I was pretty lucky as a kid. I grew up in a nice neighborhood and had 3 pretty good friends within a block of my house. The four of us pretty much just hung out everyday doing the usual things boys do, most of which involved riding bikes or playing superheroes. My best bud, Ethan, actually lived next door. Which was quite convenient I'd say.
Ethan was (and probably still is, sorry buddy) a big klutz. He also laughed a lot. At himself even. Like the time he fell off the monkey bars at school and actually broke his wrist. Even through the wincing, he was holding his busted arm and laughing in between tears. Or the time we were playing baseball in the street and he swung the bat and literally hit himself in the head. Hah. Yeah, some of my favorite funny memories of him all center on self-inflicted pain I guess.
But my favorite "painful memory" of Eth would be that one summer in my backyard. We were probably about 7 or 8 at the time I'd guess. My dad had placed these large grey slates in the corner of our yard. I have no clue why now that I think about it. He probably used them for a patio or something at some point and just put these extra ones in a pattern. Anyways, I used to play with my G.I. Joes or superheroes back there as they'd jump from slate to slate. So this one time, Ethan and I got to talking about who's stronger between the two of us. One thing led to another and we eventually decided to have a contest of strength! So I said let's see who can pick up those slates (which probably weighted 10 pounds apiece... which is like 8 tons to a kid). So I picked one up, grunted a bit and pushed with all my might to lift that sucker up over my head. Then I pretty much let it drop to the floor 'cause it was heavy. Ethan's turn. He starts picking it up. Grunts a bit too. Strains a bit more. Gets it to about his knees and... drops the slate on his foot. As he's screaming in pain, I'm laughing my butt off and shouting, "I win!"
This didn't go over too well with Ethan who was ticked off that he lost and that I was making fun of him. So he grabbed a nearby rock and started chasing me around my backyard, kicking off the Great-But-Short-Lived-Rock-Fight-of-1981. After about 10 seconds of running and screaming, my mom came out and quickly put a stop to it, sending Ethan home for the day. I'm sure he's long since forgotten that one, but thankfully my memory's good. And that's one painful memory I don't mind reliving at all.
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4 Responses to “Feet of Strength”
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You are the sweetest scratchbacker ever!! I really appreciate it Andrew!
As for your post - that's hilarious! Sounds like something two little boys would do, lol. I remember playing with the G.I. Joe's back then, my mom wouldn't buy me a Ken doll so the Barbies had no one to date except for my brother's hairy G.I. Joe's, lol. My brother would always get mad especially when I'd steal his army helicopter!
HeHe
Boys will be boys...
Ha ha! Hercules you were not!
I'm sure Ethan remembers it all, but when he tells it, I'm sure he got the slab over his head.. and he won the Great-But-Short-Lived-Rock-Fight-of-1981.