Miss Miss Cyndi Lou Who

I don't know why, given all the ways we have of instantly reaching someone, distance should make such a huge difference. But it does. My middle sister, Cynthia Lynn Hunter Castor Hartwell Hunter, has been out of Fort Worth for eight days now, and her absence is like the hole where a filling has fallen out — your tongue can't help revisiting it, hurting itself on the jagged margins, marveling at this new empty space.

And she doesn't even live here at Star Ranch when she's home!

We were Air Force brats, and we had never lived anywhere longer than 3.5 years. She and I lived together in the mid-70s, when I first joined the USAF and was stationed in Tucson; Mom & Dad had moved to Peoria (near Phoenix) when he retired, so I guess they thought if things got too bad she could get a ride "home" (to them). But since then we haven't lived near enough to visit often; she stayed near Mom & Dad in Indiana (which really does suck your brains), while I separated from the service (because Mo retired and it was boring) and settled in the only municipality on earth named Azle. (There's a good reason for that: it's German for "jackass," I understand, and it was poor Dr. James Steward's middle name — and he donated much of the land for the town.)

She had a great life, two of the most incredible kids you'd ever want to meet (in any lifetime) and a cool little witchy property in Crothersville, Indiana — until May 3 of 2005, when they all vanished in a fire of unknown origin. She moved here less than a year later and has spent the time since then trying to heal — and healing folks around her in the process. And in that time we have gotten to know each other better and discovered that we have a lot more in common than parents and a third sibling. She has a vampirefreaks.com account; her username is Cynergee.

She was "my" baby when she arrived; I was three and a half, and I read to her and played with her every chance I got. She has gone to Missouri to visit the parents and sister, to see her remaining child, and to jaunt over to Indiana and maybe Alabama; she may be gone for a month! I miss my Cyndi.