Love Your Sister by Samuel Johnson & Connie Johnson

Author:Samuel Johnson & Connie Johnson [Johnson, Samuel & Johnson, Connie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Published: 2014-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

Sam: The idea of leaving a legacy can kiss my arse. If I had kids I might feel very differently, sure, but if you had a semi-automatic directed at my temple and forced me to articulate what I wanted my ‘legacy’ to be, I’d hope for nothing more than the tiny pocketful of people close to me to agree among themselves at my remembrance, ‘Well, Sammy tried. He sure did try, that kid.’

That. Would. Be. It.

Then they’d move on with their lives and promptly forget about me. The idea of legacy is too dependent on the notion of permanence, which I have little faith in because as far as I can tell, very little lasts in this world. Permanence can make itself over and instantly gratify my balls. The very nature of time doesn’t allow for permanence – isn’t it obvious? Sure, Shakespeare or Mozart fly in the face of such an assertion, and somehow the Bible slipped through too, but there’s always exceptions, and there’s nothing about Connie or me or anyone else I’ve ever met that says anything greater than ‘blip’, as far as I’m concerned. Fuck ‘legacy’ and all its shitty little implications. The very word only serves to reinforce my sense of smallness …

See what I mean?!

It was the weirdest question Sam could ask me. But I wasn’t going to let this chance pass me by.

‘I don’t want my death to be meaningless.’

Sam looks at me across the kitchen expectantly, his head tilts to the side slightly.

‘None of us want that, but life, and ultimately death is meaningless. What do you mean, you don’t want your death to be meaningless?’ he asks.

‘Well, I would love to save just one other family from going through this hell. I would like to prevent just one other mum from having to say goodbye to her children because of this bastard of a disease.’

‘Gee, Con,’ he pauses. ‘How the hell do you think you can do something like that?’

This is my chance to ask Sam to change his life. For him to do something huge in my name, and change his life in the process. Should I do it? Can I really ask him to do this? Can I really expect that he would give up his entire life, his career, his friendships, his family, to do this for me?

The doubt in my mind is huge. But I’m determined. I want him to have an opportunity to do something beautiful, and to see the beauty inside people in the process. To see the beauty in life and to find some peace.

‘Sam, I think you should get on your unicycle again. Not just Sydney to Melbourne, but the whole country, to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.’

His face says it all. Disgust is written in his eyes, across his brow and in his hard-lined mouth. I steel myself for what is to come.

A few vodkas later he’s standing up, arms gesticulating, face alight with the possibilities. I’ve lit a spark and he seems wildly excited at the prospect of unicycling around Australia.

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