60 Damien Jaeger It was summer, during one of my high school years. I was sleeping in my roomwhen my little cousin, Honesty, barged in and turned on the lights. Awakened, and deeply annoyed, I lifted my head to look at her. She had plopped herself on the floor and was using the carpet as a racetrack for her Paw Patrol toy. I shouted for her to get out, and as I did so, I grabbed my pillow and threw it at her. The pillowmissed and landed behind her; Honesty paid me no attention. At that, my anger flared and in a flash, I got down off my bed, went up to her and punted her Paw Patrol doll right outside of my room. It was a perfect kick. The doll flew right through the gap in the doorway and sailed into the hall wall where it crashed and broke into two. Honesty yelled and ran for the doll and the second she got out I slammed the door shut and held it closed. Honesty came back to the door and started banging at it, crying. I paid her no mind, letting her tire herself out against the door. Eventually she realized I wouldn’t budge, and she walked off to the living room sniffling. An hour later, my grandma came into my room and asked me if I could set up the sprinkler outside for Honesty and her friend. In the middle of grinding through Strikes on Destiny, I didn’t at all want to do it, but nobody said no to my grandma. So, I got up and went outside where Honesty sat out on the porch holding a green, circular plastic sprinkler. I took it from her and started setting it up, and as I did so she started talking to me in a barely coherent, loud speech. It seemed she had forgotten the earlier event and was willing to be friendly again. I was annoyed; I’d rather she be sulky and silent than trying to be friendly. But I didn’t say anything, mostly because Grandma was standing above us. Once I connected the hose to the sprinkler, I turned on the outside faucet and . . . nothing happened. My grandma said something about the pipes in the basement and went to yell at my cousin, a different one, to do something about it. So, I sat there on the porch as Honesty and her friend were looking at the sprinkler. My dog, Bear, a toybreed sized mutt, was also closing in on the sprinkler. As I sat there rubbing my eyes to calmmy headache, it happened. The water to the hose suddenly turned on and the sprinkler shot out a swift stream of water. It sprayed right into Honesty’s face. Her face scrunched up and her hands came up in a delayed reaction. Her friend stared in surprise, her mouth a big “O.” Bear shot up fromwhere he stood in sheer terror and ran away yelping, the whites of his eyes showing as he fled towards me. Honesty fell backwards onto the ground, landing on her butt. I watched from the porch as Bear jumped on my lap, expecting Honesty to start wailing. And it looked like she would, as she looked at me and we made eye contact. Then there, as I stared at Honesty’s wide eyes dripping with water, I let out a “pfft!” I cracked up, laughing at everything that just happened. The terror-filled gaze of Bear, Honesty’s dazed expression and her friend’s shock. mundan e memori es
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