No, That’s Not Normal

The other day my friend recounted an incident where he was spoken to in a very degrading manner by an employer when he was a young teen. He was so stunned, it has stayed with him more than fifty years later. He asked me, “Who speaks to anyone that way, especially a kid?” I told him I was always spoken to that way. Where I come from it’s normal. It wasn’t until I was married and had a child that I learned that not all people hate their spouse and not all parents resent their kids. My father is long dead and my mother, who is quite elderly, calls me regularly to chat like we’re old friends. Mostly everyone to whom she would say terrible things about me are gone, so she has very few people to talk to. I let her talk while I play solitaire. She’ll exit this life believing she did a great job. I’m working up the nerve to get a ******** tank to get the hell out of here.