My Brother Turner & me

I was sitting at the breakfast table trying to decide what to do. Tonight was New Years Eve and my brother had asked me to go to a New Years Eve party with him. I had just turned 44 in November. My husband died three years ago and I was living alone. My brother’s name is Turner and he is fifteen years younger than me. My Mom had me when she was only 16 and they did not have another child until she was 31.

Since my husband died Turner has been very nice to me. He comes over to the house and fixes anything I needed fixing. He mows the lawn every other week and spends a couple of nights a week keeping me company. He was there for me when my husband died and has been that way ever since.

Last week Turner asked me what I was going to do New Years, I told him that I hadn’t planned on going anywhere. He said, “I am going to a party at a friend’s house, why don’t you come with me. I don’t have a date and I think you would have a good time.” I told him that I was too old for his crowd of friends. “Nonsense, there will be all ages there. Besides you are as beautiful as any that will be at the party. You haven’t been out of the house except for work for three years. It’s time for you to live a little.

Why not I thought, it was time for me to get over mourning for my husband. I called my brother and told him I had decided to take him up on his invitation. He said, “Great, I’ll pick you up at eight and we can have some dinner. The party didn’t start until nine anyway.”

I went into the bathroom and took off my house dress and looked at my body. Turner was right I thought. I still have my looks, even though I had put a pound or two around my waist I still looked pretty good. My breasts didn’t sag very much and even after two children my stomach was relatively flat. My oldest daughter was 24 and an Air line Stewart while my youngest was 22 and going to college back east.