Not Necessarily a Goody Two-Shoes

Dave took the role of big brother very seriously. He made sure we had fun and in truth there was a level of mischief.... not quite bad kid stuff.... but closer to naughty but nice that Dave always lived by. Was he a good kid? Yes. Did he behave himself? Yes, for the most part! Was he respectful? Yes - always.

But there were times.... Times when the obedient, straight-arrow Boy Scout just had to stretch the boundaries a little. Not a lot, mind you, just a little. Enough to make the 'good kid' image remain intact, but take some of the sting and stigma out of it.

He skirted curfew more than a few times. I remember once in Rhode Island, when he was still in high school, he came home definitely drunk, working his way down the long hallway to his bedroom - the last room on the right. Trust me, this hallway was long by any standards (ranch-style house built by 'forwarding thinking' military housing execs who were under the impression in the 70's that single-floor ranch-style houses were uppercrust somehow!). My parents' room was the last one on the left - Dave's was the last one on the right.

My Mom heard Dave careening a bit back and forth against the hallway walls (did I mention it was kind of narrow??!) and shook my Dad awake, saying that something was wrong with Dave - he should go look and make sure he was all right. My Dad listened for a moment (according to my Mom's retelling of this to me many years later!) and instantly knew that his son was a little drunk and was trying to be stealthy as he made his way down the hall to his bed!

Dad, of course, reassured Mom, stepped out in the hallway, and steered his 'first time home drunk' son to his bedroom, and helped him in to bed. Per my Mom, when Dad came back into their room, he chuckled to himself and asked my Mom 'What's the noisiest breakfast you can make'? Mom told him pancakes and egg. He said 'Good - let' be sure his are sunny-side up'!

Mom, who told me that she had only suspected the truth of the situation when he woke up Dad, embraced the assignment and made a breakfast fit for a king the next morning for Dave - banging pots around, stirring with a metal spoon in a glass bowl for extra volume, and just generally made his morning-after rough! God bless him, he took it like a trooper, swallowed the aspiring my father offered to him, and chose to stay with friends any time he over-indulged after that!

Did Dave sneak out past curfew? Yes! Did he neglect his schoolwork? Yes! Was he the most popular kid on the block? Yes! And he achieved all of that while working had to be a good kid, a good son who was stretching his wings, a good friend to an incredibly diverse crowd, and a big brother who never ever dissed me or held me at arms' length. Indeed, he always sort of in an unspoken way made it clear to his friends... Be my friend, you have to respect my kid sister and treat her well. He made sure I was given the chance to fit in. :*>