I Got A New Brother

                                                    One Early Memory

2.  In the winter nobody  came to our house after dark unless something was amiss .  It was early November, two months before my fourth birthday .  But this night my Grandma Neely and Grandma Cardwell and Aunt Rhodie were there. Over our vocal protests  Ivy and I were put to bed with fair warning that if we did not go to sleep ‘ we would get a whipping we would never forget’.  I awoke to the sight of the kerosene lamp in the front room and hushed  voices.  The bed was wet, my shirt was wet. Ivy had peed in the bed. “Mommie,” I called, “Ivy peed on me again.” Aunt Rhodie came—not Mommie. “Jewell, git up. Come see your new brother.”  He was so ugly.