Richard, the Tease

Bringing friends up to the cabin was always fun. Lots of times we would invite cousins, but sometimes Keith brought Richard Brinton, or Phillip brought Kirk Rudd, or Linda brought Janice Jones.

One summer Richard came with us.  His dad was the Bishop of our ward, and our dad was a councilor.  We did lots of things with the Brintons, and Keith and Richard were best friends.

Richard liked to tease people, especially me.  Keith never teased me, though he often joined me and Phillip when we picked on Linda when she was little.  Richard enjoyed making me uncomfortable and watching her blush, though.  Most of the time I secretly enjoyed the attention, but when he gave me a new nickname it hurt. 

There were lots of funny commercials on TV, and we used them to make up jokes and play around.  One commercial was for a girdle that promised to make women look fantastic.  It began by asking if you were struggling with midriff bulge.  Richard picked up on that phrase, and whenever he saw me he called me “midriff bulge.”  That hurt, and I avoided him as much as possible, but in a small cabin that was sometimes hard to do.

It rained hard every afternoon that week.  We played games and read books in the cabin while it poured.  One afternoon Keith and Richard were playing cards at the table while Mom, Linda and I read on the front porch.   Richard got tired of playing and went out front to see what excitement he could stir up. 

“Help, help!” he hollered at the top of his longs.  “We’re being invaded!”

We all dropped what we were doing and ran to see what he was screaming about.

He pointed a shaking finger at the bubbles floating in the water made from rain dripping off the eaves of the porch.  “They’re miniature Martian spaceships!” he told us, “and they’re here to take over the world!”

It was amazing, but when we looked at those bubbles, they really did look like little spaceships floating around in the puddle at the edge of the porch.  The harder it rained, the more bubbles formed, and the more fun we had screaming about the end of the world.