My dad was the oldest of seven siblings. Just after my dad graduated high school, his little brother Roy was born. My dad got married a year or so later, and I came along two years later. That made my Uncle Roy three years older than me - almost four. I grew up living not far from my grandparents and Uncle Roy. Some of my earliest memories are of Uncle Roy and his big backyard. My mom and dad worked, so when I started school I went to my grandparents' house every day and did homework with Uncle Roy as we had sandwiches and juice. Roy was super smart, and he taught me more about my schoolwork than any of my teachers ever did. Then we would play or watch television until my mom picked me up just after six.
Roy was way more like an older brother than an uncle. In some ways he was even more like a best friend. His friends sometimes didn't like me tagging along, but I remember tons of times that he stood up for me and said I was coming along, or playing too, or he'd stay home or go home.
Sometimes my parents would go out on Friday or Saturdays, and I would get to stay over with Uncle Roy and my grandparents. I loved doing that. Roy and his friends would play Dungeons And Dragons. I usually played the monsters fighting the players, but when I was about ten, I got to play my first character, and after that I usually played characters with the other guys.
Sleepovers were totally cool. I would sometimes get picked on, but it wasn't bad, and Uncle Roy wouldn't let the guys do anything really bad to me. I had more fun with him and his friends than with my own friends. When he had one or more friends stay overnight, they slept on the floor and I slept in the bed with Roy, up against the wall. When it was just Roy and me, I got the sleeping bag on the floor. Sometimes I'd say there was a bug or something in order to get to sleep in the bed.
When I was younger, I slept in the bed with him all the time. I liked that a lot. It was way nicer to be in the bed, not only because it was softer and more comfortable, but I just liked being in the bed with him. Sometimes I thought about why, but I never really knew. It was just way better being in the bed with him, all curled up next to him. It felt safer I guess.
When I was eleven, and Roy was fourteen andabout to start high school, it happened. Since there was no school, someone was slaying over at his house or he was stating at theirs a lot, and I was pretty much staying over every day. One night, Roy was going to meet his friends early the next morning to bike to the arcade downtown. I couldn't go with them. My mom was picking me up around noon and we were going shopping for some new school clothes and things. I was kind of pissed. I wanted to go with Roy and his friends. I was eleven now, and I thought I was old enough to go downtown with Roy and his friends, but my folks and even my grandparents said I was too young to go.
So, that night, no one was staying over. It was just Roy and me. We watched some movies and played around until it got pretty late. He wanted to go to sleep so he could get up in the morning and go with his friends. But I was kind of jealous and didn't want him to go. I figured that if I kept him up late, he would oversleep, or maybe be too tired to go. So I kept begging him to stay up and play video games with me. Then, when he tried to go to sleep, I would make enough noise playing the video game to keep him from falling asleep.
He got a little mad at me, and told me to turn off the video game and go to sleep. I did. Well, I turned off the video game, took off my jeans, and got into the sleeping bag. I kept thinking of how I could keep him awake so he'd be too tired to go with his friends in the morning.
"Can I come sleep in the bed? I just felt something crawl on me," I asked.
"Fine."
I crawled into his bed and under the blankets. I had heard my mom and dad talking about how dad sometimes moved a lot in the bed and woke up my mom, or kept her from falling asleep. So, I decided to try doing that. I forced myself to stay awake, even though I was getting pretty tired. I'd roll over or kick my legs, or something to make sure Roy didn't fall asleep yet.
"Lay still, dude. I gotta get up in the morning ya know."
