129 Monday Morning 2 (1/2)

After breakfast, Mr. Atkins drove me and Noah to Dr. Moore's office. This time the receptionist let us go in right away. Noah pulled me to the couch and we sat together as Mr. Atkins sat on the other side of Noah.

Dr. Moore smiled and greeted us warmly, ”Welcome back.” He looked at Noah. ”You must be Noah? I've heard a lot about you.”

Noah nudged me. ”You talking crap on me already?”

I shook my head vigorously. Technically I didn't say anything. I pointed at Mr. Atkins to push the blame somewhere else.

Noah swung his head to face his dad. ”Wow. Betrayal by my own dad. So what did you say? That I'm perfect? The best son? The worst? Youngest is a given. Hmmm.”

Mr. Atkins rolled his eyes. ”The most dramatic.” He gave an apologetic smile to Dr. Moore. ”Excuse Noah and his antics. He's....a bit....unique. One-of-a-kind.”

”No, it's fine. It's alright. I did want a glimpse of their dynamic together so this is actually really great.” Dr. Moore smiled and pushed his glasses up on his nose. ”Noah, what do you think of Jake's inability to talk.”

Noah sat up straight. ”Inability? He can talk just fine.”

”I know. I'm talking about his selective mutism. His inability to speak in social interactions?”

Noah squinted. ”I don't have a problem with it. Jake and I talk often. He only struggles to talk to strangers now. Which is normal. Zeke doesn't like speaking to others and I don't see him sitting here in this office.”

Dr. Moore looked to Mr. Atkins. ”Zeke?”

Mr. Atkins gave a tight smile. ”My oldest son. He's the strong but quiet type.”

”How does he do in social environments?” Dr. Moore asked.

”He likes to stare at people and scare them away from talking to him.” Noah muttered. I let out a little laugh. That was partly accurate. ”Zeke doesn't speak much, but when he does, people listen. If I had to describe him in one word, it would be, overbearing.”

Dr. Moore grabbed his notepad and wrote some things down. ”And you, Jake? If you had one word to describe Zeke, what would you use?”

”Intimidating.” I said clearly.

”Oh? In what way?” He continued.

I froze. Why was there suddenly a follow up question..? Noah didn't have to answer a follow up question. I tilted my head at Noah.

Noah sighed. ”I'll go first. I find my older brother very overbearing. He's a tyrant on the baseball field. Number one in the county if you didn't know. He wants everyone on his level and just dominates the sport. It's hard to compete with that pressure even though we're on the same team. For example, this past weekend, we had a tournament and he won Most Valuable Player. You know what I got? An honorable mention. Even though I had so many great plays, it doesn't amount to Zeke's achievements.”