Posted by pancho (148.244.221.113) on January 08, 2002 at 12:32:59:
I’m having a dispute with one of my neighbors here. First off, I don’t like the guy. I’ve heard him and seen him with his kids, and I think he is mean and uncaring. He and I had a dispute over the fenceline that separates our property. The thing was settled in my favor, but still…I don’t like the fact that I had to argue about it in the first place. He is unbelievably selfish and always manages to take the best for himself, leaving his children and wife to sort of fend for themselves. He dresses well, while they seem to only have hand me downs…and not very pretty ones, or clean ones, at that. He is a jerk I’ve tried to sneak some things to his wife but he catches her and makes her give over what little money or food I give her…so that he gets fatter while his wife and children go without.
I doubt he provides any medical care, or education for them. Usually, on my way to town, I see the children sitting listlessly about a dusty yard filled with broken metal objects like car parts, tin cans, glass bottles etc. Someone else here told me they used to be well off once, but some heavy gambling debts wiped them out, although rumor has it the husband has a bit of money stashed away he uses only for himself.
I feel badly for them. My mother raised me a Christian, though some would say it never “took”. Still, just as a human being, I can’t help but feel sorry over the plight of these children. I can see them daily on my trips to town, getting thinner and weaker… moving with less energy round the dusty yard. I think of their mother too, what she must be going through as she watches the children of her own body waste away like that before her eyes and nothing she can do but try to comfort them as best she can.
I want to do something to ease their situation but the husband seems hell bent on ignoring them, when he isn’t making things worse. I can’t imagine what sort of a brute he must be. But I’m not really concerned about him, he seems to be taking care of himself just fine.
I have to do something…I mean Christian or no…just as a caring human being and a father myself…I simply must act. I feel sorry for the family, I’ve tried to get things to them but he wont allow it…it is a tragedy…
I think I’ll kill his children.