Little Brother of War
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Authors: Gary Robinson
Little Brother of War
Gary Robinson
7th Generation Summertown, Tennessee
© 2013 Gary Robinson
Cover photo: Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Cover and interior design: Deirdre Nemmers
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, except for brief quotations in reviews, without written permission from the publisher.
| 7th Generation, an imprint of |
 | ISBN: 978-1-939053-02-2 |
18Â Â 17Â Â 16Â Â 15Â Â 14Â Â 13 | 1Â Â 2Â Â 3Â Â 4Â Â 5Â Â 6Â Â 7Â Â 8Â Â 9 |
Printed in the United States
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, Gary, 1950-
Little Brother of War / Gary Robinson.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-939053-02-2 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-939053-88-6 (e-book)
[1. Individuality--Fiction. 2. Ball games--Fiction. 3. Choctaw Indians--Fiction. 4. Indians of North America--Mississippi--Fiction. 5. Family life--Mississippi--Fiction. 6. Brothers--Fiction. 7. Mississippi--Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.R56577Lit 2013
[Fic]--dc23
2013013182
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⢠470 pounds of solid waste
⢠7,023 gallons of water
⢠1,294 pounds of greenhouse gases
⢠6 million BTU of energy
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The ancient game of Choctaw stickball that is the subject of this story is but one form of this game known and played by many tribes in North America. The tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy in regions of New York and southern Canada played the game with only one stick. French priests who visited those tribes in the 1600s were the first Europeans to observe the sport. The priests called it
lacrosse
in their writings, and a modified form of the game became popular in Europe. Different tribes have different names for this game, but some northern and southern tribes called it “Little Brother of War” or “Little War” in their tribal language. Today, lacrosse is enjoying increased popularity and is played by high school, college, and professional teams all across America.
Little Brother of War
Gary Robinson
The First Day
My big brother was good at everything he did. And as far back as I can remember, Mom and Dad always compared me to him.
“Why can't you be more like Jack?” Dad would say. Or, “It's time to get it together, Randy. Your brother had already made the football team at your age.”
Jack was a football hero in both middle school and high school. Everyone worshipped him. Especially my dad. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't follow in his footsteps. I could only live in his shadow.
When he graduated, Jack joined the Army and was shipped off to the war in Iraq. My parents acted like the most important person in the world had left them.
Soon after that, Jack became a war hero. He captured a group of enemy soldiers who
were about to launch an attack against his platoon. He saved their lives.
The whole state was proud of him then. The Mississippi Choctaw tribal newspaper announced the news to everyone in the tribe. The TV news broadcast his achievement to everyone in Mississippi.
And sure, I was proud of him too. But how was I ever going to follow in those footsteps? A football hero and a war hero!
Then, when he was killed in a helicopter crash over there, my parents acted like their only son had died.
Of course, it was a terrible thing. We were all sad about it. I cried for days. But I was still alive. My parents' other son was still here. But they lost interest in everything. Everything but the memory of Jack.
And what was I supposed to do after my brother died? My life had been spent trying to live up to his successes. Trying to make my parents as proud of me as they were of him. But I just wasn't good enough.