A Special Sibling Drive

As the three of you approach Fiona's silver Honda Elsie pipes up. "Shotgun!"

"Damn it!" You gripe. She beat you to it fair and square though. You crawl into back as she and Fiona get in up front. As the car starts a hard driving punk song blasts from the speakers. Fiona quickly reaches down and shuts it off.

Talking to El she says. "Find us some tunes." She is looking over her shoulder to see if it was okay to pull out.

Fiona is distracted and misses the impish mischievous grin that comes across her sister. You are gleeful at the sight of it, you hadn't seen that look on her in quite some time. Elsie winks at you. "Anything?" She asks.

"Yeah, sure." Fiona says as she pulls out into the street.

Elsie excitedly reaches into her pocket and pulls out her mp3 player. She pulls a connector from a pocket in her back pack.

Fiona glances over at her. "I meant the radio."

"You said anything." Elsie reminds her. You knew trouble was brewing and you loved it! Before a few years ago Elsie had a real playful streak, a gentle trickster. Fiona was the bully but El gave as good as she got, just in a different way. That all stopped right around the time she'd gotten distant from all of you and she had really gotten into her video games.

She plugs in the cord, turns up the volume, and hits PLAY.

The second the first few guitar strings are plucked Fiona's head snaps toward your sister, her eyes widen in surprise. You all knew this song very very well. She bellows. "No. No! NO! No fucking way! You've got to be shitting me!"

With a cute little tilt of the head and an innocent bat of her eyes Elsie begins to sing in her sweetest voice. "Doko demo doa gaa...a-tari. Naka-tari suru kara yo-oh."

You heart sang in pure nostalgic joy. It was a goofy weird foreign song El had found on YouTube years ago, the pair of you used to drive Fiona crazy by marching around the house singing it at the top of your lungs. With overflowing delight you happily join in on the second verse. "Doko demo doa gaa...a-tari. Naka-tari suru kara yo-oh!!!" Leaning forward and El leaning back the pair of you are almost cheek to cheek as you sing your silly song.

"Turn it off! Turn that shit off!" Fiona warns, though she keeps her hand on the wheel. She was acting angry but she was actually starting to laugh, a smile coming to her face despite her tough words. "You little shit!" She says to Elsie. You and El respond by singing with even more enthusiasm, you remembered every bit of it. The lyrics being Japanese you had no idea what you were singing, but you knew the sounds by heart.

Fiona continued to drive, she continued to pretend to be angry and annoyed, but she was happy. She was very very happy. She just shakes her head in disbelief and drives in silence as her siblings sang like children. You and El were holding hands now and singing with everything you had. The drive, though short, was a special time for all of you.

There was light bubbly joyful mood in the vehicle by the time Fiona was pulling up to the U. "Bye Fiona." Elsie says in a teasing sing song voice as she gets out of the car. "Thanks for the ride. See you this afternoon."

You get out of the car too so you could switch to the front. You and El hug and share a giggle at El's little prank on Fiona. She heads off to class. You get back into the front passenger seat and buckle up.

Fiona sat, hands on the wheel, watching her sister as she walked away. She just sat there quietly and continued to watch Elsie until she was completely out of sight. With soft voice she says. "She's the best of us Jesse, she's the very best of us." She sighs and shakes her head. You sensed a tinge of regret or sadness in that sigh.

She returns to the moment and smiles over at you. "Okay, let's go eat. I need a coffee!"

"Want me to choose some music?" You ask.

"NO!" She exclaims. You both laugh.