I Write Short Stories
Big Brother, Little Sister, Scrambled Eggs & Tightie Whities... I was Daddy's little girl for the most part growing up. But there was something that my Dad and my brothers did that I wanted to do too. They liked to go hunting. I was a girlie-girl, but I wanted to be with the boys and do what the boys did with Daddy. I begged my Dad to take me. He said that I couldn't go when it was actual hunting season when people were shooting, but he would let me go with them when they were "running the dog". I didn't understand that (I was only about 7 or 8) but he explained that it was practice for the dog to go out and sniff out rabbits and to keep him trained not to chase deer. Prince was the family hunting dog, part beagle and part bluetick and he lived in our back yard, chained up with a little dog house under a tree. He was a sweet dog and my Dad would often talk about Prince to his hunting buddies and brag about having the best hunting dog. If Prince saw a orange hunter's vest he would howl and bark with excitement. All my Dad would need to do is show him one of those vests, unchain Prince and open the trunk of the car and Prince would run full speed and hop in, which is where he comfortably laid until they got to the woods. My Dad always said he never saw a dog who loved to hunt as much as Prince did. My Dad loved that dog so much. I remember hearing my father loudly sobbing when he died. That was the first time I ever heard my Dad cry.
The day arrived when I was finally going to be "one of the boys" and my Dad woke me up and it was still a little dark outside. I was so excited! The house was really quiet and me, my Dad and my brother Matt tip-toed downstairs as to not wake everyone up. We went downstairs and my Dad started to cook breakfast. That was very bizarre to me because my father NEVER cooked anything. I just stared in amazement as he stood at the stove stirring scrambled eggs and throwing in handfuls of this and that. He made scrambled eggs with chopped onions, sliced hotdogs and some cheese thrown in, toast with butter and jelly and even let me have a little cup of coffee. All of us kids drank coffee growing up, but it was really mostly coffee flavored milk with lots of sugar in it.. He said that's what they always had before they went hunting, so of course I gobbled it all up just like they did but I didn't really care for it, I only pretended that I did so I could fit in.
My brother got all the gear together and put Prince in the car. My Dad gave me a orange hunter's vest that was so big, I was swimming in it but I was so excited to put it on. Then he gave me a hat that not only covered my head but half of my face too, but I felt as if I looked the part. I can remember the two of them looking at me with little smirks on their faces, I guess because I probably looked pretty funny in my little get-up or the fact that I was trying so hard to be like them when in fact I was just a little girl trying to be something or someone I wasn't. I think my Dad liked the fact that I wanted to be with him and be like him, even though I was 'Daddy's Baby Girl".
We didn't have to go far to get to where we needed to go. It was only about 10 minutes away, but to me it seemed like it took forever. My Dad made a couple of turns and then slowly drove onto a narrow gravel covered road and parked the car. I could see a big field with a wide path with a lot of shubbery on one side, a large field that went up a hill to the right and a small stream coming down on the other side. There were alot of brightly colored leaves that had fallen from the nearby maple trees and were scattered all around and some floating in the water of the stream. My Dad went to the back of the car and opened the trunk, Prince jumped out and excitedly started to sniff with his tail up in the air but swinging back and forth. Within a few seconds, he started to make a strange sort of barking noise, a noise I never heard him make before, and then he took off running into the bushes. I asked why he was making that noise and they told me that he was picking up the scent of a rabbit and that's why Prince was barking like that. My Dad bent down to me and was pointing in the direction of where the dog went and said "See...see the end of Prince's tail and how it's white? Hunting dogs tails are like that so the hunters can spot them. See. There he is." Then my brother told me to look down and we could see tracks on the ground and he said they were deer tracks. Then we saw rabbit tracks. My brother Matt was showing me the difference between the two. I was actually learning alot from hanging out with the boys.
Everything was going great. I was learning, hanging out with Daddy and my big brother, feeling like one of them. I told my Dad that I was getting thirsty and he said that they always take sips of water out of the little stream. I liked the idea because that seemed like such a non-girl thing to do. So, my brother and I were cupping our hands in the water, bringing our hands up to our mouths and sucking that refreshing, cold water and it was really good.
My brother and I had a typical big brother-little sister relationship. I got on his nerves most days and he teased me and picked on me in return. That was the normal dynamic in our house and on a daily basis my parents heard "He's touching me!" or "Mom! Tell Joyce to go away!" but on this day, I thought that we were on the same level. I looked like he looked. I was doing what he was doing. I was the same as Matt. Or so I thought.
I guess my big brother had to remind me that although I was dressed like a hunter and looked like a hunter I was still his little sister, so in typical, bratty, big brother fashion, he took it upon himself to give his baby sister a nice, big shove as she leaned over the stream to get a drink and push her in. I was no longer one of the boys. I was a soaking wet, shivering, crying little girl, screaming for her Daddy.
It was cold that day. I remember seeing a flurry or two. All of the clothing I had on was soaking wet. Everything that my brother had on was dry. My father was not the kind of parent who would say "Now, that was a bad decision and we need to talk about this". No. Absolutely not. When my father turned around and looked at us, without skipping a beat, he didn't yell or scream he just told my brother to take off his clothes and give them to me. Right then and there. He was only allowed to keep his underwear and his boots on.
