‘I wish I’d been there,’ said Biff, laughing at Joe’s description of Frank trying to keep the afternoon class in line.

‘I’ll admit I’m seriously worried at how well you fit in with those class clowns,’ Frank told his brother.

‘Believe me,’ quipped Joe, you gave me plenty of opportunity. The way you nearly fell off that stool was priceless!’

Frank laughed as well and had to admit that it would have looked pretty funny.

‘There is one thing puzzling me at the moment,’ admitted Frank, scrutinizing his brother’s face closely.

‘And that is?’ yawned Joe, leaning back against the couch.

‘While I was talking with Caroline Jones, she told me about a student in her class who has just so impressed her with his sensitivity.’ Joe shrugged his shoulders and didn’t comment, but his face reddened slightly.

‘What were you playing at Joe?’ asked Frank, curiously.

‘Nothing!’ said Joe, defensively. ‘She just asked me some stupid question so I answered it! It’s no big deal!’ Biff suddenly felt uncomfortable. He mumbled something about needing to clean up the kitchen as he left the room.

‘I didn’t think you even liked English!’ Frank continued. ‘According to her, you stunned the whole class. You’re supposed to be giving teachers a hard time, not…’

‘Alright, alright! I get the message Frank!’ snapped Joe getting up. He was beginning to feel really irritated.

‘What did you say, anyway?’ pushed Frank.

‘I don’t remember! It doesn’t matter! I promise I’ll keep up the ‘dumb in English’ routine I’ve obviously perfected over the years, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.’

To say that Frank was stunned by Joe’s reaction was an understatement. He stared open-mouthed as his brother went to his bedroom and slammed the door.

‘What’s with him?’ he called to Biff who was putting dishes away. Biff raised his eyebrows.

‘I don’t know. Maybe you’re both under more pressure than you realize. You know. Putting on an act all day. Pretending to me someone you’re not. Maybe Joe just needed to let off a bit of steam.’

‘Maybe,’ said Frank quietly, although it disturbed him that he was leaving the apartment without patching things up with Joe.

……

Joe sat at the desk in his room and switched on the lamp. Chin in his hand he tried to think about the events of the day, instead of the way he had just blasted his brother. He’d probably over-reacted, but Frank had strangely managed to get on his nerves. He’d speak to him in the morning. Everything would be cool. Frank would be understanding. He tried to focus on the case. There hadn’t really been any developments. They were only still at the information gathering stage. But Joe felt sure there would be a breakthrough soon. He felt he should probably think about how he could glean more information from AJ and the other boys, but his mind kept drifting back to that damn play written by a dead English guy! He had never been rapt in English, but all this stuff about ‘Romeo and Juliet’….

Joe took a piece of folded paper out of his pocket. He opened it and smoothed it out in front of him. Scanning down the list of topics, he stopped at number 5. He took a pen and a piece of paper from the drawer and began to write.