Another week passed before Robert managed to get out of the house when his mother had finally forgotten he was ‘grounded for life’ for returning from the landfill in the state he did that day. She left early for one of her seasonal jobs, so breakfast happened without her. It was Hershel’s turn to cook, meaning salty porridge (he hated sweeteners) and toasts. Robert planned to get something from his personal stash afterwards when none of his older brothers would be home to see that (he had a lot of packaged snacks stored in a nook under his workspace, traded or stolen, all with long storage times so as to not go bad).

Hershel didn’t eat with everyone else; he packed his lunch and left for work in a gloomy mood. He’s been working extended hours and almost without weekends for several months now. Apparently, despite no special training or a college degree, there was a chance his higher-up would propose him for a low management position at the Northern mines sorting facility. When (if) that happened, his wage would be larger than everyone else’s in the family combined.

Natan spent the breakfast scolding Moishe about his attitude at work. They both worked at the Northern mines, the older brother now being the supervisor of the shift and being in charge of the younger one. Apparently, Moishe had been slacking off, which wasn’t surprising at all; he was always a waste of perfectly good space, in Robert’s opinion. Natan’s wife was feeding their daughter, though most of the fruit puree stayed on her chin and bib; it was so gross Robert tried his best not to look that way.

Nikolai was the only one not unhappy about his food. He inhaled the porridge and crunched on the toast while drinking the hot brew, then slid from his chair and went to wash his dishes. And Hershel’s dishes. And then Moishe’s and Natan’s dishes when they got up to leave for work. And finally all the mess left by the baby because Natan’s wife asked him in a sweet voice (it was so fake and so exploitative, Robert couldn’t believe it worked so well on Kolya; put on a smile and the boy just melted and was ready to do anything unpleasant).

When Robert was done with his food, he shouldered Nikolai away from the sink and washed his bowls himself. The younger boy looked like this was the worst offence but, after pouting for a good minute, stepped to the side and grabbed a towel to start drying the mountain of dishes.

“I’m going to the workshop today. Gonna finally take a look at that plane we’ve scavenged.” Robert said as he closed the tap and stepped away from the clean bowls.

Nikolai didn’t react. He continued scrubbing the dishes dry with a neutral smile as if nothing of note had been said.

“Are you coming with me?” Robert scowled.

“Nope.” Nikolai sounded genuinely unbothered.

“Did my mom forbid you to hang out with me?”

“No.”

“Did my brothers then?”

“I am going to Ehud’s.”

Robert stared. A wave of anger started rising in his gut and he wasn’t sure what caused it. “Seriously?!” And when Nikolai continued his i-don’t-really-care act, Rob reached out and pulled the towel out of his hands, making him flinch and freeze. “You don’t wanna see the plane again?”

Nikolai assumed a half-slumped defensive position and eyed him cautiously out of the corner of his eyes. Robert hated this so much, because it implied he acted like a bully and he absolutely didn’t and this was annoyingly unfair. “I do…”

“But you are going to see Ehud.”

“Because it’s been a week since I saw him last and we agreed to meet today.” 

“And you’d rather hang out with him than fix an actual plane?”

A shiver started in Nikolai’s body. He stayed silent for several moments as if searching for an appropriate answer. Finally, he murmured: “We’ll come together in the afternoon.”

Robert could feel the strength of his own frown through the tension of his brow. “Na-ah, he is not welcome at my workshop.”

“It is not yours.” A whisper, barely audible.

“Everything inside it is mine. So I decide who to let in and who not to. Ehud can fuck off.”

Nikolai squeezed his eyes shut, trembling even harder now. “He would like to see it.” The pitch of his voice was higher; he was close to tears.

“He can find his own. Actually, if you like him so much, you can go to the landfill with him next time. Good luck finding a second plane!” Robert didn’t know why he was shouting, why it mattered so much to him that Kolya would rather hang out with a creep who regularly made the worst decisions than with him, his actual roommate and the only person who shared his love for tech (be it in a different way).

“He is not allowed to leave Port…”

“Yeah, fucking exactly! So you either go with me and we fix the plane together, or…” Rob took several deep breaths but it didn’t help. “...or you are not welcome at my workshop anymore!”

A sob escaped Nikolai’s lips. “It’s not yours! We found the plane together! I held the scanner!”

“And whose scanner was it?! And who climbed the pile and almost died in the avalanche?”

Nikolai recoiled. “I helped to dig you out! I helped to drag the plane to the crawler!”

“Well, you clearly do not care about me or it because you’d rather hang out with that shithead!”

“What are you two yelling about?!” Natan’s wife returned to the kitchen, her expression furious. “Either be quiet or get out of the house for the day!”

Nikolai bolted out of the room and through the front door. Robert threw the towel on the counter and rushed upstairs. He grabbed his tool bag, threw a handful of snacks into it, and headed out too. He was not going to let himself feel bad about this situation. 

His anger was justified. He had the right to be upset.