Sick Wife

My wife is sick.
She's been sick for a long time. Months now.
I'm concerned for her.
I'm trying not to be scared for her.
I love my wife so very, very much.
I'm ready for this sickness to be over.
I love my wife.
I love my wife.
I love my wife.
And that's the best and only thing I can do.
I love my wife.
I love my wife.
I love my wife.

Anger, This Stupid State, and My Cool-Ass Keyboard

It's pretty ridiculous how many people in my world wanna tell me what to do, and I'm fucking tired of it.

Yeah, I should probably let it go, but it digs in and doesn't seem to let me go.

This morning, I'm at 7-11.  Standing in line, there is only one person working the counter.  So I'm standing in the one and only open line.  As the line grows behind me, I watch as another employee makes his way to the other register.  As he's opening up the register to get ready to help people, the one person in front of me is wrapping up her transaction.  It's obvious to me that I could either stay where I am, or go to the other line, and either way things would be accomplished at the same time.  So the Other Line guy opens his drawer for business and dutifully yells out, "I can help the next person in line."  I don't move, because I'm about to advance to the person originally at the counter.

But the fucking bitch behind me taps my shoulder with a bony bitch finger.  "Sir," she insistently says, "he can help the next person in line.  That's you."  Don't fucking tell me who is next in line, whore!  YOU go over there!  THAT'S how life works!  The next one in line would be YOU because I'm about to reach my destination.

So instead of saying any of that...
Instead of staying where I am...
Instead of doing what I know to be the THING to do...

I FUCKING MOVED TO THE OTHER LINE!!

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH **ME** AT THIS POINT???

Well, I hurried up with my 7-11 sale, making sure to take as little time as possible so that I could beat that Fucking Bitch out the door (all of this is taking place at 5:45 am, mind you, so there's a definite element to everyone's attitude of "fuck you, it's too fucking early for life."), and as I approach the door, I see some Good Ol' Boy approaching the door from the outside.  He's wearing hunting camo in the city, and it's too clean to ever have been used hunting for anything other than Budweiser in a bucket of ice, and that's how I know he's attracted to his mother's cows sexually.  I stand aside so that he can come inside, out of the freezing, freezing early morning air.  And bitch fucking pulls the door open, steps aside, and says, "Come on, buddy," in a drawl drenched in his brother's freshly produced semen.  This, again, isn't how it works!  "But they're just being polite," you tell me.  First off, why the fuck are you arguing with me??  You weren't there and you don't know!  Secondly, building off your already-established ignorance of the situation, why are you taking THE OTHER PERSON'S SIDE AGAINST ME??  And third, when it's as cold outside as it was, it's important to get people INSIDE BEOFRE THEY GO OUTSIDE.  Even if it's NOT freezing cold, you let people come inside before you let them go outside.  EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT!!

What is fucking wrong with this state and it's people who incapacitate themselves and those around them with their displays of phony congeniality and politeness??!!  It's bullshit!  YOU take care of YOU, and I will take care of ME!  It's like all the people who have obviously arrived at the 4-way-stop intersection before me, but they INSIST on waving me onward before them.  "Go ahead of me," they wave emphatically, like I'M the one who's holding up the world because I'm waiting for them to go first.  I've even run in to people who DO NOT HAVE A STOP SIGN AT THEIR INTERSECTION, yet they FUCKING STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC TO WAVE ME AHEAD!!  ME, THE GUY WITH THE STOP SIGN, HAS THE RIGHT-OF-WAY IN THIS JACKASS' OPINION, AND HE'S WILLING TO FUCK EVERYTHING UP IN ORDER TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO, EVEN THOUGH HE'S FUCKING WRONGER THAN WRONG!!!  WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?!?!?!?!  I DON'T HAVE BIG ENOUGH CAPSLOCK LETTERS TO EXPRESS MY FURY AT THESE FUCKING CUNTS!!

And what's really, REALLY silly, is that I've let all of this ridiculousness get to me for any amount of time.  AND it's stayed with me through my commute, AND persisted through the majority of my day.

It is possible that I'm just bitching in order to use my new wireless keyboard that I got to allow me to write again.

I've missed writing.  Even the bitching part of my writing.

And the people in this state are backwards and make the world a worse place because they're alive.

And my keyboard is pretty awesome.
It changes color.

Nice To People

In moving to our apartment, my wife and I have been overwhelmed at the amount of stuff we had at our home, as well as how much of it we're having to get rid of as we transition to our smaller living space.

