There was no way you were taking Kyle to a bunch of strangers, you decided as you slid into the driver's seat. While it was true, you supposed, that someone working for the lab might know more about what was going on, you were just too scared of them taking Kyle away from you to risk it. It wasn't worth it; at least not yet.
Thump.
"Oof!"
Startled, you look over to the passenger seat and...up...to see your brother's head denting into the felt ceiling! Had he just grown that much again? You track your eyes down to see...
"Eheh...Kyle, I don't think you need that booster seat anymore." You chuckle nervously.
Whew. For a second there, you thought your little brother was going to burst out of the car. But after Kyle managed to pull the booster out and get back in, it was still a shock to see his head resting in the exact same spot it would have yesterday...with the booster!
It was a good thing Kyle only ever got a checkup once a year, before school started. Since it was almost summer, maybe they wouldn't think a more than one foot change over nine months was too scary. At least they probably wouldn't call the military or something.
"Big bro?" Kyle asked hesitantly as he watched the scenery. "Where are we going?"
Deciding that keeping Kyle calm and informed was more important than anything for the moment, you quickly signal a turn and park outside a small outlet mall. Turning to your little brother, you pause and gather your thoughts.
"Look, Kyle." You began. "I'm not going to lie to you. What happened last night, how much you're growing...I've never heard of anything like that before. I got a call from your teacher, and she said that a lot of your friends at school got sick from being in that lab. They were eating a lot, like you were."
"So they're bigger, too?" Kyle asked, sounding a bit excited.
"No, they're not." You answered. "They just got sick from eating too much. You're the only one who's growing like this. And I'm worried about you. So I'm going to take you to see Mr. Hendersen for a checkup, just to make sure you aren't getting hurt."
"But I feel really good!" Kyle insisted, looking a little worried. "My feet feel kinda pinchy, but that's 'cause your shoes aren't wide enough. I don't feel sick."
You nodded. Kyle's feet weren't quite as long as yours (yet, you thought), but his enlarged eight-year-old feet were a bit too wide for the shoes. At least his shirt would probably be fine, even if it was a little too long and wide at the shoulders, and the shorts were staying up.
"Just wear the shoes until we leave the office. I don't want you to get hurt, Kyle." Leaning over, you pulled him into a one-armed hug.
"And don't tell anyone how fast you're growing." You told him seriously. "I don't know what they would do if they found out, and if there's something wrong, they can find it without knowing about it."
The rest of the drive passed pretty quietly. You knew Kyle was a little scared and upset because of what you told him, but you thought you were making the right decision to be honest with him. Your parents probably wouldn't have, but you knew Kyle was a smart kid, and you didn't want to lie to him or baby him just because he was half your age.
Your confidence in your plan lasted right up until the nurse assistant pulled out Kyle's old charts.
"Lets see," she muttered, "step up here please. And take off your shoes."
Quietly, Kyle slipped off the borrowed shoes (you noticed he really had to tug on them to get them off) and stepped onto the scale.
"Well you're certainly a big boy, aren't you?" She asked in a typical sugary voice. You noticed Kyle blush and fidget a bit anyway. The nurse smiled and slid the ten pound weighted ball across the slider to the '80 lb' marker.
Thanks.
The balance on the end smacked back up. Kyle was obviously heavier.
"Hm. He is on the big side then." The nurse commented, glancing at the age square on his chart. "He's eight?"
"I'll be nine in three months!" Kyle insisted loudly. The nurse chuckled. She slid the ten back to zero and moved over the one hundred.
Thunk!
Both you and the nurse glanced silently from the weight, to Kyle, and back again. Yesterday, your brother probably hadn't weighed more than fifty pounds, and now he weighed over a hundred! The nurse was looking a bit disturbed. She kept glancing from the chart in her hands, to your brother, and back.
114. Your brother was a hundred and fourteen pounds. And the sliding height measure put him at 5 feet 1 and 3/4 inches. He'd managed to creep up a quarter inch on the drive to the doctor! And now his oversized body was only 15 pounds lighter and half a foot shorter than yours!
The doctor showed up pretty fast. Of course, he took a good minute to stare at your brother, too.
"I wouldn't have believed it." He mumbled, eying him up and down. "Hey there Kyle, looks like you've had a busy year, huh?"
"Yes, Mr. Hendersen." Kyle said shyly, swinging his feet (now just in socks) as he sat on the exam table.
"Thirteen inches in nine months seems like a lot to me." Hendersen said conversationally as he shined a light in Kyle's ears. "And seventy pounds, too! How are you feeling, Kyle?"
"I feel really good. I'm not sick!" He said firmly, looking past the doctor at you.
"Well, just to be sure, I'd like to take a little of your blood. Is that okay?"
Kyle looked a bit hesitant. Your brother hated needles.
"You see," Hendersen explained, "your body makes different chemicals to help you grow. Sometimes it makes too much by mistake, and if you grow too fast it can hurt you. I can look at your blood and see if your body made a mistake, so we can fix it before you get hurt."
"You're gonna shrink me?" Kyle asked, wide-eyed.
"No." Hendersen laughed. "I can't do that. So you might just be a basketball star yet!"
Leaving Kyle, grinning, on the table, Doctor Hendersen calmly led you from the room.
"It might be nothing." He said first. "You both always seemed to take after your mother, but I pulled your father's charts and Kyle isn't too far off from those. The sudden growth spurt would still be scarily fast, but nothing to worry about. More likely, though, something's off in his body. I'll test his blood for growth hormone, and see if it's dangerously high."
"Does he seem okay?" You asked, worried.
"That's the strange thing. When someone grows that fast, connective tissues break down, bones get brittle, the skin can stretch and scar. But your brother looks perfectly healthy. Just really, really big for his age."
Doctor Henderson wrung his hands.
"I don't understand it, but the nurse should be done taking his blood by now. We'll have the results in two days."
Shaking the man's hand, but not really feeling much better, you met up with Kyle and together the two of you took off in your car. It sounded to you like the doctor had no idea what was going on with your brother. (You were already starting to leave off the 'little' part.) But you could hope that after he ran the blood test, he might see something that would give him a clue.
Or maybe Kyle was done growing. He seemed to have eased to a stop, and he hadn't had any more weird appetite attacks.
Looking over, you see your brother's face scrunched up in discomfort.
"Kyle," you ask, "are you okay?" If he'd been lying to the doctor because he was scared...if that fast growth had hurt him after all, you were turning the car right around and speeding to the hospital.
"I'm fine." He insisted again. "I feel great."
"Kyle, I know that face." You said in a warning tone. "No lies. What's -"
Grrrruuuummmbbbblllleee!
"wrong..." you finished weakly.