Remembering the Scar

“Only girls cry!…Boo hoo!” "Look at you" he taunted me, (as big brothers often do) Making a mockery. He kept teasing me, heckling me, as I whined, and cried, and planned revenge Neither of us would have won a prize, for being Mom's angelic pride, of Kirby street that hot July... “You Thug!”..I cried,…a laughing stock...his mocking me, and worst of all, our bitter brawl played out for all the world to see. No recourse, no remorse..(poor me!!)… As the butt of his demeaning jokes By then my temper had been stoked, he had poked me once too often! So HUGE, was my disdain for his smug, big thug, that grinning face, in retaliation, for my humilation, (as an enraged little sister might do..) I grabbed one of his model airplanes….and threw……THREW HARD... It broke into shards, big shrapnel pieces…I dashed for cover... Hovering behind the hedge…waiting for his own revenge!… Instead it left a gash, a bloody angry wound, I was aghast....! Well, of course our Mother got involved.. . It was resolved by iodine and bandages And a tongue lashing... “You could have put out his eye!! ….and then we cried, …the two of us Well we would repent, and spent the day becoming friends... The afternoon out in the yard…. One sudden, unguarded moment …. there was a car,.... came ‘round the bend and as our game was 'bout to end....his dog, (his mongrel friend) was hit ....and then.... all time suspended........ My brother’s sweet dog, who slept on his bed, was gone The next hours painfully hung…and long is the memory that still weighs a ton…. Ending with me alone in my bed.. Mute with grief ….remembering his words….”Only girls cry”…. Hearing his sobs……all through the night.. And my parent's cooed comfort, the soundtrack to this tragic movie That still plays in my darkest theater….all these years later I shudder still, have a lump in my throat…how that faint little scar, can still emote… such feelings of tenderness I felt on that day. Over the years…we have shared many tears… we have leaned on each other, me and my brother Big girls will cry, just as little girls do…and big boys can cry, ..and hey,..that’s okay, too