We recently got rid of one of our large chairs. Typically what we've done when we get rid of large items like this is we will put an ad in Craigslist, saying the chair is on the curb and you should come and get it. This has always worked well for us. So we did it again with this chair. We put it outside and put a Craigslist ad up saying come and get it.

And nobody came and got it.

And still nobody came and got it. For days.

Then, yesterday morning as I was walking to my car, I noticed a person in the chair. I was startled, as it was 5:30 in the morning and I wasn't expecting to see anyone at that time. Not even the people I live with wake up at that time. And this person, also, did not wake up. I made noises and cleared my throat, but he didn't wake up. He had a blanket over him and his shoes were off. And that dude was asleep hard! I was slightly nervous that he was dead, but there was no odor of dead guy, so I felt comfortable leaving for work.

My wife texted me later in the day saying he was still there. I asked if he was dead, and she said no, he was moving.

Later, when I got home, my son apologized for locking the door. "I got nervous about the homeless guy," he said to me, laughing. Later that night as we were eating dinner together, my son brought up the homeless guy again. He wanted to move the chair so the homeless guy wouldn't have our parking lot to sleep in. My wife told him that the homeless guy wasn't hurting anybody, the chair wasn't in anyone's way, and it was okay. My son asked me how I felt about it. Now typically when he asks me how I feel about things like this, I feel like he's asking because I may have a differing position from his mother that more directly lines up with his. However, on this point he did not get that response. I told him I felt exactly the same as his mother. My wife seemed surprised. "Really?" she asked.

Yeah. Really.

I think we as a nation stigmatize those without homes. I think we throw huge label-blankets over people. "Homeless", "drug addict", and "criminal" all become synonymous. We have stopped thinking about all of them as individuals, and now they are disposables. Something to be gotten rid of like a chair you don't want anymore. Just get them out away from my house. We start believing that they're all the same. We stop looking at them on the street. We don't see the person with a sign, we just see somebody who is bothering us just by standing there. A nuisance.

Now imagine you lost your home. And whatever has caused you to lose your home has also caused you to lose everything else. You have no support system, no family or friends that will let you sleep on their couch, not enough money to stay in a hotel. You're completely alone. And you have no clothes to change into that might be more presentable for a job interview. So you're pretty much done. There's not much left. And that's not even mentioning if you have some kind of disability, like a mental or physical impairment that might turn people off from you even more.  It's not a crime to be without a home, but now people are treating you like a criminal. Trying their best to just sweep you away. And you have nowhere to sit. Nowhere to sleep. Nowhere to go to the bathroom or make yourself more presentable so people might see you as something more than a pile of shit. Can you imagine that? Really try to put yourself there. You have nobody. Now... how are you gonna get drugs? Drug dealers aren't going to give you free samples because 1) that only happens in movies, and 2) you're a lousy investment, as you have no money you could use for return business. So you can't get high. You certainly can't afford liquor. So you're not altered on any substances. What would it take to turn you into a criminal? Can you see yourself breaking into somebody's home? Can you see yourself breaking into somebody else's car? I'm no saint, and I can't picture myself doing either of those things. There are far easier ways to take care of yourself. Like shoplift a whole bunch of stuff, obviously, get caught, then go to jail. Bingo, now you've got a bed, shelter and food. You also have people who are looking at you. Sure, they think you're shit still but at least they look at you while judging you. You are, after all, in jail. People in jail are deserving of our judgment, right? I mean, wasn't it Jesus who said, "judge all those in jail, and all those who have lost everything, for they are but shit in my eyes and smell shitty"? Sounds like Jesus to me. And Gandhi. And Martin Luther King, Jr. Or does it sound more like Donald Trump?

Who would you rather use as a moral compass? Donald Trump or Jesus?

And think about this, while you're at it... Think about how quickly you dismiss those disposable people. Do you think you dismiss them as quickly as you dismiss my words that you don't agree with? Is it because it's more comfortable to live with your own flawed thinking rather than actually admit that, maybe, your thinking is flawed? It's easier to live incorrectly, rather than make changes that are positive and good.

My wife didn't say all that to our son. Neither did I. But it felt nice to be reminded, again, that I've married a super decent person. And I like her a lot.

I'm So Done

If you don't have enough money, you can expect to hear somebody somewhere tell you it's your fault. You didn't save enough. You didn't work hard enough. You spent too much. You don't have enough money? You're to blame, I don't feel sorry for you and, in fact, I condemn you for things you've done in my mind.

