the shiver through autumn

Michael was ten the first time Lincoln was sent away for a crime, and it would weigh heavily on Michael’s mind for years to come. They’d been walking home from school on a brisk day in late October. Michael had caught a cold a few days earlier, so his nose was constantly running and his eyes were red. He was miserable, but he tried not to show it. After all, Thanksgiving was coming up, and that was his favorite holiday of the year, more so than Christmas, because at Thanksgiving, you weren’t expected to give or receive gifts. It wasn’t a holiday you had to rush out and buy a truckload of decorations for. Instead, you gathered around a table with your family and celebrated the fact you were there together. Family was important to Michael.

And on that day, he learned just how much. Lincoln walked close to his younger brother, his arm around Michael’s shoulders to keep him warm.

“You really should have just stayed home today,” Lincoln said.

“Mom wasn’t feeling well,” Michael said, sniffling and rubbing at his nose with his mittened hand. “I didn’t want to bother her.”

“You wouldn’t have.”

They were mere blocks from their apartment building when two boys jumped out from an alley. They were older than Lincoln, but they weren’t as big. At 15, Lincoln was already 6 feet tall and quite stocky. He’d been in a few schoolyard fights, but nothing serious yet.

“What’s up, Linc?” the taller of the two boys asked.

“Nothing, Craig. Just going home.”

Lincoln tried to steer Michael around the boys, but the shorter one grabbed onto the end of Michael’s scarf and tugged, pulling it away and causing Michael to stumble. Lincoln caught him and steadied him.

“Give it back, Dan,” Lincoln said, motioning to the scarf.

“I think it looks good on me,” Dan said, wrapping it around his neck. “Thanks, Burrows.”

“Give it back,“ Lincoln repeated. “Now.”

Michael watched, fascinated, as Lincoln’s expression subtly changed to that of barely controlled anger.

“I think the hat matches,” Dan said.

He made a swipe towards Michael’s hat, but Lincoln swatted at the other boy’s hand, hard enough to cause him to yelp in pain.

“Don’t touch him,” Lincoln said. “Or else I’ll break your hand.”

Craig stepped forward, moving close to Lincoln. “That sounded like a threat. Was that a threat, Burrows?”

“Touch my brother and you’ll find out.”

Craig glared for a moment, and Lincoln glared back. Michael, too shocked to move, simply stood and stared, snot running from his nose. Finally, Dan let out a laugh and unwound the scarf, holding it out towards Lincoln.

“Hey, man, it was just a joke. No hard feelings,” he said.

Lincoln threw one last look at Craig and took the scarf, then half turned to drape it around Michael. Using his own gloved hand, he wiped at Michael’s nose.

“Let’s go,” he said, and Michael nodded.

They started to walk away, but something made Michael look back over his shoulder, just as Craig came rushing at Lincoln. They all hit the sidewalk in a heap, Michael facedown on the pavement. Then suddenly, he was being rolled over, and Dan was hovering over him, yanking on the scarf and his hat. Michael tried to take them back, and Dan backhanded him across the face.

Michael heard what sounded like an animal roar, and then Dan was on the ground, not moving. Craig threw a punch at Lincoln’s head, and Lincoln ducked and swung out with his leg, catching Craig in the knee. There was a sharp crack, and Craig went down, howling and clutching his leg.

Lincoln was breathing hard as he pulled Michael to his feet. He quickly picked up the scarf and hat and, with Michael’s hand firmly in his, they ran the last few blocks home.

The police showed up a couple hours later, and they took Lincoln away. He was sentenced to one month in a juvenile detention center for assaulting those boys and leaving them with serious injuries. Michael felt extremely guilty and thought it wouldn’t have happened if he’d just given up his hat and scarf.

“It’s not your fault,” Lincoln told him during a supervised visit. “Those things were yours, not theirs. Don’t ever let anyone take something away that’s yours.”

Michael tried to be brave, but he hated the fact that his brother wasn’t going to be there for Thanksgiving dinner. His mom prepared the meal and set the table, just like always, but with only two places set instead of three. He knew she was sad, and Michael didn’t know how to cheer her up. It was the worst Thanksgiving ever.

But Michael did learn one thing from the incident, and he wrote it down on a piece of paper and taped it to his bedroom wall. He repeated it every day until Lincoln came home.

Don’t ever let anyone take something away that’s yours.

Years later, Michael had that sentence tattooed on his arm.

~end