‘The Missing Sister’

When he asked Carlos to come over to play, Aaron had more on his mind than shooting a few basketball hoops. “I need to show you something,” Aaron whispered. “Look. I found this.” He pulled out a snapshot of two kids.

“Wow, that’s you,” Carlos said, examining the picture.

“I know it’s me,” Aaron said, “but who is that? I don’t have a baby sister.”

“Maybe it’s a cousin.”

Aaron shook his head. “My only girl cousin is Kerri, Aunt Jane’s daughter, but she’s older than me.”

“Why don’t you just ask your mom who it is?” Carlos said.

Aaron looked sad. “I’m afraid to, Carlos. I mean, what if it turns out I once had a baby sister and something bad happened to her? Maybe that’s why my folks hid this picture. Maybe seeing it makes them feel bad.”

Just then, Aaron’s mom came into the backyard. “Hi, Carlos,” she called. Both Aaron and Carlos spun around to face her. Aaron put the picture behind his back.

“Honey, are you holding something?” she asked Aaron.

“Uh, well, I, uh ... “ he stammered.

Aaron’s mom walked around behind him and took the snapshot. “Oh, my gosh!” she cried. “Where did you get this?”

“I found it in a drawer and, Mom ... did I have a sister once?”

She looked at him strangely. Then she glanced at the picture again and began to laugh loudly. “No, honey,” she said, “you’ve never had a sister.”

“Then how come that baby girl I’m holding looks like me?”

“That’s your Aunt Jane.”

“Huh?” Aaron looked totally confused.

“This isn’t a picture of you. It’s your dad and his sister when they were little,” his mom explained. “I wondered what happened to it.”

“That’s Dad?” Aaron yelled, taking the picture and examining it again. “Wow, I never knew Dad looked so much like me.”

His mom laughed again. “Yes, son. Almost as much as you look like him.”

Carlos laughed and said, “Yeah, you’d think you two were related.”

And then they all laughed.

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