I was sitting at the breakfast table one Saturday morning with my mother and my brother, Freddie. I'm not sure of the year, but it would have been between 1965 and 1967. We were concerned because my father had not come home the night before. We didn't know what to expect.
He busted in as we were eating breakfast, like a force of nature. It took my breath away. He pushed open the door and stumbled in to the kitchen, bruised and bleeding from his nose and ears. It was quite an entrance. My Mom took one look at him and said “I guess someone really worked you over good.” He snarled back, “You’d like that, wouldn’t you!” As he headed up stairs to sleep it off he ordered, “Go out and check the trunk for a body.”
I am not kidding, this is exactly what he said. My Mom and brother went out to check the car trunk. There was nothing in it. Dad had been in a barroom brawl the night before, helping the bar owner (a friend and neighbor) get rid of some thugs who were menacing the bar. Dad suffered a concussion and had passed out in his parked car afterwards. He could not remember the outcome of the fight, but it must have been a doozy.
No, he didn't go to the doctor.
Life is so strange, sometimes it's best to laugh.
That’s got a bit of a Hemingway feel to it. The over the top manliness. And yes, I guess you do have to laugh a bit.
ReplyDeleteIt's just the way it was in my family. It all seemed pretty normal.
DeleteThank you for this, Colette. I often laugh in relief that I am an adult now and not living with situations from my childhood or even my adult life, incidents like the one you described here. Life is certainly strange.
ReplyDeleteJoni Mitchell's lyrics came to mind:
I wish I had more sense of humor
Keeping the sadness at bay
Throwing the lightness on these things
Laughing it all away
Laughing it alI away
Laughing it all away
I have more of a sense of humor than I used to have..
That's for sure. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry. Both give relief.
Crying is hard for me, for some reason (!). Someone would have to die for me to weep.
DeleteYour mom was very calm.
ReplyDeleteShe was always reasonably calm. She had 7 children and an alcoholic husband. It was either stay calm or lose her mind.
DeleteColette, that’s why Mom was calm. She had already lost her mind! I can remember that if Dad didn’t come home, calling the tavern and asking “Is my Dad there?” They always knew who I was asking about. As bad as our lives were, I’ve come to realize that his childhood was as bad or worse than ours. All the misery is passed on. What a World!
ReplyDeleteTrue ALL that, sister.
DeleteI'm sure you were all terrified but it is a great story. The best family stories involve a bit of horror.
ReplyDeleteI like to think that's true.
DeleteSome things stay in our memories forever, in a dark corner where they belong.
ReplyDeleteIf only they knew their place and stayed there.
DeleteThat is quite a memory. As we get older we figure out ways to hold these experiences and still find peace.
ReplyDeleteWe do.
DeleteWow, and I think my own father was an objectionable character. Looks like he was a saint compared to your dad. "Go out and check the trunk for a body.” Quite an errand.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't believe it when he said that. My Mom, brother, and I all just looked at each other for a minute or two.
DeleteI just finished a memorial, Education, by Carol Westover. Except, siblings remember differently from parents. Interesting family dynamics.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom and I used to reminisce about this particular episode in our lives.
DeleteWow! That's quite a memory! I think your sister's comment above is interesting -- how this violence was passed on from earlier generations. That is so often the way. If we all do nothing else in this life it's valuable to break that cycle as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteIn some families, breaking that cycle is the great work.
DeleteYou and your Sister endured some tough Memories, that you can Laugh at the insanity of much of it is the way many of us Cope with hard knocks Life.
ReplyDeleteNothing so physical as that. But in bed (aged ten-ish) I could hear a chatter of disagreement from the living room that finally ended in my mother walking out. No explanations from my father. Unsupervised during the day I ran wild, until my brothers and I joined my mother. Decades later I was to learn just exactly the effects this period had on my upbringing and adult life. I am who I am, not necessarily who I would wish to be. Writing allows me to scratch at the scabs.
ReplyDeleteNo explanations from your father? What did you think was going on?
DeleteNever a word. What I heard was adults fratching. That's what adults did.
DeleteWonderful memory. Great story. Family lore.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. My younger siblings laugh hard and loud when they hear these stories. Us older kids, not so much.
DeleteThis is a strong story. Fortunately he survived to the incident. The best ever is stay in peace and friendship with everybody.
ReplyDeleteThat truly would be the best ever.
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