Today, my wife's car won't start. That's because the ignition key has worn down to the point that it won't turn the ignition anymore. Nothing anyone in my family could possibly be blamed for. And now she's getting a locksmith to come out and fix her car. For him just to arrive is $130. And while he's doing that, she's missing work. And she gets paid hourly. So while she's spending money, she can't make money. That's this month, and it's not even half-way over.

Last month the air conditioner in the house we're trying to sell broke. Our realtor told us that we could either fix it or it would come out of the price of the house. She recommended if the fix was less than $300, we should go ahead and fix it. The repair was $250. No one has bought our house yet.

August saw us spending money on movers, and eating out because our refrigerator was unplugged or being moved, and all the associated costs of moving. We were moving, mind you, in order to save money and get ourselves in a more financially secure place.

July saw me spending $200 on registering my car. My mother purchased a car for me, saving me and my family so that I could continue to go to my job (aka the financial backbone of my family), because my previous car had been totalled by a hit and run accident occurring in my neighborhood, at night while I was asleep, and the car was parked on the street where I had been parking it for the past five years.

And all of these expenses come unexpectedly and cause me and my wife to scramble. Work overtime? Can't, it's not being offered right now. More hours at her job? Can't, not being offered. So... we cut expenses in order to spend what we need to on our priorities.

I am so utterly done with all of this bullshit.

So completely done.

Too Many Bullies!!

Gotta say, I'm getting pretty fucking sick and tired of people being mean and cruel to my wife.

First it's her family.

Then she escapes her family to marry a man who is worse.

Then you've got school parents, teachers, and then lawyers and neighbors and Child Protective Services gets pulled in, and it's a pretty fucking shitty world she lives in.

And now, her co-worker.
In front of her son who works with them both.
And her boss who is fully aware of the issue but doesn't have enough employees hired so that she can fire the co-worker.

So my wife, again, gets beaten up, again, and feels like there's nothing she can do to take care of the issue. If she leaves her work, she doesn't get paid. She needs money for, you know, everything. If she stays, she gets beaten up. In front of her son. Who has already spoken to their boss about this treatment.

What the fuck is wrong with this whole goddam planet??!!

The ABCs of Psychosis

Today I find myself thinking about A.

1. I hadn't seen M in 2 years, and I called A on the phone, asking for M.  A said that M was in the house, and M was taking a shower and would call me back when M was done.  I told A that I would wait until she was out of the shower.  A laughed and said no, she would take my number and M would call when she got out of the shower.  I left my info and begged A to make sure M got that, because I had been trying to get in touch with M for 2 years.  A said she would.  Many years later, I find out that A did not deliver that message, and even more shocking, M was not in the house and did not take a shower there, so that part wasn't even true.
2. A got angry at M for some reason, and stayed that way for multiple years, allowing those feelings to prompt her to tell the attorney for the boys that M's abusive ex was a better parent than M. 
3. A supported M's abusive ex with gifts of time, love, vacations, furniture, plants and flowers, food, financial assistance, assistance caring for the boys, kind words, emotional support, and companionship.  A gave none of this to M, her own daughter.
4. A actively refused to listen to M when she was trying to tell A about the horrors that were going on during the divorce.  This included refusing to listen to spoken words, cell phone texts, emails, and court documents.
5. A decided that she wanted to give M and her family a vacation, which would include JC.  M said that it would be pointless to ask the ex for JC to join us but she would give it a try.  M asked the ex for some time for JC to spend with us so we could take a vacation, and even offered several options.  Ex not only turned down the request for extra time, but when he found out that the family was going to schedule a trip around that time, he scheduled time for JC to be away from M, then told JC that it was "mandatory" for him to be away, thus shortening JC's already short time.  A heard about this, and spoke with the ex.  She was flabbergasted, not because ex was taking away time JC could spend with his mother, not because her daughter was being bullied out of being a mother to her youngest, but because the ex had denied time that JC could have been spending with A, and that part wasn't okay.  Even after this talk, ex said that he wasn't going to change things.  And A decided that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Now she has given us money to move.  She has specifically said the money is for me, also, and not just my wife.  It was a very kind gesture.


She has started talking with my wife more than she ever has, which is probably nice for my wife on some level to have her mother wanting to be in her life.  It's never easy when a parent doesn't want to be in your life, even if that parent is abusive.


She has spent time with our eldest and given him gifts, some of which he has enjoyed.  And during these times she hasn't actively made him feel bad about himself, like telling him to get over his fears and phobias to the point of traumatizing him.






