Ernest Hemingway's short story "Soldier's Home" is about returning World War I veteran Harold Krebs. Krebs has returned to his small Oklahoma town but is obviously ill at ease over his experiences in the war.
At one point he's talking to his sister Helen. She is younger than him and they were probably very close before he went off to war. She jokes with him that he is her "beau" or boyfriend. It is certainly a conversation that many older brothers and younger sisters have had. They are obviously not in a romantic relationship and, in fact, Harold has been avoiding going out with any of the girls in the town despite the urgings of his mother. For Harold, Helen is safe to talk to while "it was not worth it" to talk to girls his own age. He wants things to go "smoothly" in his life and his little sister is not a threat to his emotional stability. In the last lines he says he will go and watch her play "indoor baseball."
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