Truthful Tim

My little brother was all boy.  He loved Hot Wheel cars, to play in the dirt and to play ball, any kind of ball. Sometimes he got his mouth washed out with soap for saying "bad words." 

He loved to rearrange furniture, even staying during  recess and  moving the piano all by himself (in kindergarten!) because he didn't like where it was. It's funny he would care about the piano because he hated music.  He especially hated movies that were musicals.  Every time the cast would burst into song, he would groan, roll his eyes, and question, "why do they have to sing all the time?"

He also was very truthful and would tell on himself.  This was quite amusing to me when he told on himself, but not so funny when his confessions included ... well, me!

Once, my cousins, Jack and Micki, came over with their parents to visit us.  Immediately we headed upstairs, leaving the parents drinking coffee and yakking downstairs. There was something that we kids loved to do but it was forbidden.  Mom had a walk-in closet upstairs that we loved turning into a fort.  It had a sloping ceiling that followed the roofline.  One side of the closet was 8 feet tall, the opposite side was 3 feet tall.

There was something about going into the bowels of that closet that made you feel that it was "secret headquarters."  No one would be able to find you there!  Given my previously mentioned love of spying and  secret agents, it just felt right to hunker down in there.  Added to that guilty pleasure was the fact that there were rows of baskets of clothes - perfect for disguises!

It didn't take long for the closet to become a disaster area when just my brother and I were playing in there, hence the rule about not playing in the closet. I want to be clear - we knew better to play in there.  Jack and Micki did too.

They say that rules are made to be broken.  We didn't waste time playing other stuff - all four of us headed immediately for the closet.  We had a great time and played for hours up there.  It should have been a sign to our parents that we were up to no good when we disappeared and didn't bug them.

cfab.co.uk

At last it was time for lunch and Mom called up the stairs to come down.  Leaving the closet looking like a disaster area, we started to troop downstairs when Jack stopped my brother.  "Now, Tim, whatever you do, don't tell Aunt Carol we've been playing in the closet."

"Oh, I won't!  She'd spank my butt!"  Tim said, serious as a heart attack. I can still see how solemn he looked, nodding his head in agreement. He was such an adorable little boy!

Then quick as a flash, he ran ahead of us out of the room and pounded down the stairs.  I guarantee you that before his foot touched the last step, he yelled out, "Mom, we been playing in the closet!"

Yes, Tim was truthful ... and a fink!
 

The above post was linked to Mama Kat's Pretty Much World Famous Writer's Workshop.  I wrote this in answer to prompt 5, "Share a story about a sibling."