My Brother's Keeper

Phillip Callas is fed up with his six-year-old brother, Dean - the pest who ruined his school project tape, wouldn't sit still at baseball practice, and ate a bug on a dare in front of the whole team. Humiliated, Phillip tells Dean to walk home alone... and wishes out loud that his brother would go away for good. At Whit's End, Whit is just warning Phillip to be careful what he wishes for when the phone rings: it's Mrs. Callas, and Dean never made it home. Suddenly Phillip's wish has come true, and he would give anything to take it back. A frantic search sweeps through Odyssey, with police on the streets and a guilt-stricken Phillip praying at the construction site where it all began. Whit finds Dean at last, and in a hospital hallway Phillip discovers what it really means to be his brother's keeper.

Found on The Lost Episodes Album LE · 17 episodes

The run See every episode

0009 Doing Unto Others Determined to live out the Golden Rule, a well-meaning boy discovers that even his kindest gestures keep backfiring in ways he never expected.

0010 Nothing to Fear A girl who's afraid of everything is lured into a prank that leaves her facing her worst fear in a pitch-black basement.

0011 Addictions Can Be Habit Forming When Joey appoints herself the food police for a struggling friend, she learns that fixing what someone does means nothing until you understand why they do it.

0012 The Tangled Web When Connie asks for the afternoon off while hiding her real plans, Whit hands her one of his old stories to read aloud - a tale about a boy whose one small lie spirals wildly out of control.

0013 Bobby's Valentine When a classmate showers Bobby Novak with love notes he never asked for, everyone's advice on how to make it stop only makes things more complicated.

0014 Missed it by that Much A chronically late girl gets a nightmarish glimpse of where her tardiness could lead - and one morning to prove she can change.

0015 My Brother's Keeper Fed up with his pesky six-year-old brother, Phillip asks Whit for help getting rid of Dean - and learns to be careful what you wish for.

0016 No Stupid Questions A curious ten-year-old girl with endless questions and nowhere to go after school finds a welcome at Whit's End - and crosses paths with a bitter man who wants to be left alone.

1 of 2 0017 A Member of the Family When his pampered nine-year-old grandson arrives in Odyssey for the summer, Whit discovers that love sometimes means holding the leash tight.

2 of 2 0018 A Member of the Family When Whit's estranged daughter arrives furious over how he disciplined her son, a family crisis forces three generations to confront the hurts they've never spoken aloud.

0019 Recollections When Connie wonders why Whit is away from the shop, Tom Riley shares the bittersweet story of the remarkable woman behind Whit's End and the fight to save an old building the whole town had forgotten.

0020 Mike Makes Right When mild-mannered Mike Caldwell stands up to the schoolyard bully on behalf of a helpless classmate, he learns that doing the right thing can cost more than he bargained for.

0021 The Case of the Missing Train Car When a prize-worthy model train engine vanishes from Whit's End just before a state-fair competition, suspicion falls on a foster child whose troubled past makes her an easy target.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 8 more roles

8 supporting roles

Dean Callas Actor Unknown John Callas Actor Unknown Mrs. Callas Flo Di Re Phillip Callas Actor Unknown Construction Worker (a) Walker Edmiston Davey (a) Actor Unknown Scott (a) Actor Unknown Girl (b) Heather Sanders

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Phil Lollar Writer · Director Paul McCusker Writer Steve Harris Director · Producer Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

It is a bright, sunny day in Odyssey, the kind of day when nobody has a good reason to be grumpy. Nobody except Phillip Callas, who thinks he has one very good reason, and that reason is his six-year-old brother, Dean. Phillip drops into Whit's End looking for advice on how to get rid of a little brother without his parents noticing, and John Avery Whittaker pours him a cold glass of lemonade and asks what happened.

The trouble started with a school project. Phillip has been studying how buildings get built, and he took his tape recorder down to the site of the new bank and interviewed the construction workers. It was terrific material, more than enough for an A, until Dean wandered into his room and begged to be on the tape too. Dean insisted he knew about buildings, since Dad had put him in charge of the floor when the family built the doghouse out back. Phillip told him to get lost. So while Phillip was called away to pick up his shoes, Dean pressed the buttons and started talking anyway. Phillip came back, exploded, and ended up sitting on his brother's chest, which is exactly how their mother found them. She made both boys apologize, and Phillip muttered a wish that they would never fight again.

Then came the hard part. Mom had errands to run, so Phillip had to bring Dean along to baseball practice. Dean would not stay on the bench, the other players teased Phillip about using his brother as an excuse for striking out, and finally one of them dared Dean to eat a big black bug. Dean ate it. Furious and embarrassed in front of his friends, Phillip told Dean to go home by himself and said he wished his brother would go away and stay away for good.

Whit's grandmother used to warn him to be careful what he wished for, because wishes sometimes come true. He begins to tell Phillip about a boy who once wished his little sister would run away after she broke a favorite toy soldier. Before he can finish, the phone rings. It is Mrs. Callas, and Dean never made it home.

What follows is a frightening afternoon of searching, police, and a prayer whispered at a construction site by a boy who is certain the whole thing is his fault. Whit finds Dean at last, and by the time Phillip is sitting in a hospital hallway, he has learned something about responsibility that he is not likely to forget - and something about wishes, apologies, and what it really means to look after a brother.