Valo sighed, then responded, “Well, when he finally came home, things really changed. He no longer had the energy he did before. Even standing or walking for a few minutes or climbing up the stairs became a challenge for him. Though I stayed silent, I was hurting on the inside. It wasn’t right for him to struggle to accomplish what he once had with such ease! Because of his new limited mobility, he could no longer do the work he had before. He spent some time unemployed. I tried to stay cheerful and optimistic, but there are so many times where I would just cry in my room, feeling sorry for my dad. He still remained a loving parent, always there for me. He even made sure I enjoyed ‘normal’ activities like school dances and going on the eighth grade field trip.”

“Wow, that’s too bad. I mean, that he couldn’t be employed. Did he ever get a new job?” Sean asked.

Valo nodded. “For a few years, he worked at a printing company. Working machines, stuffing enveloped, that kind of thing. It took up a lot of time for him, though, and it meant that I had very little time to spend with my father. By that time, I was in my teens, but I still cared about my dad and wanted to spend time with him. But time with him was about as rare as hen’s teeth. I guess maybe that’s why I did what I did.”


“What did you do?”

Valo smiled wryly. “When I was about sixteen, a so-called friend of mine introduced me to this guy she knew. Encouraged us to get together, all that jazz. The guy was a total loser; he smoked dope, had dropped out of high school two years before, and already had a criminal record for trespassing and his frequent fights. But I guess I saw him as someone who could provide the attention my father wasn’t around to provide. I spent so much of my free time with him, even on the weekends. Slept over at his house…” Here, she frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Sean asked.

“I… well, honey, that guy turned out to be a very bad man. He did terrible things to me. You’re too young to hear about them. After I broke up with him, my so-called friend told me that she’d introduced him to me because she was tired of him hanging around her house, bothering her and her sister. She knew what a bad man he was, and yet, she encouraged us to become a couple. Well, needless to say, I stopped being friends with her not long after that!”

“Good for you!”


“Of course, I don’t know how much of that my father was aware of. I mean, I’d introduced the guy to him, but… well, I’m sure my dad knew what I was up to. He certainly knew what was going on when, after the breakup, that jerk showed up in his car. He told the guy to leave, but after my dad left, the jerk returned. My grandma made me go out and talk to him. I went out there with a knife, and told him to leave, or else I’d start scratching up his new paint job. He refused, so I poked the car very lightly with the knife. He began chewing me out, threatening to beat me up if I did that again. Well, it was like something exploded inside of me. I slapped him across the face-- with my hand, not the knife-- and told him that if he even laid a finger on me, I could have my neighbors and family over quicker than he could get his friends over. I then told him to leave. He left, but he returned from time to time over the next few months. I wanted nothing to do with him, even though my grandma berated me for not wanting to talk to him. I’m sure my father gave her a talking-to, because she soon stopped telling me to talk to that terrible person.”


“Was your grandma really that bad?”

“Yes. She was always whining at me because I wasn’t happy enough for her standards. One time, I set a salt shaker down just a tad harder than she’d have liked, and she started wailing about how I was so angry and all. Just because I didn’t have a perpetual smile, and besides, feeling emotions other than happiness is part of being human. If you’re happy all the time, you probably haven’t learned much about the world. With all the ways people hurt each other and themselves, sometimes all you can do is just try to take things one day at a time and try to survive.”

“So, what about your dad?”

“Oh, I am getting off-topic, huh?” Valo replied.

“Yeah, kind of.”