The kids fought today which is unusual. M1 drank some of M2’s chocolate milk even though M2 had written her name on it.
“You wrote your name on it?”
“So that this wouldn’t happen.”
“I didn’t see it.”
“How could you not see it?”
M2 paced back and forth in the kitchen, twisting the cap of the chocolate off and then back on, while M1 sat on the couch, scrolling through her Tumblr on her phone.
“I don’t even want it now. You can finish it.” M2 put the milk back in the fridge.
“I didn’t drink out of the container. I put it in a glass.”
“I still don’t want it.”
But she did want it. She took it out of the fridge and sat at the kitchen counter and as she drank, she’d blurt out various accusations while M1 sat on the couch, scrolling through her phone.
When I left the kitchen M2 said, “I can’t believe you go around drinking other people’s stuff.”
M1 threw her phone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see your name on it. Fuck you. Let it go. I hate people like that. Fuck it. I wish I hadn’t, but I can’t change it.”
M2 said, “It’s okay. It’s fine.”
I’m reminded of a fight I had with one of my sisters once. I was a senior in high school and she was in college, and I was staying the night with her. I worked at a frozen yogurt shop and next door there was a pizza place, and when we closed, we’d trade goods. We’d give them yogurt with all the toppings they desired and they’d give us large to-go cups filled with wine. I took the bus to my sister’s after work and was pretty drunk by the time I got to her room. I have no idea what the fight was about but it ended when she picked up the ashtray full of cigarette butts and ashes and dumped it on top of her head and then rubbed the ashes deep into her hair. She really wanted to hurt me, but she sullied herself instead.
I had been reading about Ludwig Wittgenstein earlier in the day and was also thinking about an anecdote on his Wikipedia page in which Ludwig’s brother Paul was playing piano in one of the rooms of their home and suddenly shouted out to Ludwig, “I cannot play when you are in the house, as I feel your skepticism seeping towards me from under the door.”
I find that absolutely delightful.
It makes me howl with laughter.
I shared the Ludwig anecdote with my kids who were relieved to know that there are siblings in the world worse off than they are. But I didn’t tell them about the fight I had with my sister because that’s just a series of ugly images and I can’t recall anyone saying anything at all amusing. Just ashes and tears and later on copious amounts of vomit.