The Great American Black Hero

Chapter Five: Sister Lynn

Even today, when I and my sister talk, we still give credit to each other for getting the other one into music. I claim I sat on my big sister's lap and played my first piano piece. Whereas my sister claims that I taught her how to sing. We both could be right you know. But one thing that did stand out for me was a rendition of a song my sister did call 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again', by Dionne Warwick. She really laid it out and it was a perfect song for her voice.

My sis was the Dionne Warwick type. But yet a teenager.

By the way, I think my sister got married that year or the following year.

OK.

I fell in love with the "Theme from the Valley of the Dolls", "Theme from Romeo and Juliet", and "The Theme from Midnight Cowboy."

They were all Movie Themes and I learned to play each one by ear on the piano though I never took a piano lesson in my life, I loved the music so much.

I played all three songs perfectly. It was some years later that a Music Professor of mine, in college called me a Music Prodigy. Sounded good to me. Everybody wants to be somebody. So you see a person who is considered a genius in one field, can be a certain idiot in many other fields. I might have been called a musical genius, but the rest of my life suffered greatly.

Like Pride, Genius does not pay the bills.

It impacted my life in no way at all except in music. The Sound of the Spheres was always a part of me.

And always will be.

But music genius or not, I did have a knack for music and everybody loved the melodies and songs I played and created.

But back to my sister.

My sister was as kind, if not as kind as Jesus, himself.

 Due to the fact she was a girl, and girls in those days could not get away with things they say guys could, my sister was just born a nice person.

She had little choice, though my sister was genuine from the heart.

Because my sister Lynn who later became a Missionary, was about seven years older than me and my brother, because of this I didn't see her as much as I did my brother, though we were brought up in the same house.

My sis helped mom take care of us.

She would help us out in any way she could.

I remember when Lynn worked at the movies and we were able to get in free and Lynn would have a bag of home-cooked buttered popcorn for us when we got there.

Extremely moral, Lynn was one of the sweetest women you ever wanted to know.

A devout Christian, she became a missionary like my mom and went forth to spread the word of Jesus.

And being a Christian household, anything that had to do with 'power' outside of the Holy Spirit was of Satan or the devil.

I had had some strange experiences that certainly Lynn would have said were of the 'Devil'.

So I had a big secret I could tell no one

Except maybe my brother and I think

He would have laughed at the time.

This is revealed more in my second book,

'The Devil in Brewster Peterson'.

I had an answer to fear and the unknown

That scared the hell out of most people.

It did not dawn on me at the time how much my sister lived in fear.

I remember our Canary got lost in her room one day {I wonder how that happened}? And Lynn nearly had the second baby she was so terrified.

I knew no such fear.

The only fear I had was being exposed.

Either I was very, very good and persecuted all the time.

Or

I was very, very bad and punished

all the time.

It was not until later in my life,

I found the Happy Meeting {Neutral} Ground.

But my sister always took care of my brother and I and I would not trade her for all the gold in the universe.

I was too young to remember all the wonderful things my sis did for me, but she is still the same sweet person and a delight to be around.