Green. The colour of birth, life and innocence.
But like a double-sided coin, green reveals a second light; that of envy, jealousy and deception. Usually, one is born with the former, and eventually develops the latter. Point being, they cannot co-exist.

Our world is a rainbow and we are the colour.

Part One: Evergreen

There was a brace of scuffling and several loud thumps.

Sleepy eyelids flickered open to reveal a pair of eager green eyes. As they focussed, the child glanced towards where the apparent noise was coming from.

'Was that Daddy?' the young one wondered, rubbing his eyelids. It had been some hours since he'd heard his father last.

Little Dara had first awoke just after dawn. There had been a disruptive and unusual amount of noise for the time of morning. The four year old would normally be fast asleep yet, but the excitement and curiosity had perked him enough to venture from his bed and peer out.

His father Stanley had then suddenly rushed by, adorning a coat and thrusting a strap over his shoulder. He seemed quite distracted at first, and didn't notice the child gazing up at him.

The adult had then blinked in his direction and grunted, "You git back inta bed, Dara. You be quiet while ah'm gone, ya hear me?"

His son quickly nodded and rushed back into his bed without a word. You didn't fight with Stanley; you did what he told you.

Huddled back into his blankets, Dara hugged onto his plush rabbit, confused and wondering. 'Where's Daddy going?'

His father usually never left their home at such a time… not unless something had occurred that would give him reason to hurry. Little Dara couldn't think of anything that could possibly be wrong, at least not at first. But as his fretting got the better of him, he then longed for his mother and the thought suddenly hit him.

Where was she, anyways? Was she still in bed or had Stanley awoken her? Was she alright? Darlene had seemed very tired earlier the previous day. Was something wrong with her?

The child wished he could go to her and make sure, but his father's stern tone made him think that was not such a good idea. If Stanley had wanted him to keep company of his mother, he wouldn't have told him to stay put. Dara momentarily considered sneaking out just to briefly check, but he didn't know how soon his father would return, and being caught would be very bad indeed.

Amidst his troubled thoughts, the young one's weariness soon overcame him and before he knew it, Dara was asleep once more.

As earlier mentioned, he was startled awake a second time, several hours later, by more noise. After the initial sleepy arising, Dara was alert and eager to know what had happened. It was well past his normal time of waking up so he was allowed to venture out. However, by the look of the high sun outside, it seemed later than usual.

The child was also baffled at the noise he heard. While yes, there was usually normal activity in the morning, the like he heard now did not sound familiar. And he heard a second voice he did not recognize.

Snuggling onto his rabbit still, Dara slowly toddled out of his room, out to their kitchen. Family and company always went in there.

Sure enough, his father and an apparent visitor were seated at their table, conversing over mugs of tea. Being so quiet in his entrance (as he had been learnt in the way of being seen and not heard), Dara stood by silently, waiting to be noticed or otherwise.

Fortunately, he did not have to wait long. The visitor then spotted him, with a friendly smile. "My, my, is that little Dara?"

The child was still at a loss of whom their guest was, but politely smiled back.

"Indeed it is," Stanley responded, before turning to his son. "Ya remembah Doctah Regan here?"

He didn't, but saw no reason to be rude. "Hello!" Dara chirped.

The older male chuckled merrily. "Goodness, he's certainly grown. Becoming quite the sturdy young lad."

The boy was sorry he did not recall the doctor. He seemed very nice.

His father seemed to sense his lack of memory, so he quickly added, "The good doctah was here when yeh were born, sonny."

Dara then understood. No wonder he couldn't remember! Four years seemed so long to him. Then another issue came back to him. "Where's Momma?"

"She's fine now son, just had a bit of an eventful morning," Doctor Regan assured him; a meaningful glance passing between him and Stanley.

The young one blinked curiously at them. Adults acted so oddly about things!

The doctor could not resist another laugh at the serious face Dara wore, in deep thought. "Nothing to worry about Dara, you can see her for yourself soon enough."

"And your baby brother," his father added.

The child's eyes widened with surprise, his face alit with joy. "Baby brother??" he echoed. He could hardly believe it. How could he have forgotten? His parents had mentioned a soon coming child some weeks ago.

"Yes, but don't git all excited now," Stanley told him, eyebrows furrowing. "Ya mothah needs rest before yeh go on in, ya understand?"

"Yes Daddy," Dara responded, obediently. It was slightly discouraging, but he knew better than to protest. Plus, he didn't want to bother his mother.

But wow! A little brother! He was so happy. It'd be so wonderful to finally have a sibling. Not that Momma wasn't good company, but she was still an adult, per say. And they lived quite far off, so he had no consistent contact with other children. So with their newest family addition, Dara was quite ecstatic.

-----

"-Put your other arm here honey… careful now."

Dara glanced at his mother, nervously. He couldn't be careful enough! The small, fragile creature in his arms both delighted and scared him to death. Heavens, had he really once been so tiny and frail like this?

His mother Darlene, smiled, certainly remembering so. Had it already been so long a time since she had greeted her first child as a newborn as well? How time seemed to vanish!

Dara was quickly growing into a bright, sensible young boy. And soon her newest little lad would be one as well. She couldn't even imagine that far ahead.

Gazing on, attentive and motherly, Darlene beamed at her sons. Dara was indeed being cautious and gentle with his baby brother, and the baby himself was peaceful and content, seeming to immediately trust his older sibling with his safety.

Reaching out a hand to stroke Dara's hair, his mother remarked, "Isn't little Graff a sweet baby?"

The child nodded, smiling back. "Graff is a cute baby."

Graff, not minding their attention, yawned outloud as he half-heartedly pawed the air.

Amused, but not wanting to startle the baby, Dara suppressed a giggle the best he could.

Darlene gave a light-hearted tsk and decided, "He needs his sleep, sweetheart. We should let him take a nap now."

Dara's face fell a little. Already Graff was being taken away from him! He'd just arrived too.

Seeing the disappointment in her son's eyes, Darlene added, soothingly, "Oh Dara, it's only a few hours. He's just a sleepy baby is all. You can see him then, I promise."

The child slowly nodded in agreement, and let his mother take the baby away, to be placed in his basket. Just before baby Graff surrendered completely into slumber, he felt Dara's fingers gently squeeze his own, and said, "I'll be back Graff. I'll always be back." And with one kiss on Graff's small forehead, his big brother left.

Perhaps one might think this had been an odd thing for a young child to say. But Dara had a way of speaking from his heart and instinct, and something told him that this meeting cut short had been an strange sense of symbolism. Would they find themselves separated again, in more drastic situations of state?

Truly, only a matter of time could be sure.

Seated quietly by the infant's basket, Darlene looked on, thoughtfully at her sleeping baby. Having already raised one child at this age, she knew well of how infants were fickle about sleep.

Nonetheless, for the moment being, baby Graff appeared to be deeply slumbering; a blessing for a weary mother indeed.

Making sure he was comfortably warm in his soft wool blankets, Darlene then noticed one of his feet curiously exposed at the bottom. She quickly fixed this, adjusting the cloth tucked around it. She certainly didn't want her baby's little hoof getting chilled!

Wait… did I just say 'hoof', you ask? Dear me, I do apologize!

Was I giving you the impression that this was a family of humans?