Ayo, is always daring me to do things.
Ibukun Sodipe
I like seeing the proud look on his face when I successfully complete a daring task.
Last week, he dared me to jump from the first floor of our estate. I had a mattress to land on and everything. It did not end well. I thought I was going to die from the searing pain.
Ayo looked on as I was rushed to the hospital, a guilty look on his face.
Mum and Ayo visited me at the hospital. She demanded to know what had possessed me to do such a thing.
From the corner of my right eye, I could see Ayo’s
pleading glare. Yet I pointed at him and said, “He made me do it!’
The Characters
The narrator
A six-year-old boy who looks up to his older sibling.
Ayo
A boy probably around the age of seven or eight is a bit of a daredevil. He dares his younger brother to do silly things.
Why I wrote this
I wrote this story because I was on a long train commute, having some nostalgic thoughts.
Last week, he dared me to jump from the first floor of our estate.
I was never one for doing daring things like in this story, but as kids, I and my sister used to get up to so much mischief.
Once, we filled sandwich bags with water and dropped them down from our second-floor window as passers-by walked by and then, we ducked so that they would not see us. Of course, now that we are grown up, we look back at those days and tut at how naughty we were. Don’t worry; we now have less mischievous ways of having fun.
Don’t you dare tell on me!
You probably know that look all too well. Maybe you have said it out loud to your younger brother or sister as they were about to tell on you.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see Ayo’s pleading glare.
‘Yet I pointed at him and said, “He made me do it!’
As I wrote this part, I thought about the many times I told on my sister too.
Kids look up to their older siblings
‘I like the proud look on his face when I successfully complete a daring task’.
I think a lot of kids look up to their older siblings this way. Its only natural. I have heard kids say things like, ‘when I grow up, I want to be just like my older brother/sister’.
The moral of the story
To all older siblings, look out for your brothers and sisters. They do look up to you.
The sibling relationship is a beautiful thing – when you grow up, you all can laugh together about the things you all got up to as kids. I still do.
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