It would have been a great story if that rock I found in the backyard really was a diamond.

I was playing with my tin soldiers over by the grapevines, when I saw it sparkle at me. I picked it up and it looked like a rock, but it had shiny flakes in it.

I was pretty sure it was a diamond but my Dad took a quick look at it as he passed by me, on the way to punish my older brother. He said that my diamond was just a rock, so I threw it away.

That noise you hear is my brother Bob crying. He’s getting a spanking because of what happened to Dad’s car. It’s a two-toned, red and white Mercury Monterey. It’s a brand new 1953, with only 165 miles on it.

Dad got it from the Oldsmobile dealer on Rantoul Street. I don’t know how he got a Mercury from the Oldsmobile dealer, but my Pop’s good at stuff like that.

Poor Bob…he’s really getting it. That’s cause Daddy is ripping mad about Bobby’s name being scratched into the rear view mirror of the Mercury. When he came home from work, Dad parked his pickup truck and hopped in his new car and let out a wicked loud scream when he tried to back out of the driveway and he saw Bobby’s name carved in the mirror.

Bobby protested that he didn’t do it, but Dad was only in the mood to spank, not to listen. I should feel bad for my older brother, but I don’t because he picks on me. He’s bigger. He’s two years older. He’s always pushing me around. Just because he’s a sixth grader he thinks he can do anything.

But he does take me to the movies a lot. That’s nice of him. But when we went to see a double feature of “The Thing” and some other movie, I was a really scared eight year old.

I made it through the whole movie, even though I was so frightened that I cried. After the first movie, which was The Thing, I thought I

was safe.

“Billy, ‘The Thing’ wasn’t scary,” my brother said, “If you thought that was frightful, just wait until you see the second picture…it is ten times scarier.”

“I don’t wanna see it. I’m going home,” I screamed and dashed out of the Cabot Theater, running all the way home. When I got to my backyard, I was ashamed for being timid…so I hid in the cellar.

Poor Bob. When he got home without me and my Mom found out what happened, it was punishment time for my brother.

Just as they were preparing to launch a frantic search for me, I came up the cellar stairs and walked in the kitchen, still crying from the scary movie. I got extra dessert that night, while poor Bob got punished for not taking good care of me at the movies.

Bob does take me to carnivals and fairs. They had a show on the Beverly Common. A giant tent was set up for a circus and there were rides and food places. There even was a ferris wheel. Bob took me on the ferris wheel. When it stopped and we were at the top, he started swinging the seat. Back and forth he kept swinging it until I thought I was going to fall out.

When I started to cry he laughed and laughed.

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I feel like laughing now. My older brother is getting spanked for his name being scratched in the rear view mirror.

I always had heard that diamonds could cut glass. So when I found that diamond/rock out by the grapevines, I devised a foolproof test.

“If the diamond/rock cuts glass, then it is a real diamond.

I just need some glass to test it on. The mirror on my Dad’s new car is glass. If it’s just a rock, I won’t be able to scratch the glass….but if it does scratch it, then it is a diamond.

But if it scratches the mirror and it’s only a sharp rock, then I will get in big trouble.

But what if I scratch my brother’s name in the mirror?

If it’s a diamond, Dad will be happy and he won’t care about his mirror getting wrecked.

But if it’s not a diamond, then my brother will be in big trouble!!!!!

Heh heh.“