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Show SSI evening with her best of a l l . She'd fix a special dinner and dress up. We always had dessert on the night my father stayed with us - even i f i t was only bread pudding or peach cobbler. And then she'd massage h i s scalp while he read or she'd play cards with him. And she never claimed time just for herself - if someone wanted to t a l k with him she was always agreeable. The only time she got to bring up her problems was when she was sick - then she got h i s medical a t t e n t i o n . I guess that was better than nothing." "Your mother would suffer anyway," Brian broke in. " I t 's her nature to give up space to the people she loves." I clenched my t e e t h . "Well, i t i s n ' t right that she's been sick so much! And what about usf What about me? How well did he handle h i s r e s p o n s i b i l i t y toward me?" I was more angry than I had been in a long time. "If we, his children, don't do some thinking, some discriminating about his l i f e , who will? Are we a l l just to blindly follow m his footsteps, regardless of the confusion and pain. And are we to do i t just because he did i t ~ for no other reason than that?" Brian sighed. "I'm not suggesting that you follow in his footsteps. All I'm saying i s that i t ' s presumptuous of anyone to judge your f a t h e r . Danny's l i f e i s n ' t so perfect that he can s i t in judgement - and neither is yours." "Oh, I wasn't saying my l i f e was p e r f e c t !" I spat. "I'd not dream of saying anything as preposterous as t h a t ." "Look, Jeannie, everybody everywhere hurts over something. *ou can't escape suffering; i t ' s part of l i v i n g . You can t ry |
