Brothers Interact In Subtle Language

From the looks of her shopping cart, it didn’t seem like it was going to take the woman long to have her groceries rung up Saturday afternoon.

But for some reason she decided she wanted the little boy at her side to go be with his big brother.

“Jonathan,” she called to a boy who looked like he might be in sixth grade. “Matthew’s coming.”

Jonathan, who was standing in a magazines and paperbacks corral not far away, looked up. But he did not change his expression.

Matthew, who might be in kindergarten, started walking in the direction of his older brother. After about three steps, he seemed lost.

He looked back at his mom. She pointed the way.

“Jonathan,” she said again to the older boy. “Matthew’s coming.”

Again, Jonathan didn’t seem to have strong feelings about this prospect one way or the other. But when his little brother turned the corner and looked up at him, the older boy smiled ever so slightly.

It wasn’t a grin or anything close. It was just a subtle sign of recognition.

Maybe it was the kind of moment you would notice only if you had grown up with a big brother who was more than a couple of years older. But it was hard to escape the conclusion that little Matthew was now in good hands over there by the magazines.

The little boy pointed up at a periodical and said something. And the older boy just shook his head.

Matthew then wandered over to check out a display of Lucky Charms. His big brother followed him.

Matthew offered up some new observation that prompted Jonathan to once again shake his head.

Soon the groceries had been scanned and the mother was calling for the boys to join her.

Jonathan was assigned the task of helping Matthew retrieve his puffy winter coat from the shopping cart and zip it up.

This was complicated by the fact that Matthew elected to put it on backward, so that the zipper was in the rear.

“I’m not going to help you if you don’t put it on right,” said Jonathan, sounding stern.

But if you looked closely at the older boy, it seemed that he was having a hard time not cracking up over his little brother’s quiet antics.

Then it was time to go.

“C’mon, Matthew,” said Jonathan as their mom headed for the store’s exit. “Let’s go.”

And the little boy followed his big brother out the door.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that visits Inland Northwest gatherings.