JOHNNY - memior

I should not have been surprised to see the six state police cars with flashing lights ripping through the blinding sun sirens waling. I watched my father walk calmly out to greet the cops. I instinctively knew it was about my twin brother. And, I knew he couldn’t bear to let me have my moment in the sun.

It was my wedding day. The guests were milling around under the big trees at my childhood farm some seated at pretty tables tied with big white ribbons. My dad motioned my brother toward the waiting police cars where 12 cops quickly gathered around him. I turned to my new husband and we smiled at each other. We both knew Johnny….

My brother had come home the day before especially for our wedding on leave from the army where he trained as a pilot on his way to Viet Nam. Just for fun he and his friend Burnie Thompson took a small plane out flying. They just happened to fly over nearby Crystal Lake where, as happenstance would have it, there was a sail boat race. John and Burnie were never ones to observe. They decided to join right in by dive-bombing the boats pulling up just in the nick of time scaring the bejeesus out of everyone on the lake. Sailors were jumping out of their boats, people were screaming, children were crying. Johnny and Burnie were having one hell of an afternoon.

by Jesse