The rest of the meal was spent in silence. Though once the last hot dog had been eaten and the last handful of corn chips consumed, Kayla kind of decided it was time to spill the beans. I will never forget the look that came across her face. It was one of pure sadness.

“Dad.” She started. “ Was like the best. He never raised his voice, I mean I was something of a little terror growing up. But dad just seemed to take it all in stride. He was the center of our world, of mom and I's world that is. And when mom became pregnant with you. Sis, he became a totally different man. He was cool before you know.” Kayla paused.

“But he became cooler. He pampered mom. He also pampered me, I was a bit worried, I was ten when you were born. And for the first ten years of my life I had been the only child. I was used to being the center of attention. And then you came along and I had to share the limelight. I was a bit worried that mom and dad would stop loving me. Dad put those fears to rest.” Kayla added as she peered down at the table.

“Dad was also a hard worker. He worked forty hours a week, plus sometimes ten hours overtime. At that time, we were living in a rented apartment in Vicksburg. As dad was a foreman at Warren Chemical. Rent was high and mom.” She paused. “Mom wanted me to attend St. Katherine's Episcopal Academy, and that was another big drain. It was like a family tradition or something. Mom and her two brothers attended St. Katherine's Episcopal Academy, her father and mother went there. Their folks went down. You get the idea.” She said nodding her head.

“Mom was something of a social climber. I don't know how she met dad. She never told me, but I guess there was a bit of a rebel in her, as she married as she often said after dad had passed 'Far below her class' whatever that means. I never looked at class.” She paused. “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, from dust you were made and to dust you shall return and all that good stuff.”

I nodded my head again.

“Anyway dad was the best. On his off days he was always doing something. We would go hiking together, we would fish together.  He would take me to the park to play and run around. We would go to the mall and hang out. And sometimes we would tour some old battlefields. Mississippi has dozens of battlefields, and while we toured them, dad would always tell spooky ghost stories.” Kayla sniffed a little, and for a moment I swore I saw tears forming at the edge of her eyes.

“Mom, was kind of okay with it. She thought dad was making me into something of a tomboy. And so she would redouble her efforts to turn me into a proper Southern Belle. She frowned on me going hunting and fishing with dad and us spending so much time hiking and stuff. I guess she was just jealous of the bond he and I had.” She paused again. Tears were starting to fall from her cheeks in earnest now.

“Sis.” I said reaching over. “It's okay, you don't have to say any more.” I said in a soothing tone of voice.

“No, you need to know, a girl should know something about her history and all. Now, mom was prone to fits. She would get all high and mighty and boost her family, how wealthy they were and how she went to the best private school Vicksburg had to offer. And how she had attended the best college money could afford. She loved to brag about that, she also bragged how she was going to raise the next Miss. America.” 
I blinked. 

“Mom always thought I would grow out of my tomboy phase.” Kayla said. “From time to time she went on the warpath if you will. But dad was always there to calm her down. But then, one day.” Kayla paused and closed her eyes. It was like she was wrestling with something.

“I'll come back to that later.” She said reaching up and pushing a strand of her hair from her face. She then tucked the strand of hair behind her ear. I could tell she was trying to collect her thoughts. And so I just sat there and listened.

“I was ten when you were born. Mom named you Mark because one of her great-great uncles or something was named Mark, he was a Confederate Major and helped command the forces in and around Vicksburg. He was killed during the siege of Vicksburg. Mom was big into family history.  She adored it and spent all of her free time swinging from one branch to the other. I mean both families, the Bell and the Brewers fought for the Confederacy.” My sister paused. “But we don't celebrate. It was a horrible war. And a tangled mess.” 

I nodded my head.

“Anyway mom wanted to name you Mark because it was a biblical name and because great-great uncle Mark Bell was a Major in the Confederate Army and commanded the defenses of her hometown.” She said, sighing. “I think she was hoping you had been born a girl. That way she could have raised  you to me a proper southern belle and cut me loose to be a tomboy.” Kayla paused again. “I don't think she was banking on you being transgender. In fact you were supposed to have been a girl. But never mind that now, that come and gone.”

I nodded my head.

“Honey, I know I am rambling on here. But,just hang tight with me okay? We're almost at the end.” She said smiling sweetly. I knew my sister could ramble on when she wanted too.

“Anyway, you were born a boy. And dad finally had his son. Mom had hoped that this would kind of balance things out. And for, four years, everything was perfect. I was kind of the princess tomboy, and you loved trains. At first I was a little at first mad, you know. For the first ten years of my life I had been the only child, then you came along. But.. I fell in love with you. You were like a living baby doll. I carried you around with me, changed your diaper, fed you and even bathed you. Mom thought it was cute, dad thought so too.”

“Then one day something just  happened. We don't know what happened, but there was a big boom at the plant. A lot of people were killed in the first blast, a second blast followed and then a third. I think the remains of the plant can still be seen off the highway. But Dad, dad was just signing off when the second blast happened. And he was killed, crushed to death by large slabs of falling concrete and then burned to a crisp by a roaring fire.” Kayla said pausing.

“They pulled his remains from a twisted pile of steel that had been crushed by a slap of concrete. Mom went into total shock, I was, I shut down. You were too young to know what was going on, I just remember you kept asking 'When is Daddy coming home' And finally, Aunt Isabella and Uncle William had to tell you.” Kayla was crying now and I myself was on the verge of tears. But I kept it all together.

After a long pause, Kayla resumed the tale.

“Like I said, mom had kind of shut down. Nobody had bothered to call Grandpaw and Grandmaw Brewer.” She paused. “Until six hours later. Well, Uncle William and Aunt Isabella handled a lot of the stuff. We moved in with them for a while. Uncle Percy.” She paused. “I mean Father Bell. Conducted the the funeral Mass at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Benton.  They entombed him in the graveyard that attached to the church.” Kayla paused again. “It's sad really, Dad is buried at St Mary's, all of the Bell's all one hundred and twenty five of them are buried at St. Katherine's. Mom buried in some out of the way church yard in the hill country. With the rest of the Perry's.”

Kayla took another drink of her cola. It still amazes me that Kayla can keep so much of the family lore locked away in her head. It's a gift common to southern womanhood I think. One that thankfully  passed me over. I don't know what I would do if I had to jingle jangle all those facts in my head.

“Mom received a huge settlement from the following lawsuit. Like huge. Uncle William helped. We then moved from Vicksburg to Madison. Mom left the Episcopal Church because they started accepting people she considered different. I started chatting online with people, flirting with them. Most of you know girls. Mom found those chat logs one day and flew right into me. It happens in a blink of an eye, one minute I'm in my room, the next minute I'm standing on the lawn, in my nightgown, with all my stuff getting thrown out on the lawn. And mom standing on the front porch, yelling at me to 'Get the Fuck out of her 'HOUSE' and I was 'A FUCKING HELL BOUND SLUT'.  Anyway something happened then, I felt an arm being placed around my shoulder and I smelled daddy. Like I smelled his aftershave. He called me 'Princess' and told me he still loved me, and that I needed to call grandpaw and grandmaw Brewer.”

I nodded my head.

“And that is enough of a history lesson for today. I think we need to collect these dishes and get them washed up and get them put away. I'll pop some popcorn and we can settle down and watch a few movies.”

I nodded my head again. I had a lot to think about now. My sister had just opened up her heart to me and poured everything out. That took a lot of courage, and strengthened the bonds between  us. And so the chapter in my life comes to a close. Stay tuned for me updates.