All Hail Zonatron!

A Thought...

So I have two sisters and a brother. My sisters are 18 months and 3.5 years younger than me respectively. My brother is 12 years younger, lets not get me started on him.

My youngest sister, who I shall call PartyGirl, is completely deranged and has no sense of decorum what-so-ever. Once we were watching a baseball game, and I commented that the left fieldsman was particularly good looking. Next thing I know, she's leaning over the fence, introducing herself and successfully negotiating the retrieval of his phone number for my benefit. I should admit at this point I'd just finished a two hour training session, and was wearing an oversized baseball hoody, "Skins" (which for people not in the know, are second-skin like leggings that leave NOTHING to the imagination), a baggy pair of shorts over the Skins and my blond hair was allllll over the place. Not any man's idea of a good time, I'm sure, but PartyGirl found herself hilaaaarious. Anyway, while that gives you a brief insight into her personality, it's not PartyGirl that prompted the picture of the alien above. No, that's my first sister, BomberGirl, who I also happen to live with.

I would call her a typical "middle child," overlooked primarily due to PartyGirl demanding all our parent's attention, all of the time. As a youngling, BomberGirl had a predisposition to wandering around in her own little world. You would talk to her and eventually notice that she wasn't hearing a word of it. Or worse, you'd ask her a question, and she'd stare at you with a gormless expression on her face. At night she would climb into the pantry, steal biscuits, eat some and hide the rest under his pillow. When mum would come to wake her in the morning, and despite the crumbs on her face and in her bed she would swear black and blue that she did not do it.

This day dreaming disposition became so obvious at one point that my father announced that she must be an alien child, and we embroidered the story to eventually decide that she hailed from the Planet Zonatron. From that point onwards, when BomberGirl did something in character, we'd look at each other and mutter the word "Zonatron!" It made for a bit of explaining when this happened in public, but to this day the joke continues, over 25 years later.

BomberGirl's pose...

One of my favorite Zonatron moments was one Wednesday night when we were participating in a Twilight Softball match. I was playing Catcher, and BomberGirl was planted out in Right Field. Twilight Softball was a mixed tournament, designed to allow parents and children to play together, so my father was also on the field. When it was our turn to field, the pitcher prepared to throw the ball in to the batter and the rest of the fielders leant forward in readiness. Our job was to react immediately, and from the looks of it from my position, everyone was paying absolute attention.

The pitcher pitched the ball and the batter smashed it, straight over BomberGirl's head. BomberGirl however DID NOT MOVE! Not a muscle! She remained hunched forward, glove poised, staring avidly at the exact spot where the batter had been standing not a moment sooner. It wasn't until someone shouted "BomberGirl!" that she flinched, exclaimed,"OH!" turned and sprinted after the ball as it dribbled away from her.

Everyone was in hysterics, opposition included, to the point where the batter managed a home run because BomberGirl had nobody to throw the ball to - we were all too busy laughing. At that point my father turned to me and shrugged...

"Zonatron," he said