“Quick, hide!” I said to my little brother as we heard mom pull up the driveway. We had convinced her we were old enough at the ages of ten and seven to stay at home while she made a speedy trip to the Stop-N-Go up the street. Once she left, we enjoyed our newfound freedom by running into the den and celebrating by jumping up and down on the sofa. With the pillows on the sofa bouncing in the air from our jumping, the natural progression moved to throwing the pillows at one another as our den became a fun-filled battleground. I don’t remember who threw the pillow that hit the lamp, but I can still see it crashing to the floor. And then, I heard the sound of mom’s car pulling into the carport.
I look back on that incident and realize how foolish we were in thinking that hiding was going to keep us from facing the consequences of our actions. Did we really think that mom would never find us or the broken lamp on the den floor? I’m sure I was not thinking long term at that moment.
