bleckblog: musings of a community college english teacher

I got caught up, and now I'm back behind. But I am over 32,000 words, but just a bit. Happy Thanksgiving and I hope I can do some writing in the next few days so I don't stumble here in the end. I've added some new modes, for lack of a better word, voice mail and live phone calls. I'll try to work in instant/text messages as I move forward. This is giving me some flexibility in how to do things. Should I revise, there is going to have to be a lot of email entries to go with the blogs, voice mails and phone conversations. The first bit below goes on the end of the previous entry.

One weird thing, at least I think it’s weird, is that Roddy’s brother called and they didn’t answer the phone. They saw it was him from the called ID and when they did so, L----- looked at both Alexis and Roddy, and me to a lesser degree, smirked and rolled his eyes before setting the phone down and letting it ring. I assume it went to voice mail. I didn’t know who it was so I had to ask. L---- said it was Roddy’s brother and that they didn’t want to talk to him. I’d heard some of the stories, how B---- told Roddy he didn’t have much in common with him, how he never thought they would be all that close as siblings, that sort of thing, and that B----, if there was to be any reconciliation, would have to be the one to make the effort. Hearing that I thought the phone call might just be the kind of effort they expected. It seemed cold to do ignore the call, to shut out Roddy’s brother.

Portia

December Twenty-seven Dishin’ and Bitchin’ blog entry

I have to wonder about that friend of mine, P-car. There are so many clichés I could apply to her situation. She’s gone from the frying pan to the fire, she’s both the pot and the kettle. I’m sure there have to be more, but for all the clichés in the world, those are the only two I can come up with right now.

Anyway, P-car told me about her holiday with the boyfriend and his family. I’m starting to wonder more and more about that family, and, by extension, P-car herself. It’s like the family is some black-hole of bizarreness. First, P-car is having sex, fucking if you will, both father and son. That’s odd enough as it is. That the son doesn’t know isn’t particularly odd. I’d sure hope he wouldn’t know. But that the father would stoop to screwing his son’s girlfriend, such as she is, is probably best described as being depraved. I mean, what kind of father would do that to his son? I hope not mine, or I hope not the father of any man I’d be with. And I hope not me. Which is why I’m concerned about P-car. While I don’t have much respect for her boyfriend, it’s the father that bothers me most. The boyfriend is basically spineless, worthless, but harmless, or so it seems at this point.

But the father, and the mother to some degree, there’s something off about them. P-car told me the family received a phone call from the boyfriend’s sibling on Christmas day, which seems a normal enough thing to happen when someone can’t be there for the holiday. What she told me was that the father picked up the phone when it started ringing, checked caller ID and saw who it was, looked around the room with a smirk on his face, and set the phone down. The mother and boyfriend got the message right off, but P-car had to ask. She was told it was the boyfriend’s brother and that they didn’t want to talk to him. I guess talking to family would ruin the holiday spirit. So the phone was set down and it stopped ringing, probably went to voicemail. It’s got me thinking this brother is some sex offender or something, locked up in the penitentiary and making collect calls home on the holiday. It seems like it would have to be something pretty bad, but it isn’t, at least not by my reckoning.

It seems that last Christmas the brother said some things the parents didn’t like, that, because he’s a different mother and was raised apart from the boyfriend’s family unit, that he, the brother, didn’t feel he had much in common with his half-brother, that he felt snubbed by the family in the unequal treatment, which he thought showed the family unit didn’t include him as a full member despite his having a different mother. She didn’t tell me all this just recently, but over the several months as she’s learned about the family. And this is what leads me to worry about her.

She’s dating some guy she no longer much cares for, still living with him but looking for a place of her own. She tells him that she’s been seeing someone else, and sleeping with that someone else as near as I can tell (that she told him that, I mean) and that someone else is the boyfriend’s father, who won’t talk to his other son because that son hurt his feelings. Is this the modern notion of family? If I were a sociologist, this family would be ripe for study, seeing if what makes them tick the way they do something that applies to society at large, maybe as something symptomatic of a greater social ill, such as rampant solipsism. If nothing else, folks like this are great fodder for bloggers. How good this sort of thing is for humanity, though, is another thing altogether.