And last night, I saw my wife get a little excited as she told me about their talk.  It wasn't huge excitement, but it was excitement.  And it very likely could have been excitement over the good things that were happening to us.  She's good at compartmentalizing things, much better than I am, and sometimes that's a great quality.  Perhaps she was focused on the good elements, and her excitement was a result of those good things.  And I suggested that she go to her mother.  She said it was an option, and I said that's where we should start.  And now here we are.


I get very nervous that my wife is going to be pulled into her mother's world of crazy again.  I get nervous that my wife only sees the possibility of moving, and doesn't see that it's being offered by Satan.  I have taken Satan's wares before.  I am well-versed in the ways of taking shit from Satan without welcoming Satan into my home.  My wife believes in etiquette more than I do, which could lead her to see Satan standing outside our house in the rain, and she would open the door to him.  "The weather is horrible out there, there's no reason for you to stand out there.  Come inside now, you silly Prince of Darkness!  I'll make you some tea."


Yeah, I guess I'm drawing parallels between my wife's mother and Satan.  And I don't think I've gone too far with that.  So far, A hasn't done anything to suggest she cares any more for M or me or her grandchildren than she ever did(n't).  What she has done is given a gift a money, and given it without strings (for now), and said it's for all of us, including me.  I worry that my wife will find herself in a situation in the future where her mother does something that she's always done-- hurt my wife-- and my wife will think, "wait, this is my mom... she had been acting so nicely.  What happened?"


Nothing happened.  Nothing changed.
That's important.
Nothing Changed.


The ONLY thing that changed is that I became open to the idea of taking money from her for the gain of my family, myself included.  That's the ONLY thing that has changed.  Everything else remains the same.  So even though it may feel like she's doing something nice for us, saying nice things, she's not.  They're all very selfishly planned things.

1. She decided she was done with X when he wouldn't give JC time with A.  It was all about A being denied time when she wanted it, and because she was denied time, she now doesn't spend time with X.
2. She honestly asked if M would "allow" JC to stay with us if that was what he chose.  M, of course, said "Why in the world would I not allow my son to come and stay with me?"  And A's response was, "Well, X said that JP couldn't stay with him anymore."  She somehow decided that because X demonstrated that he didn't believe in unconditional love that M must also be that way.  Which also shows a total ignorance of how M lives her life and mothers her children.  It's also disturbing to think that A, who is a mother, might say "why aren't you doing something when somebody else is doing that bad thing?"  I would expect A to have a more firm grasp on what is appropriate behavior and not be so easily swayed by the horrible actions of others.  But she never has been that way.  She has always played right into the drama.
3. A started telling stories about X and X's wife P.  Personal stories.  Stories that had been private and not for my wife's ears.  She was not telling my wife these stories because of a sense of what was just or right.  She was telling these stories because she was angry at X for denying time with JC.
4. A said that she hoped JC would find his voice, and then in a couple of years decide he wanted to live with M full time in order to get away from that situation over there with X.  When M said that probably wasn't going to happen, A said, "isn't there anything you can do as a mother?"  My response to that was, "yeah, there is something she can do as a mother, and you totally fucked her, A, by saying that X was a better parent that M, you fucking cunt."

There's a famous story of a frog and scorpion.  The scorpion needs to get across a river, and so he asks the frog for a ride.  The frog says, "you're a scorpion.  You're going to sting me and I'm going to die."  The scorpion says, "no, I'm not going to sting you.  If I do that, and you die, then I would drown.  It's in my best interests to keep you alive."  The frog, deciding that sounded logical, agreed to give the scorpion a ride across the river.  The scorpion hopped on the frog's back.  In the middle of the river, the scorpion stung the frog.  Shocked, the frog turned to the scorpion.  "You've killed us both!  Why would you do that?" asked the frog.  "Because I'm a scorpion," said the scorpion.  "That's what I do."


This situation is a lot like that story.  But I'm going to change it around to fit our situation. 


