Norman Bates: My Mother's Brother....

LP and I were talking about families. She said that someone she works with has a father who is on medication for 'morbid jealousy', which we both found incredibly funny. I said that I think my mother's brother (I can't bear toy refer to him as the u word, he's too foul) is soon to become a Norman Bates type who dresses in his mother's clothes. The relationship between him and the grandmother is bizarre, incredible and disgusting. They both disgust me because they are no0t normal humans, yet they are so repulsively human. He is distraught because she is dying, and he cries. When I went to say goodbye to her I looked at her lying in her putrid bed in a dank room and felt no sadness. She started bitching about Aunty Ed, who I adore, saying that Aunty Ed had lied about something years ago. I asked her why she even cared and she said 'I don't care for myself, but she goes around telling people this and it isn't true', and again I asked why she even cared. She said to me 'if you are going to be like that I won't talk to you'. I smiled her and said ok. When I got up to leave she said that when she dies ("deeeeaaaar, when I'm gone........eargh...aaahhhhh) I must write to and phone my mother's brother, because he will be devastated. I agreed to so as not to upset her (and I might start eating shit from the toilet when she dies too), and gave her a wan smile. I leaned in to kiss her wrinkled hair scented head, and I thought, Christ, you smell like you're dying, even though I don't know what that smells like. I said that I would come back down in a couple of months, and she said she probably won't be around in a couple of months. And I said 'oh well, we'll wait and see'. I think she was shocked that I didn't cry. Why would I? This is her final performance, and she must be angry that half the audience is either missing or doesn't care. Even my mother seems fairly indifferent to it all. She cares about suffering and pain. As do I.

So I expect to see reports of bizarre crimes in Tasmania soon, involving a man who dresses up as his mother and kills people. And with pride I can say "well fuck, I'm related to that". Funny how some people can only be redeemed by doing something horrific.