The Last Day With My Sister

       My older sister, Marcie is always in, what could be, her last day. She has been since the day she was born. She is twenty now. Despite the uncertainty of her life my sister still lives life as best as she can. In the last decade or so my sisters eyes have slowly degenerated and her beautiful blues jewels have slowly closed to her. The lack of a visual window to her world has not held her back; rather she widened her other abilities, namely, her ears, her voice and her exploring fingers.

          Marcie cannot speak in a way that most could understand, never the less she does talk, sing and whisper to those around her. If it were possible to know exactly what day would be Marcie’s last, I would rise early. Extremely early, as Marcie’s internal clock can be skewed sometimes. I would help her dress and give her breakfast--- Marcie eats formula through a G-tube--- and afterward I would help her into her wheelchair---- Marcie cannot walk. I would then take her to a church--- it does not matter what denomination all that matters is that it has amazing acoustics. If possible I would then play the piano for her because she loves hearing my siblings practice. Did I mention that Marcie’s immediate family would be there with us? Our dad would play his acoustic guitar, our little sister would sing and play the piano with me, our younger brother would practice A Cappella while our mom would coach. Meanwhile, our older brother would blow up a few bicycle tires--- a noise that Marcie finds hilarious. Then very quietly, Marcie would periodically emit a little noise--- testing the acoustics--- then she would get louder and would begin singing along with the music and noise around her. And that is how we would spend Marcie’s last day; intermittent with reading aloud from fantasy books.

          Also there would have to be some animals ---- our pets---- for her to hold and feel; our goat Budderfinger (yes that is how it is spelled); our sheep, Trillium; our two dogs, Edgar and Chipper; our guinea pig, Izzie, and a few of our chickens.