27 December

Portia,

I almost hate to say this, but don’t you think this family of Roddy’s might be a little off, a little touched in the head? I’m not sure if Roddy is part of the problem, though that sort of thing might become apparent later on, but his father, and maybe his mother, seem like a couple of people you should run from. You enjoy to be happy as much as the next person, but something tells me that however much you like sex with the Roddy’s father, and as I’ve said many times, we all enjoy a good romp, the fact that he is Roddy’s father, and that he would sleep with his son’s girlfriend strikes me, as, well, just plain wrong. How much can you love your child if you are screwing his significant other? I’d say not much. Not enough anyway, no matter how you rationalize it. I hope that you move out of Roddy’s place as soon as you get back into town. It seems the only reasonably sane thing to do, certainly saner than sticking around and having things blow up in your face. Call me when you can.

Diane

--Hello, Diane?

--Yeah, hi Portia. What’s up? I didn’t expect to hear from you right away like this.

--Yeah, I just wanted to call after I got your note. Do you really think it’s as weird as you wrote, the way things are with Roddy and me, and his dad?

--Well, yeah. Of course. Don’t you find it a bit odd? You’re sleeping with Roddy and his father. That by itself is weird enough. But another red flag is the brother thing, how they ignored his call and made like it was some kinda joke, like they were rubbing it in. As weird as the father thing is, Roddy is a part of this thing. He’s in on it. I’m not sure I’d want to stick around with someone like that.

--Yeah, I guess I know what you mean, but I haven’t found a place to live yet.

--Live with me then.

--Well, maybe, yeah.

--No “maybe.” If you stick around that family, it seems like you’re going to get sucked more and more into something you’ll probably end up regretting. Even if you don’t like Roddy, just sleeping with him, only sleeping mind you, while you’re screwing his father is just, well, it’s just bizarre. I don’t know how else to describe it. Isn’t it bothering you?

--There’s a lot bothering me lately, so I guess I don’t know how much that itself is. The only thing that’s keeping me sane is the sex, even if it is Roddy’s father. Compared to Roddy it’s heaven. It’s something I can look forward to, get excited by and about.

--Everyone, well, most everyone, looks forward and enjoys good sex, just not with the boyfriend’s father. And most father’s wouldn’t do that to their kid, even if he never finds out. You need to get away from them, from Roddy and his father. Come stay with you until you find a place of your own. Will you do that?

--I don’t know. Maybe. I’m worried about what might happen when I leave.

--What could happen that hasn’t already? You’re stepping out on the boyfriend, and doing it with his father. The only thing that could make it worse is the mother videotaping you and the father and using that to blackmail you all with the son. I have a feeling she couldn’t blackmail you, but maybe the father, but I’m just saying, if it gets any weirder, that’s the kinda place you’re going to fine yourself in.

--Maybe you’re right. I just don’t know.

--When are you supposed to come home?

--A couple of days. Why?

--When you do, I want you over here right away. Tell Roddy you’re just going for a visit, but be sure you bring some clothes. If all you have are your clothes from the trip, bring them and we’ll get them cleaned up. And you can wear some of my clothes until you can get all your own.

--That seems kinda drastic, doesn’t it? It’s not like I’m being battered. That’s the way you make it seem though.

--Maybe I’m over-reacting, but I don’t want to see you keep doing this to yourself. The sooner you make the break, the better you’ll be in the long run. Trust me. I’ve had too many friends who won’t commit to getting out and away and they end up stuck.

--But what about my stuff? My bikes, skis, snowboards and stuff? What about that?

--We can get it later, when he’s at work or something. He has to work sometime, doesn’t he?

--Okay. I guess I can try this. I’ll give you a call or something, maybe text you, before we head home so you can know what’s going on.

--I’m counting on it Portia. Don’t let yourself down on this.

--Yeah, I won’t. Thanks though. I’ll talk to you later.

--Sure, bye. Call me as soon as you get in. Take care.

Hi B-----. Sorry to hear that you had to leave your father and family a message. I sure hope that the just couldn’t get to the phone. Did you call his cell number? It seems that he has such lousy service at their house, almost down in that gully. And they don’t have an answering machine on their landline, do they? Anyway, you did what you could. If they get the message, they can call back. If they checked caller ID and saw it was you and didn’t want to talk, then maybe it’s better to not talk with them at this point, even if it is the holidays. I’d say it just further shows that you are making reasonable attempts to patch things up and they continue to blow you off. That’s makes it pretty clear where the problem is, and I don’t think it’s with you, no matter how self-righteous they come up. It’s all bluff and bluster as far as I’m concerned, them trying to cover up their shortcomings and problems by blaming things on you, by making you the villain when they’re the ones who haven’t been able to willing to cut the purse strings with your brother. I guess they want control over something, and since they don’t have control over you, the only way to get that control over you is to shun you. It seems clear to me, though I can see why you don’t like it. No one likes being shunned, by family in particular. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can and we can talk. I love you. Bye.