A Little Rant

So some Fridays I take this older widow neighbor to the "Salon of Draper" an orange shag carpet, old perm smelling, bad paneling type of little hole in the wall place, to get her hair done.  She uses a walker, can hardly balance and is a large woman.  She lives in an old falling down little home that reeks of smoke, old beer, and uncleanliness.  Her adult do-nothing-alchoholic son lives with her and is supposedly taking care of her.  I can hardly stand to be in the house and usually wait outside the door for her.  Today her son invites me in (my first clue) and says she isn't quite ready.  I should have waited outside.  He wants to play his electric guitar for me, a heavy metal version of "The Star Spangled Banner" to wake the dead.  He really is trying to impress me because I think he wants a ride in my car (not a chance).  He talks about my car and how fast it can go every time I go there.  So we are working to get her out the door and she tells me that she fell last night in the kitchen.  The son starts in on how heavy she is and what a pest etc. and I ask her, "Are you hurt?"  He answers "no, I think I am OK but she sure is big and hard to handle".  Right then and there I think that Doug Cline is absolutely right about wanting to beat this guy up with a 2x4.  I am not in the habit of hitting anyone but I sure felt like it.  I try to be positive when we get in the car but just like last week, I can't help myself and I go off on her son and how he doesn't take care of her at all and just yells and swears at her for being old and sick and slow.  She agrees with me but she doesn't want to go to a "home" because she is afraid she will die there.  She is very scared.  

She always wants to kiss me on the lips to show her appreciation and I just feel like throwing up around her anyway (the smell), so I turn my head just in the nick of time.  I have to take a shower when I get home. Lest you think I am cold and heartless, I still visit her and take her to get her hair done.  

She gives me a lot to think about when the stock market feels more like a gambling casino than an investment vehicle----we have lost a lot these past few months just like every one else, but I have a loving family and if I was old and sick and heavy, I know they would take very good care of me and for that I am eternally grateful.