Week 10 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is “Siblings.”
The LaViolet siblings like to joke that they were too poor for toys, and that’s why their parents had their fifth and final child, Gary. Ron, Linda, Steve, and Judy gleefully tormented their youngest brother. He had a pudgy little tummy – perfect for inflicting “pink belly.” They rapidly smacked his belly until it turned bright pink, while yelling, “Pink belly! Pink belly!”
Gary’s belly was the target of other creative forms of torture. Whenever the family cat had kittens (which was quite often) each sibling grabbed one of his limbs and held him down. They filled his belly button with milk and then covered him with kittens. Gary bucked his body, while screeching with laughter as the kittens’ sandpaper tongues lapped up the milk. The more he writhed and wriggled, the deeper the kittens dug in with their needle-sharp claws.
If his brothers invited him to play, it usually involved a joke at his expense. Whether playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians, the game often ended with Gary tied to one of the basement support poles. Then his brothers abandoned him to play kick-the-can or baseball with their friends. Sometimes Gary was tied up for more than an hour if Steve and Ron gagged him before they left or if Nana was visiting neighbors.
Looking at that cute little face, you might feel sorry for Gary. Don’t. As a teenage uncle, he got full revenge by torturing his first few nieces and nephews. Many tears were shed because of “mean Uncle Gary.”
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