The Lessons Life Teaches, A Collection of Short Stories.

Wild and Wicked

My older brother passed last year, in the summer of 2021, with complications from Covid-19. We both had the same mother and father but were born seven years apart. 

When I was about ten years old, making my brother seventeen, he went on a date with a girl from his high school. Many times, before or after a date, he would bring the girl home to meet our parents. Our parents were very proper and respectable. Our dad was an electrical engineer and deacon of the church, and our mother was a housewife and the church secretary. Most girls that my brother asked out were equally proper and socially acceptable. Hence, they were quite boring and forgettable to a young boy of ten. However, this girl was more, much more, interesting and memorable. She was not the typical girl next door. When my brother brought her home at the beginning of their date, I recall she was thin, pretty and was dressed in a short, short summer dress, she was very animated, loud and extremely boisterous. She was the highlight of my entire evening. First, over and over she called our mother "Mom", like she and my brother were already a couple. Every time she said "Mom" you could see my mom's face cringe.  She told off-color stories about wild things she liked to do. I could tell my mother was at first flabbergasted then aghast at her behavior and stories. This even made her more interesting to me. I didn't even know these kinds of girls existed. Then when she finished one particularly spicy story she raised both her arms up in the air and pointed to the ceiling with her index fingers. Then she began twirling her arms in circles repeatedly saying in her loud voice "I'm wild and wicked." Suddenly, as a boy of ten, I thought I have the coolest brother in the whole world. I didn't think it could get better than this, but when they started to leave, out of the blue she said to my mother "Don't worry Mom, we use protection." I remember my mom got her infuriated face on and for a moment I thought she was going to throw my brother's date out the front door. In all honesty, I didn't even know what his date meant by protection until I asked one of my friends later. Then I cherished this memory even more. I recall this girl never came back to our house. I assume my brother got a stern lecture from our father afterwards. But for one night in this young boy's life, I was in seventh heaven.  You could not have made me leave the front room while she was there. Now it is a fond and cherished memory of times past.