Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 21:53:53 -0000
From: Paul1954
Subject: Brotherly Love

Brotherly Love
By Paul1954

It was Monday again, at 6:53am on a cold and frosty, December morning and
Frankie Carbonara was still lying in his bed. It had been over twenty
minutes since his alarm had gone off, and he was trying to think of one
good reason why he should not just stay here in his warm and cosy bed. 

It hadn't been one of his better weekends. On the Friday he had been dumped
by his latest girlfriend and, what had made it worse was, she had waited
until he had taken her out and spent what little disposable income he still
had left and was now broke until the next pay-day!

Saturday had been no better. His 'big' brother Leo, or 'Lucky' Leo as his
friends had always called him, had returned from the sabbatical that he had
been on since he had graduated in the summer. He was taking up a promising
job in the marketing department of a new Telco in the City, and his
prospects were excellent. 

He had returned to the family home, where Frankie still lived with his
parents, while he was looking for somewhere to live and he had been full of
himself. What, with tales of his trip to India and with him looking forward
to his new job, Frankie remembered all over again, just why he hated him so
much.

His own life had always been the opposite of his brother's. 

Leo had been very academic and had studied hard. 

<The only thing Frankie had studied was the form of his favourite
racehorses>

Leo was tall, strong, and handsome and had his father's dark and
smouldering Italian looks that women found irresistible.

<Frankie was small, lean and pale, taking after his mother's side of the
family>

Where Leo had won a scholarship to a top grade University, Frankie had left
school at sixteen only to get a string of dead-end jobs, culminating in his
latest at the "Burger U' Like" in the City of London.

This was what he had to look forward to on this cold morning! 

He was due to start the early morning breakfast shift in forty-five minutes
time, and he finally managed to drag himself out of bed, get dressed and go
downstairs looking like something that the cat had dragged in. 

Once again his appearance was in total contrast to his brother, who was
dressed in a smart business suit and being fussed over by his proud
parents. They had never treated him like that, he thought resentfully as he
downed his coffee, grabbed his old coat and mumbled goodbye as he set off
on the two mile walk across London Bridge to where he worked.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, turned up the collar of his coat, and
watched his breath turn into a cold mist as his thoughts turned to how he
could bring his brother down a peg or two. 

The final straw, for him, had been when Leo had first returned home on the
Saturday. He hadn't been home for an hour when he had been down to the
corner shop for some cigarettes and just happened to buy a lottery ticket.
He wouldn't have bothered, he said, but he had just felt lucky and spent