My sister and I have always been pretty close. she's three years older than I am, and we sort of had to be allies, against our brother, who had no
desire for siblings. Things like finishing each other's sentences is not that unusual. If I haven't talked to her for a while, I know when she's
in a bad mood, depressed, and she knows when I am.
In 1980 she and one of her best friends had gone to Myrtle beach, with her friend's parents for a week. I was in Erwin Tennessee, at a ball
tournament. I hadn't talked to Sis for a week.
About 2:00 or so, during the afternoon portion of the tournament, the whole world went dark on me. Bright day in July, but it was as if I were in a
big room with one 40 watt light bulb at the far end. I had this feeling of pain, and suffering, that could happen to a person, but I knew it wasn't
me. I had a feeling that my sister was involved, but I couldn't tell if it was her who was feeling this pain or not. My thought at the time was,
"Sis, stop what you're doiing now, and go somewhere safe!" Beats me why I thought that. The rest of the day, and the tournament, was in slow
motion. (For you young'uns, we didn't have cell phones in those days, so getting in contact with people was nearly impossible, when you were out
and about.
).
We didn't have a number to contact Sis at the beach, because it just didn't occour to have one. I told my mom about what I was feeling, and based
on earlier experiences with my feelings and insights, she got worried too, but we had this commitment to the game, and because it was a team bus that
had gotten us there, we sort of had to stay and play.
When we were through with the saturday portion of the tourney, we got back on the bus, and were back home in Asheville, at about 12:30am. I still had
that aweful feeling that something had happened to my sister, or around her, but was just unable to do anything about it.
As soon as we walked in the front door, the phone was ringing, and my mom and I just looked at each other, a bit horrified to answer. (If there's a
call after 12:00, it's usually bad news..). Mom finally picked up the phone. Thank god, it was my sister.
Here's what happened. The car Sis was in was being driven by her friend's older sister. Her friend's mother was in the passenger side of the car.
Sis and her friend got out of the car, to go into a tee shirt store. They hadn't made it in the store when a truck tore through a red light at an
intersection and trashed the car that my sister had been in, less than a minute before. sis's friend's mother was in a coma for a bit over two
months, and passed away. She's been mashed up, internal injuries, etc. The older sister was hurt, but not in a life threatening way.
Sis told me later that she'd wanted to stop, because she heard my voice in her head, as if I were sitting beside her saying, (you guessed it.. ),
"Sis, stop what you're doiing now, and go somewhere safe!" She'd asked them to stop, and her and her friend had gotten out of the car, at roughly
the same time I got my feelings.
I would have hated to lose my best friend...