Family Feud

2nd July 2020.

Dear Steven,

                    I trust that you, Jill and your children are well. Uncle John told me that you have moved to Kimberley. I am sorry that we have not been in touch for quite a while and I hope that you and I at some stage can resolve our differences, brother to brother. Tess and I moved to Cape Town about six months ago and bought a small home. We are settled and loving it. Brett has got a bursary at Cape Town University; he is studying to be a doctor while Sarah is a physiotherapist working for an established practice.

   I have been in touch with dad and I am sorry to tell you that he is not well, he has stage four cancer and it is only time now. He is upbeat about things and says he is not worried about leaving this life. It would be great if you could come to Durban and see him before he goes.

He is living in a small cottage in Morningside which he rents. He has a little money to make ends meet but he is comfortable. He told me that you two have not spoken for quite a few years and how angry you still are with him. Do you think you could put that anger aside and make the journey to Durban. I have made inquiries about hiring a bed and breakfast close to dad and I will add a room for you, if you can make it.

My brother, I do not think dad will last too long. Please think about it and let me know.

Kind regards,

Andy.

11th 2020.

Dear Andy,

                 Thank you for your letter. Jill and I are settled in Kimberley. Graham, after years of study has qualified as a Radiologist and joined a practice here. Peter is doing his articles in Bloemfontein. Financially, it was an up-hill struggle. When I asked for help from you and that supposed father of mine fell on deaf ears. He did not have the courtesy to contact me or offer me any help. I am still bitter about it. Even if you made some lame excuse with all the money that you have. We had to borrow money which was very embarrassing.

I have thought about your request to make the journey, but I do not want to see him or that strange money grabbing woman he shacked up with in Durban after mom died. As far as I am concerned, he is a drunk and treated mom so badly which I will never forget. When I think back to when we were growing up,he never missed any of our sport days at school and was always there for his family. Mom and he seemed so happy together. Then he had that affair and things changed from a happy house to one of sadness. I hated the fights he had with mom after some heavy drinking with his so-called friends. One day that I will never forget was when I tried to protect mom from being hit by him, he turned on me, gave me a black eye and a bloody lip. He never apologized. When he wasn’t on the booze for a day or two, we could tolerate his wise cracks. When the booze started again, he would ridicule mom and there were times that he would throw his full dinner plate at her saying the food was lousy.  So, you have my answer, it is no. I am not coming to Durban.

Steven.

16th July 2020

Dear Steven,

I am sorry you carry this hate of dad in your heart and your disappointment of me on your shoulders. It might be a good time for you to rid yourself of that weight you are carrying. Dad has not had a drink for quite a few years now and that women you spoke about developed Alzheimer’s and is in a home. Steven, you and I have both worked for what we have today. I genuinely did not have the cash to help you out at the time. So, I am sorry you thought I was wealthy. I will always be your brother and would like to see you and your family again. Let us not waste time misunderstanding things that happened between us so long ago. You and I still have time so would you please put your perceived thought about me to one side and let us find some middle ground. I understand your hate for dad but that was not him doing all those crazy, hurtful things back then. It was the booze. For him it was like being on a railway track with a train rushing towards him but somehow, he managed to get off that track and rehabilitated himself. I don’t think it was easy, but he made it.Booze is one of the drugs that many people must cope with in families today. Now dad faces death in a different way.

Please reconsider your decision.

Your Brother,

 Andy.

22nd July 2020

Andy,

         I do not appreciate the tone of your letter lecturing to me about what I should or should not do about reconciling with you and that shitty father of ours. You were the one who kept in contact with him even though he treated you and mom the way he did. I cannot understand that. When you started work you told me that you would always make more money than me. Then when I needed some cash you dropped me like a stone, now you want us to be friends and start again. I do not think I can because it seems that when the chips are down you will not be there to help me. I don’t think you understand what hurt I suffered living with that drunk father. When I asked you both for help, nothing was offered, I suffered a breakdown and lost my job. You and our so-called father never inquired to find out the reason why I needed help, you both just fobbed me off. It took me a while to get back on my feet which I did it myself, so I do not need your friendship and there is no way I will come to Durban to pay my respects to a bastard father. I do not need anything from him, nor you and I hope he goes to hell.

Steven.

24th August 2020

Dear Steven,

                     Dad passed away 15 days ago; I scattered his ashes in the sea where you and I scattered Mom’s. I said a few words and had a feeling almost immediately that they are reconciled and together.

There was a memorial held at his golf club. It was packed with many of his friends. I was amazed at some of the speeches about how he battled the booze addiction and won. He was very popular at his club and it seems that he was back to the man he was when he married Mom. They were all proud of him.

I am sorry about your incredible bitterness towards dad and myself. It seems that there is no way that you would like to reconcile our differences. You must be very difficult to live with as you have become, like the man you hate. Your drug of choice has become your bitterness for which there is no cure unless you reach out. Look in the mirror to see what you have become.   You mentioned in your letter, you did not want anything from dad; words have consequences.

He had no will, so I gave his clothes to the salvation army with a few items of furniture. I did find some old letters written to mom that he never posted and a lotto ticket bought a month before he died. I have just got back from the lotto office and banked 38,000,000

Have a good life,

Your brother,

Andy.