Tommy

Tommy
by Joye Roberts Fratoni on Saturday, 09 April 2011 at 17:58

My brother died last week. It sent me tripping down memory lane; or perhaps it was more like tumbling. I found myself cast into my deep South past on a farm in Alligator, Mississippi. That’s where I spent endless hours of endless days being entertained by him. He was three years my senior; described by teachers and friends as fascinating, brilliant. Talented Tommy Roberts in the Gifted and Talented Program; it would have been harder growing up in his shadow had I not loved him so much. He tolerated me well enough; let me follow him around day and night. He honored me with roles to play in the “Masterpiece Theater” of his mind. I was Robin to his Batman, Torch to his Stretch and more often than not, his partner in crime. I would love to say we continued down those fun, dusty roads to adulthood, but we did not. We emerged from the isolated South into cities full of more intriguing adventures for him. He with his friends and I with mine, we parted ways. He disappeared into college, drugs, and street-life; I into marriage, motherhood, and God’s gracious arms. We only spoke a few times over the years, but I inquired about him a lot. I used to keep bits and pieces of him tucked away in a memory box, a drawing he made, a story he wrote, a sketch, a painting, a scribbled note. It’s all I had of him. I threw some of that stuff away. Now I wish I would have kept more. Nevertheless, what’s done is done, what’s gone is gone, and life does and must continue on.