The Pig

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.