She Has Red Hair

"Found" Handcuffs and Police Cars

"Honey, I'm home!" I called, using the iconic movie reference. I wasn't even sure I was talking to anybody, all the boys were supposed to be in detention and Mom was still at work.

"Hey honey! I was home before you!" Raymond called from the living room. "How did you get to my house before me? I thought you had detention." I entered the living room and hopped over the back of the couch.

"You thought wrong. Since it was an early dismissal, we didn't have detention. Also, you took a million years to get here. I've been here for almost two hours." Raymond took his eyes off of the TV to look at me.

I have him a confused look. It hadn't been two hours since school let out...right? Raymond sighed and took his phone out of his pocket. The time shone brightly at me, clear as day. Two hours since school let out.

"I got a flat tire, then I got in traffic because a tractor trailer cut off the entire road. The back road was closed down for construction," I explained. Noticing the bowl of popcorn in his lap, I grabbed a handful and started eating. He looked at the popcorn bowl then to me before shrugging and letting it go.

"Well, I'm glad you took so long. That give us time to do what we needed." He smiled smugly, like he knew something I didn't. "What did you guys need to do?" Raymond stood up excitedly-nearly taking out the popcorn bowl-like he'd been waiting for me to ask that question.

Pulling me up after him, he dragged me to the back door. The curtains were drawn with a little light shining around the edges. Raymond looked excited and and I had a sneaking suspicion of what I was going to see. When Raymond pulled the curtains away I was still just as shocked.

The grass was cut, the old stuff that had been piling up in the backyard was gone, the wooden fence was freshly painted and the porch looked semi-clean. I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. There was no way that was done in two hours.

"H-how did you..." I trailed off, still amazed. "My brothers and I came here immediately after school and started working on it. Somehow we managed to get it done, even with the occasional snake," Raymond explained. He looked proud of himself and what he and his brothers had done.

"Thank you so much!" I hugged him, I was so excited and happy, I nearly knocked him over. "Anything for you and your mom." I just shook my head and looked at the backyard. Then a question formed in my mind.

"How did you get around with your foot?" I nodded to his recently booted foot. He no longer needed crutches, his bone was healing really fast, much to the doctor's surprise. Now he just had to wear a black boot to walk around and keep the bone healing.

Raymond shrugged and looked out at the backyard as he spoke. "I mostly painted and redid the porch, I also kept him in check." Raymond nodded to a place on the porch I hadn't spotted before. When I spotted what he was gesturing to, I frowned.

"Why is Mike handcuffed to my back porch?" I put my hands on my hips and stared at Raymond, who looked away sheepishly. "Well, to speed up the process, we gave him Sweet Tarts. After we were done he was still on a sugar high. So, we used some handcuffs we 'found' and hooked him up right there. Don't worry, we gave him a pillow and blanket."

All I could do was staring at the sleeping Mike on my porch. Is this what it's like to have brothers? They use your weakness against you then leave you handcuffed to a porch?

"Why my back porch, though?" I finally asked. "We couldn't leave him on the front porch, someone would probably call the cops," Raymond said like it was obvious. I shook my head at him, but a smile turned the corners of my mouth up.

Another question formed in my mind. "Where did you guys steal handcuffs from?" I asked, genuinely puzzled. Raymond shushed me with a finger to lips and lowered his voice.