Page 76 of Friend Ship
Ten frowns. “What do you mean? How could it change?” When I don’t immediately answer, he pushes out of my hug. “People don’t just stop loving family, P’Sud.”
“Of course they don’t. That’s not what I mean.” My brother is old enough to know that some people are attracted to the same sex, but he’s only known me to date girls. Plus, there’s the added factor that he considers Noi to be our brother.
Pah comes to my rescue. “Ten, you know that P’Mee Noi isn’t really your brother, right?”
Ten scowls. “That doesn’t matter. He’s my family!”
“That’s right. Your mother and I, and you and Sud, love Mee Noi very much. My point is, none of us are actually related to Noi. You know he has parents.”
“Not good ones,” Ten mumbles. None of us argue about that.
“Well, you weren’t born yet when Noi came to live with us, but Noi was already six years old. Do you remember when you were that age?”
Ten nods. “Sure. I made friends with Oat that year in school.”
“Right. If Oat had come to live with you when you were six, you wouldn’t think of him as your brother, although you might call him family one day. The same way that six-year-old Sud never felt that Mee Noi was his brother, but he still grew to love him. But, since Mee Noi was already here when you came into this world, to you, he’s the same as Sud. You see?”
“I think so,” Ten says. “But how can P’Sud’s feelings about P’Mee Noi change?”
Mae takes over. “Because you feel that Mee Noi is your brother, you would never fall in love with him, right? You would never want to, say, date him.”
“Of course not,” Ten says, wrinkling his nose.
I hope Mae isn’t going to say,But you could fall in love with Oat one day. At his age, I don’t think that would be the best analogy.
Mae must realize that, too, because instead she says, “But it’s not the same for Sud. That’s why it’s okay for them to be acting as boyfriends in a boys’ love series together. Brothers would never do that.”
I can tell that Ten is thinking hard.
He looks at me and something clicks behind his dark eyes. “Are you boyfriends with P’Mee Noi now, P’Sud? In real life?”
Holding my breath, I smile at him and nod.
Ten grins. “You scared me! I thought you were going to tell me you don’t love P’Mee Noi anymore!”
“That will never happen,” I promise.
“How do you feel about Sud and Mee Noi loving each other that way, Ten?” Pah asks.
Ten shrugs. “Why would I care? As long as P’Sud still loves P’Mee Noi, I’m good.” He stands up “Mae, can Oat come over?”
Mae only hesitates a second. “Sure. But don’t go into the woods. Not until Pah’s had the trail cleared.”
“And we have another lecture on snakes,” Pah adds. “But after that, it’s important you get out there again. We can live with nature as long as we respect it.”
Ten and I say the last sentence along with Pah because he’s said it so many times in the past, we know it by heart.
“Smart alecks,” Pah says fondly. “Go call Oat, Nong.”
Ten starts to run out of the room, then he suddenly stops and turns to me.
“If you and P’Mee Noi are boyfriends now, what does that make me and P’Mee Noi?” he asks, looking worried.
I smile at him. “Same as always.”
Ten smiles back and runs out of the room.
“That went better than I thought,” I say in relief.
