I plonked down on the end of the bed, sighing deeply.
‘I don’t see why you have to leave,’ I said glumly. ‘Don’t they do university classes online now?’
‘Yeah, they do,’ my big brother laughed, sitting down next to me. ‘But not the ones I want to take. Besides, it’ll be a fun adventure!’
‘For you, maybe,’ I mumbled, kicking my feet against the side of the mattress.
‘Hey,’ he said, patting me on the back, ‘I’m not gone yet. We still have one day together… what did you want to do?’
I sighed, looking around my room for inspiration. Nothing came to me – it all felt so small and boring for the last time I’d really be able to hang out with my brother.
‘We could go to the park?’ he suggested. ‘Throw a ball back and forth?’
‘Like you’re my estranged father, trying to bond with me?’ I frowned. ‘Do better, Mike.’
‘Sorry, sorry,’ he laughed. ‘Video games?’
‘On your last day?’ I groaned, flopping backwards onto my bed. ‘Ugh!’
He laughed again, standing up.
‘Ooh, you know what?’ he said, a glint appearing in his eye. ‘There is one thing we used to do… can you remember where Mum keeps the ironing board?’
‘Did we really used to do this all the time?’ I asked nervously, clipping the bicycle helmet onto my head.
‘Yeah, we used to be dumber.’ My brother frowned. ‘Still – for old time’s sake!’
He carefully lined me up at the top of the stairs, perched on the ironing board.
‘Didn’t we have to get a business to repair glass balustrades, near Melbourne?’ I suddenly remembered. ‘And we didn’t get pocket money for a year?’
‘Oh yeah!’ he said. ‘That was why we stopped.’
‘Is this a bad idea?’ I asked, clinging to the sides of the board. ‘This might be a bad idea!’
‘Relax!’ he laughed again. ‘It’ll be fine – what are the odds of needing another glass repair quote anyway?’
‘Huge!’ I squealed. ‘If we break the glass!’
‘Just hang on!’
He pushed as hard as he could, and I went thundering down the stairs.