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“It‘s weird,” Carlos said as they got out of the car. “You told them before you told me.” Everyone went inside. Robinson and Carlos were received with big hugs. Ever since
Robinson and Carlos became friends, the Roman family adopted him as one of their own. It was great for Carlos to have a friend like Robinson Bennett. Now, Carlos had someone to defend him from his enemies when he couldn‘t defend himself, just like it happened when Carlos was kidnapped. They sat down in the living room, but Elmer took his hand and walked him to what was his bedroom when he was younger and still living with his parents.
“Wow, my former bedroom is intact,” said Carlos, surprised, walking around the room. “No former bedroom. This will always be your bedroom, and you can come here
whenever you want and spend as much time with us as you want. This will always be your home. David and I are nineteen and in our third year of college, but Mom and Dad wanted us to stay here a little longer, while we get our careers and make enough money to get houses of our own.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Carlos, sitting on his old computer-desk chair. His desktop computer hadn‘t been turned on ever since he moved out. “Mom and Dad never really wanted me to move out, either. Who would‘ve thought I‘d be back here, under such lamentable circumstances. I wonder if this computer still works.”
“It worked the last time you turned it on, five years ago.”
Carlos turned his face to look at Elmer, laughing. “You‘re kidding, right? You mean you haven‘t used this since the last time I did.”
“It hasn‘t been turned on since. We‘ve got our own computers, laptops, and six months old, each. We bought them at the store, with money that we‘d been saving ever since we were juniors in high school.”
“I‘d like to see your computers. I have a laptop at home, but mine is one year old. It works great, though.”
“I don‘t doubt that for a second. This computer right in front of you is twelve years old. You take very good care of your belongings, Carlos, and they last you a long, long time.”
“I want to…”
Elmer helped Carlos get up from the chair and lie down in bed. As he took his shoes and socks off, he said, “Yeah, forget about everything you want to do right now. I know you want to do a lot of things, but we all want you to lie down and rest for a while. You need it. You‘ve been through a lot.”
“Elmer, I‘m fine,” said Carlos, laughing as Elmer covered him. “I feel like you‘re the older brothers and I‘m the younger brother. What the heck is going on? You and our parents are so protective of me.”
“We thought that we would lose you. What do you want us to do? You have any idea how hard we cried when we found out what happened? You didn‘t come over very often before this, and we missed you. Mom, Dad, Dave and I, we always felt that you were slipping away from us, but since you got kidnapped, we thought that we‘d never see you again. We are not taking chances with you, older brother.”
“Oh, come on…”
“No, I mean it. We‘re not letting you go this time. We‘ll keep an eye on you. Jose knows you‘re here, and he and Pablo are coming over to see you tonight. They couldn‘t visit you at the hospital because Pablo was in a car accident, and Jose had to take time off the filming of his new movie to take care of him.”