Sweet Memories

 My husband and I were binging on Netflix when my son came in and recounted his date with his girlfriend.  He concluded, grinning ear-to-ear as he expounded, "And Mom the best part was I got revenge on the claw!"

     It took me a while to process (of course that's another ailment for another story) but then it came to me. The claw! Ah, yes the claw. I had blocked it completely out of my mind. I had buried it so deep in the recesses of my mind never to be seen, experienced, or even thought of again.

    Or so I hoped.

    It was during one of our trips to Chuck E Cheese. Not my proudest moment. It was also during what I affectionately refer to as my "dark days." (There wasn't a whole lot of sleep going on). So I would say after maybe an hour at the arcade, a few near miss melt downs, we ended up in front of the claw with our last two tickets.

    The claw was a white (could be any color really) metal rectangular standing box in the arcade full of assorted junk, and huge unobtainable cheap stuffed animals. Hovering over the pile of "treasures," was a huge silver claw.  There was a joy stick that the poor unfortunate individual must operate to lift, turn, close and open the blades to TRY (I say that word lightly) and obtain said toys.

   If we seem like veterans; we are. 

    We had already shed many tears at the claw over elusive electronics, stuffed animals, and the like.

   "Don't even bother with that rip-off machine!" I scoffed.

   "But I want to try at the rip off machine!" She pleaded. Her brother stood beside her wide eyed.

     I gave her her last ticket.

     Of course, she hovered the shiny metal pinschers over a huge black and white striped stuffed tiger and to everyone's shock picked it up on first try. She carried it to the chute, and opened the pinschers, and out it came.

   Now it was her younger brother's turn.

    I mean, Emma had already modeled how simple, and easy it was.

    I think you know how this ends, right?

    I barely looked at the sea of sympathetic, knowing faces turned towards me amidst the wracking sobs from Max as we rushed out of Chuck E Cheese bound for Toys R Us.

    

Old Wounds

 

    I want to be upfront- I love my siblings.  However, like with all family members we definitely have our ups, and downs. When my mom got sick, and there were four of us, our roles sort of shifted. My oldest sister (seven years older) kind of became a surrogate caregiver, and my brother was deputized as her side-kick. This wasn't something either one sought out by any means. These responsibilities were just kind of thrust upon them, and the kind of personalties that they had, they took them on.

    And so, along with a lot of kind, nurturing responsible acts- came some down, and dirty pranks. Think of it as a sort of rebellion, or even a bit of a push back.

    Out of a pretty good smorgasbord of tricks, one really rose to the top.

     I was the youngest, and tired of being unnoticed, or in my mind, not mattering,  One afternoon I announced to everyone that I was running away. I can see them both laying on their stomachs playing Monopoly. I don't even think they looked up? I put my hand up, and told them there was nothing they could say to stop me. I went to fill my thermos with water and when I returned to the living room I saw that my brother and sister had kindly packed a small suitcase for me, and placed it right by the door. Stung, I quickly realized there was no turning back.

   I shut the front door behind me, only to open it back up about six minutes later to use the restroom.  This time they did looked up from their game and smile.

     I carried my suitcase upstairs quietly.

    

Fall Frenzy: McGregor House

    Everyone knew the McGregor house. It wasn't just because it loomed over the end of Cassie's subdivision, or the fact that it rose behind the rows of identical gray, brick red, and yellow sideboard homes like a cloud. 

      It was the stories.

     They seemed to grow each year much like the ivy on the sides of the house.

     Years ago they dared each other to run past it, or tag the fence. People always said Cooper Austin rang the doorbell once but no one really believed it.

     So, when Ryder didn't come when Cassie called him, and she saw the loose fence board her heart sank. She and her brother Brady set out  to search the neighborhood knowing that at some point they would have no choice. And even after calling Ryder's name for what seemed like hours, knocking on doors, shaking Ryder's treat bag, and even ending up and the end of the court they still couldn't admit to each other what they knew needed to be done.

      Cassie kicked the curb absentmindedly.

     "There's only one place left to check."

     Cassie bit her lip.

     "You're gonna come with me, right?"

     It was dusk now.

     She saw his head nod.