Going to Sleep - Barb, 60

Going to Sleep

Barb, 60

Kathy and I were 20 months apart in age. We were the logical pair to share a room. As with most children, we had the typical parental threats to “shut up and go to sleep!”  And, as typical children, we didn’t!  We spent many hours whispering.

One night when we were about 8 and 10, my sister came up with an excellent idea. We had to be quiet, but we would take turns coming up with ideas to scare the crap out of the other one. She went first: It was her idea.  We spent several turns with the typical scary faces and creepy noises. (It didn’t take much to scare Kathy.)

I soon got bored and thought of a perfect scare! Kathy had gotten a Tommy gun for Christmas. Since Mom and Dad were awake and right below us, I had to take my time tip-toeing across the room to the closet and digging through the toy box. Every little sound made Kathy whisper in alarm, “What’s that!” I finally dug out the gun without Mom and Dad hearing. Now to get close to Kathy and cock it! I cocked it first, as far away from her as possible. Then on tiptoes I sidled over to her bed. It was an incredible feat that she kept her eyes closed! I had the gun three inches from her face! With my permission, she opened her eyes! “Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat!” Her screams pierced the night! I was howling as quietly as I could, but it really didn’t matter. There was so much noise!

My baby sister wailed from her crib.  Hollering and threats came from my Mom. Dad being woken from sleep in his lazy boy, threatened to come up and ‘blister our bottoms’!

I jumped into bed without my feet touching the floor! I shook laughing so hard, the mattress continued to creak. Kathy was laughing, too, in between her gasps for breath.

It was worth all the trouble we got into! I can still hear her piercing scream!

“Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h!”