The World According to Laur

This was a poem I wrote for the newsletter at church this month. The theme was "first jobs" and I thought this might make a good one. I basically found the picture first and made up the rest, altho I'm sure there were plenty of times I came close to strangling him....I don't know how to make it appear in verse, so here it is in paragraph form....

Twas’ the year I was 13 years old And my parents gave me my 1st job They were going to visit some folks My Aunt Gertrude and Uncle Bob It’s your responsibility said mom To keep an eye on your brother He’s only 10 years old you know I know that! I said to my mother But mom, I wailed loudly I don’t want to take care of that brat My father got that “I’m disappointed in you” look And said, now we’ll have no more of that Make sure he stays in the house, said mom I’m sure he’ll just watch TV And off they went to visit And left my brother with me. I ignored him for about an hour Let him just sit in front of the TV I talked on the phone in my room for a bit Then thought I better check and see If my pesky brother was still alive Make it look like I really did care But when I got to the den, I froze The kid was not at all there I looked all over the house I called and yelled out his name I got madder and madder and madder I just knew he thought this was a game I ran up and down the street Knocking on a neighbors front door My friend Joanie said, I think I saw him Heading toward the corner store As I headed down to the corner Mr. Thomson from up the street Said, I saw your little brother by the park Said he was looking for something to eat I ran to the park and saw my friend John He said, your brother? Yeah he was here He wanted to go to the mall he said So he caught a ride with Mr. O’Deere I ran to the mall and saw Mr. O’ D And said, oh, please, where is my brother I’ve lost him and it was my job to watch him It’s a special request from my mother Mr. O’Deere said, oh don’t worry now I’m sure your brother is fine I just dropped him off a ½ hour ago Down by the Dairy Queen sign I ran to the Dairy Queen to find him And saw Mrs. Jackson and her spouse Oh honey, they said, you don’t have to worry We just dropped him off at your house I knew my parents would be home in 5 minutes I made the run to my house in three there was my brother, a smile on his face sitting right in front of the TV I dove at him and we wrestled We heard the car in the drive He croaked I’ll tell mom you ignored me So, that time I left him alive But my hands were still around his neck When we heard our dear mother call Everything go ok while we were gone? Sure, we said sweetly, no trouble at all.