I am not
his sister. He is
my brother. I was born almost
two years before him, thus qualifying my ownership by the
Younger Siblings Belong to the Older Law. Trying to explain this to the people who assume the opposite can get extremely frustrating.
I often say this to the curious souls who approach me in the halls with a line such as, “Aren’t you Adam’s sister?” They’re usually part of one of the several popular addicts crowds - kids I’ve been in school with since sixth grade, kids I watched turn their lives upside down with too many unfortunate and consecutive bad choices while bullshitting their way through high school. Their eyes wander, their speech is slurred and their sentences tend to fade into nothingness when they forget what’s going on in reality.
“Wow, you have long hair,” they’ll say after I tell them Adam is my brother. I belong to no one, but some people can belong to me. They then stumble away after asking if Adam will be home later that night.
I will not be denied my rights as the older sibling. I’m a sister to him, perhaps, but this does not make me his. However, it can be nice to hear your little brother say, “I want to be more like my sister.” Guess there are exceptions to every peeve.