fight club

Mum’s telling me about a run-in with Screaming Lady. As usual, the crone had come up to her and was calling her a Bitch.

“So I pushed her and she fell over and was screaming even more.”

I’m shocked to hear this. I’ve never known Mum to be violent in any way. Even more shocking to me is Mum’s amused tone of voice. I tell her that she can’t go pushing old people to the ground.

“She’s not old” she says, scornfully, “She’s young… she’s a young woman.”
“Mum, she’s older than you!”
“No…. she’s about… “. I hear Mum ask a staff member…. “She’s 86.”
That’s 7 years older than Mum. I don’t expect Mum to be able to do the calculation, but I would hope that she would realise that 86 is “old”.
“Mum! You can’t push over an 86-year-old. She could break a hip or something. You’ll get into trouble. Can’t you just walk away from her?”
“I suppose so.”

Parenting is so hard.