Well my sister, and I use that term loosely, was here visiting from AR. I have seen her 5-6 times in the last 20 years and each time I see her, I am creeped out by how cold and closed up she is.

I could on and on about how just plain wrong this person, and I use that term loosely, is. Wrong in that she is deficient in manners, character, class, honesty, loyalty, fairness, common sense, tolerance of any form, open mindedness, and brain waves.

I could feel more sorry for her than I do, but that is a dangerous concession when it comes to an individual like her. In spite of all her shortcomings, she possesses what a lot of backward people possess: an uncanny ability to deal rather effectively with the world using animal instincts, dirty tricks, and knowing how to show boat and grandstand like a carnival barker. There is very little, if any, real genuine honesty when she is in the company of others, even her own disfunctional clan.

Enter my mother. Oy vey. After my sister essentially bitchslapped my mother and moved 2000 miles away, there has been a slow but unmistakeable transformation in my mother. My sister "showed" my mother. "Take THIS" kinda thing. My sister took her 3 unenlightened, rude, low-class, ill-mannered spawn with her of course, depriving my mother of her grandchildren, such as they are. In my mother's eyes, my sister was always incompetent and stupid, which is actually the way it was and still is. Now, however, my mother has idealized my sister. It has been progressing over the years. My sister handed her her lunch (punishment) and my mother acts duly contrite. It drives me mad.

The tiniest bit of news is trumpeted and heralded (to me mainly - o joy). If my sister manages to walk and chew gum at the same time, she makes sure my mother knows about it and my mother falls all over herself with admiration. Can you stand it??? My sister deliberately and without a valid reason deserts my mother, talks to her on the phone maybe once a month, doesn't call her on Xmas, visits once every 4-5 years.

Heavy sigh ......................................