Me, Myself, and I

 

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    Call me Astaroth.
    Most days, I would much rather take a child from their parent than take a parent from their child. It’s just so much more intuitive. Children expect to outlive their parents and it’s just a question of when. Parents, however, expect their children to outlive them, and messing with that assumption usually gives me the most bang.
    But once in a while, you get a really needy kid who depends so much on his parent that… Well, it looks like what we have here with Scott and his dad Mason.
    At eleven years old Scott is already a mess. Although he is making good grades in school, he isn’t being challenged and is beginning to expect everything to be easy. Well fed and well provided for, he is inexperienced when it comes to any adversity. Even the slightest difficulty isn’t likely to last long. He’s very good at getting his way, either on his own or with Mason’s help. Mason always does what he can to smooth out the frequent flaps that arise whenever Scott is even mildly disappointed.
    But Mason is also pretty smart. It looks like he is about to figure out that letting a few challenges through for Scott to struggle with might actually be best for the boy. All the more reason to take Mason out NOW.
    Scott always expected his dad to die…someday. Not today, though. Scott wasn’t ready. Scott had lots more things he needed Mason to do. The loss hit Scott very hard. He cried. He missed his dad, for they shared love. But Scott would also miss what his dad did for him and it didn’t take long for that aspect of the situation to come into focus for Scott.
    “Wear your good suit for the funeral, Scott,” said Mom.
    “My shirt collars are all too tight. I don’t want to wear a tie.”
    “You want to show respect, don’t you?”
    “I don’t care. I’ll ask…” Scott’s voice trailed off as he realized he could never again play his dad and mom against each other.
    Scott had never really cared about what anybody else thought. Then a strange idea occurred to him. Mom thinks wearing a suit and tie shows respect. It matters what she thinks. I can make her feel better if I do this…”
    “I’ll wear it,” Scott smiled and looked his mother in the eye.
    I’m beginning to think this wasn’t such a good idea after all. That boy has already veered off into the wrong direction and his father’s body isn’t even cold yet.
    The funeral home was crowded and Scott just about had his hand shaken off. Hugs were nice, but at the end of the visitation, all he could think about was what Mason had meant to all those people. He had done things for them and they appreciated it. Scott had never appreciated it before. But he did now.
    God bless him. It’s going to be one of those days!

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