It was a Sunday afternoon and Ty spent the whole day watching TV. It was summer, there wasn’t much to do, especially since his cousin Peter had come and gone already. Peter was from Canada, and he was fifteen tears old, just like him. Not only that, but he had the same powers as Ty!
The front door opened and Dustin walked in, slamming the door shut and immediately running up the stairs. He was holding a white towel over his left eye, and Ty noticed the blood stains on the towel.
“Dustin? What happened?” Ty asked him.
“I got a black eye!” Dustin shouted, as he closed the bedroom door.
Ty quietly walked up the stairs and opened Dustin’s bedroom door.
“Please, Ty, leave me alone for a few minutes, okay?” Dustin said, while sitting on the edge of the bed, with a tear coming out of his right eye as he was holding the towel over the left eye.
Ty closed the door and walked into his own room. What should he do now? Force Dustin to tell him what happened? Find out who punched him in the eye? Just the thought of someone beating up on his brother made him angry.
“Okay Ty, stay calm. What’s the best thing to do right now?” he wondered out loud. This was one of those times when he wanted to talk to someone who he could relate to. Someone who had his powers as well and someone knew how to use them. He thought of Cousin Peter.
He stood in front of the big mirror hanging on the wall in his bedroom.
“Hey Peter, this is Ty. Are you there?” he asked as he saw his reflection in the mirror.
Suddenly Ty’s mirror image changed and transformed into the image of Cousin Peter. Peter was about 5’6”, always wore basketball jersey and shorts, and high tops. He was muscular and athletic, with short, brown hair that was spiked up around the front. He had big, blue eyes and a friendly smile on his face.
“Hey cousin, how are you doing today?” Peter asked.
“I’m fine. I just spent the day watching TV. And yourself?” Ty responded.
“I played some basketball today. How’s your brother Dustin?” Peter asked. Peter always cared about Dustin because of their love for basketball.
“Not too good. He came home with a black eye from work today. He walked in and ran into his room. He had blood coming out of his left eye. It made me real angry! How should I handle this?” Ty asked his cousin.
“Does Dustin want your help right now?” Peter asked.
“Not right now, he was kind of upset when he got home.”
“Then you still help him out, but don’t let him notice it. Let him fall asleep, heal is eye and find out who did it and why. But don’t take matters in your own hands, just stay in the background but help Dustin from a distance. That’s the best way.” Peter advised him.
“Thanks Peter! You’re the best!” Ty responded excitedly.
“Good luck. Help poor Dustin out and protect him. Give him some muscle if he gets in trouble. Let me know how it goes, okay?”
“Yeah! Talk to you later, Peter!”
Ty decided to put Peter’s plan into practice right away. He sat on his bed and concentrated on Dustin, who was in his room. Dustin became sleepy and went to lie down on his bed for awhile. He quickly dozed off and fell asleep.
He quietly walked into the room and removed the red blood-stained towel from Dustin’s face. His eye was all black and his cheek was swollen up. As he stood there, looking at his helpless brother, he felt an anger swelling up inside of him. Nobody would beat up Dustin and get away with it! Quickly, he concentrated on the left eye, and wished for it to be completely healed. The swelling stopped, the redness in the eye disappeared, and the black markings faded from Dustin’s eyeball.
Then he concentrated on the events of that day by reaching into Dustin’s mind. A vision formed in his mind. One of Dustin’s co-workers wanted some money to buy drugs, and followed Dustin after he left work. Dustin only cashed part of his check and the coworker wanted his money. When Dustin refused to give it to him, he punched him in the face and took his cash. Ty wouldn’t stand for it and decided to visit Dustin at the grocery store where he had his summer job. He would go there the following day before Dustin got off.
When Ty got up the following morning, Dustin had already gone to work. Ty got dressed and walked over to the store, which was only three blocks from their house. He asked one of the other coworkers when their shift ended, and it would end in an hour. Ty walked around the store and changed Dustin so that he would not notice that Ty was in the store with him.
And when the shift was finally over, he watched Dustin go to the office and clock out. He took his uniform off, and walked out the front door. Ty followed him and noticed a big, tall, muscular guy follow him.
“Hey Dustin, got a couple Dollars on you?” the man asked him.
“Leave me alone, Joe! I don’t have any money! You took it all yesterday!”
Joe grabbed Dustin’s arm, forcing Dustin to turn around and face him.
“Well, your eye healed pretty quick there, Dustin. Now give me ten dollars or else we’ll work on that right eye as well, okay?”
That’s it! Ty heard it and he was furious! He was ready to turn big Joe into a mouse when he remembered Peter’s advice. Let Dustin fight his own battle, but give him some help. Give him some extra muscle! Ty grinned.
Suddenly Dustin felt a tingling in his body. All his muscles swelled up and grew rapidly. His legs became longer and thicker, his chest and arms expanded and abdominal muscles popped out of his widening torso. Biceps ballooned to over 16 inches round on his enormous arms, and he had veins all over his arms and legs.
Joe saw the growth, but decided to punch him anyway. As his fist made contact with his face, Dustin just stood there, not feeling a thing. Joe was astonished, his fist hurt and felt like he had just punched a brick wall. He swung his left fist into Dustin’s abdominals, and Dustin just stood there, laughing. Suddenly Joe was over come with much fear, as he realized that Dustin did not feel a thing! And Ty was watching all this from around the corner, not allowing anyone to notice him.
“Well Joe, I guess it’s my turn now!” Dustin said, as he slammed his left fist in the palm of his right hand. As Dustin walked closer to Joe, he began to tremble with fear. Then he turned around, and ran away from Dustin, as fast as he could.
Dustin stood there alone, in the alley behind the store. Suddenly he felt his muscles shrinking, as his body returned to normal. That was when Ty walked around the corner.
“Thanks, Ty. Thanks for protecting me!” Dustin said to his little brother.
The two walked home together and Ty ran into his room as soon as they walked into the house.
“Hey Peter! I followed your advice, and it worked out! I made Dustin really huge and solid as a rock, and the other guy took off! Dustin didn’t even have to fight!” Ty said out loud, looking at the reflection of himself in his mirror. His mirror imaged turned into that of his cousin from Canada.
“Good job, Ty! You handled it very well. Please say hi to Dustin for me!” Peter responded, with a smile on his face. Then Peter disappeared and his image turned into Ty’s reflection. Ty was very happy he could now go to his cousin for advice.