While we were busy cobbling together a rather British supper in memory of our dearly departed father, my brother Davids behaviour left us all scratching our heads. Hed been working abroad for nigh on fifteen years, only making it back home twice in all that time, and now, on the ninth day since Dads passing, he strolled in without so much as a by-your-leave. David seemed a bundle of nervesasking for this, rummaging for that, and generally turning Mum and Dads house upside down.
The cook was utterly befuddled, remarking that David had been gone so long hed probably forgotten where we kept the tea. Meanwhile, my sister Emilywhod spent all those years caring for Mum and Dadcouldnt make head or tail of his motives. It wasnt as though David had come back to pay his respects; no, the man was clearly on a mission to find something. Emily thought he was there to support her, perhaps share a scone and a sympathetic ear, but support was the last thing on Davids mind.
Instead, he started quibbling over who owned what, claimingsomewhat dramatically, I must saythat everything in the house was rightfully his. He even rustled up some old paperwork, insisting that our parents had signed everything over to him two decades ago. Poor Emily was left wracked with guilt, as he subtly accused her of trying to snatch his home from under him. Annoyed and in tears, Emily eventually left, closely followed by several others equally perturbed by Davids antics.
In the midst of the commotion, David lingered for another week, rather dramatically fitting new locks and iron bars to every door and window in sight before making a grand exit back to his wife. Some time later, a neighbour from his foreign residence delivered the somber news that David was seriously ill, and the outlook wasnt bright at all. His health would (ironically) slip away just as Dads had. On hearing this, Davids wifenever one for sentimenturged him to come home, considering him too much of a burden.
Emily, of course, ever the martyr, felt duty-bound to her family. Despite everything David had put her through, she couldnt shirk her sense of responsibility; he was her brother, after all. Her daughter, on the other hand, wasnt having any of it. She worried that Emily would sacrifice her own happiness for an ungrateful brother, and she confronted her, pleading that she spend more time with her grandchildrenwho absolutely doted on their Nan.
So there Emily was: caught between her poorly brothers needs and her daughters heartfelt plea. She sympathised deeply with Davids troubles, but recognised her daughters argument was perfectly valid. Weighed down by this conundrum, Emily pondered endlessly, wondering how she might best balance her own needs with those of her family.
