My brother Mick broke his arm
when he was nine years old.
I only sprained mine.
The day he came home from hospital
he let me draw a dragon on the plaster cast.
I was five years old
so it wasn’t a very good drawing
just lots of colours
with big round circles and horns,
and fire coming out of his mouth.
Mick showed it to everyone in school
and he got me to sign my name on it
and said I’d be a famous artist one day
‘like Michelangelo’
who I thought was a Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Everyone at school wanted to sign their name
but Mick wouldn’t let them.
He said it wasn’t a cast anymore,
it was Jacob’s art gallery.
Every night I coloured in the dragon
on Mick’s arm
and the next day he’d show everyone at recess.
I look at the bandage on my arm now.
The doctor says I was lucky I didn’t break it.
What do doctors know?