I Miss You

I’m not much for sentiment.

I’d rather laugh at someone, call them names. I don’t want to say, “I miss you.”

It’s a variation, sort of, on what The Old Man said everytime he’d beat me.

He’d say, “This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you.”

I never believed him.

Just like you can’t believe me.

The Old Man never beat me. He just beat Mom in front of us, in front of my brothers, my sister and me.

And he never said hitting her hurt him…at all.

Believe it or not.

Mom never left him.

Eventually

The Old Man stopped drinking and, as a result, stopped beating his wife, my mother.

10 years ago, a psychiatrist told me, “Impossible. Alcoholism and a man’s predisposition towards spousal abuse are 2 separate disorders, disperate issues. Successful treatment for one will not diminish the symptoms of the other primary disorder.”

I said, “Thank you for your time and learned opinion, Dr. Sheatphorbranes.”

That wasn’t his real name and all I actually said was, “Thanks.”

But I wanted to ask him questions. I wanted to ask him, “What part was wrong?