To the People

Dear Brother,

You don’t exist. No, you are not dead. You were never born. In fact, you weren't even conceived. My parents just never had a child before or after me. I was a risky child. My mom was in her forties when she was pregnant with me. If she wasn’t put on bed rest the day she was, I would’ve been a miscarriage only hours later. Because of this, after I was born the doctors did that procedure they do to stop women from having babies.

I’ve always wanted an older brother to protect me and to keep me company. That’s why I created you. Your name is Dominic since that would’ve been my name if I was a boy. We have the same skin tone, hair color, and eye color: pale-white, strawberry blond mixed with dirty blond, and green with a tint of gray mixed in. People always make remarks about how much we look alike. You’re taller than me though. You’re almost six feet tall. I’m only 5’1. You take after our grandpa with that. We’re also different ages. You’re eighteen. You were part of the Class of 2012 at my high school. You have many, many friends.

You took Italian in high school, like I am now. Together, we speak Italian so our parents won’t understand us. It’s pretty fun. It’s helpful too. I can tell you all of my problems in this language. Now, if mom or dad eavesdrops, they won’t understand the conversation.

Let me tell you about the family. Mom is half Polish and half Irish. That makes us a quarter of each. Her name is Mary Ann Brennan-Perry. Dad is one hundred percent Italian. That makes us half. His name is Eugene Paul Perry – Paul is his confirmation name. He uses that because he wasn’t given a middle name. You can’t trust him though. I’ll elaborate later. Mom has two brothers and a sister – Wayne, Michael, and Patricia. Wayne was married to Aunt Cyrille before he died when I was seven. They had no kids. Michael is married to Maria. They have four kids – Rebecca, Joey, Samantha, and Sean. Rebecca is married to Tom. Joey is married to Renee and he has a stepdaughter named Mackenzie. Samantha isn’t married, but she has a son named Gavin. Sean is still in high school. Patricia is married to Jim. They have four kids too – Kenny, Sharon, Eric, and Brian. Kenny is married to Kim and they have a daughter named Sophia. Kim is pregnant again. Sharon is getting married to Ryan and Eric and Brian have girlfriends at the moment. Dad also has two brothers and a sister – Donald, Peter, and Celeste. Donald is married to Tomasina and their kids are Maria and Jeanette. Maria is forty-two and her boyfriend is Dale. Dale’s kids are Meghan and Melissa and Maria has a son named Christopher. Jeanette is married to David (who’s a fucking douchebag) and their kids are Donald, David, and Daisy. She’s pregnant again. Peter is gay and has a boyfriend. He did have a wife, though, and her name is Faith. Their kids are Alyssia and Dominic. Alyssia has a daughter named Sophia. Sophia was just born this year. Celeste is married to Cary and they have three kids – Nick, Peri, and Zach. Also, only one of our grandparents is alive. Mom’s dad, Joseph Brennan, died of cancer in the 80s. Her mom, Dolores Stec-Brennan, died of old age not even a year before I was born. Dad’s dad, Papa Don, died in the 80s of bone marrow cancer. It is a curable cancer, but he was too far along in the process to be saved. Dad saw him take his last breathe. He’s where you get your height from. Dad’s mom, Josephine Seno-Perry, is the one who is alive. She is rather short. Shorter than me. He speaks Italian but it’s difficult to understand her. She speaks the dialect form Naples. She was born here, but she went back when she was three. Due to the stock crash in America, her family was stuck there for a while. She saw an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. How do you like that? She came back in time to start first grade in America. She was the only one who didn’t know English. She also couldn’t touch the floor when she sat down so she would swing her legs. Her teacher once got so aggravated that she brought in a brick to put under grandma’s feet.

You’re probably wondering why Dad’s not to be trust. I found out he was cheating on mom. I held it in for five months before I finally blew it up in his face. The reason I blew up in his face was because he got mad at me about something I didn’t even do a little while earlier. He smacked my arm and on instinct I said, “Don’t touch me.” Then he grabbed both my arms and started attacking me kind of. I don’t know. All I know is that it just wasn’t his usual way on how he handles things I do wrong. I was able to get away but for some reason I just blew up. I cried for hours that night. I really needed someone to talk to. To this day I still haven’t talk to him. It’s been a little more than two weeks. I just can’t trust him anymore.

Are you wondering about our religion? Everyone is Catholic in this family, but we don’t really practice it. We never go to church. We do observe Lent, but we don’t get ashes or anything. I give up something sometimes. I was baptized and I did make my communion but I didn’t make my confirmation. You can be Catholic if you want. Or you can be agnostic like me. It’s hard for me to believe. It’s okay if it’s hard for you to believe too. I want to believe, but I just… I don’t know. Do you feel like this?

Personality. That’s a big thing about you. You’re funny, sweet, caring, and protective. Not overly and annoyingly protective, but protective. You care about what happens to the family and your friends. Be proud of that. Be proud of your humor too. People cry because they laugh so much around you. Your sweetness has girls chasing you all the time. ;)

Do you want to be a rebel? Get a piercing or tattoo. Actually, get a tattoo. Dad hates tattoos and he’ll shun my ass to hell if I get one. Wanna piss him off? Get one. I dare you. I would get one myself but I don’t know what I would get. You can help me with that.

Well, that’s pretty much all I have to say. I guess I’ll talk to you later, Dominic. Stay awesome. I love you.

Alright. I’m beginning to sound crazy now. Oh my, Dominic. I really do wish you were real.

From,
Dominique