My brother’s treachery knew no bounds even as a child. I was the undisputed leader of the gang controlling betting on Scrabble. It was my gang. MINE! I even had a special gesture that, when I made it, everybody knew that they had to listen up.

Even before the little weasel made a grab for my position, he showed himself ambitious and scheming. I had to lean into him hard and stare him down frequently.

It did no good. He took advantage of my helping a little old lady across the street to horn in as the new gang leader! He even stole my secret signal! When I got back, I had to take a place in the line, where I just hung my head.

I came soooo close once to ramming his smug face into his birthday cake, but my Dad came along and stopped me. He was a bad dad.