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The last place Emory wanted to be today -- or any day, really -- was the public library. He couldn't remember the last time he'd even visited the library on campus, let alone the municipal library either here in Destiny City or back in Chicago. Yet here he was, obediently following his younger sister Bethany up the stairs of the central library. She had heard there was going to be an Easter egg hunt, and while she tried to play it all tween-cool, she was nearly as excited about it as the little kids in the neighborhood were. Their mother okayed it on the condition that Emory went along as chaperone -- "It's dangerous downtown," she had told them, "what with all the trouble going on."

You have no idea, Emory had thought with a smirk.

The tall basketball player followed his sister through the doors and into the library. Evidently he wasn't moving fast enough, because Bethany grabbed his hand and tugged him along. "Come on. We'll miss all the eggs."

"Alright, alright, keep your voice down." He at least remembered that you were supposed to be quiet in a library, even though there was a lot of squealing and chatter from the other kids that were here. He wondered how the head librarian was putting up with it -- he saw one guy behind the counter as they came in, with a cast on his leg and a cane and a dog? Guy didn't seem to be bothered by the noise though. Braver man than I am.

"Start looking for eggs," Bethany hissed. "You're taller, you can see up high better."

Emory saluted. "Yes ma'am." He'd do anything for her, though this was approaching even his limits.

He followed her as she started going methodically up and down the aisles through the book racks. Idly he looked around at his eye level, just in case the Easter Bunny had sadistically hidden something above the heads of most of the egg hunters. Almost immediately he spotted a bright pink plastic egg on one of the shelves and grabbed it. "Hey, look what I found."

Bethany squeaked. "Lemme see!" She snatched the egg out of his hand and shook it. It rattled in a promising manner. "Oooh. Here," she ordered, shoving the egg back at her brother. "You hold it for me." She then continued on her search pattern.

"You're welcome," Emory grumbled. He was already losing what little enthusiasm he had for this.

Bethany stopped in her tracks and snatched another egg, a blue one, from its hiding place. Clearly this stretch of shelves hadn't been gone through very thoroughly. "Gotcha!" She shoved it at Emory and zipped around the corner to the next aisle over.

They continued in this manner, combing the stacks on all three floors, until Emory was juggling a load of five plastic eggs. "B," he called out to his sister, "I can't carry any more eggs. I think you found enough."

"I don't think so," Bethany began, then she saw the pleading look on Emory's face. With a sigh and an annoyed tsk, she put her hands on her hips. "Oh, alright. I guess you're right. Should leave some for the little kids."

"You are a benevolent tyrant, thinking of the children like that." He found a comfy chair and plopped down into it, still holding the day's haul in his hands. "You gonna open them?"

Bethany plopped down on the carpet in front of the chair. "Duh." She held out her hand.

It took Emory a moment to realize she was expecting him to hand her an egg. "Oh. Forgive me, your majesty," he muttered, making a show of depositing one of the plastic orbs in her outstretched palm.

The girl twisted the egg open. "Oooh, candy." There was a bit of paper in there too, which she ignored. She removed the tiny chocolate bar and set it on the floor in front of her and closed the egg back up. "Next," she ordered, holding out her hand again.

Emory dutifully handed her another egg. This was really getting old.

Bethany went through three more eggs, finding M&Ms, another little chocolate bar and a small plastic Pokemon figure, which did make her squeal a little. "You can open the last egg," she nodded at her brother, "since you helped me and stuff."

"Oh." Emory looked at her, immediately taking back every bad thought he'd had about her. "Thank you." Twisting the plastic egg open, he found a little figure of a knight inside. He was actually slightly disappointed that it wasn't candy. "Cute. You happy with the loot you got?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'm a little sad I didn't get a golden egg -- there were awesome prizes if you got a golden egg. Or a golden ticket." Bethany shrugged. "Oh well."

"Life is full of disappointment, B." Emory pocketed the toy and stood, leaving the empty egg in the chair. "You ready to go?"

"I suppooooose."

Emory reached down and pulled his sister to her feet. "Don't forget your candy."

"I won't." She stuffed her prizes in her little purse and piled the empty plastic eggs in the chair with the one Emory had opened. "Okay, let's go."

They made their way back down to the first floor and out the door. "Did you have fun at least?" Emory asked.

"Yeah. I always have fun when I'm with my big brother."

That made Emory smile. "I had fun too. Always do with my B-Bug," he said as he mussed her hair.

Bethany shrieked. "Don't touch my hair!" Frantically she dug through her purse and pulled out a hairbrush. "Stupid-head," she grumbled, brushing her long purple hair.

Emory laughed. It hadn't turned out to be a bad day after all.