Presents and Rules = Ruckus

I grew up in a house with five kids, two adults, 1 bathroom and 4 bedrooms.

My mother had one bedroom. My father had one bedroom. The other two bedrooms and were shared by me and my two sisters and my two brothers, respectively.

When I was young the fact that my parents each had their own bedroom seemed odd to me. Once I'd been married for a few years, to a man who snored, I fully appreciated the sanity in separate beds. With walls.

Ours was a house with rules.

Ours was a house that, in addition to seven people, also included a dog and cat.

The dog was allowed in the house but not upstairs.

The cat was not allowed in the house.

That didn't stop us.

One morning we'd snuck the dog upstairs while my father was sleeping. I think he probably knew and wasn't saying anything but at the time we thought we were being sneaky and enjoying dog time. There the dog lay, on a bed (shhhh, don't tell Dad) enjoying the petting from five sneaky kids when the cat, noticing the open window, decided to deliver a present.

It was fresh.

It was so fresh it was still alive and wiggling in her mouth.

The dog spotted the cat, the cat dropped the bird, the dog went tearing after the cat, the cat hightailed it down the stairs and the bird began to fly frantically around the bedroom while five kids dove around trying to catch the bird and get to the dog and cat to shoo them outside - all the while praying that Dad didn't wake up and catch us.

No dice.

Within moments we heard my father's roar - "What the HELL is going on up there."

Cripes.

I think it was my brother, Jon, who managed to get the door open and put on an innocent face. I know for sure it was me who caught the bird because I still remember having to crawl under the bed to get it.

"FRONT AND CENTER"

Oh, we'd heard that before. The five of us lined up in front of my father, sure we were in for it.

But somehow the humour must have been enough for my father. Because although I clearly remember the sequence of events, I'm pretty sure we didn't get in trouble.

However, from that point forward when ever we snuck the dog up stairs we made sure the window was closed.


NL