You Think Your Brother was Bad?

Like many young boys, I used to get a kick out of scaring my sister. My sister, I imagine, has won many "whose brother scared them the worst" conversational contests. The truth is, I really shouldn't have done it. But I was young.

It was the early 80's "Stranger Things" years so I must've been 13 - 15 years old. Old enough admittedly to have known better. I have since then always made an effort to NOT make wrong, inconsiderate decisions. So there's that - it may be the reason I now always consider the consequences to other people before I make a decision, and if they're not too bad I choose me over others. If they are, I'll choose others.

Cable TV, was new to our house, and one of the earliest movies to be shown was "Friday the 13th." The very first one, in which Keven Bacon lies in a bunk bend only to have the killer grab his forehead from below and force an arrow up through the mattress and out his neck, just above the Adam's apple.

My evil mind went into action, and I feigned sleepiness and headed down the hallway that led to all of the bedrooms, knowing full well that everyone else would figure I'd chickened out before the end of the movie. Or maybe I'd already seen it - who knows? I can't remember.

I must lied there, under my sister's bed for at least half and hour - probably more, and when the time came... well, you can probably guess the rest. I'm not going to go over the details. Suffice to say: I grabbed her forehead. Uggh... it wasn't pretty.

That's the first story. The second, from the mid 1970's 'Wonder Years' is a little different.

Now the way my sister tells this story omits some key details that make it sound much worse than it is. And initially it does sound pretty bad, but there is an explanation.

My sister would start the story midway and be blunt: MY brother folded me up inside the sleeper sofa we used to have - he arranged the cushions nicely and just left me there.

Now let's ask ourselves, why would the idea of folding a person into a sleeper sofa ever enter my mind? Think about it. What I really wanted was to fold myself up inside the sleeper sofa in order to scare my sister. Makes perfect sense.

The trouble started because I was unable to get the bed folded all the way. even with the help of my brother I was simply too big. He had sat, stood, pushed as hard as he could. You see, he was in on it at first, the plan to scare our sister, until we both realized it wouldn't work.

So there it is. What happened next was a classic case of curiosity killing the cat, plain and simple.

For how else would my sister have ended up anywhere near the sleeper sofa, never mind folded completely inside of it? She simply wanted in on the fun she saw her brothers having and got in VOLUNTARILY.

My older brother is much smarter than I am, and went to Mom as soon as my sister complained. I think I took too long checking the sleeper sofa visually with my sister inside, to see if I could note a difference in appearance. I couldn't.

And there's the rub. Just how long was my sister inside the sleeper sofa? Simply put, too long for a 4 year old girl but not long enough for a 6 year old boy.