It was one of the many tasks on the list of “things to do my” that Mum had left me and my brother Jack to do while she was staying with Granddad during this lockdown. Clean the shed, wow how thrilling that was going to be ... not! Of course, as usual doing anything with my little brother meant doing it myself. He had the attention span of a goldfish and would be no help whatsoever. I suppose that is not quite true, he can concentrate for hours on his stupid Xbox games with his geeky mates.

I had been asking him for days now to come and make a start on the shed and it was always the same reply. Another game had just started and he had to finish it or he would let his friends down. Then another, then another, I had to do something and then I had a brain wave. I would just go into the garage and flick the power switch, easy, no Xbox then. Of course it would really wind him up as well and that was always fun.

“Hey Jade, all the power is off what’s going on?” he ran downstairs looking alarmed.

I just looked and shrugged my shoulders and pretended I had no idea. He went right to the Garage and looked and said the switch was down. I was disappointed he worked it out right away but I waited 5 mins then flicked the switch back. Again he bounded downstairs two at a time and went to the power board. He looked quizzically at me and mumbled that there could be something wrong but ran back to his room. Once again I gave it 5 mins and turned it off again. This time when he ran down I let my face slip and gave him a knowing smile.

“Oh Jade WTF, you have seriously messed up my game, what’s your problem?” He snapped.

I remained calm and reminded him how he had promised to help clear the shed after one more game, and that was a week ago. He looked angry and warned me not to turn the power off again or else, then stormed off back to his room. I gave it 10mins this time and went again, only now I stood by the switch with my arms folded. We had a brief Mexican standoff before he tried to push past me to get to the switch. I let him by but calmly told him I could keep this up all day so what was he going to do, “tie me up”.

“Oh don’t tempt me Jade, I would love to tie up and gag your nagging mouth, you’re worse than Mum,” he exclaimed but with a hint of amusement.

He went to the kitchen and made a coffee then returned and admitted I had won and the quicker we got the shed done the sooner he could get back to his game. I was very pleased with myself and told him to make me a coffee and thought I had taught him a lesson not to mess with his big sister. He brought me the coffee and looked rather crest fallen and in a miserable, sulky mood. I told him he better alter his face and at least look like he could spend an hour doing something together and it wasn’t going to kill him to smile. I got a grunt as a reply and had half a mind to tell him to stick it and I would do the shed by myself but I knew that was what he wanted.

We had been at it for about half an hour when he dragged a long, thin, not quite straight, round end piece of wood. He mimicked using it as a walking stick and it flexed a lot so it was obvious that was not its purpose. Then he swung it through the air making a loud whooshing noise. It was then the penny dropped and I knew what it was and judging by the look on his face so did he.

“Hey Jade, this is one of those old fashioned canes they used in school years ago, isn’t it?” he smiled and swished it through the air again.

“Bet you would have got it every day, you always were a Brat,” he laughed.

For the first time in ages we both laughed together and he reminded me how he used to listen every morning as Mum complained how short my school skirt was and a hundred other things I did to rebel. With another swish of the cane he said if Mum had one of these it might have been a different story and I would have been well behaved then. I disagreed instantly saying how a few whacks with that would not have altered my personality and the way I acted. My stubborn and willful nature would still be the same and in fact I reckoned getting the cane would have made me more rebellious.

“Besides a few whacks on the bum can’t be that bad to change anyone really can it” I said, more to myself than really to Jack.

“Oh I think 6 of the best would have had you promising to do whatever Mum said in a flash,” he laughed.

“Yeah whatever, I bet if you doubled it I would not have even blinked an eye,” I replied.

As my usual self I had to have the last word but I did feel a little curiosity at just what it would have felt like. Jack looked at me then at the cane and I could almost see the cogs go round in his head. I wondered if he could sense my train of thought and then he glanced back over to me. Nothing was said for a moment or two as if we were both waiting for each other to speak first. The whole dybamic had suddenly changed and there was a palpable tension in the air.

“You really think you can take 12 proper hard whacks with this don’t you?” he swished it again, “You wouldn’t stand a chance,” he said and shook his head.

“Oh don’t you be so sure, you were always the cry baby out of the two of us,” I reminded him.

“Go on then, I’m up for it, I can cane your fat bum 12 times, no skin off my nose just skin off ur arse,” he laughed.