The Paint Incident

The Paint Incident

Billy listened as his older brother explained to Dad why Billy was covered in green paint.

“We were cleaning the garage,” he had started. “I was doing the high jobs. I didn’t want him to be climbing up for stuff, you know, too dangerous…”

Billy absorbed that statement. He remembered exactly what Jack had said, “Listen squirt, you do the floor and the low shelves. I don’t want to get my pants dirty...”

Jack continued: “I got the ladder to get at the top shelves…”

Billy actually got him the ladder; Jack was trying to reach the high stuff standing on a chair.

“Then I started handing down paint cans so I could sweep the shelves.”

There was actually a lot of threats, and laughing.

“One must not have had the lid on tight…” Jack managed to look upset, “It started spilling and there was Billy right under me!”

That’s not what happened, Jack almost fell off the ladder trying to catch the paint with the lid, but he was saying “Mom’s gonna kill me! This is her favorite!” before he even noticed paint had hit Billy in the head.

As they stood there, waiting for Dad to respond, the boys made a silent deal with their eyes. Jack’s look said, “Save me! I’ll do anything!” and knowing his brother, Billy’s look said, “I own you for a week!” as he sneakily held out seven fingers to be sure the ‘a week’ part was understood. Jack nodded, it was worth it.

Finally, Dad said, “Are you alright?” to Billy.

“Yeah,” he said smiling, “It was just an accident…”

Jack sighed in relief.

Dad smiled knowing this would bond the boys a bit more. And Dad wasn’t just being smart, he had grown up with an older brother of his own…