother Kevin.I didn’t pay attention when Kevin 1 up the stairs with the hurt on his face.
About 20 minutes later, I heard Kevin crying inside the 2 .I knocked on the door and asked, “Hey, Kev, do you want a talk?” No response.So, I grabbed some index(索引)cards and a pencil and wrote, “If you don’t want to 3 , we can write notes to each other.”
An hour later I was still 4 on the floor outside the bathroom with two piles of index cards in front of me.One was 5 and one was cards from Kevin on which he had translated all his unpleasant feelings into words. 6 I read one Kevin’s notes, tears came to my eyes.It said,“ 7 in this family cares about me.I’m not the youngest, and I’m not the oldest, and I’m not 8 .Tommy thinks I can do nothing and Dad 9 he had the other Kevin as a(n) 10 because he’s better at basketball.And you’re never around to even 1 me.”
It was 12 what he had said about me.I wrote back “I really do love you and I’m 13 I don’t always show it.I am here for you and you are 14 in this family.”
There was no 15 for a while, but then I heard a 16 sound coming from inside the bathroom.Kevin, who had 17 cards wrote on a torn-up paper cup, “Thanks.”
Since then, I try my best to never 18 half-notice my family members anymore.Kevin and I have a closer 19 now, and sometimes when one of us notices that the other is 20 , we’ll smile and say “Write it on a paper cup.”