The Last Piece

Two old men stand in front of each other with only a knife between them.

“A peace offering”, says the taller one to the other, holding the knife in one hand and a big brown chocolate cake as well. The shorter one does not look convinced however. He stares at the cake as the biggest danger rather than the knife itself.

“I am not going to fall for this Jimmy. Take the darn cake and leave my house! I have had enough for a lifetime from your sad pathetic jokes”.

The tall old man giving the cake looks hurt and softly places the knife.

“But Manny, I am your brother and it's your birthday. I am sorry for what I have done in the past. I was only doing it to give you a laugh too”, said Jimmy holding the ground firm, not wanting to leave his only brother.

Manny flies into a rage at the mere thought that it was all a joke to his brother Jimmy.

“All the whoopie cushions, wedgies, bugs in my cereal, screams and shouts down my ears-?”

“- you are forgetting the tacks in your shoe”, said Jimmy trying not to snigger at his childhood exploits.

“-I lived in FEAR in my own home all my childhood because of you! I don't blame myself or my parents or my school for where I have ended up in life. I blame you! And now you come with a final insult of a chocolate cake that is going to explode in my face the minute I cut it?”, screamed Manny, his face transfigured in pain and hate, his fist clenched and ready to use the knife not for its intended purpose. Jimmy waited a few moments for his brother to calm down before saying his peace.

“I am sorry Manny, I really am. The cake was supposed to be for both of us. I know I never did anything really nice for you when we were kids without there being some terrible trick on the end. You were my annoying kid brother, but YES that does not make it alright.”, said Jimmy, who took the cake and tried to put it back in the box that it had come in.

“I am dying Manny”, said Jimmy with a tear in his eye. He turned to get his coat and his hat, taking one last look at the house that he grown up in and that Manny had inherited.

“What? How? What from?”, asked Manny softly, his voice now in shock.

“Cancer. Same that got Dad. The doctor says I only have a few more weeks to live. So naturally I wanted to tell the only family I have got left”, said Jimmy, who was quaking with tears.

“Oh Jimmy. I am so sorry. It was bad when it happened to Dad”, said Manny reflecting on their old Dad. He was a baker and he would bring back a chocolate cake from work if it had burnt. Manny took the cake from his brother, got the knife and decided to make a cut.

“Hang on, is this true? You are not having me on?”, said Manny, his brow worried that it was all an elaborate hoax. Jimmy protested his innocence.

“What about that time you said we were dying from the plague to get off work? You were not above using death as a convenient means to deceive others?”, said Manny with the knife in his hand.

“Would I be joking with you at a time like this?”, said Jimmy with his hands up. Manny resigned that his brother looked to be telling the truth. He tried to cut a slice but when his knife hit the bottom of the placement mat, the cake launched itself on a spring across the room. Except it did not land on its intended target of Manny, it instead Jimmy.

The chocolate cake landed on his face and stuck it like cement. It took two goes to get it off.

When Jimmy got the brown icing off his face, he could see his brother Manny laughing like a drain in front of him.

“You knew didn't you?, asked Jimmy.

“The entire time. I swapped the cake round when you got your coat”, said Manny through roars of laughter. Jimmy just looked down at his brother.

“Is it true? The cancer?”, struggled Manny breatlhess. Jimmy shook his head. It was all an elaborate hoax. He hoped the truth would make Manny stop, but instead the howls got louder.

“God, now I know what you did this all the time”, he said, holding his brother tight still covered in chocolate cake. He whispered in Jimmy’s ear for giving him the last laugh.