Sessions From Confessions

Session Two: Parents

As a young child, were you closer to your mother or to your father?

Mom always said I was Daddy's boy. I suppose that's because my dad was so crazy about me. I was their first kid and I was probably a good distraction from the grown up stuff they were dealing with. Looking back, my dad was probably having a really rough time.

I never knew it anything was wrong. When I was older I found out he had lost his business and went back to school.

I remember him being sad a lot.

How did that make you feel?

I was so young I can't remember thinking anything about it.

What's the matter with you?
What do you think is the matter with me Cali? I don't have a job.
Well you're going to school, you'll get another job.
I don't want another job. I want to kill bugs. It's what I do.
Then call George. Run PolyPetrol. You'd be #2. You could kill every bug on the planet. We'd have gobs of money.
Why don't you call George? You'd have gobs of money and you wouldn't be married to an unemployed exterminator.
This isn't about money Robi.
I know it's not about money. It's about George. It always has been.
Atlas needs a bath.

I think my grandpa knew things were rough for my parents so he did his best to fill in the gaps for me. Everybody always tried to make things seem really normal, which is probably why all of this comes as such a shock. I wonder now if I even know my family at all. I know the life they wanted me to know, but it isn't the same as the life I actually had.

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