So, I met my niece tonight.
Her father didn’t, because he’s a gutless, self-obsessed asshole, but Carrie and I did.
She’s a nice girl. I see a lot of the family in her. She’s definitely got her father’s eyes and build at that age. She’s got the duckwalk from me. She’s something of a geek: likes school, likes to read, likes pop culture and music, likes comic books.
We like her. Very mature for her nine years. That partly comes from being the oldest of six. Hopefully she’ll have a good influence on Christian and Kayli. She might have an effect on Christian. Kayli’s probably far, far too gone, but one can hope, can’t one?
One the other hand, there’s my brother, who calls me to ask details about the car we drive because he’s looking at one, and calls my dad during dinner tonight to ask for a favor, but can’t be bothered to meet his own daughter. When he called me, I tried everything I could to cajole him into coming to dinner with us, short of saying, “Hey, Doucherag, don’t you think you owe it to your daughter to at least stop by and say hello before getting tanked tonight?” But I didn’t, and I regret that.
I don’t get it. I don’t get him. Dad says he might be afraid of kids, and I can dig that. Lord knows I’m not exactly comfortable around children. But these aren’t the neighbor kids. These aren’t even MY kids. They’re HIS FREAKING CHILDREN. You’d think he’d want something to do with them, but not so much.
Especially since she seems like such a good kid. I like her. She deserves better.
Posted by wesleysmith 
