bleeping brothers

I hope Gavin won't mind me sharing this story -- it's one that Andrew and I were remembering on the drive back from Louisville. In 1984 or thereabouts, the four of us (Duncan, Gavin, Andrew and Eric) were listening to the song "The Search Is Over," by Survivor, on the radio. Gavin, who must have been about 7, was listening especially intently, and Duncan seemed to know that this was because the lyrics included a four-letter word, "damn," toward the end of the song. It's always exciting when a cuss word sneaks into a piece of mainstream entertainment. Finally, the long-awaited lyric came around, and at the critical moment -- "So if you ever loved me, show me that you give... a... " -- Duncan gave a loud censorious "BEEEEEP," totally drowning out the "damn." Gavin was absolutely livid, I mean just FURIOUS, but for obvious reasons he couldn't complain to Lexi and Alan that Duncan had ruined his song. Andrew and I needed about half an hour to recover from that one.

wake-up call

I've always been a late riser, and when we would visit Dallas as kids and teenagers Duncan would get frustrated with me for sleeping in. I remember one morning when I was in a sleeping bag on the floor of Duncan's room. I woke up with a start, sat up and looked around confusedly, saying "What happened?" Duncan, who was sitting up on his bed, said, "What do you mean, 'What happened?'" I said, "I was just lying here and then it felt like someone hit me in the face. What happened?" "Nothing," Duncan said. "You just sat up all of a sudden and said 'What happened?'" Years later, in an effort to clear his conscience, I think, Duncan reminded me of this event and admitted that he'd thrown a tennis ball at my head.