I once read a novel that really stuck to me. I've honestly read an unhealthy amount at this point so I don't remember its title or even much of its plot, but the main character's catchphrase really stuck to me. It went something like "good people deserve to be rewarded for their hard work". It was simple and honestly not some new piece of wisdom, but it was powerful.
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“Mr. Perez, its Riley I’m here to clean your room”
I was snapped out of my daze by the sound of an unfamiliar voice. From what I heard from the chatter downstairs, it seems the man who usually tended to my room was out with a fever and it seems she was the replacement.
Well not that it mattered really …. is what I was thinking until I got a look at her eyes while she was tending to my beddings. Obviously, I’m no wizard or medium or anything like that so I can’t really say for sure but if I was right in what I saw then this girl was interesting. It was a reluctant acceptance of her current situation. A resolve to give up trying to climb and just make do. Though the circumstances and reasons were probably different, it was similar to the conclusion I made many years ago.
My parents were a pretty unique pair. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I never saw anyone even remotely similar to them ever again in my life. No they weren’t particularly smart, talented, or good looking. In fact their shortcomings in one or more of those areas lead to a myriad of problems in my life long after they are gone, but that's besides the point for now. Anyway, what really set them apart from the rest is how much they loved and cared for each other
It's honestly to the point that it's hard to comprehend without being there and witnessing it yourself, but to put it simply they were the type to not offer a single drop of charity to others but they were also the type to take a bullet for each other without a second thought. They knew that the other had their back come what may. As the product of their love, they shared this love to me as well. There are thousands of instances I could give to try to explain this, but one memory really sticks out to me.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
You see we weren’t well off at all and lived in a pretty bad part of town. We had a small space made of stray slabs of wood that could barely be called a house and there were frequent water and power outages. One time, a water outage had gone on for around a week and we were down to our last pail of water. It was dinner time and I was about to dig in to the stale bread we’ve been having on repeat when dad stopped me. His voice, his exact words, they still ring clearly in my mind after all these years
“Son, we wouldn’t want you to get a sick stomach. Go get some water from the pail and wash your hands first”
Mind you I was around 5 years old during this time so I didn’t really question it. It was only much later when I realized the gravity of what they did.
We had one pail of water left, even before that, mom and dad were already mildly dehydrated, rationing the water and giving most of it to me since they didn’t know when the water would come back on, but instead of using it to quench at least a bit of their thirst, they insisted that their child splash half of the remaining supply left on his hands, just to reduce his chances of getting a mild tummy ache. Now rinse and repeat to the many other household problems they faced during their lifetime and you get to grasp a bit of an idea on how they treated each other and me.
It wasn’t the smartest decision I know, as I said they weren’t the smartest bunch. Though it did perfectly demonstrate the type of mentality, the type of selflessness they showed to the few people they considered their own. It was a sort of obsessive love, where they’d willingly and happily go through any amount of torture just to ensure a bit of comfort to their loved one.
Some people might call it disgusting, others might call it toxic, but to me their unconditional love was nothing short of beautiful. It's a shame they left me so soon.