More Memories

After twenty years, I am again in a photo along with my brother and sister-in-law. We tend to dismiss our lack of visiting as “it’s a Wheeler thing,”  which is that we can go years without seeing one another, and drop right into the conversation where we left off years before. My other brother and I haven’t seen each other since 2003, and we live in the same city. Denny and Sue with me in the middle, are older of course, but we don’t look much different except for our hair; Dennis is very gray really distinguished looking. My hair is just lighter than the mousie brown it used to be. Sue’s is the same, she is the only one who hasn’t changed. The three of us stand in front of our picture gallery. In another view, Jason and Eric holding cats look over our shoulders. Does Jason talk to them the way he does me. I see him in my dreams, and sometimes walking down a city street in another man’s body. If I squint my eyes, I see the three of us as children. Dennis around eight years old and I was sixteen. I had already begun drinking too much, Dennis was getting ready to have a new brother. My path would wander around some painful self-indulgences. Denny and Sue would meet when he was in school and marry. She was a stranger, and we all wondered what she was like. I don’t remember when I first met her but I liked her right away. Now we are retired and living the pretty good life.