This Is Us

When I Believed In Dinosaurs

Imagine the power of an older brother. He wields the Truth. How can he control himself?

Illustrations by the author

I don’t remember what Brian Dimmit did to me on the playground, but I remember saying, “I hate you.” He must have done something bad. He was capable of bad things. Like this:

I went to his house one time, and we sat at the computer, watching him play a game.

“Can I play?” I said.

“In a minute,” he said. “Watch this.”

I watched it. I watched it for 10 more minutes.

“Can I play now?”

“Hold up,” he said, “I just want to do one more thing.”

He did 24 more things.

“Can I play?”

“Yeah, when I die.”

He meant when his character died, but it started to seem like he meant when he, Brian Dimmit, died.

“Can I play?”

His mother happened to be passing by and heard me.

She stopped. “Brian, let your friend play.”

“In a minute.”

“No,” she said, “now.”