He broke into the place and hauled<br >him down from the rafters.<br > I loved my baby brother. Sometimes I loved him more than<br >myself. When we were young I d often take a punch meant for<br >him， or try to. So when my mother asked for help， I thought of<br >him， not her.<br > She called me at my office and I very nearly didn t take the call.<br >She had come to New York a month ago and I had had more than<br >my fill of her then. I shouted at my assistant for putting the call<br >through without asking. Then I picked up the line. I always felt as<br >if the receiver was about to bite me.<br > Cathy? Catherine， call me Catherine.<br > Yes， Mother? I was abrupt.<br > Oh darling... A sigh relaxing into a pit of misery and then she<br >was sobbing.<br > That I wasn t expecting. She could whimp4"c and whine and<br >complain and sigh with the best of them， she c h~. lled and picked<br >at us endlessly， but she hadn t cried for years. I~lbt in front of me<br >anyway.<br ><br >