Lisa Scottoline

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Chick Wit: Brother's soul finds a way to beat aging

By Lisa Scottoline

Inquirer Columnist

I just got off the phone with Mother Mary, who's lost her mind.

Or maybe it's Scottoline birthday madness.

Let me explain.

She told me a story that happened to her that day, when she was going outside to do the laundry.

Yes, you read that right.

She lives in Miami with brother Frank, and she goes outside to do the laundry because they keep their washer and dryer in the backyard.

I know this makes no sense to people in Pennsylvania, but she swears that it's common in Florida to keep major appliances in the backyard, like shrubs with 20-year warranties.

Still, it's hard for me to believe. I suspect that my mother and brother are redneck Italians.

But never mind. That's not the point of the story.

So Mother Mary is going outside to put in a load of laundry and she sees one of her neighbors, a nice young woman, walking her 2-year-old son by the hand. My mother stops to say hello, and the little boy looks up at her with big blue eyes and says:

"I love you, Mary."

So, of course, my mother melts, because she loves kids, and she even gets choked up telling me on the phone. The whole story is sounding really sweet until she gets to the next part, which is when she asks the mother of the toddler when his birthday is, and the woman answers:

Nov. 23.

OK, means nothing to you, but that's brother Frank's birthday.

And on the phone, my mother tells me: "I looked at that little boy, and I thought he was like Frank."

I didn't get it. "You mean gay?"

"No. Like he has your brother's soul."

I thought I heard her wrong. "Pardon?"

"When he said he loved me, I looked into his eyes and I could see his soul, and it was Frank's soul."

"You mean they're alike?"

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