While Bones was doing his dance, I managed to grab one of his enormous flipper-feet and spin him upside-down, launching him down the stairs headfirst! His gangly legs were flying above his head, and I only wished I’d had a video of the buffoon and his size fourteen feet up in the air.

He hit every stair yelling, “GAH! GAH! GAH! GAH! GAH!”

I was laughing hysterically until he started taking down all the vacation photos of my dad and Estelle hanging on the wall. Then the “GAH! GAH!” was accompanied by CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!, which was quickly followed by Estelle’s screeching voice coming from the kitchen.

“What in GOD’S name is going on?! Oh, good LORD . . . the cruise photos!” She walked over to the stairs and started picking up the pictures. “These are priceless memories, CJ! And Martha isn’t back until Tuesday!”

Typical Estelle. Bones was sprawled out on the landing, and she was more worried about who was gonna clean up the mess. That was why we couldn’t play Stair King anymore. So we started playing “Runnup,” where we sprinted as fast as we could up the stairs. It wasn’t quite as exciting as Stair King, but still, it was a game.

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