The Worst Punishment Ever
“How in the world did you manage to break the biggest window in the entire
house?” My mother’s face flared so red that I was afraid she might literally explode. The
explanation that I wanted to give her wouldn’t make the situation any better. Exactly
how I launched my new skateboard through the front window was still a mystery to me.
There was no way that my mother would forgive me for my stupid mistake.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how upset I am about this! You’ve just earned
yourself a full day of cleaning out all of the gutters,” screamed my mother. My worst
nightmare had come true. Not only do I hate heights, but our gutters had also been
steadily filling with leaves since the fall began. This was the worst situation possible,
especially since I was supposed to be hanging out with my friends during the afternoon. I
had to figure out a way to get out of this.
My brother walked into the room just as my mother walked out. He had a
football in his hand, and that’s when the idea struck me. I followed my brother outside
into the backyard.
“Hey, Randy. Toss me the ball.” I shouted. He turned and threw me a perfect
spiral. I dropped back as if I was about to throw him a pass in return, but instead I
launched the ball onto the roof. He looked at me with disgust, grabbed the ladder from
the garage, and climbed up onto the roof to get the ball. As soon as he was safely on the
roof, I pulled the ladder away.
“What are you doing, you moron?” yelled my angry brother. He was flailing his
arms like a maniac, but I calmly responded.
“As soon as you clean out all of those gutters, I’ll put the ladder back up. You
better hurry, because I’m leaving for my friend’s house in about 30 minutes.”
My brother cleaned out those gutters so fast that you would think that it was his
favorite hobby. As he worked, he said some words that I had never even heard before. I
have never seen him so angry. With my bike leaning up against a tree only a few feet
away, I placed the ladder back in its place and made my getaway. I would pay for my
trick, but not today.