#4

               I want to write right now, but I can’t think of anything in particular.  So I’ll tell you about my little sister, Felicia.  I’ve kind of become her father figure.  Her dad, by definition, exists.  He is real; he is corporeal.  But he does not fit the role that we as a society have designated to fathers.  Her father is currently not allowed to be her father.  The details are not relevant to the current story, but this is a required set up.

              Felicia fills me with joy every day.  What I like about this is that she also fills every day with joy.  I like this system we have going quite a bit.

              The other day, I was taking a shower.  Every once and a while, I will take a shower that is longer than what is expected of a boy.  This upsets my little sister, who usually wants to play with me in intervals of every twenty or so minutes.  On this day, however, things turned out delightfully.  My little sister walked right in and said “No no!  Don’t be angry!  I’ve gotta use the bathroom,” in the most delightful little voice.  She then asked me when I was getting out.  I told her that I would have been out by now if she wasn’t there, as I was already done (at this point, I was in for only about ten minutes).  Before she even sat down to relieve herself, she says “Oh!  OK then,” and promptly exits.  She never had to go the bathroom.  She had come in only to talk with me.

              For her birthday, I got her SpongeBob Operation.  The buzzing and vibration that SpongeBob’s nose gives off when you brush the tweezers against the side scared the crap out of my little sister.  She was genuinely afraid of it.  Felicia is five, so of course I teased her about this on the basis that she’s far too old to be scared by something so silly.  This hurt her feelings.  She ran off into her bedroom to hide.  Literally.  After coaxing her out of hiding, I promised her that I wouldn’t tease her anymore and that I’d show her that SpongeBob isn’t really all that scary.  This took a good deal of persuading and sweet little nothings on my part, but after much pouting and little little tears, she agreed.  I brought her back to the board and got the buzzing going.  This freaked her out, and she backed off a bit.  I told her not to be scared and she came closer and closer.  Thinking that trickery was afoot, she asked me one more time if I wasn’t going to trick her.  I assured her I wasn’t, and continued with her desensitization.  Once Felicia could stand within five feet of the setup, I put my nose to SpongeBob’s and prompted the buzzing.  This made her giggle a little.  I wanted her to do it.  After much reassurance that nothing would happen, she agreed to go nose to nose with SpongeBob too.  Felicia wasn‘t at a point where she felt comfortable starting the buzzing herself, so she had me do it.  Once the nose lit up and it started vibrating with her nose touching his, she exclaimed “Hey!  That tickles!” Giggling, she looked at me and smiled.  She said “Thank you,” and proceeded to hug me oh so tight.  This was one of the proudest moments I’ve had as a brother.  Now sometimes she pulls out SpongeBob operation and just holds the tweezers against the side and giggles and giggles.