We had made our way all the way to the produce department before my mind circled back to something in that conversation. From things I’d learned from Janine and Courtney and Claire herself since arriving in Tennessee, I was putting together the timeline of my older sister’s lives. Claire’s whole “there wasn’t family to take […]
(Sorry to be posting late! Monday holiday confused me. But here we are! -ctan) — The next day Remo left and Claire declared it was Cookie Baking Day. I didn’t realize that the traditional holiday calendar had Cookie Baking Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing Day, but to hear Claire tell it, we would have […]
When I arrived back at the house in the morning, Courtney was wallowing in misery. “Ugh, this is your fault,” she said to me, her face half buried in the crook of her arm on the breakfast table.
I don’t know what Janine was hoping would happen. It wasn’t like Claire wasn’t going to notice that my oldest sister wasn’t there. I guess maybe she thought if she could wait for the right moment to tell her, she could minimize the damage? Doesn’t that sound like the kind of thing I would do?
By the time Ziggy and I arrived at the house there was a full-blown apocalyptic argument going on between Claire (of course), Janine, and Courtney. Remo opened the door for us and we made a beeline for the kitchen while the three women had their knock-down, drag-out fight in front of the Christmas tree. Then […]
Later that week we had a tree-trimming party. I don’t actually remember ever having a “party” to do it before. When I was a kid I’m pretty sure that getting the tree up and decorated was a big chore that various family members were drafted into. Or maybe Claire always considered that to be a […]
I don’t know why everything involving my family required a negotiation. Agreeing on who was going in which car to Pizza Hut could be more complicated than the Warsaw Pact. Actually, I do know why: it’s because Claire could never just let anything happen. She had to be managing everything, all the time. When we […]
Claire, it turned out, did expect us all to go to church. You might think she’d be down on church after having married a preacher who then cheated on her and dropped her like a hot potato when he found out she was terminally ill…? But I had a feeling she’d want us to go, […]
Round two came after I was properly dressed–by rock musician standards, I mean–and the scent of coffee from downstairs became too strong to resist. It was chilly, so I put my leather jacket on over my flannel shirt. “I’ll go first,” Ziggy suggested.
I could have probably titled these chronicles “Things I Know Now that I Didn’t Know Then.” Sure, most of what I’ve learned is things about myself–and relationships. But then there are the simple things like, oh, if you nearly pass out incoherent chances are you should’ve gone to the ER. As it turns out, I […]