That Uncle

[Posted by reader_iam]

I referred to him, in this post that referenced a memory of dancing.

I think the first "real and live" memory I have associated with a Beatles song dates to the summer of 1964. In my mind's eye I can picture dancing in the grass somewhere, all flappy and giggly little-girl, grabbing at the hands of my youngest uncle, who would have been in high school at the time, or maybe just graduated. Of course, the song was "I Want to Hold Your Hand." (Was that the same summer my father put me up to saying "Rock 'n Roll is stupid, like cigarettes" to that same uncle, just to piss him off? Don't remember now. Heh--and to think that all three brothers smoked like fiends at one time.)

As it turned out, "toxic" in my family had nothing to do with foreign substances, but rather the most familiar turned nuclear. Do I need to explain what fallout is and does? The concept of shelf-life? That cancer spreads? That it runs in families?

I'm grateful for that picture, that memory, of me as the flappy and giggly little girl, in a portrait in which everyone at least showed up on the set. Those younger than I don't even have that at which to grab, or to which to cling.

I'd better stop now: Stop--stop!--this very minute. Stop.

Update: I s'pose I should have it made obvious (to those who didn't already get it in real time) that this relates to this.