Chapter 1

I love my sister. Most people who have a sister say they love their sister, but that’s not what I mean. What I mean is, I’m in love with my sister. My name is Melissa Ann Henson. I am a twenty-three-year-old stock analyst with Legg Mason. I followed my mother, Marie, into the financial world. She’s an analyst for T. Rowe Price. I have one sibling, a sister named Kathleen Marie, but ever since she was born, we’ve called her Katie. From the time Katie was born, we knew she was mentally challenged. Mom had a very difficult delivery, and Katie had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and suffered brain damage due to oxygen deprivation during the delivery. She was breach, and it took time to get her delivered. From the fetal heart monitor they knew she was struggling, but even with their best efforts, she suffered damage.

Our dad, the no-good son of a bitch, left us six months after he found out he had a “mentality challenged” child. Mom suffered terribly with depression, and I became Katie’s primary caregiver

Until recently, people have held the position that mentally challenged people only respond to their sexual urges because it is a base instinct. They do not need a sex life and they are not mentally capable of making a mature decision to consent or reject a sexual overture from a non-mentally challenged person. But what if the initial overture is initiated by the mentally challenged person thenselves? Are they not expressing certain desires? Even needs? What, are we qualified or even have the right to deny that person a desire or need they clearly want and need fulfilled? Granted, the issue of pregnancy is a concern and needs to be addressed. But, if your twelve-year-old daughter came to you, their parent, and said they were sexually active, and wanted birth control, would you not put them on birth control even though in the eyes of the law they are not considered legally mature enough to consent? These are questions that I am attempting to help resolve as I fight for my sister’s right to love the person, even if in her mentally deficient state, she feels safe enough to express those feelings and needs with someone she trusts and loves. Obviously, I’m not advocating incest., but many countries do legally allow adult, consensual relations between family members. As far as I am concerned, I want Katie to have the right to choose her intimate partner—whether it is me or anyone else as long as those caring for her are convinced that her choice is sound and that person will not harm her in any way.

I guess I could wax long and hard about rights and avocation, but I guess the best way to deal with this issue is to tell our story. So, please lend me your ear—and your heart.

Katie is a very special child. I have seen and known of countless kids who have mental or physical challenges offer the world their own special gift for us to be completely amazed and astounded with. Katie is no different.

Katie is now sixteen. She is almost exactly nine years younger than me. Like I said, I was nine when Mom brought her home. Mom and I are “gingers,” and tiny little Katie is no different. Her head was covered with fiery copper red ringlet curls and her eyes were a brilliant azure blue. Mom called me her “little mama” because when I wasn’t in school, I took care of Katie. I changed her diapers, I bathed her and even got up for her 2am feeding most of the time.

The day Mama brought her home and put her in my arms, my little angel looked at me and my nine-year-old mind believed that a sacred bond, a joining of hearts ... a communion of spirits was instantly formed. THAT’S why I cared for her like I was her mother. I was the first person she took her first steps to. I was the one she would pull on my skirt or pants and say, “pee-pee.”

As she grew, her and I were inseparable. Even if I was out with my girlfriends. I brought her along. It wasn’t until she started school that she started to spread her wings a little and started to make her own circle of friends. Mind you, we still did things together, but not as often. But ... we were together every night after school.

The school system where we lived conducted a whole battery of tests on Katie before she began school. She tested normal in everything regarding her psychological and emotional health, but they said her I.Q. was 52, which classified her as moderately mentally handicapped.

All throughout Katie’s life, it was nothing for her to come to my room and climb into bed with me. Sometimes it was a thunderstorm, others, she had an accident and wet her bed. Most of the time she just wanted to be held and cuddled to sleep. Whenever she would come to me in the middle of the night, tap my shoulder and whisper “Mithy,” [she has a lisp] I would just automatically scoot over and when she climbed into bed, I would either spoon up behind her, or she would lay her head on my breast and hug me with her left hand.