the lawnmower incident of the mid 1980's

I have this friend, not the one who saved my life with a breastpump - another one, who has been my friend since we were born in 1976.  Let's call her Rihanna, just for kicks.  I feel I need to protect her identity for reasons which you will soon discover, so just go with the name, ok?

My sister, Pee, is 3 years younger than me.  (She's my younger and skinnier sister...but that's a story for another time.) 

Rihanna has a sister who is 2 years younger than she is. 

So there was this one time when we were kids....probably Rihanna and I were around 9 or 10 and the little sisters were around 6 or 7. 

Rihanna and her sister had a riding lawnmower that pulled a little wagon/cart behind. 

Note to parents:  Giving your child access to a riding lawnmower is not advisable.  I'm pretty sure our parents may have figured it was safer than a 4-wheeler or a motorcycle.  Like, how fast can you go on a lawnmower, right?  They underestimated our inherent evil thirst for adventure.

Anyway, like nice big sisters, we offered to take the little sisters for a ride in the cow field. 

Somehow, the little sisters got out of wagon/cart.  Maybe we made them get out.  I don't remember.  It's possible.  Even highly likely. 

The cow field was behind the house, but there was no one to hear them scream outside supervising us, so we proceeded to chase down our sisters with the lawnmower.

I remember them running and screaming and looking back, trying to run in a zig zag so we couldn't get them.  Rihanna and I were laughing hysterically and were truly trying to run them over with the lawnmower. To my utter shame, it still makes me laugh uncontrollably.

I really think had they run just a little slower, we would have plowed them down and then plonked the wagon over them for good measure.

This is probably one of those "you had to be there" kind of stories.  But it makes me laugh every time I think about it.  And it probably ranks as one of my top 5 childhood memories.

Not sure what that says about me, but I do know this:  Rihanna gets it.  And that's why I am thankful she is my friend.