Sibling stories

Back in the good 'ole days, when kids could play outside until dark without the fear of someone kidnapping them, me and my siblings were NEVER in the house. We'd be outside playing hide-and-seek, putting lawnchairs on skateboards and pushing each other 'round the cul-de-sack, or teaching the Polish kid next door bad words. By the way, hearing a 15 year old Polish kid, who speaks NO English, run around yelling, "Weinie" at the top of his lungs is, perhaps, the funniest thing ever. Unless he's saying "peachie." Yeah, that's pretty damn funny, too.

There was this large, electrical box-thingy down the road from us. It belonged to the county, I suppose, so it was fenced in, with barbed-wire around the top. Behind this thing, was a bike trail. Remember bike trails? I'm not talking the paved kind, I'm talking about the ones that the "bad" kids always made with their dirt bikes. So, there was this bike trail that went off into the woods. It was really steep--going nearly straight down--blackberry brambles to the left, and other thorny bushes to the right. We dubbed it DEVIL'S DROP. Pretty ingenious name for a couple of kids, eh? The drop used to scare the piss out of me, but I was 10, and didn't want to look like a pussy in front of my brother, so I'd hop on my red ten-speed, pull up to the top of the drop, close my eyes, and pray to God that I wouldn't fall off my bike and hit my taco on the crossbar.

I don't think I ever made it down "Devil's Drop" without wiping out.

Hours later (and countless concussions, I'm sure), the three of us would be riding home, singing our song at the top of our lungs:

If...
there...
was...
a...
peanut-butter sandwich in the middle of the road,
I'd run over it and watch it explode!

uh-bee-bee-bahhhh!
uh-bee-bee-bahhhh!

If it didn't explode, I'd pick it up and throw it down Devil's Drop!

uh-bee-bee-bahhhh!
uh-bee-bee-bahhhh!

Hey, I never said it was Grammy worthy--we were kids for God's sake.

To this day, if one of the three of us starts off with "If...there...was...a..." the other two will chime in with the peanut-butter line.

Siblings. Man, they rock.