Two Brothers Two is the continuing story
of Sam and Luke and their two younger
brothers, Tommy and Joseph, 5,000 days in the making.
Watch Sam, Luke, Tommy, and Joseph
negotiate the journey of adolescence
on the road to young adulthood.
While they don't have it all, they do have each other.
And this is their story.
Joseph Nelson, what's that face you just did?
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Chicken.
Chicken who?
Chicken and a buffalo wing.
I do this.
Joseph, what do you want to do when you grow up?
Be a coach in the circus.
Do you have a girlfriend right now?
Yes.
I decided another person to marry.
That other person is Suzanne.
Who's your favorite brother?
Tommy and Luke.
Joseph, do you believe in God?
Yes.
What's your favorite part of church?
Singing.
[SINGING] This little light of mine,
I'm going to let it shine.
Oh, oh, oh.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
What makes you really mad?
When people laugh at me.
Do people laugh at you very often?
Yeah.
And does that make you feel sad?
Yeah.
Why do you think they laugh at you?
Because they think I'm really weird.
Why do flamingos stand on one leg?
Because if you put the other one up, he would fall over.
Beat box.
Have to do that.
What's that?
[BEAT BOXES]
What's your best sport?
Track.
He's running.
He's super fast, so, just kind of run past everybody.
I feel like a bullet coming out of the gun when they shoot it.
Turning 13 on Saturday.
Still want to be a pediatrician.
Just help kids and be a doctor.
My nerdiest characteristic is probably--so many of those.
Probably dancing.
I have some pretty nice dances.
Getting really good at dancing.
He's kind of a showboater, a little bit.
I trust my dad the most.
I know he would never lie to me, except for the talk
I had with him about Santa Claus.
That was terrible.
Between me and Tommy, the only time we're not, like,
best friends is when he's hungry, so ...
[DOG BARKING]
Oh, my brother's weird.
That's Joseph?
Yeah.
Joseph's barking?
Yeah.
He's a weird kid.
What's it like having your older brother
Sam on a mission in Chile?
Well, I really want to improve sending lots of letters to Sam,
because I know a couple weeks I just totally wimped.
I didn't send any letters.
So I'm going to try to send him pictures,
what's going on in letters.
I want to get--I don't want him to be like a new brother when
he gets back.
I want him to be just as close as he was when he left.
Does Luke come to you on matters of the heart?
Or should he?
I always tell him a few of my tricks,
but I never tell him my secrets.
Have you been under some of that pressure
by all these girls that like you?
Yeah.
A lot of them have asked me out.
It's kind of like the middle school thing.
But I always say no.
I say, "No, I'm Mormon."
Then I smile and walk away.
But sometimes I'm cocky before, like, track
meets to other racers.
People think they're better than me.
I try to prove that they aren't.
Like, I'm just a super fast kid.
Some people read record books, and some people
write record books.
I'm also the fastest seventh grader,
and so everyone expects me to win every race.
Sometimes I won't win, and everyone will just
be disappointed if I come in second.
So you feel the pressure to win?
Yeah.
Now, are you sensitive about the fact that you're slender?
A little bit.
Not too much.
OK.
So tell me how much, honestly.
But I just need to gain some more weight,
and I think I could be pretty good.
I don't notice that I'm that skinny, but other people do.
We were playing basketball with a couple of friends,
and we were in an argument about something.
So it's like a really intense school basketball game.
And we were, like, calling each other names,
and someone called me a skinny white boy.
I'm always trying to gain weight.
I guess I don't like it when people call me skinny.
But I just get over it.
It's fine.
Sometimes people call you skinny,
and that hurts your feelings.
Yes.
For obvious reasons.
Let's go back to your family for a moment.
Now, your brothers are important to you.
Now, something happened to Sam while he was in Chile.
Tell me that story.
Yes, I do worry about them.
Like when they go out on a trip, I always
say I love them, just in case they don't come back.
A street camera captures one of the largest earthquakes
in a century to hit Chile.
And then, like, I woke up, and Joseph was, like,
telling me there's been a--I can't remember the magnitude,
but--in Chile.
And then I was like, "Joseph, be quiet," and I went back to bed.
And then it came out that the epicenter
was right near Concepcion, which is right where Sam was.
And all of a sudden, my heart sunk.
Its magnitude is measuring upwards of 8.8
on the Richter scale.
The updated death toll of 700 is widely expected to rise.
Then we were told that they were able to call home
if they could.
And Sam--we hadn't heard from Sam.
Days went by, and he didn't call or email or anything.
Really like to see him.
That would be a really good wish, to see Sam.
Seven days had gone by, and we still hadn't heard from Sam.
I kind of had a feeling that he was fine
and that he was coming back.
It's got--it's kind of a brother thing.
You know when each other--you know if they're in trouble
or if they're not, or if they're fine or something.
You just always know.
And he just kept saying that over and over.
"Mom, I know that he's OK.
I know that he is, and I don't know why you're so worried."
And then the phone rang again.
And I picked up the phone, and it was Sam.
It was a little scratchy.
And he goes, "Hey, Mom, what's going on?"
You knew.
I always knew.
You knew intuitively that he was OK.
Wow.
That's brotherhood.
I think I'm athletic.
I think I'm pretty smart.
I'm getting pretty good grades.
He's, like, 100% popular.
Yeah, he's like the most popular guy in school.
Rate yourself in terms of looks, out of a hundred.
Hundred.
Do any girls have crushes on him?
Yeah.
A ton.
A ton do?
There's a whole bunch of shirts that says, "I can't.
I'm Mormon."
I'm going to get a shirt that says, "I won't.
I'm Mormon."
That's deep.
But in athletics, I get a little cocky, which
I don't think I have to do.
He's just good at making friends, I guess.
I think it's the fact that I am kind of weird,
and so that I don't think I, like, threaten anyone.
Right now is one of the best times of my life.
I really like my childhood.
Life is pretty good right now.
If people think I'm skinny, fine.
Because I wouldn't want to be the weird kid.
I'm kind of like the weird guy that everybody likes.
But yeah, I'm fine with that.
It's my little, weird personality.
Drugs and sex and alcohol.
Little weird to have friends that are doing that.
I have to, like, draw my line more of who I want to be
my friends and who I don't.
It's been the toughest year of my life thus far.
The last year, I was president of the middle school.
So if I wanted a friend, I could usually go get one.
So I sat by myself for a few days at lunch.
Popularity is temporary, for sure.
At the beginning of the year, there was this girl
that I liked, and she didn't like me back.
What didn't she like, you know?
Like, there's some people that don't like me,
and they let me know.
I think I asked someone why they make fun of Mormons,
and they told me it's because they're so easy to make fun of.
I usually just stay home Friday nights.
I really took for granted my brothers, I think.
It's definitely lonelier without the brothers.
I miss them quite a bit.