Scott finds a couple of beers has gone missing in the last couple of days.
“At the very least, you could have replaced them,” said Scott, as he settled on the couch next to Virgil.
“Uh, I definitely did Scott, what are you on about?”
“No, you didn’t! I’m not blind.”
“Did you check the cabinet properly or did you have an Alan-look?”
“Hey!” Alan indignantly looked up from the game he was playing. Virgil laughed him off and Alan rolled his eyes as he placed his headphones on to block out the conversation.
“Of course, I did!” said Scott, shoving his brother lightly. “It’s not a big deal, I just wanted a beer that’s all.”
“Wait, beer?” asked Virgil, looking at Scott strangely. “I’m talking about the hair product I borrowed last week.”
Scott blinked. “Well if it wasn’t you then– oh hell, John?”
A couple of seconds passed and then John’s hologram popped up over the living room.
Alan grunted in annoyance as his screen was suddenly diminished in size.
“Everything all right, Scott?”
“No. You stole the last beer from my section of the cabinet.”
“It wasn’t me.”
“John,” said Scott, leaning forward slightly in his seat. His eyes were narrowed as he stared down his brother. “It’s always you. How many did you swipe?”
“None, Scott,” said John irritably, folding his arms across his chest. “Yes, there may be a precedent but that doesn’t mean it follows that it’s always me.”
“You have stolen the equivalent of seven standard drinks over the last six months, John,” piped up EOS’s high voice. “The most recent incident was eighteen days ago.”
“Not helping, EOS,” muttered John.
“Why should I believe her?” demanded Scott. “You made her, you could be using her to throw me off the scent.”
“Okay, no,” said John. “Firstly, I didn’t make EOS, she made herself, and secondly? Do you think I have the petty inclination to install a memory bypass command into a self-editing AI, purely on the off chance that we happened to have this conversation?”
“Yes!”
“I really do not have the time,” he said, with a raised eyebrow. “Try someone a little closer to home, Scott.”
John vanished in an instant, leaving behind a huff of annoyance in his wake.
“Can you believe his nerve?” asked Scott, looking over at Virgil as he fumed.
“I’m not sure how much nerve it takes to be honest in this case,” said Virgil with a shrug. “You know his tells as well as I do. And he’s always been upfront when he’s been
caught before.”Scott rolled his yes and slumped backwards. “Could you not be so reasonable all the time, Virg?” he complained. “Who else could it be?”
“Well, it’s not like there’s infinite possibilities,” said Virgil. “What’s our time frame?”
“It’s got to have been within the last three days,” said Scott. “I’m out, you’re out, John’s out.”
“Gordon left a week ago on that bathymetric survey mission,” continued Virgil. “I haven’t seen Brains since Thursday, but I know he’s on the island.”
“Grandma and Kayo only flew out to get supplies this morning, so I guess it could have been them,” said Scott, but his voice was doubtful.
“And Alan,” finished Virgil, nodding towards his younger brother who was still lost in a world of explosions and mutated lifeforms.
Scott scoffed at him. “It’s not Alan.”
“It could be,” countered Virgil with a shrug. “Just like it could be Brains or Grandma, and they’re even more unlikely if you ask me.”
They watched the way Alan jerked at the controllers and considered him carefully.
“I mean, Kayo’s still an option,” said Scott, but his voice was uncertain.
“Kayo doesn’t drink beer,” said Virgil. “She’d be diving into Gordon’s spirit collection before she touched your stuff.”
They fell silent again.
“Aw hell, I don’t want to have this conversation,” exclaimed Scott. Alan caught sight of him as he ran his hand through his hair and the dizzying motion on the projection stilled.
“Uh, you alright Scott?”
“I’ll leave this one to you, big brother,” said Virgil, cheerfully.
“Thanks,” called Scott, as Virgil walked away. “You’re a real help.”
He turned glumly back to Alan who had watched the exchange in confusion.
“Am I in trouble?” he asked, pulling the headphones out of his ears.
“Still deciding,” said Scott. “What do you know about my beer being taken from the cabinet?”
“Oh.” Red crept across Alan’s ears and he looked determinedly away from Scott.
“Mi’vb’nme,” he mumbled.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“I said, it might have been me,” said Alan, sheepishly.
