The Pip
Long back when I was about the age of nine my parents waterbed had a leak in it.So they got a new one.But what to do with the old one?My dad patched the old one up,blew it up with air,and gave it to do me to do with it what I wished.I wished to jump on it like a wildman,and that's exactly what I did.I named my new silver colored toy "Pip" after and episode of the twilight zone entitled "In Praise of Pip".Many a summer afternoon myself,justin and kacy spent trying to master the pip.It was difficult to balance and jump repeatedly on an inflated waterbed on a backyard lawn.The pip was also useful for launching soccer balls which impressed kacy's brother.A soccer ball(or anything really) was shoved into a corner of the half inflated pip,and when jumped upon,would launch the object into the air with impressive force.The summer of the hang ten shirt that I wrote about previously,I spent most of my days jumping off my fort onto the pip, enflated more so than usual with hot air from exposure to the sun,an early lesson in science taught to me by my mother.The pip was a smashing sucess at my 10th birthday party held in central park by the library.Inevitably the pip eventually popped.It sat in my fort for a long time;I vowed I would patch it up one day,but there it sat covered in cat piss.I threw it away.Sadness prevailed.The pip made a brief return when I was thirteen.My parents new waterbed had a leak again,prompting a new one,and return of the beloved pip.This one was gold colored and prevailed in my fort where me and justin and kacy spent endless days and nights jumping on it and getting stuck between it and the wall(ha ha kacy).Unfortunetly these days ended as well.Again the pip popped and again I didn't patch it.There was no where to play on a pip anyway.A new house addition stood where backyard grass had been.The rest of the backyard was a concrete jungle not suitable for the pip.The sideyard grass was occupied by my sister's swingset.I wish I still had one but I would have no where to play on it.I have very fond memories of both pips as I'm sure justin and kacy have as well.God bless my dad for his ingenuity.