There is nothing more terrifying than the sound of your grandmother’s feet coming down the hall towards your room.
Especially when she is coming with such gusto that the walls begin to shake and the floor vibrates with her intense steps heading your way.
“She’s mad,” my cousin Chris said, as he put down his Army man.
“Oh yeah,” I agreed, stopping our makeshift battle.
And then Chris and I both looked at other with a “deer in the headlights” gaze. We both instantly remembered what we left in the hallway.
“We left the Legos out there,” Chris said, almost in a whisper.
“You did, not me,” I replied, pointing my finger at him.
“You were playing with them just as much as I was...” he said.
And then we heard it.
It was the sound of Maw Maw releasing a dirty word, followed by a shriek of a banshee. And then we heard the palm of her hands slapping against the hallway wall.
It was then that Chris and I realized we almost took Maw Maw out for the count. Had she not caught on her balance on the wall, she would have landed on her back and we would have landed in the Monticello cemetery.
Chris and I sat frozen with fear as we heard Maw Maw spitting and moaning outside my bedroom door. I admit, I began to move behind Chris so he would be the first for her to see.
Within seconds, Maw Maw flung the bedroom door open, with sweat dripping down her face.
It took all I had not to bust out laughing because she still had a red Lego piece sticking on her bare right foot as she balanced herself against the door frame.
“Who left these darn Legos out,” she asked, digging the piece out of her foot.
Chris and I immediately began ratting on each other. In fact, I even threw in a tattle about him switching Paw Paw’s dip spit cup with Aunt Eva’s drink just the week before.
“I don’t care who did it,” Maw Maw bellowed. “I want you two to get every piece off this floor and throw them away. I don’t want to see another Lego piece in this house. They are gonna get somebody killed.”
Chris and I watched our childhood crumble as we reluctantly poured every Lego piece we owned in the garbage can. Maw Maw meant business, and we had no choice but to comply with her demand.
“It’s un-American not have Legos,” Chris said, as he stared over the can.
“Tell Maw Maw that, I dare you,” I replied.
We never knew what Maw Maw was originally mad about that morning that caused her to rush towards my room in such a manner.
But that Lego piece put a screeching stop to that battle.
And in typical karma-like fashion, my own eldest son has an obsession now with...Legos.
I know Maw Maw was looking down on me from above with a smile on her face when she saw me take a nosedive in the hallway after stepping on a brick Lego piece.
I even remained on the floor in the fetal position for a moment, wondering if this cycle will ever end.
Legos...the curse of all parents. A single piece can bring down a grown man and make a woman turn on her own family.
And as I peeled the Lego brick from under my heel, my son James stood over me with a grin on his face.
“Hey Momma,” he said, already laughing. “My toy needs to Lego your foot.”
I remained on the floor for a few more seconds wondering if James was being a smarty pants or possibly a genius.
