S is for Sisters.....

Long before I came to the understanding that all women were sisters in the spirit, my baby sister was born, unique, tiny and perfect. She’s been a joy in my life, and was more like my own daughter than a little sister, since she was born nine and a half years later than I, and at a time when our mother was careworn and a little sad.

I was delighted to have a little sister. My youngest brother was very ill, and my next oldest brother was a little bit of a pain, though we loved each other and watched out for each other, we still had a sort of an adversarial role in each other’s lives. We also had a common enemy, our father,which was the real glue in our relationship. We had a natural ally in each other, and in our mother. She did her best to protect us, and keep peace for us. My sister was a baby, and I was very happy to attend to her, make her laugh, give her a bottle and learn all about the arts of motherhood.

My little sister entered this world of Fierce Dragon versus Villagers-Huddling-Together at a time that would put her at the end of the line of potential victims. She fit herself in by being a quiet, stay-below-the-radar little girl who liked to play, and the Lord knows, we all knew how to play. My brother and I had to help out on the small family farm, from which we were fed well by the expertise and plant wisdom of our mother, and the fact that Mother was frugal, and canned everything that came out of her gardens if we didn’t eat it fresh. But, we learned to play, too, and everything we ever read about we re-enacted.

There was the dark woods that made monster shapes at night in the moonlight. There was a small river that ran all year and in which were crawdaddies and tiny fish, a sandbar with willows. And, there was the Dragon’s Lair, the small two bedroom strangely constructed outcropping called the “House”. It was not built for human habitation, but for chickens. The Dragon had Skills of the Carpenter, and he began tranforming it into something humans could live in- as long as the authorities were never informed. One thing I can say about Dragon, was that he was a very good carpenter.

The House had a Dutch door, and a dirt floor smoothed over and covering an incredible mixture of said dirt, tar paper, red tiles meant for carrying water around below ground and not as a sub-floor and over all was spread a couple layers of steadfast linoleum. House had a library of huge proportions for a poor family, one whole wall of books that Mother amassed from God knows where, along with the Dragon’s Law books. We had a treasure trove of Classics that smelled only a little bit mildewed.

From our readings we constructed whole worlds for ourselves. We played Pirates, Cowboys, Indians, and lived on Secret Islands and in Submarines. Our Kingdoms where mother was the Queen, though she never played our games, of course were rich and full of riches we brought back from India and the Orient. When I go through my old photos, I remember those days. I still have photos of Mother sitting in an armchair we dragged out onto the lawns. We are bowing, one by one, to her. She was a very gracious Queen.

We grew up, the forest was bulldozed, the little river channelized and the magic all went away. We move away, too, forever, to the base of the far away mountains, and my sister started school. I would still take her to see free movies at my college and other events, because I had the use of a real car. We got away into the mountains, all of us, and had picnics and nature walks. My mother made her gardens and became more and more quiet. She never lost her mind but she didn’t share it with us much, not until she was older and free from the tight grip of Dragon.

I went away to school, got married, and my sister grew up to be the rebel, and finally found her voice. She paid the Dragon back, and he, being old and losing his scales, did nothing much about it. That’s the beauty of being the last born. You can get even with Dragons if you are of a mind to. Now she has a different Dragon to fight and prevail over. I love her so much I wish I could kill this one for her.