My brother is dead. - Democratic Underground

fudge stripe cookays

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Wed Oct-17-07 09:06 PM
Original message

My brother is dead.

Edited on Wed Oct-17-07 09:20 PM by fudge stripe cookays

What a fucked up day.

Some of you guys know that my relationship with my brother was not the best. He was 12 years older than me, so we were never close. He was an amazing artist. Had more natural talent in his little finger than I had in my whole body. Built several spaceships out of cardboard, spare electrical parts, and ingenuity (one was the size of a large dining room table, with spinning sonars on top, running landing bay lights, and other cool accessories). He worked for a series of computer game companies, including Origin, which created Wing Commander (which he worked on).

And just when we were finally starting to e-mail lots back around 1999 or so, and really get to know each other, he skipped my wedding, which really hurt. He never met reprehensor at all. Not once.

When he told me he wasn't coming because he "had to work", I told him I hoped he got a big fat fucking promotion, and we didn't speak for seven years.

My aunt Hope died in 2004. Her estate turned out to be an OK sum, and all of us 1st cousins got a share. I contacted the estate lawyer and asked if she could get a letter to my brother.

I sent the letter about 2 years ago, and told him I forgave him, and that I had bigger things to worry about-- that I had this chronic illness and stuff, and that if he ever wanted to get in touch again, that we probably wouldn't be in Texas much longer. I figured Calgary, but wasn't sure.

Two years passed. I was sitting at my desk just after I got up here, and checked my e-mail about a month ago to find an e-mail from Brian. My jaw hit the floor.

Turned out he'd fallen on hard times. Several computer game companies had folded, and all the same artists were competing for the same jobs. He couldn't find anything else, and when he did, the owners stiffed him for thousands of dollars.

His landlord was getting ready to raise the rent, and he had very little money left (he'd had to live on Hopie's money when he'd been unemployed). He wanted to know if I could take his two cats because he was going to head up to Colorado again. He'd been back and forth between Colorado and Texas for years.

I called him that night, and we had a good talk. He told me he hadn't gotten in touch all that time because mom had come out to his house and told him she'd gotten his address from MY address book (another of her lies!). He didn't want her getting any more information from me, so he just avoided me.

Any other time, I would have taken the kitties. But he caught me just after I got up here and I had a lease with only two pets, and r. couldn't have a litter box in the house because we're trying to sell it, so we were trying all sorts of things to find the kitties a home.

Finally, he e-mailed me and said he'd found them a home, and was heading out. He'd let me know when he got to Colorado.

This afternoon, I got an e-mail from his old friend Carol, writing to everyone listed on one of the e-mails she'd recently gotten from him, trying to see if anyone was kin. That he was dead. Wha???

I wrote her back immediately, asking her to tell me what was going on.

He made it up to Colorado, but they found him in a creek, and no one knew what had happened. His wallet was on the dash, and his glasses were nearby. It didn't look like foul play. It looks like he may have tried to go for a wash in the creek and had a heart attack. He was 53.

I had always hoped that I'd have a sibling closer than the one I got. I've practically been an only child growing up most of my life, with my harridan of a mother my only relation. Now we'll NEVER get a chance to be closer. This sucks.

I am still so freaked out, I can't believe it.