All was finally quiet in house. After thanking them, the other mourners had all shuffled out the door and she was left alone in the small bedroom.

She didn’t know so many people could fit into Elmer’s home after all these years, didn’t think so many would want to after so long. She felt laugh bubble up from deep inside her. He had become a grumpy old man. She wasn’t so fond of visiting him herself, but because he was her brother she couldn’t not see him.

Sylvia reached for the old family Bible he’d thrown at her the last time she’d seen him before he’d become too weak to pick it up. He’d told her she could have it when he was cold and in the ground. She sighed heavilly. A tear rolled down her cheek, “Well El I guess it’s mine now.”

She opened the worn cover carefully, tucked just inside was a faded picture of a little girl standing in a cotton field, tow sack trailing behind her. Sylvia picked it up and flipped it over. Scrawled in Elmer’s almost illedgible handwriting, “My baby sister Sylvia.”