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The Older Kid

By: echidna64

The Older Kid

Everyone knew that one kid who had a psychic link with what was cool- the latest clothes, toys, catchphrases/insults, etc and had inside access to R-rated movies and Mature Video games.

This is a story not about an older kid who was a bully or spoiled brat, but somebody who was like an older brother to me.

Like Family

For most of my childhood, I had called my dad's best friends Aunt and Uncle, without ever asking- "wait, how are we related?"

We usually made the trip up to see them each summer. My family would stay a night or two. Sometimes I was able to convince them to let me stay up there the whole week by myself!

My dad and "my uncle" were hunting buddies. We would come stay with them at their homemade hunting lodge. As our dads went hunting we would have our own fun playing hide and seek, setting stink bombs, and telling ghost stories.

My "cousin" was awesome.

Consider Exhibit A- he had his own fully liveable treehouse with a hammock and even a t.v. with a Sega Genesis hooked up!

I remember one of the first nights that we stayed. My cousin was always a scientist in the making and when I asked him if he could show me his chemistry kit I'll never forget his response-

Very dryly he said, "It's getting too dark, I might blow something up." Bad@ss

The Lair

His bedroom was a treasure trove of the 80's and 90's. He had a huge Spawn cardboard cutout with an extensive collection of He-Man toys. He also had a huge hoard of Warhammer figurines that he had hand painted.

I also saw some of the most memorable movies out of my late childhood-

Out of his impressive VHS collection, we watched the Alien franchise, Predator, Congo, From Dusk Til Dawn, and other films steaming with bravado.

If I were watching them on my own, I probably would have been too scared to finish them.There was something special and inherently awesome about watching movies with "the big kids."

He also got me heavily into PC gaming-

I remember after I first watched him play Starcraft, I was obsessed. I stayed up all night at his house fighting the Zerg as Terran. After I got home it didn't stop there, I started creating custom races to play in a notebook.

The Apocalypse

After awhile the length between visits grew longer and longer.

A couple years would pass before we would hang out again, but even if the video game consoles changed, we still jumped back into playing together.

Eventually, we fell out of contact.

My "Aunt" and "Uncle" had gotten a divorce.

They sold the house.

The cousins split up. One of them stayed with their grandmother. The older one stayed with his dad before going to college.

Everything changed. Even if I made the trip back there, it would be totally different.

Would the treehouse still be there? Maybe. Would my cousin still be into chemistry kits and Warhammer figurines? Maybe.

Would the lair even exist or would the new owners turn it into a nursery or office?

That's the allure of retro memories, you can never fully recreate the experience of "being there." Once the time has passed, it is gone. Nothing will be like the first time you opened an N64 for Christmas or like when you first played Mortal Kombat or Doom and blood filled the screen.

One of the many reasons why I like RetroDaze is because we are given a chance to share these precious memories and many times, people can relate.

The Older Kid, my "cousin," left a great impression on me and I will always celebrate the good times we had, the ruckus we created, and the summer adventures that we shared.

Looking for more from echidna64?

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