Sisters

Yesterday was my youngest sister’s 36th birthday. So I thought I would write a story about when we were kids. I thought of one my favorites… it always amuses me. My parents were having a card party at our house and while they sat in the kitchen and played cards, my two sisters and I watched TV in the living room. The living room had a very old piano in it. On this particular day, my mother must have moved the piano to vacuum under it because I could see some kind of cord sticking out from underneath it. I was probably about 8 at the time and went over to examine the cord. Now my adult brain now recalls that it was an ancient, frayed cord that had not even seen BAD days in a long time… but my 8 year old brain just saw a plug…. That SOMEONE ELSE should plug in! What else are 2 year old sisters for?! So I did what any good big sister would do, I called her over and dared her to plug it into the handy-dandy wall outlet that was just within reach. She did what any loving, trusting little sister would do. She picked it up and plugged it into the wall.

The growl and then explosion were deafening …. The piano lurched right up from its spot the force was so strong! Apparently the cord was an old blower that was used to blow dust up from inside the piano to clean it….. when my Grandmother was a child!! The frayed cord sent a shock through to my sister’s little polyester night gown and put a huge hole right through the majority of the front of it so her cute little Strawberry shortcake undies were clearly visible. Her face was also covered in black dust that must have been inside the piano for years. It seemed like slow motion but that big dust cloud billowed and drifted right out of the living room and toward my parents in the kitchen. It did not take very long before all the grown ups came running. Now I am sure my sister was as momentarily deafened as I was from the loud sound and probably in shock from the event but as soon as she saw my parents and their expressions of concern (when they saw her wide eyed dirt covered face and nightgownless little belly) she turned the waterworks on and started crying like a pro. She was only 2 ½ but she knew how to stay out of trouble! Of course all eyes then turn to me for an explanation as I sat there trying to look innocent….. a hard role for me to play even back then!!

No one was hurt and Dad cut the cord off the piano so that would not happen again. The funniest thing was a few nights later, I dared my little sister to do something else….. she did that too!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNDY L.!! Love ya!!

☺