When the word went out that Paul had been killed by the tower sniper, the family, all far and near, descended on the home to comfort his parents and distract them from their sorrow. Everyone was exchanging news with everyone else, and the teenage girls were taking turns ironing each others' hair, which was all the rage back then.
Fio was aghast--where were Paul's brothers? She and Husband cut through the crowd and found the boys' bedroom, where they were sitting side by side, silent and still.
Why had these two precious children, the closest in the family to their brother, been left alone?
Husband and Fiorella stayed with them until the party was over, and, through the years, they would visit us. They were like lost souls--and the parents were so devastated by the loss of their shining light that they seemed to forget about the younger boys, who were often told to take care of their parents because of the loss they had suffered.
The boys did not fare well. The younger one had mental problems and, as far as Fio knows, is still riding around UT on a bicycle, and the older one, who died recently, used his inheritance to get a college degree and make a 'round the world tour, then married and had two sons. We thought all was going well until, at one of our family gatherings, he and his wife had a vicious fight resulting in her divorcing him.
He ended up being supported by a couple of other women and his share of the family ranch money until he died last winter. May he rest in a peace he never had while he was alive.
______
Fio's memory has gaps and mistakes, but this much she is sure of: not one, but three beautiful boys were destroyed by a person they never knew--another wounded youth who was randomly shooting people from the UT Tower.
Just like in Uvalde.
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