Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: JOY (12/07/17)
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TITLE: She's My Sister. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Maurice Armstrong
12/14/17 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
The tenth child of Mom’s thirteen children.
Two older sisters were conceived, before the male-genes dominated my mother’s womb, producing eight boys—each one year apart. But Dad, determined to have a baby girl of his own biological mix—persisted in sowing seeds, until he got what he wanted.
His birthday is December 25th— but, Christmas for Dad came on April 24th. That’s when he sang his version of… “Joy to the world.”
He sang:
Joy to my world, I have a baby girl.
Let friends and family rejoice.
Let all the boys, play with their toys
And I repeat...
All friends and family rejoice
Let the whole world sing.
There were no formal invitations and only a few people had telephones. But, by word of mouth, the news spread far, and wide—It’s a Girl!
This was a grand celebration. I met uncles and aunts, never seen before, all the neighbors, Dads co-workers and every member of Mom’s church… except for Deacon Boyd. Mom said, "I'm not putting up with his drunkenness, he needs to stay home.” He did.
Balloons of every shape, size, and color, were either hanging from the ceiling or tied to a chair. You could hear the sound of whistles, all day long, as we danced to the music of our favorite-- "The Jackson five"--no-one complained about the noise. Many of our school friends also came with their parents.
People brought gifts, food, and drinks of all flavor and labels.
My brothers and I ate so much home-made ice-cream and cake, it’s surprising not one of us got sick.
Even the dogs, who only had the bones and whatever fell from the children's table; were now enjoying—chicken wings and legs—we gave our food to the dogs, but ate the ice-cream and the cake and begged for more.
Joy changed all our lives…
Dad became more loving and caring—he prepared her food and fed her too.
Mom--I guess she thought, she could now get a break, from all these babies, but…
My older sisters were happy with their live doll-baby.
But to us boys, she was the distraction we needed from Dads constant badgering.
We didn’t have time to feel left out or unwanted; we had each other. "Eight is Enough." Our three-bedroom country home sat on several acres—with lots of fruit trees all over: mangoes, plums, oranges, grapefruit, cherries to name a few. We fished and camped regularly with our friends. We built our own tree houses and took turns playing "Tarzan--King of the Jungle." We had fun and enjoyed our care-free living.
One day, Mervyn my younger brother accidentally pushed, the baby causing her to fall bruising her knees. He got a whipping we never forgot. “You’ve got to be more careful…” Dad warned, “You boys should protect your sister at all times.”
“DO YOU HEAR ME?”
Yes Sir. We replied one by one.
There were several occasions when we asked permission, to go out with friends or go to the beach, Dad said “NO.” But, our baby sister always negotiated for us— convincing daddy, that we were not as bad as he thought, and that we promised not to get in any trouble. He believed her. Thank God, we never did. In return, as loyal subjects, we made tangible payments for her service.
At fifteen, Daddy’s little girl started a “Daycare.” In six months she had twenty kids. “Joys Day Care,” is still operating after thirty years. People all over the community both young and old are always talking about this wonderful woman--Ms. Joy. She’s now somewhere in her late 40’s.
Ten years ago, Daddy went home to be with the Lord, he was seventy-five. Mom will soon celebrate eighty-four. We are praying she makes it to 100 and beyond with good health.
But, at every family reunion, we have so much laughter talking about Daddy and his little girl.
My sister, like an angel—keeps our family together.
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