Baby-Girl
Revised
He called her Baby girl even though she wore hip hugger bell bottoms, fringed vests, and was a freshman. The only person who got away with it was her older brother Vinnie. They were as close as two siblings born five years apart could be, and she looked to Vinnie for guidance.
She missed the talks with her brother. She always talked to him about Vietnam; he told her things, and advised her about what to avoid. When rumors of war first began, Teresa knew her brother would enlist. He had spoken about when the war was being rumored. The war wasn’t popular, of course, and many were burning draft cards. But Teresa was unnerved because it seemed that they were disregarding what “the boys” were doing there, and her brother was one of them. Her brother’s only advice had come from a letter ddated a few weeks prior to starting high school!
Vinnie wrote her every week as he had promised, but his letters were vague and she began to worry about him. Vinnie’s safety was her greatest concern. She could not imagine what would happen if something happened to him, and she did not want to think about the fact that so many boys had gone over there.
Although Teresa read and reread Vinnie’s letters until they were about to crumble, they were a part of him and he was her brother. He did everything for her that her mother couldn’t. Daddy had fled the scene long…
