"Matt Ruff - Bad Monkeys" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ruff Matt)

towards the end of the summer things got especially bad. You know, physical.

What did you fight about?

The usual. Boys. Drugs. Me staying out all night with my friends. Plus there was my brother. My dad had
taken off a few years before, and to support us my mom was working twelve-hour days, which she
hated, and so I was supposed to watch Phil, which I hated.
How old was Phil?

Ten. Smart ten, I mean he knew enough not to drink Clorox or set fire to the apartment. Plus he was a
really internal kid, the kind where if he had a book to read, heтАЩd sit quiet for hours. Which is one reason I
resented having to watch him: there was nothing to watch. It was like babysitting a pet rock. So what IтАЩd
do instead, a lot of the time, IтАЩd take Phil out and park him somewhere, go off and do my own thing, and
come back later and pick him up. And if my mom got home before us, or if it turned out sheтАЩd tried to
call in from work to check on us, IтАЩd just make up some story about how I took Phil to the523e
zooтАФand Phil, heтАЩd back me up, because IтАЩd threatened to sell him to the gypsies if he didnтАЩt.

That worked out OK for a while, but eventually my mother got wise. One time I didnтАЩt bring Phil home
until nine oтАЩclock at night, and she knew the zoo wasnтАЩt open that late. Then this other time, I got caught
shoplifting at a record store, and by the time I talked my way out of it, the library where IтАЩd left Phil was
closing. One of the librarians found him in the stacks and reported him abandoned.

It was after that that my mother and I really went to war with each other. She started calling me her bad
seed, saying I must have gotten all my genes from my no-good father. Looking back on it now, I donтАЩt
blame herтАФin her shoes, IтАЩd have done some name-calling tooтАФbut at the time, my position was тАЬHey, I
didnтАЩt ask for a little brother, I didnтАЩt volunteer to be deputy mom, and if you think IтАЩm a bad seed now,
just wait until I get busy trying to earn the title.тАЭ

You say the fights turned physical.

Yeah. Slaps and hair-pulling, mostly. I gave as good as I gotтАФwe were about the same sizeтАФso it
wasnтАЩt like abuse. More like scuffling. She had more anger than me, though, and every so often sheтАЩd
escalate to weapons: belts, dishes, whatever was handy. And like I say, I gave as good as I got, but
long-term, that wasnтАЩt a healthy trend.

What about your brother? What was your motherтАЩs relationship with him like?

Oh, she loved Phil. Of course. He was the low-maintenance kid.

Did she display affection towards him?

She didnтАЩt throw plates at him. Beyond that, I donтАЩt know, maybe she kissed him on the forehead once
in a while. I wasnтАЩt jealous, if thatтАЩs what youтАЩre asking. The only thing that bugged me about their
relationship was having to hang around for it. She expected me to help mind Phil even when she was
home, which struck me as totally unreasonable. We had a bunch of fights about that.

Was it one of these fights that led to you being sent away?

No. That was a different incident. Phil was involved, but it wasnтАЩt really about him.