This Place Stinks

1977 marked the year my childhood really went down the emotional toilet. Things weren’t going all that well before that. In the previous year my mother consummated her position in life as a practicing alcoholic. She drank regularly and acted inappropriately. Her favorite activity was walking around the house drunk and naked with curtains open. Her behavior only made the situation worse as the arguments between my parents escalated to a new level. This new level involved broken lamps and microwaves, hitting each other, and occasional blood on the walls. I was pretty scared.

My father came up with the big event of 1977. He got the brilliant idea have an affair with my aunt. Now, in his defense, my aunt was quite an attractive woman. She stood about 5’8”, blonde, thin and had a figure that wouldn’t quit. Although I heard that same figure has now given up on life, she was quite the looker back then.

There were two essential problems with my father’s plan. The first was the potential for family fallout was terrible. The second was the location these two came up with for their affair was truly ridiculous.

My father earned his keep as a truck driver. He drove 32 wheel semis and hauled crude oil when Michigan was an oil producing state. He hauled the crude oil from the well to the refinery.

The funny thing is that crude oil wells really stink. They smell like a mixture of gasoline, dung and natural gas. Not exactly an aphrodisiac, but my father and aunt decided to hook up in the sleeper of my dad’s company truck at an oil well. She drove 30 minutes, smelled the stink, look at my father in his truck driver clothes and said lets get it on.

They did it with crude oil vapor wafting in the open windows. Sleepers then didn’t normally come with curtains. It was summer and therefore warm. I’m sure they were pretty sweaty.

When they finished up my aunt went home and my father finished his workday. When he returned home he acted like nothing happened. She did too for a while and then guilt overcame her and she told her husband (my mother’s brother). The shakedown from that single crude oil smelling act of debauchery affected everything in my life from thereon. The rest of the family blamed my mother for the whole thing. All this information is according to my mother. I have asked my father and he never denied anything.

Basically the family decided that if my mom had been a better wife none of this would have happened. Surely my dad solicited my aunt and my aunt, being a woman, was powerless and just said “yes I’ll have sex with you anywhere you want.” Since my aunt was powerless and my father would only solicit extra-marital activities if he was in need, then it was my mom’s fault he was in need in the first place. One thing I can verify is that my parents did it a lot. I heard them all the time. Sadly for me, my mom is a screamer. They woke me up all the time. What I’m getting at is that I don’t think my father went looking for extra curricular activities on the side because services weren’t rendered at home. I think he was just an ass. I don’t think my aunt really was powerless, especially now that she tries to be a strong and righteous woman.

The real problem is that these two people made a horrible decision that affected far more people than themselves. They affected directly me, my uncle – the heir to the family farm and family golden boy, and everyone else within the immediate family. What it came down to is that my family needed a scapegoat and they chose my mother because that was the most painless way to deal with the whole situation. My uncle, the golden boy, could suffer no consequences other than his own personal torment, which from what I understand was extensive. My aunt, being the golden boy’s wife, could suffer no real repercussions because, well, she was the golden boy’s wife. My father didn’t suffer because it was my mother’s fault. After this judgment my mother’s drinking became truly legendary and she was ostracized from the family with me along for the ride.

I didn’t see my golden aunt and uncle, or my cousin, for about 4 years. My uncle couldn’t handle the thought of seeing us because it reminded him of his wife’s choice and probably made him want to kill my father. When I did finally see that part of the family again it was well after my mother and father had divorced and my mom worked a pathetic job at a small manufacturing company. The day of the reunion, my golden aunt and uncle came over and picked me up. They took me to the drive-in movie theatre to see Star Trek the Motion Picture. I could tell at 11 years old this was a big deal for my mother even though my aunt and uncle never came inside. I walked out to their car with my mom, she waved and we drove off. I still remember the movie.

To this day my aunt and uncle are still married. Their relationship suffers. They haven’t been intimate for years. My aunt doesn’t seem to like my uncle. She’s a born again Christian and tells her children she’s never consumed alcohol and certainly never done anything like screw my father. I have for her children. I’ve witnessed her consuming alcohol and if she didn’t screw my father then I don’t see what’s in it for the both of them to make up a story like that. The manipulation on her part continues to this day, which is something I actually won’t get into.

Take what you want from this. It’s just a horrible situation rising from some stupidity that happened almost 30 years ago. Yet the idiocy remains as those involved live with a tormented past and continue to bury it.

