Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sweet man

Today Mom got word of a new ransom victim in Hometown.
Unlike other times she hears these sort of newsflashes, this time, she quietly walked into my room, closed the door behind her, and she started to cry.

Do you know how many times my mother has done this?
Zero.
When her dad died, she went to work, and cried her ass off over there.
When her mom died, she went to work and cried her ass off over there.

Yes, I've seen Mom cry, many times ME being the reason for the tears, but this was different. She was looking for comfort... from me.

Who was taken for ransom? Her guy best friend from her adolescent years.
Why's it extra sad? Because he's a sweetheart.

This guy never had a girlfriend. He didn't really have guy friends, either.
He was a quiet, gentle dude. He would be too shy to ask a girl to dance, he spent most of his days working in the morning wrangling cattle, and the remainder taking care of his mom.
Hometown dudes obviously looked down on this, and were quick to accuse him of being gay... because guys who respect/love their mothers and treat other women with the same respect aren't considered manly according to these barbarians.

Anyway, due to guys shunning him, he went ahead and hung out with girls.
Being that he was a rancher, he always had money and spent it on the gaggle of girls he'd hang out with.
Mom would be in this gaggle.
Mom was also the only girl he ever asked out to dance, and she actually agreed... thinking it was just him trying to kill time.
According to Mom, he just never showed interest in girls, OR guys. He was just quietly resigned to be alone.

Fast forward to Mom bumping into him when we were all munchkins, around the range of 6-2 years of age.
They hadn't seen each other since she left Hometown after getting married.
He was still single.
Mom says he looked at all of us and told her how cute we were. How pretty she still was.
He proceeded to confess how she was the only girl he ever loved. The only person he ever had feelings for.
Mom: Why didn't you tell me anything? You just let us all continue to believe you were gay...
Him: Because I noticed you didn't see me like that. Once I realized you couldn't notice the way I looked at you was different, I knew you would never be with me. But I always loved you.

Mom continued to be his friend. And each time we saw him around, we'd greet him warmly, even my dad would be nice to him.

Well, I guess he's now abducted in Hometown.
He's pretty rich, but it's all due to his hard work.
The motherfuckers running shit in Hometown (as in, the criminals) saw him as a target, and took the opportunity to milk as much easy money as possible.

Mom: He's SUCH a good guy. He's such a sweet man. He is such a hardworker! He didn't deserve this... he didn't deserve this.

That's all Mom kept repeating. She was shaky.

I must admit, even I feel shitty about this. Just thinking about the way his life turned out brings a frown to my face.
I really hope they release him...

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