ROTM 1.74.3
Things do not get better by being left alone. Unless they are adjusted, they explode with a shattering detonation. Winston Churchill
~*~
April, 1987
Mr. Edward Skinner went to see the family shrink on the afternoon prior to his subsequent death. He was concerned about Simon’s smoking problem. Simon consumed over one pack a day, sometimes over two, and had bought so many packs from the store that Mr. Edward Skinner accused his son of buying more cigarettes than the customers. (Simon had refuted this claim by saying he was one person with an employee discount, and if you look at the figures, dear father, you shall see that the customers as a collective buy more than me-and by the way, what are we going to do about these ridiculous prices that are losing us customers? So any conversation goes.) Mr. Edward Skinner wondered if Simon had accused him of being the cause of his chimney problem. The family shrink shook his head.
“I can’t disclose that information, Ed,” he stated. “Why do you think you’ve caused his smoking addiction?”
“I don’t think,” Edward Skinner clarified. “I suspect.”
“Why do you suspect you’ve caused his smoking addiction?”
Edward Skinner shrugged. “Interesting theory, perhaps.”
The family shrink remained in the same placidly annoyed pose as he maintained for the past twenty-five years. Another interesting theory proposed that the family shrink found the Skinners all annoyingly insane. Edward Skinner couldn’t find truth in that theory. The only crazy one among them was wee Sissy himself. The shrink continued to sit placidly annoyed and silent for a few moments, during which a thoughtful expression crept onto his face. Then: “Do you believe your son hates you?”
“Sissy?” asked Edward. “No. Sissy doesn’t hate me. He can’t hate me. He’s like a puppy-you should’ve seen the way he doted on his mum. No, what I think is that Sissy’s just stressed, but it would be interesting if he was mad at me, wouldn’t it? Interesting for a shrink, I should say. Shrinks love it when the child hates the parent.”
The shrink narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly, and pursed his lips just the same. “Mr. Skinner,” he began, “I would not relish the disintegration of a parent-child relationship. Furthermore, though I cannot disclose the exact contents of your son’s sessions, I can assure you that, if you believe your son is ‘like a puppy,’ it would be wise to pay more attention to him. He is anything but a puppy. He is a raging pit bull waiting to strike-and I assure you, Mr. Skinner, that once he has found a reason and an opportunity to strike, he will do it with extreme brutality. I advise you, then, if you are truly concern about your son, to be mindful of his tempers.”
The shrink paused and glanced at the clock. It was the end of their session. Edward Skinner was left with no choice but to leave the room with a lot on his mind. Eventually, he decided that being kinder to Simon would be a good idea. He would enact this by not calling Simon “Sissy.” Yes. The first word that would come out of his mouth when he greeted his at the store would be the name Edward and his dearly deceased wife had given their second son.
Unfortunately for him, Simon the raging pit bull had already planned out the death of Mr. Edward Skinner to days prior. He was just waiting for the right time to strike with extreme brutality.