"My younger brother Trilby weighed ten pounds when he was born in 1971. I was only three then and he seemed relatively close to my size, or at least closer than anyone else I knew. I could tell from all the fuss being made over Trilby that he was different from me in some fundamental way and people often found me staring at him through the bars of his crib, my face puckered into a worried frown that amused my parents and gave the impression that mischief was the last thing on my mind; an anxious child was supposed to be a trustworthy child. Sometimes I proved otherwise, which made me look dishonest for failing to meet expectations.
'Now your mommy and daddy have a boy,' our neighbor Ethel Gabbard said to me during a new-baby visit to our house, where she'd arrived with a box of Pampers and a Raggedy Andy doll pillow, a gift I was allowed to unwrap for my brother. Ethel said 'boy' like it was a synonym for happiness. It probably is in some languages."
Hear more Monday, October 10, 7 p.m. at Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro St., San Francisco. www.facebook.com/events/1765349943718579/ And remember: the magic word to win a door prize is debut.
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