I threw an open-handed slap with the heel of my hand. I was aiming downward since I was so much taller than Lisa was, and it landed hard on her forehead, forcing her to take a small step backward. I smiled, thinking that this was going to be easy, but Lisa surprised me by coming right back with a stinging slap to my cheek. We both hesitated for a second, then started throwing punches in bunches at one another. Lisa wasn’t backing off; I had to give her that. My arms were longer and my blows landed more often than hers, but she kept coming at me. Her teeth were gritted and her eyes looked mean.
Again, I felt uneasy that she would even dare to try this, yet, I felt confident that I would, sooner or later, land a telling blow that would hurt her. Then, I planned to wrestle her down and put her on her back where I would torture Lisa until she swore never to go against me again.
Finally, it happened, I threw a straight punch and it landed squarely on her nose. She let out a sharp “Oh!” and stumbled back two steps. Now I felt great again! I would move in with more punches and win the fight. I was again smiling as I stepped forward. As I did, I saw Lisa look at me with pure hatred, rather than the fear that I expected. I saw her draw her right arm back and……
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I felt myself propelled roughly backward. I was helpless to stop my momentum as my back and head slammed into the wall. My mind was spinning and I sank to a sitting position against the wall.
It was hard to think. Lisa must have punched me, right? Once, when watching a professional boxing match, I heard the analyst say that the punches that do the most damage are the ones that the boxer doesn’t see coming. That must have been the case here…..I never saw the punch. How could Lisa have accomplished this?
My eyes started to focus and I saw Lisa standing in front of me. She was smiling, and that smile made me feel weak inside. She looked so small and vulnerable…..and yet she was standing and I was sitting, having been cleanly knocked down by my baby sister, whom I had always controlled. My stomach was flip-flopping with nervousness.
Lisa ordered me to stand up, but I needed another moment to clear my head. Even though I felt uneasy, I still figured I would clobber her when I did get up.
But, it wasn’t happening fast enough to suit Lisa. She walked over and stood directly in front of me. As I waited for her to bend down and hit me with her hands, she instead raised her bare foot and started slapping my face with it. First she smacked me with the bottom of her foot, then swung back the other way and cracked the top of her foot against my face. She repeated this over and over. They were hard, chopping blows and they hurt like crazy. If it was hurting her foot, she didn't show it.
Was it more humiliating to be beaten with feet than with hands? I guessed that it was… that’s why Lisa was doing it. She wanted to beat me as badly as possible to make up for all the times I had bullied her.
But I hadn’t ruled this family for years by being soft. It’s true that I had never had a setback before, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t turn this fight around. Face it, Lisa was still going to suffer at my fists!
I managed to grab hold of her flying foot and pushed it backward. She retreated several steps, giving me time to stand up. Wanting to end this quickly and convincingly, I rushed straight at Lisa, intending to overwhelm her with my mighty fists.
Instead, she sidestepped at the last second and drove her knee joltingly into my stomach. I fell forward helplessly and Lisa used her agility to direct my body face first into the laundry basket! I was on my knees and she was forcing my face into the pile of my dirty clothing. It was horrible being forced to smell all the foul garments, and it was even worse being held down face-first by my tiny sister. She had both hands pressing on the back of my head and I was smothering helplessly. I struggled mightily and somehow managed to turn over….but that made it even worse. The back of my head was now lying on the laundry as Lisa removed her hands and instead forced her foot into my face, really mashing it against my mouth, nose and eyes. Her foot had become quite dirty from moving around on the floor during our fight, and it was disgusting when she forced it between my lips and wiggled her toes against the roof of my mouth and my tongue.
Lisa stopped her attack and stepped back, smiling confidently at me. She figured I was finished, but I thought I could catch her off guard and attack her once more.
I staggered to my feet and charged, feeling that I could get to her before she could react. I was wrong, though, as Lisa calmly watched me run toward her. It didn’t look like she was even going to defend herself as I got closer and closer. And then…….
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I came to my senses slowly. I thought only a few seconds had gone by, but I didn’t know for sure……all I knew is that I was on the floor, lying flat on my back and staring at the ceiling. Had it been another punch that I never saw? Or could it have been one of Lisa’s vicious kicks? I never did find out.
As my mind cleared, I realized that my arms and legs were hog-tied. I turned my head and saw that Lisa had used a jump rope to tie my limbs behind me. I noticed, too, that I had been stripped nude. Lisa had removed everything: from my sweatshirt to my socks, from my panties to my bra. When I tried to speak, I found that she had crammed my panties into my mouth. I looked down and saw them more clearly. They were yellow with white marigolds. I didn’t own a pair like that. Then I realized…..she had crammed HER panties into my mouth! Oh Lord, the humiliation!
I looked up, and there was Lisa smiling triumphantly at me. Looking at her, I finally realized that I was afraid of my little sister. She had the car keys in her hand and announced that:
“I’m taking the car to cheerleading practice now. As I’m sure you now realize, things have changed forever around here. And you’d better get MY laundry done before I get home.”
Oh, no! She was leaving me tied up and naked? How could I do her laundry if I couldn’t get free of the rope? What if our parents and brother came home and found me bound and naked on the floor? She can’t leave me like this! She can’t!
And Lisa, who could read all this on my frantic face, smiled sweetly at me as she walked out the door.