There was a mirror who was obsessed with her glass.  She believed she was pretty, and important, and worthy of grand things.  Other things in the world showed up in her glass, and she believed she had those things, too.  Other people had buffalo ranches, and when the mirror saw them in her glass, she believed they were hers.  And other people said they respected her, and because they said that to her glass, she believed she had respect.  The mirror was aware that her backside wasn't pretty at all.  It was cold, and black, and the wood of hadn't been fully painted even.  But she didn't focus on that side of herself.  She was only concerned with what was in her glass.  She often turned her back on people so that others could not share in her greatness.  She turned her back on those who would not join her in obsessing about the drama that filled her glass, but that was mostly because she was so consumed with the drama that she was turning to face the drama, and not so much turning her back to those not in the drama, although that was an aspect of her actions.  She turned her back on those who told her the truth.  She turned her back on those who said different things than the drama said.  At one point the drama told her glass that her daughter was having an affair, and she believed it despite her daughters pleas to listen to reason.  "Do you understand what it's like, as a man, to have this happen to you?" the mirror spat at her daughter, as if the mirror thought she was a man because a man had showed up in her glass talking of the affair.  And when her husband died, she was sad because she wouldn't have his constant drama in her glass, and she didn't know what to do.  So she looked around that there was another man.  Men are the best, as they can carry heavy things for me, thought the mirror's subconsciousness.  After all, I don't have arms and I need everybody to do things for me.  She found another man to show her drama in her glass, and she was fine with that.  She turned her back on her daughter plenty during this time, because her daughter wanted to take away her man and take away her drama.  Silly daughter.  Then, one day, the man turned the mirror away.  Well!  The mirror was being rejected!  And that hurt the mirror's feelings.  The mirror thought about who would bring the most drama, how she could exact the most revenge against the man who rejected her, and that brought her to his enemy.  "Ah," said the mirror to the man's enemy, "I'm ready for you to look at my grand glass."  "I'm your daughter," said the man's enemy.  "Yes," said the mirror, "let me tell you about the man's secrets."


I don't trust her.  And I'm very grateful for her gift.  And if this ends up hurting my wife in the end-- WHEN this ends up hurting my wife in the end-- I'm gonna lay down a decree that this woman will have no part in our family ever again.


I am not a mirror.
I do not care about anyone's drama, nor do I get caught up in it.
I do not find it difficult not to get caught up in other's drama.
I find it easy to spot other's drama and sidestep it.
I often am able to separate a person's words from his actions.
I believe that people's actions create the person, not the words.  A person who says they love you as they punch you does not love you.  A person who punches you is abusing you, whether or not he says anything about love. 
Trust happens when your actions support your words.  When you say you love somebody, and then you stay with that person when they are sick out of concern for their well-being, your words are supported by your actions and you have helped build trust.  When you say you love somebody and then you stay with that person at the hospital when they are sick and you wear your most revealing, red, shear dress showing off most of your breasts in the hopes that others will comment on your figure and want to have sex with you, your words are not supported by your actions and you have helped destroy trust.
It is easy for me to see when people's actions are not supported by their words.
I am feared by X, in part, because he cannot fool me with his words.  His words have never supported his actions, and thus, his words have zero meaning to me and it's a waste of time to listen to any of them.
A has not apologized to M, JP, or me.  She has not recognized the harm she has done.  She doesn't care about me, M, JP, or even JC.  She cares about herself, the mirror, and all that she can put in that mirror. 
And I have given her the opportunity to put me in her glass.
I will dance this line.
And we'll see what happens.

