Obtaining skills from a hippie

One day a few years back, amidst a brilliantly shining sun and very chipper birds, my cousin Shelby and I passed a volleyball routinely back and forth. We talked with each other explaining the facts of our lives during this time. I was about 16, she was 15.

I explained about how things at my mom's job were getting worse and how she came home every night explaining how much she hated her bosses and she would give me her "I quit" speech that we both knew she would never say. Shelby and I giggled over that as she began to tell me how things with her sisters had been going lately.

The sister second to her, Jayci, had been pretty sassy with everybody lately and she was in that "why doesn't anybody understand me" age. “We’ve all been there,” I told Shelby.

Shelby then began to talk about her youngest sister Sofia. Sofia was quite an interesting kid of about 7 years. She always tried getting her point across in the most hysterical ways, sometimes unknowingly. She would be attempting an explanation of her reasoning when all of a sudden she's petting Shelby's head whispering "hush taco." Such things I've witnessed with Sofia.

While speaking of the little one, she came bouncing around the corner of the yard on her bike. "Look at me I'm going to jump the ramp!" she announced. She then preceded to drive over the ramp without the slightest indication of a jump. Shelby and I both cheered, despite the failure. Sofia ditched the bike and then decided she was going to join our volleyball toss. "Sofia this is big girl time," Shelby explained. Sofia of course combated that with an explanation that she was a big girl and demanded the ownership of the ball. After arguments between the two sisters Sofia suddenly burst out with "Do you want me to scream like a hippie?!" After finishing a roar of laughter, I opened my mouth and asked "How does one scream like a hippie?" Shelby then cut me off with a quick "Don't ask her that!" Next thing I know there was a sudden sharp, annoying ring of a sound that emerged from Sofia. Shelby then tossed her the ball in defeat. Sofia beamed with victory as she hit the ball in an upward motion. And that was that.

It was surprising to me how smart the kid’s plan had been. She knew for a fact that we would not want to hear her hippie screaming and that in turn she would get the ball just so we could get her to shut up. I never had siblings so I never developed these skills. In conclusion of this story I would like to add that Sofia, like many young girls her age, had discovered that she could use her skills to obtain a swift triumph over her sisters. She’s a devious little thing. Point Taken, when trying to get something you want, just start some trusty hippie screaming.