Okay, so, the slapping story.... This, for some reason is a classic in my family. I once told it to one of my cousins while we were out walking around her college campus. Well, she was already in desperate need of using the facilities before I told her the story, and because she was laughing so hard when I finished, we had to literally stop walking so she could cross her legs and bend over to keep from having an accident. Some people don't find the story as amusing as I do, but I think if you know me and all my siblings, you will get a huge kick out of this. DISCLAIMER: we were not violent children. We were just normal kids. Ask anyone who has siblings that are roughly close to their age.
Okay, so, the slapping story... many years ago, when we still lived in Panama and I was about 9 and Brad would have been 8, Christina would have been 5, we had a bed-time. (Of course). But, we couldn't sleep. My dad would be downstairs watching TV and laughing and we could hear him. So, we would conspire to sneak downstairs to see what he was watching. Okay, picture included is our banister so you can understand the layout. Now, the TV was on the left (you can't see it) and my dad would be sitting a ways away on the right. So, we would sneak down the stairs to the portion of the stairs that was still hidden by the wall, and then we'd peek around the wall where the banister starts. But we would be giggling the whole time, so my dad knew we were there. So he would come charging to the stairs and pretend to be a monster and roar at as us and chase us back up the stairs with us screaming and laughing the whole way. That's actually a great memory of my dad... But anyway... So, my brilliant idea was that, if we wouldn't laugh, Dad wouldn't know we were there. (Perhaps Brad and Christina have since learned not to let me come up with the ideas...). Well, the problem was: how do we stop the laughing. So, I pulled Brad in front of me, stood him facing me, and said (as I looked seriously into his eyes), "Are all the laughs out of you?" And Brad says (just as seriously), "Yes." Now, as a kid, Brad was probably the one of us that was most prone to laughing and giggling. He was just a laughing-kid. So, the fact that he pulled off answering me without a laugh is, in and of itself, impressive. Okay, so Brad has answered: yes. So, that's really not enough for me. I need proof, because I know my brother. So, I haul off and slap him on the face. (Probably not super-hard, but hard enough to make a slapping sound). Well, that does it, Brad cracks up. So, this is proof that all the laughs are NOT out of him, and we have to repeat the procedure. And we do, until Brad doesn't laugh (or at least is able to control his laughing) after being slapped. So, once he succeeds in doing that, it's Christina's turn. And yes, she let me, too. And that's probably the part that gets most people: that Brad and Christina stood there and took it. By the way, in case you are wondering, as the oldest (and therefore, the wisest), I was not in need of slapping, as I was perfectly capable of holding in my laughter. I don't know if the plan worked, but that's not the real story anyway. The real story was the opportunity I had to literally slap my brother and sister around.... and get away with it. ah... Good times. And this is a story that we all still laugh about to this day.
Well, I am sitting at my desk laughing, so I hope you are too. And I hope the picture of our banister in our house helps you picture at least part of the story. And I don't just happen to have random pictures that seem to magically fit my story. That was a picture I scanned into my computer when I worked at Troy University in Dothan so that I could use it for something to do with a story about a Panamanian Christmas. So, that said, I added the other picture I have of Christmas in Panama. This one is of Christina when she got Bravestarr for Christmas (she loved that doll). For all I know, this was the same year the slapping took place...
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