This Place Stinks

1977 marked the year my childhood really went down the emotional toilet. Things weren’t going all that well before that. In the previous year my mother consummated her position in life as a practicing alcoholic. She drank regularly and acted inappropriately. Her favorite activity was walking around the house drunk and naked with curtains open. Her behavior only made the situation worse as the arguments between my parents escalated to a new level. This new level involved broken lamps and microwaves, hitting each other, and occasional blood on the walls. I was pretty scared.

My father came up with the big event of 1977. He got the brilliant idea have an affair with my aunt. Now, in his defense, my aunt was quite an attractive woman. She stood about 5’8”, blonde, thin and had a figure that wouldn’t quit. Although I heard that same figure has now given up on life, she was quite the looker back then.

There were two essential problems with my father’s plan. The first was the potential for family fallout was terrible. The second was the location these two came up with for their affair was truly ridiculous.

My father earned his keep as a truck driver. He drove 32 wheel semis and hauled crude oil when Michigan was an oil producing state. He hauled the crude oil from the well to the refinery.

The funny thing is that crude oil wells really stink. They smell like a mixture of gasoline, dung and natural gas. Not exactly an aphrodisiac, but my father and aunt decided to hook up in the sleeper of my dad’s company truck at an oil well. She drove 30 minutes, smelled the stink, look at my father in his truck driver clothes and said lets get it on.

They did it with crude oil vapor wafting in the open windows. Sleepers then didn’t normally come with curtains. It was summer and therefore warm. I’m sure they were pretty sweaty.

When they finished up my aunt went home and my father finished his workday. When he returned home he acted like nothing happened. She did too for a while and then guilt overcame her and she told her husband (my mother’s brother). The shakedown from that single crude oil smelling act of debauchery affected everything in my life from thereon. The rest of the family blamed my mother for the whole thing. All this information is according to my mother. I have asked my father and he never denied anything.

Basically the family decided that if my mom had been a better wife none of this would have happened. Surely my dad solicited my aunt and my aunt, being a woman, was powerless and just said “yes I’ll have sex with you anywhere you want.” Since my aunt was powerless and my father would only solicit extra-marital activities if he was in need, then it was my mom’s fault he was in need in the first place. One thing I can verify is that my parents did it a lot. I heard them all the time. Sadly for me, my mom is a screamer. They woke me up all the time. What I’m getting at is that I don’t think my father went looking for extra curricular activities on the side because services weren’t rendered at home. I think he was just an ass. I don’t think my aunt really was powerless, especially now that she tries to be a strong and righteous woman.

The real problem is that these two people made a horrible decision that affected far more people than themselves. They affected directly me, my uncle – the heir to the family farm and family golden boy, and everyone else within the immediate family. What it came down to is that my family needed a scapegoat and they chose my mother because that was the most painless way to deal with the whole situation. My uncle, the golden boy, could suffer no consequences other than his own personal torment, which from what I understand was extensive. My aunt, being the golden boy’s wife, could suffer no real repercussions because, well, she was the golden boy’s wife. My father didn’t suffer because it was my mother’s fault. After this judgment my mother’s drinking became truly legendary and she was ostracized from the family with me along for the ride.

I didn’t see my golden aunt and uncle, or my cousin, for about 4 years. My uncle couldn’t handle the thought of seeing us because it reminded him of his wife’s choice and probably made him want to kill my father. When I did finally see that part of the family again it was well after my mother and father had divorced and my mom worked a pathetic job at a small manufacturing company. The day of the reunion, my golden aunt and uncle came over and picked me up. They took me to the drive-in movie theatre to see Star Trek the Motion Picture. I could tell at 11 years old this was a big deal for my mother even though my aunt and uncle never came inside. I walked out to their car with my mom, she waved and we drove off. I still remember the movie.

To this day my aunt and uncle are still married. Their relationship suffers. They haven’t been intimate for years. My aunt doesn’t seem to like my uncle. She’s a born again Christian and tells her children she’s never consumed alcohol and certainly never done anything like screw my father. I have for her children. I’ve witnessed her consuming alcohol and if she didn’t screw my father then I don’t see what’s in it for the both of them to make up a story like that. The manipulation on her part continues to this day, which is something I actually won’t get into.

Take what you want from this. It’s just a horrible situation rising from some stupidity that happened almost 30 years ago. Yet the idiocy remains as those involved live with a tormented past and continue to bury it.