"What a yawn!" my mother said.

I guess her exclamation was pretty correct; I had just unleashed a cavernous yawn that started at my toes and worked its way upwards, gaining momentum, until it burst out of my mouth with such force I thought my jaw would fall off.

"I'm just so BORED," I explained, flopping on the couch. "It's too hot to go outside, all my friends are on vacation, and my lovely baby brother is locked in his room playing video games. "  I yawned again.

"Stop that," said mom, "You're making ME ya- oh, here I go-" and she yawned herself. Watching her made me yawn again, which made her yawn again, too, which made ME yawn... you get the picture.

The situation was just getting perfectly ridiculous when my dad walked into the room.

"Hey, honey, do you know where the remote-oh- why are you ya-a-a-a-wning?" he asked, a yawn splitting his face in turn.

"We can't stop," I explained, as yet another yawn escaped my mouth. "It's contagious."

Now we had THREE people standing in the living room all staring at each other and yawning. I was just thinking that the situation could not possibly get any worse when who should walk into the room but my precious little brother, Christopher the Pest.

"'Sup?" he said in passing us to the kitchen. As I stood there yawning I heard him rummaging through the pantry in search of junk food. He came out again a couple seconds later, his mouth full of cheese puffs. Only then did he notice me, Mom, and Dad standing there yawning like a bunch of lazy lions.

He chuckled infuriatingly. "Hey, you guys look ridic-" and he began to yawn himself. As his mouth was still full of powdered cheese, the sight was, to put it nicely, disgusting. Actually, I think it shall haunt me till the day I die.

Anyway, all four of us were in a nice little pickle now. We couldn't STOP. Every time we thought we had finished yawning, one of us would see someone else yawning and start all over again. Even my dog, Chewbacca, got into the act, yawning with his long pink tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. It was as if some evil wizard had laid a yawning curse on our house.

Ten years later, I am beginning to suspect my theory was correct, because we are still at it, and I am yawning as I write this.