Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Two Braids and a Brother

I thought it would be fun to post retro stories of me when I was younger. If any of you out there would like join in this, please let me know when you post a story of your past.

This story involved my only sister, Jackie, (11 years older) and my brother, Frenchie, (10 years older). My mom often combed my hair into two braids (see picture). I had very long, curly hair that was unmanageable, hence the braids.

Our first home in Brooklyn had an unfinished basement where our family room was located. There were large pipes that ran across the top of the ceiling. The television was against a wall, a sofa faced it, the love seat was at ninety degree angle from the sofa and lined perfectly underneath a very large pipe.

One afternoon the three of us were watching a suspenseful movie. You know the type – eerie music announcing upcoming doom. Frenchie noticed that Jackie and I were sitting on the edge of our seats. Frenchie and I were sitting together and Jackie was facing the television set on the sofa. We didn’t notice when he got up (our faces were buried half the time in a pillow.

Frenchie got two fishing lines, tying the ends of my braids with one end of the wire. He then placed the wire over the pipe above my head. How could he do all of this and no one notice – did I mention that it was a scary movie and our faces were buried in pillows most of the time.

He waited for that right moment in the movie when the music builds and you know something bad is about to happen. He screamed . . . loudly. I screamed as he pulled on the wire and my braids were sticking up straight in the air. My sister turned and saw my braids sticking up and screamed. I screamed more when I noticed that my hair had a mind of its own.

My brother laughed, until we pummeled him.

© Nadine Z. 2008

33 comments:

Emancipation of the Freed said...

I love that story, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Love you,
Tom

Debbie said...

don't you just love brothers! Thanks for that story, how funny. Made me think of the funny things my brothers did to me.

United Studies said...

And to think I missed out on things like that, since I don't have a brother!!

KarenW said...

That's really funny! Now anyway. Brothers can be so mean.

Kellan said...

That's an adorable story!!! I loved the title too.

Thanks for your support on my post last night - you are becoming a true friend and I'm glad to have found you! Have a good day - Kellan

Anonymous said...

Wow, your brother sounds very creeative! Maybe he was an evil genius?

Damselfly said...

What a great prank! You must have been freaked out, though.

Lala's world said...

laughing so hard...how priceless is that?!?!

Anonymous said...

i love th epicture of you! you look adorable there! lol

Scarlet said...

What a great memory! I can just picture the scene. LOL

Dawn said...

OH, my, too bad there's not a picture of that incident! As you know, I blog on my childhood quite often. So much fun.

What a lot of hair!

Tammy said...

Hysterical! :D
No brothers here...look what I was missing! LOL

Keshi said...

Funny story luv! :)

And i love love love those braids. SO VERY CUTE!!

Keshi.

Jill said...

Hilarious! Amazing that he pulled that off without you noticing. Totally sounds like something my brother would have done.

Jen(n) said...

That is sooooooooo funny!

eph2810 said...

Oh, Nadine - that is just so funny. Sorry, but I laughed out loud...

Thank you so much for sharing from your past :)

j said...

It is very hard to type a legible comment when I am laughing this hard. That was ORIGINAL! I have never heard of such hair raising sibling torture!

And FRENCHIE! Oh Nadine, that is just FABULOUS! What a name.

Be blessed and THANK YOU for sharing. The smile is firmly fixed on my face!

Jen

Shawna said...

Oh, Nadine, I laughed until I almost, well, you know. That is absolutely hilarious! I bet you'd give just about anything for a picture. I can just imagine...

Loved the pic of you. You really did have long hair. That must have been so funny.

CC said...

THAT is a great story!!! And your picture is awesome. What a cutie!

Diane Viere said...

What a great story!

Brothers! Gotta love 'em! or "pummel 'em!"

Loved! Loved! Loved it!

BTW: What does that creative brother do for a living today? What an imagination.

Diane

Ann(ie) said...

HA! Love it! Brothers. Mine would probably still enjoy something like that!!

Alene said...

Cool idea to capture "retro" moments. I love it. Brothers are great. I've got good stories about mine. Thanks for sharing.

Susan said...

What a funny story. I never had these type "acventures" with siblings.
Susan

Kellan said...

Hi Nadine - thanks for coming by today. Hope you are having a good weekend. SEe you soon - Kellan

Brenda said...

I would've loved to be a fly on the wall to see that one! Hilarious!
Have a great week!
Brenda :)

Toby Parsons said...

Laughing. :) Sounds 'so' typical of brothers. :) I only have one sibling, a brother who is 3 1/2 years older than me. I always hated scary movies, and we really didn't watch much t.v. I was about 12 years old and I somehow became engrossed in a scary movie. I thought I was home alone. I was sitting in my parents bedroom on the end of their bed watching this on their t.v. My brother walked in behind me unbeknowns to me, during a 'really' scary part of the movie and yelled, "HELP ME!" I was SO startled that someone was even in the house, let alone right behind me, I was already scared out of my wits from the movie, and then was TOTALLY panicked, scared, frantic when I saw him standing / staggering there with his white t-shirt on, a knife sticking out of his stomach and blood everywhere! He was an avid hunter & fisherman, and I thought he had been dressing some animal or something and that the knife had slipped and he accidentally stabbed himself in the stomach. Then, he could no longer contain himself, and cracked up laughing! It was ketchup on his old white t-shirt and he thought this was the grandest joke of all time. Mind you, this guy was always very serious and kind and never did things like this!!! That was the meanest thing he ever did to me. :) I of course, can laugh hard about it now. :)

Shionge said...

Hey you still have that smile on Nadine after so many years ;) And your hair they are so thick and full of shine :D

Sandy said...

LOL! What a great visual! Darling pix of you, btw.

Sounds like something my boys would do to Abby :)

a woman who is said...

Oh my gosh, that is hysterical LOL

Funny boy! What did you do? I would have gotten some kind of revenge.

Demara said...

Oh my! Are you serious? haha, that is so funny!!!

Cheri said...

My trademark was 2 pig tails in ringlets. My hair is not as curly as yours...but enough that my mom would brush it around her arm and it would stay in one long ringlet (each side) all day. I'll have to post a pic sometime.

palmtreefanatic said...

nice trip down memory lane! I love the picture of you in braids too! My how long your hair was!;)

Donna F, said...

Frenchie was my Dad's nickname. So your brother was a prankster.
More inspiration for your writing.
Love the pic of you in braids. What did you parents say about that incident or was it just between you two? I can imagine how hard your brother laughed. Wow! the trick he played on Tom in the truck was dangerous. Glad he wasn't hurt. Good you guys have practiced forgiving. ;o) Tom's hat was taken hostage. Don't pay the ransom. hehe