Before she could hardly walk, my little sister was a handful, that was for sure. Tow-head, blue eyes and chubby, she loved playing in the burnt trash pile near the gravel alley behind my grandmother's house. We often found her sitting among the black soot and ashes with nothing on but a diaper. You can hear the grinding of her teeth as thick black drool oozed down her face onto her Buddha shaped belly. I can still hear my grandmother yelling at the top of her lungs for my father to come and get “your daughter”.  

Before my parents owned a washer or dryer, we would go to the laundry mat. My sister was only a small toddler at the time. While my parents were folding clothes, my sister noticed a baby playing in a crib. The baby had her fingers sticking out through the crib and my sister bit her finger. It had to be embarrassing when the child’s parents scolded my mother and father. But when my sister stuck the girl's finger in her mouth and bit it again, I think my parents wanted to leave the country. So, my dad grabbed her hand and put her finger in his mouth and bit down until she started to cry. She never did that again.

All toddlers one time or the other took a crayon or marker to the walls and my sister was no exception. Except, she was a little more creative. My mother went to check on my sister who was being too quiet while playing in her crib. When my mother walked into the bedroom, she found my sister naked and painting the walls with her dirty diaper.

We all got in trouble as a kid, but to get a spanking for something you didn't do is another story. It was around Christmas time, and my mother liked to hide our presents in the top of her dresser drawer. One day, my sister decided to climb up the dresser to peak inside. Fortunately, the dresser tipped over on to the bed, leaving my sister unharmed. When my mother heard the noise, she ran in to the bedroom and saw that her favorite powder dish was broken. She knew that my sister couldn't have done it. She was way too small and too young to do such a thing. So, my mother ask me if I did it. No way, I said. She told me to stop lying and admit that I did it or I was going to get spank. So, lets go over this. If I said I did it, I won't get spank, right?? WRONG!!! I can still see my sister laughing in the corner, while I am lying over my mother's knee getting the spanking of the lifetime.

It was Spring time, and my parents was painting the house. And of course, my sister wanting to help too. So she took her rubber boots and dipped them inside the yellow paint bucket. Then she put them on and marched inside the house onto my parents royal blue carpet. Needless to say, I think she got the spanking of the lifetime then.

Cold season was a common thing living in the suburbs of Chicago. When, we got sick off to the doctors we went. I recall the time when my sister had a bad cold and my mother took her to the doctors. After examining her, he told my mother, "I think your daughter caught a bug." Her reply was, “She’ll put anything in her mouth and eat it”.

My mother kept all of the medicines up high in the kitchen cabinet, so us kids couldn't get to them. One year, while spring cleaning she took them down and placed them on the kitchen counter. My sister, who was three at the time, used a chair to stand on and grabbed the bottle of baby aspirins. Using her teeth to open the jar, she shared them with the next door neighbor's son. After my mother found the empty bottle, both children were rushed to the Emergency Room to have their stomach's pumped. I remember my father lifting me up to the door of the Emergency Room. I could see both my sister and Butchie strapped to a gurney with tubes up their noses. Both were crying and screaming. It was not a pretty sight for an older sister to see.  

We all had that favorite doll or toy growing up. Mine was “Teary Deary”. I took my doll every where. She would watch TV with me, sleep with me and eat with me. Apparently, my sister must have been jealous of that doll. Because she cut off all of her hair and took a red pen to her face and body. Come to think of it. she must have been jealous of my Barbie doll too. Because, she ate the fingers of that doll too.  

My mother had many friends on our block that she visited on a regular basis. Her closet friend, I remember was Mary Vaughn, who lived on the corner. One afternoon, my mother was at her house enjoying a glass of ice tea when my sister had to use the bathroom. Mary kept an immaculate home, with fine décor. Beverly thought it was amusing by dumping her large fancy bottle of bubble bath down the toilet and watching the bubbles overflow each time she flushed the toilet.  Mrs. Vaughn wasn't quite as amused as she was.

It was New Years Eve and my parents was having a party. Practically everyone on our block was there. People were dancing, telling jokes and of course, drinking. There was beer, wine, hard drinks and cocktails. And let's not forget the cheap bottle of champagne. My sister, curious as she was, thought she would go around and sample everyone's drink. It wasn't until later that night, when I woke my parents up that Bevie wasn't feeling very well. She keeps saying that the room won’t stop spinning. I can still vision my dad walking my sister around the house while having her drink black coffee.

My cousins like to tell stories about by sister too. We loved to visit our Aunt Velma and Uncle Carl. They lived in the country and had a farm with cows, chickens, goats and pigs. It was a playground for all of us kids. One day, my dad dare her to go up to their low voltage electrical fence and touch it. My sister was the type to do anything on a dare, so she did just that. She went right up to their fence and grabbed a hole of it with one hand. I don't think the shock fazed her one bit.

It was winter time, and we just moved in to our new home. We had a man out laying new tile in the entryway and hall. Tile back then was laid with tar. My mother was alarmed with the remark that the installer made as he was pitching a broom out the front door on to the snow. “Lady, I hope you didn't need to use your broom.” Since, my sister caught it on fire by sticking it to his blow torch.  

Be it a lady bug, butterfly or fire fly, we all loved catching bugs as a kid. I remember one year when my sister ran into the house, yelling "mommy, mommy I caught a bug". She asked for a jar to put it in. So, my mother looked in the frig and found a mustard jar that was almost empty. She washed the jar inside and out and took a towel to wipe it dry. Then she took a knife and poked holes in the lid. All during this time, my sister held the bug tightly in her little hands while impatiently jumping up and down. It wasn't until my sister put the bug inside the jar, that my mother realize that it wasn't a harmless lady bug or butterfly, but a wasp. We still can't believe that my sister was never stung.

We had a tragedy one year in our Community when an eight year old girl drown in a construction site sink hole. Beverly was four years old and my mother couldn't find her anywhere. So, we searched through the closets and under beds with still no signs of my sister. So, she had me search the neighbor's and called her name up and down the street. After two hours, and still no signs of my sister, my father called the Police Department and Fire Department which conducted a complete search of our Community. They were even doing a body search of the neighborhood pond, to see if she possibly drowned. A few more hours went by, and my mother searched the house again to find my sister fast asleep between the bed and wall. She fell asleep while reading a book. She placed the lamp on the floor and took the lamp shade off. It melted a hole in the carpet where the bulb got too hot.

My father loved to hunt small game and my sister loved to help him skin them. I remember the time she helped him skin a squirrel. Boy was she proud of herself. So she decided to save the feet, eye ball and tail as a souvenir. And what a better place to hide them, but in her bedroom closet. I remember my mother going around the house for days trying to figure out what that awful smell was from.