Jesse just stared at him, in a have-you-lost-your-mind kind of way.

"It's a cartoon. It's on the Cartoon Network," Alex explained. "They have Speed Racer. Scooby Doo. All the classics."

"First of all, marines aren't called squids-that's the navy. Marines are called jarheads. Not by punks like you, though-you'd just earn yourself a beating if you tried it," Jesse told him. "And second, do they have that one cartoon, Josie and the Pussycats! Because those Pussycats are hot."

Alex laughed. Jesse was definitely the coolest of his three brothers. Yeah, he had just given Alex the speech, the "you have got to be a military man" speech. But at least Jesse occasionally thought about, and even talked about, other stuff. Unlike their dad. And their other brother Harry, who was also home for a visit.

Fortunately for Alex his third big brother, Robert, couldn't make it home this time. Alex didn't think he could handle a four-part surround sound lecture on why he should go straight into the military after grad. The three-pronged attack mounted by Jesse, Harry, and his father had been rough enough. And Alex suspected it still wasn't over.

"Being a marine, it changes your life," Jesse said.

Nope. It definitely wasn't over.

"It's like you have a whole new family," Jesse continued. "Or at least like you have a bigger family."

A bigger family. Yeah. That sounded real appealing.

Harry wandered into the dining room and plopped down on one of the chairs. "You girls are doing such a nice job with the table," he cooed.

"Thanks. We put a pretty red bowl on the kitchen floor for you," Jesse shot back. "We thought you might be more comfortable in there since we have company coming and you still haven't quite mastered the use of silverware."