Cold Dish Warm Dish

From my July 22 2003 post entitled Fun At Home
"When I was six, I remember standing in the hallway by the top of the stairs. To my left I could look into Geno and John's bedroom. Geno lay on his bed reading a book. I looked into his room for a few seconds until Geno saw me.
"What are you looking at ?" He said.
I smiled at Geno.
Then I threw myself down the stairs. I believe I managed to hit every step on the way down. All the way down those steps I screamed bloody murder. As I hit the bottom my parents came running in from the kitchen. Geno now stood at the top of the stairs trying to figure out what happened.
Mom and Dad picked me up and asked me what happened.
"Geno (sob) threw(sob)me (sob) down the stairs!(sob sob) AND HE LAUGHED AT ME!"( I thought that was a really good touch)
Dad narrowed his eyes and looked up the stairs at Geno who was now holding his hands up in a "Not me " gesture and backing down the hallway. Dad handed me to Mom and began to walk up the stairs.
"Think you're a big man for picking on a little boy half your size?!" As Dad marched up the stairs he took his belt off. "Are you trying to break the boy in 5 pieces? We've just put him back together! "
I'm not sure how bad he whipped Geno, but Geno gave me dirty looks for the few weeks. I just smiled sweetly back at him, content in my knowledge that he couldn't touch me."
Geno never forgot what I had done to him that night. For a couple of years afterwards he would sometimes bring it up and glare at me. Everytime he did I would only smile at him. Sweetly.
Geno eventually forgot about it (I assumed) and life moved on. In the summer of 1978, when I was 13 we lived in the small town of Atkinson Illinois. Dad was now the head administrator of the Good Shepard Foundation a clinic on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. For that summer Dad got Mom a job as some sort of secretary there.
This meant that during the days I was left pretty much alone. I spent the long lazy days that summer either riding my bike to the canal to go fishing, or just riding around looking for girls. When I wasn't roaming on my bike I spent many an hour in my backyard pretending I was a jedi.
At some point during that summer Geno was laid off from his factory job. This upset me greatly because I had to now share my empty house with him.
Dad was constantly on Geno's case about finding another job, and to get a haircut. The result was that Geno was always in a bad mood.
One summer night my other brother John was joking around and started talking about all the trouble we had gotten each other into. He soon started joking about the time I threw myself down the stairs to get Geno into trouble. Everyone laughed at the memory.
Except Geno.
The next day Geno sat around the house brooding. When Mom and Dad came home from lunch Dad asked Geno if he had even bothered to look for a Job. Geno made a smart comment back to Dad and soon they were yelling at each other. When Mom and Dad went back to work Dad told Geno he had better have a job by the end of the week. I smiled thoughout the entire time.
A little after Mom and Dad left Geno walked upstairs to our bedroom. ( I had to share a room with Geno and John.) He was only up there a few minutes when I heard him say ,"Hey Tom come up real quick I want to show you something."
I went to the stairs and looked up. Geno was standing at the top looking into our bedroom. "What is it?"
"Quiet", he said. Come up here before it goes away."
Now I was curious. I slowly walked up the stairs. When I got up to the top I looked into my bedroom. I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I turned to Geno to ask what he had seen.
Before I could say anything however I felt his hands shove me. Suddenly I found myself tumbling down the stairs. And as I fell I could hear him laughing at me."Well that was stupid of me", I thought.
When I hit the bottom I heard Geno shout out, "Hah! Not so funny now is it?!"
I didn't move.
"Tom?"
I stayed still. I heard Geno come halfway down the stairs. He stopped. "Stop fooling around!"
I lay there face down my legs still on the bottom two stairs. I heard Geno run back up the stairs. A minute later he came back down and stood next to me. "Tom?"
It took every bit of self control (and let me tell you 13 year olds don't have much.) to not break out laughing. He gave me a little shove. Again I stayed still. Geno must have stayed next to me for a couple of minutes more but then I heard the front door open and him leave.
I waited just a little more then I moved. I was very very sore. Not only had falling down the stairs hurt me a little but laying there for the last few minutes had left me very stiff. I moved around for a little laughing at how stupid Geno was.
I went upstairs and looked in the mirror. I had a nice sized bump right below my hairline. I sat on the top stairs and thought about what to do next. It was close to the time when Mom and Dad were coming home that it hit me.
I went into my parents room and found where Dad had his Playboys stashed.(It was the worst kept secret in our house.) I took a couple out and went to my bedroom. I threw the Playboys on Geno's bed.
I then went downstairs and waited by the front window for Mom and Dad to come home. It was another 30 minutes or so when Mom and Dad finally pulled in front of the house. I ran over to the bottom of the stairs and lay back down like I had fallen down the stairs.
When Mom and Dad came in I could hear Mom scream. They ran over to me and shook me. "Tom? Tom?! What happened?"
I slowly opened my eyes and did my best to look confused.
"What happened? Where's Geno?"
"Geno", I said slowly,"Went nuts Dad."
I then told a story about how I had walked upstairs and went to my room. When I opened the door I said, I saw Geno on his bed with his pants down holding a Playboy in his hand. Geno was so enraged at me he came running over and shoved me. I fell down the stairs and didn't remember anything else until Mom and Dad walked into the house.
"Why would he do something like that?" I asked weakly. Dad ran up the stairs and went into my room. He came out a moment later with his two Playboys in his hand.
"Where did he get those?" My Mom asked. There was a lot of anger in her voice.
"I don't know", Dad said. "I'm not sure where you can buy these." Dad looked very uncomfortable.
The rest of the day was paradise. I lay in bed reading comic books and whatever I asked for my parents got me. When Mom asked me if I was going to be ok, I smiled sweetly at her and nodded yes.
Geno was gone from that house for months. After that day Dad would only call him "that little Jerk Off." Geno vowed to get me back for that. I only reminded him what happened the last time he tried to get me back.
And bless his heart, Geno kept trying to get his revenge.