The Pig
My mother’s overall cognition has declined over the past few
months. Repeats questions asked 2
minutes prior. Inability to make
decisions that were easy for her to make a year ago. But tonight at dinner she was especially
lucid in her past remembrances.
He was your father’s
younger brother’s nephew. He always had
an extremely bloated opinion of himself.
When your father was younger, he worked at the Neville Hotel in upstate
New York with Uncle Danny, to whom we had been close with for years. Also working there was George, the nephew with high esteem. Uncle Danny was considered
an outstanding chef and often times received compliments from the hotel
manager. These compliments seemed to
outrage George, who exclaimed, “What an idiot he (the manager) is! I could run this place ten times better than
he could.” Your father would
sarcastically respond, “Yes, you are a true genius!”
Which may have been
why George never liked your father. When
your father was dying of cancer, Uncle Danny and his wife would come and visit
often, but George would never do so.
“I’ll catch his sickness!” would be his excuse.
Six months after your
father passed, I was still grieving on a daily basis. Out of the blue, George called me. “You shouldn’t live by yourself. You should come live with me and we should
get married. I’ll take care of
you. After all, I have a lot of money.” I hung up on him and
burst into tears. The absolute gall of
that man!
Two days later, Uncle
Danny arrived for a visit, something he did regularly after your father’s
death. He confessed still being very sad
about our loss, but that I needed to begin to move on from my grief. I immediately burst into tears. “What’s wrong? What did I say?” I responded that it wasn’t about what he had
just said. “I’m just angry at
George.” I told Uncle Danny about our
previous conversation. “What a pig! Nothing but a pig!”
Uncle Danny later told
me that he had met up with George playing mahjong at the Benevolent Association
in Chinatown. He told George to stop
playing and come with him to discuss an issue.
He asked about the call and George confessed that he did make the offer
of living together and marriage. Danny
knocked him back with two swift backhands to the face. “What did you do that for?” George shrieked
fearfully. “It’s because you are such an
idiotic pig!” was Danny’s response. “How
can you do that to a grieving widow who only lost her husband 6 months
ago. And what is this with you having
all this money? You still owe me $200
from 2 weeks ago for your gambling debt.
I want that money right now!”
“But I don’t have
$200!” cried George. This resulted in 2
quick punches from Danny that knocked him to the floor. “I want that money now and for you to never approach her
again!”
I never did see George
again. I heard that he died on the
streets, homeless and penniless. I know
now that he was never rich and was just trying to swindle me. He apparently got caught stealing in Chinatown
and was beaten for his crime by the storeowner.
I know I should feel bad, but I really don’t.
