Inking

My brother used to do this thing we called Inking. I'm not sure if that's how it's spelled, but it seems to be right. He had this ability to spray spit from his mouth by curling his lips, and darting his tongue out toward his teeth. We had no other word for it that described it as good as Inking did. I don't think he actually made the sound, but it seemed as though he should make the noise if needed. The spit would spray me and any object in its path. It was disgusting, but it made us laugh. Ira said he hasn't Inked in years. But I suspect that's not true. He does this thing so inconspicuously that if you have no idea the gesture exists, you'd really be left in the dark.

Siblings do things like that to each other. Annoying things that really irritate the person being tortured. Another thing he used to do was try and get me to go in the other room to read. I always had my head in a book when I was a kid, but for some reason that bothered Ira. He'd see me reading on the couch next to him, and he'd try to irritate me my shaking his legs. Or he'd say, "you want to read? Go in the bathroom." He'd also say things like, "what's that smell? Maybe you breathed on yourself." It was annoying then, and I imagine it would be annoying today too.

My brother also has this habit of burping on people. He'll belch and then push the breath out toward you. It stinks and it is something I never wish on anyone. When our father was in the hospital--before he died--Ira used to belch my way and laugh, It brought a welcomed levity to the situation, but I still hated it to no end.

My kids are the same way. Maybe not specifically like I described it, but they like to annoy each other. And I was never a saint either. I'm sure if I wait long enough, Ira will respond to this with examples of whatever torture I attempted to dish out when we were kids. Maybe it's a rite of passage. Maybe it's just fun.

Either way, as I stood next to Ira today at the Arlington Million, and I saw him curl his lips, I immediately cringed and waited for the spray of spit to hit me.