LAURIE DAUGHERTY
My big brother, David.
So many memories of being David’s pesky little sister. Sometimes Mom would put David in charge of Clint and me. There were times he wasn’t allowed to do an activity with his friends unless he included me and Clint. David never seemed to mind, at least, I don’t remember him objecting. He took us sledding on Hannah’s Hill, let us join D&D games in the basement and Capture the Flag games on humid summer nights. There were backyard frisbee, softball and flag football games. In the house, we invented games like seeing who could dodge the most discs shot from his Star Trek gun down the hall. David, Clint and I took turns being the one who shot and the one who dodged. A couple times he even allowed me to tag along for a raft race on the Potomac River sponsored by a radio station. We had to tow the raft, swimming in the polluted water, more often than paddling it. Nobody got sick.
When David didn’t want us around, he would spook us with stories like the one about a 3-legged man in the woods who stole children, and of course, he actually saw the man one night, so I’d better go home. I believed him! Sort of.
Growing up we had a menagerie of pets at home—dogs, cats, hamsters, and at various times, rabbits, chickens, a caiman (that didn’t last long), turtles, chameleons, and fish. So naturally, David worked at the Oakton pet shop when he was in high school. I’m sure that’s where he learned to care so well for fish (how does he manage to keep them alive?) and developed a life-long love for aquariums.
One more random memory: Mom and Dad (and of course, me, because David was my cool big brother) were very proud of him when, as a highschool freshman (I think) he was cast in the school drama production of “Arsenic and Old Lace” as the dead body in the trunk. It was a hot, claustrophobic, thankless role, but David was a good sport! I can’t imagine why he didn’t stick with drama after that! But in a way, he stole the limelight, becoming a gifted college instructor who guided a countless number of young people in understanding the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence in this world. After all, an unexamined life is not worth living.
Always good natured, always kind, David was the best big brother a girl could ask for.