Taking Her In

I’m taking her in

Because she took care of Dad

It’s as simple as that

He could have married her

And made it easy on us

Because then she’d have legal entitlements

But since he didn’t want to go through all that

She’s left with nothing

And I find that--

I think that’s wrong

Kirsten disagrees with me
But then again

Our parents got divorced when we were seven

And she’s still not over it

I have no patience for that

And I’ll be--

I’ll be very honest about it

I just have no patience

And I have no interest

In worrying about anything

That relates to the dead

Dad is gone

Mom is gone

This woman is alive

And she gave our father baths
And changed his diaper

That’s--that’s a little graphic

I realize that

But it’s the truth

She’s owed something

And since Kirsten and Lindsey

Won’t let her move in with them

I guess it falls to me

The oldest

No surprise there

My sisters are selfish

I love them, but they’re selfish assholes

And they always have been

As soon as the will was read

Off they went

To spend the money

And there she is

Our father’s girlfriend

Sitting there

Not a dime to her name

Because she threw her whole life away

Taking care of him

Even I didn’t help

And I’ll admit to that

Dad and I were--

We were not close

I resented the way he treated Mom

And me

And my sisters

And frankly, the only way

I was going to take money from him

Even in death

Was going to be if I could spend it

In a useful way

And I found a way

I’m going to use his money

To take care of her

We don’t have to talk

Although we have spoken a few times

Since she moved

Across the hall from me

Turns out we get along

Pretty well

And I needed a roommate anyway

So this all worked out

About as well

As taking in

Your dead father’s girlfriend can

My sisters have their husbands

And their ex-husbands

And their husbands’ ex-wives

And their children

And their step-children

And their therapists

And I had this little house

With an extra bedroom

And…

And I wanted to know more

About my father

There were…

There were things

I wanted to understand

To try to understand

Do you know what I mean?

I thought maybe
She could help with that

But I’ll wait until she gets settled

Before I start in on all that

She’s still grieving

And I want to respect that

I should be grieving too

But I just can’t seem

To get around to it

Maybe one day

Maybe one day

I will