In a quiet moment recently, I was remembering some of the really cruel tricks that my older brother pulled on me when I was little. That led to thinking about some of the equally sadistic things I, in turn, did to my younger brother. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t an evil streak that ran only through my family, but was, and still is, a common facet of the “growing up with brothers and sisters” experience.
Here are a couple of stories from the Pel2na files:
I must have been about 8 when my 13 year-old brother said, "Hey, you wanta see a neat hypnotic, magic trick? Well, sure I did. He sat me down in front of a foil pie plate with about a half an inch of flour in it. In the middle of the plate burned a candle. “Now get up close to the candle and stare into the flame.” Dutifully, I did so, not noticing the plastic tube in his fist that came out of the bottom of the pie tin. After about ten seconds of watching me stare into the candle, he bew a puff of air into the tube. A ball of fire bloomed around my face. I screamed, he laughed. His subsequent threats to “not tell” were going to be difficult to heed, being as I had no eyebrows left.
Five years later. I, with a piece of rope in hand, challenge my younger brother to a “Houdini Escape” contest. First, he got to tie me up and I had to escape. (Piece of Cake) Then, it was my turn to tie him up and let him try to escape. I knew some pretty good knots, so I tied him to a tree and there he stayed. I wrapped him up with one of those sprinkler hoses with all the holes in it, and told him I was going to go make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and watch cartoons. As I left, I turned the water on. Mea Culpa, as I write this, I’m still laughing.
Do any of you folks have similar stories? Or are we more twisted than we think?