The Red Slap
	One day my brother Andy and two of his friends Norman Spangler and Joe Gray Lindsey were going over to Norman's house which was on the next street over. We got there by walking a dirt road. Andy and his friends were about eight, Joe Gray may have been a little older so that would've made me six. I liked going to the Spanglers' house because in their kitchen they always had three things that fascinated me. On the window sill was always a sweet potato stuck in a jar of water held halfway out of the jar with toothpicks. The leafy vines from the sweet potato grew and hung all over the kitchen. Then there were the magic rocks. These were little "rocks" that were all different colors and were about the size of dry dog food pellets. You'd put them in a liquid solution in a jar and they'd grow into three or four inch high stalactites that were all different bright colors. And last, was a black and white Felix the cat clock with the eyes and tail that tick ticked back and forth. This particular day I was a tagalong and even though I knew I wasn't wanted to be there with the older guys I didn't care. After they left Norman's house they were going down his street to another friend named Eddie's house. Eddie had one blue eye and one brown eye and I was NOT going to miss that. Eddie had a sister named Mildred that he always called Sister so we all did to. "Sister" was the only name she ever went by. In looking back it seems kind of odd but at the time it seemed perfectly ordinary. As we were walking the little two rut dirt road going to Norman's house Andy kept telling me to stop following them and to go back home. I wasn't having that. Finally as a last resort, now keep in mind that he had tried everything else and this is just arguing brother stuff, he slapped me. That definitely worked. I ran home squalling, holding my face. I couldn't wait to tell my mother because I knew she would be mad and that he would be in trouble for what he had done. I ran into the house and down the hall. Mother was in the bathroom taking a bath. Having six kids, it was one of the few times that the house was quiet so I guess she was going to take advantage of it. I fell on the floor in a big heap outside the locked bathroom door crying crocodile tears. She asked what was wrong and I said pitifully through quivering lips "Andy slapped meeee." She said "I'll be out in a minute." As the minutes were passing while I was still on the hallway floor I could feel the sting of the slap going away and I was sure the redness was too. This would never do. I wanted him to pay for what he had done to me. Well, I went into my parents bedroom and got a thing of rouge that was on my mother's dresser. It was about the size of a quarter and when you took the lid off it had this cake of red stuff inside. You guessed it. I covered what had been my throbbing cheek nice and thoroughly. I remember how bright it looked but it looked real to me. I kind of looked like Bozo the Clown. I quietly hurried back to my place outside the bathroom door just as my mother was coming out. She had a damp towel in her hand. She said "Now, tell me what happened?" I said "Andy slapped me." As I held my cheek up toward her to see. She didn't say a word which in itself was puzzling because she was always at attentive to our every need. She quietly took a corner of the damp towel and rubbed a little circle on my cheek, turned it around and looked at the red on the towel and went on about her business without saying a word. I think that's the only time my mother ever ignored a situation and it really taught me a lesson. Lynn Ash