The Brother Who Borrowed Without Asking

So, my name's Sam and I'm the middle kid. I have an older brother named Tom who’s been away at college for a couple of years now and a younger sister named Ellie, still in high school. Mom says we're the classic case study of birth order dynamics. Tom left behind his collection of vintage comic books, mostly superhero stuff but also some weird indie comics he picked up. I’ve always liked to look through them; they're like little time capsules from when Tom was younger. But, I've never taken one for myself. A few weeks ago, I borrowed a book that had been sitting on the coffee table, an old volume of Spider-Man issues. My idea was to read it and put it back right away. The next day, though, I left it in my room while Ellie stayed over with some friends overnight. When she came home, her face was all red and upset. Turns out that one comic book had a special place for Ellie because Tom gave it to her when he graduated high school, kind of their goodbye present before college life started. She thought I was being really disrespectful by taking it without asking. And then, like an idiot, instead of apologizing right away, I got defensive and said she should have put it in a drawer or something. Ellie went into her room and slammed the door. Dad had to come over after work and talk with both of us separately before we could patch things up. It's not that big of a deal really, just one comic book, but it turned out to be way more than I bargained for.