A Short Story…
Shelly was down in the dumps. She was waiting for her aunt. If her life wasn’t already low enough to consider flat out crying and throwing up, she was expecting her aunt Rebecka who would no doubt drag her through comment and embarrassment for not working harder and not being at the head of her class. Head of the class for Shelly would have required pages and pages of reading and understanding and extra hard work on the side.
Shelly’s mom had not been the smartest of the family flock. Aunt Rebecka according to most of the relatives was a conniver who worked only for herself and a complainer as well.
Apparently Aunt Rebecka was running late, which already created a problem. Shelly had ordered a small glass of ice tea and had no cash to pay for it. She was expecting that Aunt Rebecka would pay for the meeting. Now she was getting a bad feeling that everything was wrong . . . or even worse.
As she was about to start crying Aunt Rebecka marched in and easily spotted Shelly and made for her table. Sitting down Rebecka looked up and down over Shelly’s clothing and turned up her nose at the food options.
Rebecka came straight to the point and had a constant list of questions . . . as each one popped up Aunt Rebecka shot them down as unworthy of even commenting on. Aunt Rebecka crossed list after list off. “This is a bunch of BS.” was a constant commenter. For an hour and half Aunt Rebecka kept asking questions, reading letters and bills.
She was mostly asking about her mom’s boyfriend. She carefully explained that even if the boyfriend claimed he was owed money most likely he was a liar and a thief. He was probably staying at the house for free and ripping off or steadily what he could. Actually, this had been Rebecca’s theory of her mom’s choice some time ago.
After two hours of discussion Rebecka stood up and pealed off five hundred dollars and said “Will this help right a way or do you need more now? Shelly’s lower lip quivered as she hugged Aunt Rebecka. Aunt Rebecka, don’t worry. We’ll chase the old bogyman away and get you set up for a better world. Give me a call anytime . . . even after midnight. We’ll see what we can do with your mom’s boy friend, and see if we can’t find a smart,. good looking guy that meets our standard. Sound good?
Rebecka simply said, “No wonder my mom loved you so.”
