Eat My Brother, Not Me!

This goes back to my first year in college and concerns my brother Mark.  It was an astounding realization at the time, but, like everything, a learning experience.  I preference this by explaining that Mark was one of the toughest persons I have ever known and I absolutely loved him.

We were interested in buying this old school bus we had seen behind Bagley Park in Buckhead, Georgia.  Bagley Park was where we played Little League baseball as kids and was near North Fulton, our high school.  I was already in college while Mark was in his senior year at North Fulton. 

It was a Sunday and the park was empty.  Mark and I wanted to look at the bus to see what condition it was in.  It was parked out beyond the outfield fence.  We walked around the field and saw that the bus door was standing wide open.  We checked out the exterior of the bus briefly and then entered the bus.  I sat in the bus driver's seat and started studying the gauges and playing with the various controls.  It had the old lever that opened and closed the door and I proceeded to play with it. 

We had not been on the bus long when Mark suddenly jumped off without saying a word and started frantically pushing on the door from the outside in an attempt to close it.  I had the door lever and easily prevented him from closing me inside.  After a bit of straining to shut the door, he took off running across the field and began scaling the outfield fence.  I had no idea what he was up to.  I stood up, and watched him through the windshield wondering what was going on.  It was then that I heard a slight noise behind me and turned to face the largest dog I had ever seen.  It was a very large long-haired German Shepherd and he was heading down the aisle straight toward me.  I just had time to jump off the bus and turn to face the monster.  I stood perfectly still as he exited and, fortunately, bounded the opposite way as me.  I like to think he was as scared as I was but that is probably not true.

I looked toward Mark and saw him peering my way safely on the other side of the six foot high fence.  I can attest that Mark would stand his ground against anyone in the school and was tough as nails.  But I learned he could be spooked and sent into a panic by anything unexpected.  I let Mark know how I felt about being offered as supper just to save his hide.  He had no excuse and was very embarrassed.  He just panicked.