Sunday, October 30, 2011

Snapshot

'"Get in the car."
I was on the verandah, fuelling my hair with henna mud, when I heard that.
"Just get in the fucking car."
It's a nasty road, no room for a mistakes or for domestics to play out. The voice came from behind the peppermint trees and roses that screen traffic from my life but it was so close it could have been in my own head. I looked through the screen of green to see a blue-hoody-boy sticking resolutely to his path.
"Get in the car, fer fuck's sake!" I could hear the father's frustration ... and fear.
The car revved and stopped again.
"What's wrong with you, boy!"

A door slammed. The car rumbled down to the stop sign. I headed for the driveway to check if the teenager was okay, knowing I looked like some kind of Dogon dogstar-worshipping mud man. He was in the car.  He wasn't okay, his Dad wasn't okay. Their Sunday was turning out a whole hatful of shite.
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10 comments:

  1. Tom StephensonOctober 30, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    It could be he didn't tidy his room, or it could be he had just held up a bank - you may never know... I like the idea of you scaring the shit out of them with your head covered in mud though!

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  2. sarah toaOctober 30, 2011 at 9:27 PM

    I'll never know. What struck me at that moment is how awful we can be to each other - as teens or parents.

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  3. A Heron's ViewOctober 31, 2011 at 1:25 AM

    Do you suppose that the parent had recovered the wheel from his hoody son who had been learning to drive ?

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  4. Dr Mad FishOctober 31, 2011 at 7:52 AM

    My guess - 'old bull, young bull' stuff. If that IS what is going on, it's healthy. Young people need to test themselves against something and parents are the first in the firing line - daughter to mother, son to father. It will resolve, in one way or another. And if dad isn't backing down....he is just doing his job. Sorry to generalise, but I have seen so many kids without a strong male/father/uncle/whatever figure go completely AWOL, so hopefully it's all good.

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  5. Dr Mad FishOctober 31, 2011 at 8:19 AM

    Of course if it ISN'T that, then it could be any number of scenarios - justifiable discipline/protection or just someone being a controlling arse-hole(ess). Life is so subjective.

    I like the 'snapshot' idea.

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  6. sarah toaOctober 31, 2011 at 9:03 AM

    I think the driving lesson scenario is a good one!

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  7. ~LNovember 1, 2011 at 12:25 AM

    this reminds me of a scenario I witnessed outside my front door recently...I intervened. I will share soon.
    hope you are well miss Sarah,
    peace~L

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  8. Wadjella YorgaNovember 1, 2011 at 12:37 PM

    Like the snapshot idea too - open to many interpretations...could have been as minor as music selection/volume disagreement and if coupled with driving instruction then...
    ...regrettably there is no Dogan mud man to break the tension at our house when things get horrid ;)

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  9. sarah toaNovember 1, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    Same here, Wadjella Yorga, the mud man act never works when its Mum wearing the mud.

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  10. sarah toaNovember 4, 2011 at 11:28 PM

    By the way, my assumption that it was a father and son in this scenario could be entirely wrong.

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