My Sister Carol McQueen

My sister Carol McQueen was my closest friend growing up as a teenager. Her boyfriends would befriend me and my girlfriends would befriend her. They knew we were as close as siblings could be. They knew it because of the way we talked about each other and how we behaved when we were in each other’s presence. 

 I am not overstating the fact that we both had the utmost personal regard for each other. When she did well I was as proud as can be and likewise when my star shined she put a magnifying glass on it.  She knew me better than anyone including my parents and my closest friends. I knew that her counsel came in the form that she was a great listener and never judged me no matter how I may have bungled a personal situation.  

I wanted her to like my friends especially the women that I picked as a romantic interest. Her innate talent of being able to know peoples insides despite what they were exhibiting on the outside was uncanny. Carol had a sensory acuity that could sense things before they transpired. Like when she told my parents two weeks before her death that she wanted to donate all her vital organs to those that might need them.  Which in retrospect was so extraordinary because after all it was 1969 even though this is a common practice now it was not then.  No one could fool Carol and for me it was like having my own soothsayer all I had to do was run upstairs and knock on her door. When I left her to resume the somnolent state I could always retire in peace.  

Oh and she loved Steve McQueen she liked him not because of what he said but what he didn’t. Most of you know that Jack Briant is my pen name my real name is John (Jack) McQueen just to keep the record straight. More about her life in the next installment.