(Note: The person referenced to below as Matthew is the character known as Mouse.)
Seth Ibramowitz paced back and forth across the hospital floor. He hoped that this time, Kim wasn't playing games. That it was just another false labor. He had been dragged off of a very comfortable bar stool (as well as a good beer, a football game, and his friends) for this, and if it turned out to be another false labor, he was going to make her hurt for it. As the statement passed his mind's eye, he mentally slapped himself.
How dare he even think something like that! That was something that would come out of the mouth of his father - the drunk. A man he despised more than anything or anyone else. He'd never been a good father (Yakov (Jacob)) was a sick man - almost all the time he was drunk, leaving Seth's mother (Elisa) to take care of the family bills. She worked herself to the bone, and still managed to be a good mother for her son.
Seth wished his mother and his wife (Marissa)'s parents could be there - he wanted them to see their grandchild. But they were all in the dirt, unfortunately, buried long since with the tears of their children and the land of the Earth they had been born in. Seth's father had always believed the world had betrayed him during the 1940's, and...
"Mr. Ibramowitz! Excuse me for disturbing you..." A nurse was standing at his side, a hand on his shoulder. "I have some good news for you. Your wife has given birth to your....child..." (apparently she'd been told not to tell him if it was a boy or a girl), "and I promise the little one is as healthy as can be. Seven pounds, five oz., and with a set of lungs strong enough to shatter someone's eardrums."
He grinned, hugging the nurse, and ran past her in to the hospital room where his wife lay, their yelling little one in her arms. She smiled up at her husband, showing him their son. "Beautiful, isn't he, Seth?"
Seth nodded, and kisses her softly. "What are we going to name the little mouse, Marissa?" She smiled up at him, catching his eyes.
"I want to name him after my father....Matthew William Ibramowitz." Seth nodded, smiling, and kissed his wife again. "One thing I ask is that we home-school him, honey. I want to give him a good religious education as well as a regular one."
Ten years passed, life sweet and normal. Matthew grew quickly, though his English needed a lot of work. His math skills were excellent, and he had a lot of potential...
Then his tenth birthday passed.
"What do you mean you got fired, Seth' You told me your boss was planning to up your salary today and promote you?" She blinked, stunned. "What are we going to do?"
He didn't answer. Instead, Seth broke a vow he'd made so many years ago. He went down to the basement and opened a bottle of vodka from his father's collection.
By the time he came back upstairs, Seth was drunk. Drunk for the first time in his life....and when he encountered his wife, the reaction wasn't a pretty one.
He beat her senseless. Matt heard her screaming, and came rushing downstairs to see his Mommy crying for the first time in his entire life. He begged Daddy to stop making Mommy cry....but it just didn't work. The next thing Matt knew, he woke up in his room upstairs, his left arm broken.
His father told the doctor he'd fallen down the stairs....as clich' as it was....but the doctor believed him. Seth Ibramowitz was a respected man in their town....he would never hurt his son. So it was that it remained in his wife and son's memory that he had thrown Matt down the stairs....that he had made Matthew cry....just as he had his wife.
Most frightning of all was that even then, Matt knew it wouldn't be the last time.
Seth Ibramowitz paced back and forth across the hospital floor. He hoped that this time, Kim wasn't playing games. That it was just another false labor. He had been dragged off of a very comfortable bar stool (as well as a good beer, a football game, and his friends) for this, and if it turned out to be another false labor, he was going to make her hurt for it. As the statement passed his mind's eye, he mentally slapped himself.
How dare he even think something like that! That was something that would come out of the mouth of his father - the drunk. A man he despised more than anything or anyone else. He'd never been a good father (Yakov (Jacob)) was a sick man - almost all the time he was drunk, leaving Seth's mother (Elisa) to take care of the family bills. She worked herself to the bone, and still managed to be a good mother for her son.
Seth wished his mother and his wife (Marissa)'s parents could be there - he wanted them to see their grandchild. But they were all in the dirt, unfortunately, buried long since with the tears of their children and the land of the Earth they had been born in. Seth's father had always believed the world had betrayed him during the 1940's, and...
"Mr. Ibramowitz! Excuse me for disturbing you..." A nurse was standing at his side, a hand on his shoulder. "I have some good news for you. Your wife has given birth to your....child..." (apparently she'd been told not to tell him if it was a boy or a girl), "and I promise the little one is as healthy as can be. Seven pounds, five oz., and with a set of lungs strong enough to shatter someone's eardrums."
He grinned, hugging the nurse, and ran past her in to the hospital room where his wife lay, their yelling little one in her arms. She smiled up at her husband, showing him their son. "Beautiful, isn't he, Seth?"
Seth nodded, and kisses her softly. "What are we going to name the little mouse, Marissa?" She smiled up at him, catching his eyes.
"I want to name him after my father....Matthew William Ibramowitz." Seth nodded, smiling, and kissed his wife again. "One thing I ask is that we home-school him, honey. I want to give him a good religious education as well as a regular one."
Ten years passed, life sweet and normal. Matthew grew quickly, though his English needed a lot of work. His math skills were excellent, and he had a lot of potential...
Then his tenth birthday passed.
"What do you mean you got fired, Seth' You told me your boss was planning to up your salary today and promote you?" She blinked, stunned. "What are we going to do?"
He didn't answer. Instead, Seth broke a vow he'd made so many years ago. He went down to the basement and opened a bottle of vodka from his father's collection.
By the time he came back upstairs, Seth was drunk. Drunk for the first time in his life....and when he encountered his wife, the reaction wasn't a pretty one.
He beat her senseless. Matt heard her screaming, and came rushing downstairs to see his Mommy crying for the first time in his entire life. He begged Daddy to stop making Mommy cry....but it just didn't work. The next thing Matt knew, he woke up in his room upstairs, his left arm broken.
His father told the doctor he'd fallen down the stairs....as clich' as it was....but the doctor believed him. Seth Ibramowitz was a respected man in their town....he would never hurt his son. So it was that it remained in his wife and son's memory that he had thrown Matt down the stairs....that he had made Matthew cry....just as he had his wife.
Most frightning of all was that even then, Matt knew it wouldn't be the last time.