The Smelly Old Man

There once was a Reverend.

When I was little, my dad met a man by the name of Reverend Jim. Reverend Jim loved God, Jesus, Church and everything religious. Reverend Jim believed himself a preacher of truth. Reverend Jim became my dad's best friend. In reality, Reverend Jim was a liar, a cheat, a charlatan and a shyster. My dad believed everything that Reverend Jim ever told him, including the lies.

Reverend Jim demanded much out of the friendship that he had with my dad. He insisted that his way was the only way. Reverend Jim took hold to control my dad. Reverend Jim wanted money, fame, all the glory that he believed his mere presence deserved. Reverend Jim, in my mind, deserved a padded cell with a tall, barbed-wire fence around it.

The ways of Reverend Jim changed my dad. My dad lost his heart. He started beating and hurting his wife. I became a prisoner in my own home because of Reverend Jim's influence on my dad. took my dad's mind. Reverend Jim was the only one that my dad could hear.

Mom cried and begged, “Stop hurting your family.”

“Daddy, I want to go outside and play.” I sobbed and pleaded with my father. “Please, stop the pain.”

My dad ignored his family's anguish to follow the teachings of Reverend Jim. My dad stopped taking care of himself. He stopped bathing. He became mean. He became nasty. He lashed out at his family. Reverend Jim's demands became my dad's demands. Reverend Jim refused to cease his relentless wave of destruction. My dad became a Smelly Old Man. The Smelly Old Man marched on while Reverend Jim continued to preach.

Reverend Jim rewrote the Bible to suit his own desires. Reverend Jim believed that he was above the law and above the church. Reverend Jim became god in his own mind. My dad bought the whole scam. The Smelly Old Man began repeating Reverend Jim's blasphemy. The Smelly Old Man, at some point, convinced himself that he was Reverend Jim. My dad was no Reverend.

The Smelly Old Man started getting himself into trouble. Rather than take responsibility for his actions, my dad chose to blame his family. The abuse got much worse. The Smelly Old Man's wife and child could no longer tolerate living with him. “Fair enough.” The Smelly Old Man judged. “If they don't want to abide by my rules, these two 'witches' can have each other and rot for all I care. " The Smelly Old Man decided he had had enough of the ungrateful brat and the disobedient shrew of a wife.

The Smelly Old Man contacted his own parents; lied, whined, and cried about how his own wife and daughter were mistreating him. His parents let The Smelly Old Man move back into his childhood home. He abandoned the family that he had made for himself. Before leaving he had one last act of evil to Impart.

The defeated family had a pair of dogs. The dogs were supposed to keep the family safe and guard their lived. One dog belonged to me. The other dog belonged Dad. Dad's wickedness decreed that if he had to leave his own family, he'd be taking BOTH dogs with him, regardless of promises made and proper ownership. The Smelly Old Man decided that his own daughter, in her defiance of him, had become worth less than a dog.

Satisfied with his ill-gotten gains, The Smelly Old Man moved across the lake with his prizes. There, in his new home, a glimmer of my dad appeared to take assessment of his life. My dad did not like what he saw around him. Of the two dogs that my dad insisted upon taking from his family. Only one survived. The other dog was starved to death. My dad became forever lost in his grief... over the dog.

The Smelly Old Man had long since given up on his own child. The Smelly Old Man loved those dogs. He blamed his daughter for driving him away, causing him to fail in his duties to take care of things. The Smelly Old Man, conveniently, forgot that just before he left with the beast, his own daughter approached him and asked to keep her own dog, only to be denied. Had my dad left the dog with it's rightful owner, both would have been fine.

My mother and I struggled, but carried on fine without Dad, Reverend Jim, and The Smelly Old Man.

***

There once was a man.

A man that believed that everyone and everything lived to serve and take care of him. This man refused to bathe, brush his teeth, or even take his own dog outside to use the facilities. As a result, the man and his home smelled really bad.

This man had a family. He had a wife and daughter. He constantly criticized his wife and child. The wife lost all confidence in herself and her own abilities. The daughter froze in fear of doing something 'wrong.' Everything the daughter did was wrong in the eyes of her father.

Eventually, the smelly old man decided that having a family was too hard. He abandoned his family. It was the best thing for his family. His wife and child clung to each other to survive. The daughter was acting well beyond her years allowed. She handled herself well enough. Her mother was shattered and too much for the child. The mother wasn't the responsibility of the child's, but the smelly old man's. He was too busy spoiling himself to care. The mother went back to live with her own family and the daughter went off to start a family of her own. The smelly old man lived alone, just him and a small dog. He rambled nonsense about how he was the greatest thing ever because he had no family dragging him down. The daughter cut herself off from her father and got better.

The Girl changed the narrative of 'everything she did was wrong' to 'is this the type of work she should accept from herself?' The Smelly Old Man's daughter, eventually, let go of her father. He had let go of her long ago. The girl and her new family were doing well.