My 80 year old father fluffs the dog’s ears while he kisses her furry head. His voice is gentle as he uses her nickname and smiles. Before the dog, I was the only one my father had crowned with a nickname.

The dog bathes wet kisses on his smiling face while she wags her tail. My dad talks to her in a special voice. He lets the dog sit in his big fluffy armchair. She is his four legged companion. He sets forth, in detail, the events leading up to the dog’s life-saving surgery. He underscores how the surgery was an emotionally bonding experience for the two of them.

The Woman with the Rock in Her Shoe is silent.

The only thought swirling through my mind is, “Oh God, don’t let me be jealous of a dog!”

How sad is that? I only want the amount of love and attention my father bestows on the dog.

I think The Woman with the Rock in Her Shoe is jealous of the dog, too.

After The Sad Boy’s disclosure, the Woman with the Rock in Her Shoe directly dialed the phone and called “Go ahead, use my real name it’s not like anyone will every read what you write” to now be known as Sister II.

From all accounts, The Woman with the Rock in Her Shoe repeated the conversation between her and the Sad Boy.
In detail.
To what end? To malign his character? Yes. And, she further set the wheels of division in motion with one phone conversation. I wonder who else she repeated the conversation to.

Sister II hung up the phone. Fuming, she calls Favorite Sister.

Sister II promptly waylays into Favorite Sister about the Sad Boy and his past. Sister II was angry. In short, she felt that for any other daughter, the Sad Boy would have been rapidly dismissed as an unqualified candidate for a husband- “escorted to the door” or something to that effect. She was not happy with the upcoming nuptials.

Unlike Favorite Sister, Sister II did not like the Sad Boy.

Maybe Sister II just didn’t like him for the Sad Girl.

The Sad Girl was oblivious to all that went on behind her back. The Sad Boy was too.

The Wall of Silence stands like a sentinel- tall and wide surrounding us all. Set in full battle armor, it blocks all truth with whispers, smug remarks, eye rolls, innuendo and disapproval. It never answers questions.

It repeats a false story or overblown narrative over and over until it’s the only thing you know.

It is brainwashing in its elemental sense. One thing is said to your face another behind your back.

When that doesn’t work, you are viciously screamed at with threats of eternal damnation. If you still don’t toe the line, you are ignored with the attitude that it had to be done for your own good.

The mantle of effrontery and righteous umbrage becomes the fashion until you have groveled at the feet of The Woman with the Rock in Her Shoe while you bang your head repeatedly against the Wall of Silence.

I know you are reading along. You are closing your eyes to the Truth tied up behind the Wall of Silence. Deep inside you know the stories woven are bullshit at its finest. You know this because you are currently complicit in the story line. You are keeping the Truth to yourself. You refuse to share it. The Truth will not go away. Ever.
“What so ever you do to the least of my brothers…”

I would like to remind you that that is me. I am “the least of your brothers…”

Well, the least of your half-brothers to be exact.

In the immortal words of Bud Collyer the host of To Tell the Truth – Will my real Father please stand up?

Goldilocks