Scott took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, pinching at the bridge of his nose as he did. It was times like this that he really hated being the oldest. He tried to remember back to what his Dad had said the first time he had been caught snatching shots at a party. There had been yelling. There had been grounding. It had felt like a complete overreaction at the time, but now he felt the same sliver of fear pierce his heart that his Dad had probably felt. Sure it was one drink, and not ever one with a high alcohol content, but he’d seen it all go wrong too often in the past to feel anything but worry.
“I’m sorry, Scott,” said Alan, guiltily. “I just wanted a try and everyone else drinks so I figured it couldn’t be that big a deal.”
“Okay,” said Scott. “Okay, we need to talk about this.”
“It didn’t even taste good,” babbled Alan. “I mean I drank maybe half of it and then I had to pour the rest out.”
“Alan,” said Scott, trying to interrupt him.
“How can you drink that, Scott? It was disgusting!”
“Alan!”
Alan paused mid-breath and grimaced. “Sorry, go ahead.”
“You’re underage,” said Scott. “Like, I have a lot of concerns but let’s just make things clear, you’re sixteen, Alan.”
“It’s not that young.”
“Yes, it is,” insisted Scott. “You’re still growing, and your brain is still developing and it could be damaged and…”
“From one drink?” Alan looked at him sceptically.
“Well,” Scott faltered. “Okay, probably not one drink, I don’t actually know, but even so it’s not actually legal.”
“We’re on a private island in international waters,” pointed out Alan, and Scott cursed inwardly. He didn’t like how this was turning into a conversation of technicalities, when it was meant to be one about Alan’s safety.
“Look, you can’t drink,” he said firmly. “Not just because you’re young, but because think of your position. What happens if we need you piloting and you can’t go up?”
“Oh, that’s bullshit Scott,” said Alan abruptly. “You’re making this into a way bigger deal than it is.”
“I am not!”
“You are,” insisted Alan. “How many times did Dad pull you up on this exact same thing if not worse?”
Alan was far too young to have any actual memories of that time but Scott was pretty certain he knew who had been telling him stories. That someone was lucky he had taken their only submersible vessel because Scott was ready to hunt him down.
“That was different,” he insisted. “I was just a–”
“Kid?” The word hung in the air between them. “I’m not a kid anymore, Scott.”
“It’s not about that. I didn’t have the same understanding then as I do now,” said Scott. He stared Alan down and Alan glared back at him.
“I’m just worried about you,” said Scott, quietly. “Hiding your drinking is never a good sign, even if the drinking itself isn’t dangerous. You should be able to talk to us about this.”
Alan’s lips were thinned and his face still flushed with anger, but his eyes were softening as he looked away from Scott.
“Yeah, I suppose,” he said grudgingly. “I guess I just wanted to see what it was like.”
“Get some independence?” guessed Scott.
“Nah, more just…” Alan took a deep breath. “I’m always gonna just be the kid around you guys. It’s like you don’t really see me, just some distorted picture of who you think I am, you know?”
Scott did know. It wasn’t the same, but he knew what it was like to feel like there were two Scott’s – one that was “the oldest brother” and one that was really him. There were expectations that came with being the eldest, responsibilities borne and hard decisions made so he could spare his younger brothers. But there were also times of silliness and fun and selfishness that just didn’t fit into his role. Reconciling the two had never been an easy task.
Alan sat before him, facing a similar dilemma. The “baby of the family”, the youngest who had grown up trailing after four brothers, wanting to keep up and grow up and being put back in his place as a child every time. There was a role to play and that role didn’t involve an equal playing field. Of course he was going to chafe against its restrictions.
“You wanted to be more of an adult,” said Scott.
“Yeah,” said Alan. “But if being an adult means liking beer, I’m not there yet.”
Scott choked back a laugh.
“Don’t worry, it’s not,” he said. “We probably should have realised that you were wanting some more responsibility though.”
“I never said responsibility,” said Alan, pulling a face. “I just want to be trusted to make my own decisions.”
“Welcome to adulthood, little brother,” said Scott with a grin. “Can’t have the trust without taking on the responsibilities either. Speaking of, that includes consequences. You owe me a beer. But since you can’t legally buy one, I’ll let you off with a week of bathroom duty.”
Alan groaned. “I take it back, I want a consequence-free life. Let me be a kid again.”
“No can do, Alan,” said Scott grinning. “It’s not so bad though, you’ll see.”
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