So that's what he did. We both stripped and I put on his warm clothes and he was left with nothing but his tightie whities and his boots as my 6'6 father stood over him and the snow flurries started to blow around us. Prince was a still out in the big field somewhere sniffing out rabbits so we had to wait for him to come back around. I honestly don't remember how long it took for Prince to come back. It could've been ten minutes or it could'vbe been a half an hour, I really don't know. All I do know is, I'm sure it felt like an eternity to my brother in his boots and tightie whities.
That was the day I learned how to tell the difference between rabbit tracks and deer tracks. I think this was the day my brother learned the true meaning of regret.
The day arrived when I was finally going to be "one of the boys" and my Dad woke me up and it was still a little dark outside. I was so excited! The house was really quiet and me, my Dad and my brother Matt tip-toed downstairs as to not wake everyone up. We went downstairs and my Dad started to cook breakfast. That was very bizarre to me because my father NEVER cooked anything. I just stared in amazement as he stood at the stove stirring scrambled eggs and throwing in handfuls of this and that. He made scrambled eggs with chopped onions, sliced hotdogs and some cheese thrown in, toast with butter and jelly and even let me have a little cup of coffee. All of us kids drank coffee growing up, but it was really mostly coffee flavored milk with lots of sugar in it.. He said that's what they always had before they went hunting, so of course I gobbled it all up just like they did but I didn't really care for it, I only pretended that I did so I could fit in.
My brother got all the gear together and put Prince in the car. My Dad gave me a orange hunter's vest that was so big, I was swimming in it but I was so excited to put it on. Then he gave me a hat that not only covered my head but half of my face too, but I felt as if I looked the part. I can remember the two of them looking at me with little smirks on their faces, I guess because I probably looked pretty funny in my little get-up or the fact that I was trying so hard to be like them when in fact I was just a little girl trying to be something or someone I wasn't. I think my Dad liked the fact that I wanted to be with him and be like him, even though I was 'Daddy's Baby Girl".
We didn't have to go far to get to where we needed to go. It was only about 10 minutes away, but to me it seemed like it took forever. My Dad made a couple of turns and then slowly drove onto a narrow gravel covered road and parked the car. I could see a big field with a wide path with a lot of shubbery on one side, a large field that went up a hill to the right and a small stream coming down on the other side. There were alot of brightly colored leaves that had fallen from the nearby maple trees and were scattered all around and some floating in the water of the stream. My Dad went to the back of the car and opened the trunk, Prince jumped out and excitedly started to sniff with his tail up in the air but swinging back and forth. Within a few seconds, he started to make a strange sort of barking noise, a noise I never heard him make before, and then he took off running into the bushes. I asked why he was making that noise and they told me that he was picking up the scent of a rabbit and that's why Prince was barking like that. My Dad bent down to me and was pointing in the direction of where the dog went and said "See...see the end of Prince's tail and how it's white? Hunting dogs tails are like that so the hunters can spot them. See. There he is." Then my brother told me to look down and we could see tracks on the ground and he said they were deer tracks. Then we saw rabbit tracks. My brother Matt was showing me the difference between the two. I was actually learning alot from hanging out with the boys.
Everything was going great. I was learning, hanging out with Daddy and my big brother, feeling like one of them. I told my Dad that I was getting thirsty and he said that they always take sips of water out of the little stream. I liked the idea because that seemed like such a non-girl thing to do. So, my brother and I were cupping our hands in the water, bringing our hands up to our mouths and sucking that refreshing, cold water and it was really good.
My brother and I had a typical big brother-little sister relationship. I got on his nerves most days and he teased me and picked on me in return. That was the normal dynamic in our house and on a daily basis my parents heard "He's touching me!" or "Mom! Tell Joyce to go away!" but on this day, I thought that we were on the same level. I looked like he looked. I was doing what he was doing. I was the same as Matt. Or so I thought.
I guess my big brother had to remind me that although I was dressed like a hunter and looked like a hunter I was still his little sister, so in typical, bratty, big brother fashion, he took it upon himself to give his baby sister a nice, big shove as she leaned over the stream to get a drink and push her in. I was no longer one of the boys. I was a soaking wet, shivering, crying little girl, screaming for her Daddy.
It was cold that day. I remember seeing a flurry or two. All of the clothing I had on was soaking wet. Everything that my brother had on was dry. My father was not the kind of parent who would say "Now, that was a bad decision and we need to talk about this". No. Absolutely not. When my father turned around and looked at us, without skipping a beat, he didn't yell or scream he just told my brother to take off his clothes and give them to me. Right then and there. He was only allowed to keep his underwear and his boots on.
So that's what he did. We both stripped and I put on his warm clothes and he was left with nothing but his tightie whities and his boots as my 6'6 father stood over him and the snow flurries started to blow around us. Prince was a still out in the big field somewhere sniffing out rabbits so we had to wait for him to come back around. I honestly don't remember how long it took for Prince to come back. It could've been ten minutes or it could'vbe been a half an hour, I really don't know. All I do know is, I'm sure it felt like an eternity to my brother in his boots and tightie whities.
That was the day I learned how to tell the difference between rabbit tracks and deer tracks. I think this was the day my brother learned the true meaning of regret.
56-60, F
