Taking the Edge Off

‘Look, it’s really no big deal. You’re getting stressed out for nothing,’ Karen dismissed, cutting him off.

It had taken long enough to get her son Michael to open up about what had gotten into him lately. She was instinctive enough to know why. He was a little past that age now at 18, but he hadn’t had much luck. All of his friends were boys, and the worst kind; full-time gamers!

‘Mom, I don’t want to talk about it okay?’

Michael couldn’t believe how overbearing his mother could be sometimes. It was like she couldn’t let anything go until it was all up in the air. Even then she seemed to make a bigger deal than most, only to downplay it the moment he lost patience with her.

‘Don’t be such a crank,’ she remarked; case in point. ‘You sound just like your father did.’ That saddened Michael a little, being compared to that absent old tool. He gave her that look, as if to say “Don’t”. ‘Well you do!’

‘I’m not like him and being told otherwise isn’t going to help, is it?’

‘Just don’t turn into him, darling,’ Karen casually suggested. ‘It would be such a waste. You’re a handsome boy. The wrong girls will fall for your looks first and then when you piss them off with that attitude they’ll tear your social life to shreds and then you’ll be in the doghouse before you’ve even begun.’