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Kokomo Kootsie
4/07/2002
Nibbles- Bits & Pieces
My Little Brother
I’m glad I had a little brother! For today, I have so many precious memories, he left behind.
He was only seventeen months younger than myself, but for years, I was his big ‘Sissy’, and my word was law! Until he got too big for both; calling me Sissy, and letting me tell him what to do! He was ‘little brother’ during those years, and I looked after him and tried to teach him how to look after himself, fight back.
I can say truthfully, I knew him almost all his life; because my first memory of him, he was about 6 months old, and he was sitting in a dinning room chair, pulled around from the big table; he was tied around his little body with a diaper, and it fastened to the back of the chair, to hold him up, and in the chair; too small to sit up alone!
The only light in the room, shined in from the kitchen, where grandma was getting the evening meal ready. I ran back and forth from the dinning room to the kitchen playing with him. As I see a replay in my memory, I see this baby and this small girl, with her elbows resting on the chair seat as she stands in front of her little brother talking to him. It would be nice to know what that little girl said to him then!
I do recall what a larger, older, little girl said to him perhaps three years later! Somewhere, I had learned about death; all I knew was, it was not a good thing to be; and caused others to be sad and cry for you.
So-I’d lay down, flat on the couch, fold my hands, close my eyes, and say, "I’m dead!" Poor little brother. He’d cry, and pat me, kiss my face, and say, "Sissy, Sissy, don’t be dead." His little heart would be broken! Then I’d pop-up and say, "No, I’m not dead!" He would be so happy. Of course neither of us had a clue what to really be dead meant; except it wasn’t a good state to be in!
We knew our mother was dead and not coming back like I always did. Since we had no memory of our mother, we really didn’t know what a mother was!
Yet I recall one time we were playing in an unfurnished upstairs room, when we lived in a huge house; we sat over in a corner and had our arms wrapped around one another and were crying for our mother, because we didn’t have one, and feeling sorry for ourselves. We were about eight or nine years old then.
It’s said, you can’t miss what you have never had; I beg to differ. We missed our mother!
Fortunately, that’s about all the sad memories we had. Most of the rest are good, fun, funny-some not so very funny at the time, but great to remember later, always.
I had a curfew slapped down on me, when I was about sixteen years old. Whereas I had always been able to come and go as I liked until then. The family had heard, there were beer sold at one of the places we went to dance, The Japanese Gardens. They were suddenly worried that I might drink! For the record, I never drank, nor smoked at anytime in my life. I love dancing and that was about all there was to do all year, plus parties, and then in summer there was swimming. The beer was 1.2!!! Water was more intoxicating!
My best friend’s father was in a top position at the Eagles Lodge and took us to their dance on Saturday night. The other friend’s father took us on Thursday nights to the Moose Lodge dances. No beer or anything was to be had there. No one had a thing to be worried about. They were all good sober people.
I was allowed after much battling, to stay out until the dances were over at midnight, and be home and in bed by one a.m. Kids today, are not given that kind of freedom. Certainly not on school nights. Perhaps they should have the leash lengthened!!
So at this point in time, I had to use some ingenuity to keep my freedom! This particular Saturday night, I took my ‘little brother’ to a movie, that not only had the regular feature, but at midnight, showed the feature that would be on the next few days. Two shows for price of one, called The Midnight Show; very, very popular in the thirties.
I set him up with pop-corn, and told him, if he got home before I did, to wait on the front porch and under no circumstances go in the house without me! I was allowed to go to the movies with my little brother. An insult!
After the dance ended at midnight, three couples of us decided to drive over to Tipton, where the dance, ended much later than midnight. Knowing I had a good cover in Jack, I was not too worried about getting in late! But it had started to rain earlier and now was pouring down and wind blowing it about. That slowed the driving down and it was getting quite late, and I was beginning to be uneasy.
When we finally pulled up in front of my house, I thought, ‘Am I in trouble!?’ The whole house was lit up like Christmas!
When I went in the front door, my ‘little brother’ was sitting on the sofa, his face all red, and my uncle was standing over him, and he then turned to me, and evidently raised his hand as though to slap me, but I know he would never have done that. My little brother jumped to his feet, to my defense, and said to our uncle, "Don’t you hit my sister!"
My uncle’s face was a picture in contrast: he seemed to be divided between anger and amusement and holding back nervous laughter, at Jack’s behavior. But he said to Jack, "I’ll give you a dose too, you little rooster!"
No one got a dose of anything-except I got a dose of anger and rebellion that caused me a few months later to leave home, forever. And never looked back, never regretted it.
Genesis 4:9
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Able thy brother? And he said, I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?
Yes,we are!
Epilogue
Today, little brother, I only wish you were dead, to tease me, and say, "Sissy, Sissy, I’m not dead!" I miss you so, little brother.
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