Friday, August 24, 2007

day one

My brother is here. My brother, whom I know almost exclusively through his myspace bulletins. My brother, with whom I did not grow up. My brother, whom I've spent no more than one hour alone with our whole lives. My 25 year old, virgin, doesn't drink or smoke, has never even kissed a girl brother. If he finds this post he will probably hate me forever. Well, it will certainly put a damper on his visit either way...

I picked him up from the aiport last night. I realize that, as scorpios, we're a lot alike and that also, somehow, our father's blood that runs through both our veins (he's the only parent we share) also links us in unlikely ways. I got to the baggage claim where I told him I'd meet him, a little late (which I warned him about, because I knew I'd hit traffic on my way from work) and I couldn't find him.

I stood around awhile, watching the people watch the luggage conveyor, but still he didn't turn up. My mind ran through all the possibilities, the most exciting and least likely of which was that he'd been detained by Homeland Security for some reason. I went up to check the arrival time and his flight wasn't even listed anymore. I went back down to baggage. I walked up and down the whole area, I looked, I came back to the luggage carousel that was supposed to be his, I stood and waited.

Eventually he came walking up from some unexpected direction, a dufflebag in one hand and a book in the other. "You've been there awhile, haven't you?" He had been sitting in a chair reading nonchalantly the whole time. I guess he only bothered to look up for me once or twice during the 45 minutes I was there waiting. But I wasn't mad at him because it was exactly the kind of retarded thing I would have done.

So I dragged him up to the upper parking deck and he did not marvel at the natural beauty visible all around him. He simply looked at Mt. Hood and said "I think I saw that from the plane." Yes. Well. There it is again, then. I had big ideas about taking him to either 1.) my favorite mexican joint, or 2.) Mississippi Pizza Pub for some pizza and live music. What did he want? Fast food. I couldn't bear to give him regular fast food (you're in Portland for christsakes, eat something different!) so I took him to Burgerville.

Then I drove him around the bridges so he could see the lovely city lights. Did he marvel at the beauty of the views of Portland from the bridges? Not so much. I don't think he even turned his head and looked. I wanted to reach over and turn it for him. Look at the lights! Look at the moon! What's wrong with you??

But it's not his fault. He's a shy, strange scorpio who's baseline affect is flatter than flat. He can't emote, unless he's smirking. I can't expect him to get all effusive about anything. Anyway, I better get some food in him before his blood sugar drops to nothing. More later...

4 Comments:

Blogger carebear said...

that's an interesting story.. try punching him on the nose see if he reacts at all :) But nevertheless i hope you guys still enjoy each other's company.. I hope he warms up soon so you wouldnt have a hard time :)

7:45 AM  
Blogger Melinda said...

Aren't siblings fun? When I finally spent any time with my half-brother (dad's side), we discovered that we're pretty much the same person. It's kind of frightening to find out how much of my "uniqueness" was completely genetic. Strange that I'm less like the siblings that were actually raised in the same home.

8:38 AM  
Blogger stumptown dreamer said...

yay!! He came, i love your post, big smiles from north of the border.
:-)))

9:39 AM  
Blogger heather said...

hopefully you just need to coax him out a little. after all, it is usually a little disconcerting at first, meeting someone you mostly know through the internet. ;-) plus maybe he was just dead tired.

1:36 PM  

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