Christmas with the family was always interesting
In the old one room cabin
Deep in the dark dark forest
A good day’s snowshoe in
Dad loved the place
Mom hated it
She sat in the big chair
And fired the pump action pellet gun
Over and over again into the big fireplace
Sparks and chips of stone flew at every shot
Dad would start to drink or sniff gasoline
Then he would get out his old grey sweater
And begin swinging it around
And Thunder, our German Shepard
Would bark and bark
And finally get his teeth into the sweater
And Thunder and Dad would play tug of war
All around the cabin
Dad yelling out ‘Pull you bastard pull!’
Mom would then start shooting randomly around the place
Shattering glasses, pottery and picture frames
Then somehow Dad would suddenly became pant-less
And Thunder would be pulling at his genitals
And Dad would be yelling
‘Pull you bastard pull!’
Then Mom would scream
‘Frank! Not in front of the children!’
And my sister and I would start to cry
And we’d just cry and cry in the candle light
And watch the scene play out
It would all end when Mom would shoot Thunder
In the hind leg with the pellet gun
And he’d yelp and run to the corner
And she would do the same to dad
And he’d yelp and run to the corner
His lap a bloodied mess
And he’d start to laugh or cry
We couldn’t tell
A sad and pathetic sound
And my sister and I would still cry until we slept
And all would be quiet
Until the next night
When it all played itself out all over again
Every night
Until the holidays were over