"Who Spilled Chocolate in the Refrigerator?"

That is what brought on the worst whippin' of both my and my sister's childhood, unfortunately I can't say it was the worst whippin' of my brother's life! Somebody spilled some Hershey's chocolate syrup in the refrigerator. It was just a few drops, it wasn't even like it was a major oil spill or something, and they didn't clean it up.

I was in the sixth grade. That means my brother was in the 4th. grade and Rhonda was in the 3rd. grade. Mommy lined us up for the interrogation with no results. Then she told us she was going to give us one lick each (with a belt) and if that didn't work, then it would be two licks, three licks.....

This started the process. After each round she would ask us again, "who spilled chocolate in the refrigerator?" Each time we swore through our tears that we didn't do it. The whippin's went on and on until we were on the 14th round when my dad came home. Our screams were so loud that the neighbors down the road and even at the store asked us what in the world was going on at our house that night. The next day at school I made the mistake of wearing shorts. The teacher asked me about the bruises down to my knees, but I told her I wrecked on my bicycle. She dropped it.

Daddy took over after round 14. He said he would get the truth out of us, so he did rounds 15, 16, 17 and 18. Around round 16 I started to think I wasn't going to live through it. By round 17, I realized that if I didn't think I was going to live then my little brother and sister were surely going to die. So I confessed.

My parents apologized to Billy and Rhonda for whipping them for no reason and I had to endure round 18. Then I was sent to my room. I laid there crying that I hadn't done it and my dad heard me. So he went and got my mom and they decided that my brother had actually done it. So then he got another round.

I counted the licks. Rhonda got 153. Billy and I got 171. It turned out a few days later that my uncle stopped by and my parents were telling him about the whippin'. He told them he did it. He wasn't just saying it, he really did it. It turns out that none of us spilled the chocolate in the refrigerator. At least my mom has the good sense to be embarrassed about that whippin' now - she blames it entirely on my dad who wasn't even home for the first 14 rounds. That however does not excuse him for finishing the job.