My Brother's Keeper

Philip Callis arrives at Whit's End in a sour mood, and Mr. Whittaker soon coaxes the story out of him over a glass of lemonade. Philip has been working on a school project about how buildings get built, and he has recorded interviews with the construction workers putting up the new bank down the street - material he is sure will earn him an A. But his six-year-old brother Dean begged to be on the tape too, wanting to talk about the doghouse he once helped build. Philip refused and warned Dean not to touch the tape recorder. The moment Philip left the room, Dean recorded himself anyway. When Philip caught him, the brothers ended up in a scuffle, with Philip sitting on Dean's chest until their mother pulled them apart and made both boys apologize. Then, to Philip's dismay, she ordered him to take Dean along to baseball practice while she ran errands.

Practice goes badly. Philip strikes out while Dean runs all over the field, and then a commotion erupts: on a dare from one of the older boys, "Dean just ate a big black bug." Humiliated in front of his friends, Philip explodes at his little brother, telling him, "Sometimes I wish you'd just go away and stay there for good," and sends him home alone.

Back at Whit's End, Philip admits he wishes he didn't have a little brother at all. Mr. Whittaker gently warns him to "be careful what you wish for because sometimes they come true," and begins telling him about a little boy whose sister broke one of his favorite wooden toy soldiers - a boy who wished she would run away, and got his wish. Before he can finish, the phone rings. It is Philip's mother, and the news is frightening: Dean never made it home.

While Philip's dad searches and the police are called, Mr. Whittaker and Philip retrace Dean's route. Along the way, Mr. Whittaker finishes his story: the runaway sister was found days later in the woods, cold, scared, and half-starved, and the heartsick boy swore never to make such wishes again. Philip suddenly remembers that he and Dean always cut through the bank construction site on the way home - maybe Dean stopped there to play. As they search the site, Philip prays desperately for help, admitting it is all his fault. Then Mr. Whittaker calls out: he has found Dean lying unconscious in a ditch, hurt from a fall. Afraid to move him, he sends Philip racing to call the paramedics.

At the hospital, while the family waits for word from the doctor, Mr. Whittaker suggests Philip pray for his brother. Philip is afraid God is too angry to listen, but he tries anyway, confessing that he didn't mean his wish and promising to share everything he owns, ending, "You can be mad at me, but please make Dean better." Afterward, Philip realizes something about Mr. Whittaker's story: the little boy who wished his sister away was Whit himself.

The doctor's news is good. Philip visits Dean, who is awake with a bandaged head and an aching conscience of his own, apologizing for eating the bug. Philip apologizes too - for yelling and for sending him home alone - and tells Dean he can stick around after all. He even promises Dean can play with anything he owns, though when Dean asks about the tape recorder, Philip blurts out, "Anything but the tape recorder." Dean holds firm, and Philip finally gives in, agreeing to let his little brother talk on the tape and even teaching him to push the buttons - as long as he is very, very careful.