1. She said that X had to work a second job as a security guard in order to pay for his legal fees.  Every Saturday he works a 12 hour shift as a security guard to pay for his legal debts.
2. X has had to take out a full mortgage in order to pay for his debts.  When he and M were married, they had purchased the home with cash.  When they divorced, M was given part of the home, and X took out a half a mortgage in order to give her the cash equivalent of half the home.  He's now had to take out a full mortgage.
3. A said it was obvious to her that promises had been made by X towards JC and JP which hadn't been fulfilled.  JP told M that when X was getting married, he took JP out to lunch to ask him to be in his wedding.  JP said that he didn't know X's new wife, and didn't want to be in the wedding.  X then said he wanted to tell JP what things would be like JP decided to live with X rather than M: there would be more opportunities for him at X's house than at M's house.  JP asked what kinds of opportunities.  "You know, you'll go to college if you want to if you live with me.  Your mom can't afford to send you to college.  You'll get a car if you live with me.  You'll go on vacations.  You know, opportunities."  JP said that the vacations he had taken with X had been the worst times he'd had in his life, and that was not an opportunity.  He said that college was not an interest, and neither was a car if it meant that he would have to live with X.  And with that, X decided never to speak with JP again.  JC came to M and me and told us that he wanted to live with X more, and one of the biggest reasons he gave was that there would be "more opportunities" at X's house.  When asked what kinds of opportunities, he wasn't able to say what opportunities.  Later, he was able to say that his father had promised to give him his truck when he turned 16.  That truck has long since gone away without any talk of replacement or fulfillment of that promise.  A said it was obvious to her that other promises had been made to JC that had not been fulfilled by X.
4. A said that she was "disturbed" by their treatment of JC.  They actually touch him constantly in a kind of pecking motion, touching his shoulders as if directing him where to go, how to walk, and are constantly directing him as he moves through life.  She said that they are constantly telling him things that don't need to be said.  "Take your fork to the kitchen.  Tuck in your shirt.  Wipe your mouth.  Wash the fork in the sink.  In the other sink.  Wash your hands.  Say thank you to Mimi.  Say thank you now."  She said that they text him constantly when he is away.  She said that she was afraid his head was going to explode.  She was encouraging him to find his voice to say that he didn't want to be treated that way, and she hoped that he would find his voice in a couple of years so that he could say that he would prefer to live at M's house full time.  "Would you allow him to do that?" she asked her daughter.  "There is nothing in the world that would make me say my child couldn't live with me anymore.  That's absurd," responded the daughter.  "Well that's what X said to JP," A said.  "I am not X," said daughter.  "And my children will always have a home wherever I am no matter what they do."
5. A said that she hadn't seen M at JC's football games.  M explained that she was always there, but that she often couldn't afford to actually go into the games, so she would stay outside the gates, either in her car or in a chair, and find a place where she can see as much of the game as possible.  And she would take pictures and send them to JC, and tell him she had been there and supported him.  A then said that wasn't how it was coming out of X towards JC.  She said that X was telling JC that "mom hadn't come to his football game because she doesn't care about football, and she doesn't care about him enough to get over that and support him at his games.  I'm sorry that mom doesn't care about you as much as we do."  M assured A that JC knew she had been there and was very supportive of him.  "JC didn't correct his father, though, when he said that you hadn't been there," said A.  "That would've been bad for JC," said M, "X wouldn't have been happy with that and would have made an issue out of it in a lot of ways.  Besides, I don't need to advertise what I'm doing to X.  As long as JC knows I'm there and I support him and love him, that's all that's important."  A said she wished that she had known that information when she had heard X talking to JC so that she wouldn't have gotten caught up in the badmouthing of M to her son, JC, publicly.  Later that night, M texted JC just to remind him that she would be at his games, and if she wasn't in the stands it was because she couldn't afford it, not because she didn't support him, because he was her favorite athlete.  "You know that, right?"  And he responded that he did know that.
6. A said that X and wife P buy all the most expensive football gear for JC and insist that he wear it, which she says is stupid because you can play football in less expensive equipment.  In fact, you can rent equipment, which is actually better for a growing boy, as the equipment you buy today won't be usable when he grows. 

X and P are crazy, and JC is being raised by crazy people now.  And A is supportive of anything as long as she gets the drama to fill her glass, including crazy abusive people who abuse her daughter and grandchildren. 


There is a criminally negligent amount of people who care about the content of a person's character in my life right now.  Absolute insanity.

Tark and Splerp

Splerp punched Tark.
Tark looked crossly at Splerp.


Splerp punched Tark.
"I haven't done anything to you," Tark said.  "There is no reason for you to behave this way.  It's not okay to punch people."
And Splerp punched Tark again to get Splerp to shut up.
Tark had to sit down, because that punch really hurt.


Splerp punched Tark.
And Tark told somebody.
"Splerp punched me!" Tark said.
But Somebody did nothing.


Splerp punched Tark in the back.
And Tark stood confused.
Tark was having a hard time breathing.
Being punched in the back really knocks the wind outta ya.




Questions:


What do you think Tark should do?
Should Tark punch Splerp?  Do you think Splerp would punch Tark harder if Tark punched Splerp?
Should Tark walk away from Splerp?  What if Splerp and Tark work together, should Tark walk away from Tark's job just to get away from Splerp?
Should Tark talk with Splerp?  Knowing that Tark already talked with Splerp and there was no change, what could Tark say differently to make things turn out differently?
Should Tark speak with somebody else about Splerp?  Since nobody did anything before when Tark spoke, what could Tark say differently to make things turn out differently?  Whom should Tark talk with?
Should Tark shank Splerp with a prison shiv Tark fashioned out of a chicken bone?  If so, how many times should Tark stab Splerp to ensure death?
If you were Splerp, what are some reasons why you might be punching Tark?
If you were Tark, what are some things you would do to not get punched in the future?
If you are Tark, what do you need to do in order to feel okay about your situation?