Brown Sludge

Burn, I Surely Will.

April 27th, 2010

I… am an aggravator.

I… am from a long and prestigious line of aggravators.

My father was a master, and his father before him.

There is no body and no thing that we will not aggravate if we get the chance. From small children (who aren’t ours) in grocery stores, to old people, to our coworkers, friends, family, neighbors, etc. Nobody is exempt - not even our pets.

I also hate old people.

Pretty Jamie surely knew this when she married me.

But I’m pretty sure this won’t be enough to save me.

I’m pretty sure, in fact, that I will turn on a spit in the fires of Hell for All of Eternity.

And it will be mostly because of Pretty Jamie.

You see… Pretty Jamie was one of God’s perfect Creatures.

A Presbyterian Sunday School teacher, devout in her faith. She teaches Sunday School, manages her church’s youth group (has for years), and hosts a program for the homeless and displaced. She’s active in transitional housing, helping people who had once struggled - transition to being productive homeowners. She’s active in her community and gives of herself tirelessly in all things. She embodied forgiveness and grace, and I’m certain that the Lord smiled to himself whenever he thought about her, and I’m certain that he heard her quietly whispered, selfless prayers.

You’ll notice I said “was” one of God’s perfect Creatures.

Not anymore.

Why?

Well…

Because of ME mostly.

As I said… I’m an unapologetic aggravator. One of the more infamous tools in my repertoire is the “Toe in the Butt”. If anyone, for any reason, bends over at in my house at anytime, they will be subject to “Toe in the Butt.” This consists of me rapidly poking the individual foolish enough to present their derriere to me with my big toe while simultaneously making a disgusting farty noise. When the shocked victim recovers their composure I almost always follow with the comment “I NEVER get tired of ‘Toe in the Butt’”! Then I laugh derisively to let them know that it’s always a bad idea to bend over around someone who finds humor in things like this.

The unspoken rule in my house is that if you drop your keys… you should probably KICK them all the way to the car. Because it’s very foolish to bend over in my house.

Aside from being a recalcitrant aggravator. I have a very low tolerance for stupidity, and can be pretty unforgiving in that area. There are people on this earth who make a profession out of being inconsiderate, and pushy, and I’ve asked God to make me His Sword in these matters. I don’t want to help them learn to be more considerate, I want to remove them from the gene pool, so that they cannot contaminate the world with their inconsiderate genes. As the Cohen brothers would say, “He’s especially hard on the little things.” (insert video of a furry little woodland animal being nuked).

I’m pretty much the “anti-Jamie”.

But the other day… we were on our way to Trader Joe’s to do our Sunday grocery shopping, when an older gentleman in a pickup truck began to swerve into our lane. I morphed into my “Sword of God” self, and opened my mouth to berate the moron… when I was brought up short. Before I could utter a syllable, Pretty Jamie had the window half rolled down and was in the process of barking:  ”Jeezus H. Tapdancin’ Christ! You friggin’ GEEZER! Why don’t you take TWO lanes… they’re FREE afterall!” and then shot him a rude finger gesture. “Sorry, Mac.” she said unapologetically. “That Bird just HAD to fly!”.

I realized… in absolute horror… that those were MY words coming out of Pretty Jamie’s mouth. That was MY finger gesture. Almost a decade of “me”, has rubbed off. Maybe a little.

Worriedly, I tried to play this off for a bit. After all… the consequences for corrupting one of God’s perfect Creatures could be severe. I was Whistling Through the Graveyard.

Later that night… as I was passing the living room on the way to my study… I caught a glimpse of Pretty Jamie. My Boxer puppy, Roscoe was wandering by Pretty Jamie, and as he saw me - he paused for a moment. I saw Pretty Jamie’s foot shoot out and goose the poor boy. He shot about two feet in the air. Straight up. When he landed he shot Pretty Jamie an astonished look… as if to say “What the HELL was THAT about?”. I heard Pretty Jamie chuckle to herself “I NEVER get tired of ‘Toe in the Butt’”. Then she sniggered derisively.  

I hung my head in shame.

I now know that when my moment comes to stand before the Father… I’m going to have to answer for this corruption. I always imagine that things will be going along pretty well during my time of judgment… I have… by the mass… been a fairly decent fellow (more or less). Nothing TOO nasty down on the books for me. If you don’t count a little harmless aggravating. I’ll be sitting there while the Father judges me thinking “I might just make this.” when He will clear his throat and say… “Now… about my Jamie.” He’ll look at me and point to the video playback of scenes like the above, and then give me that “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” Look. And I know… it will be over then. I will be doomed to roast on a spit and endure all the Torments of Hell for having corrupted one of His most Perfect Creations.

Of course… there is a small ray of hope for me.

I have always suspected that God himself might just be an aggravator at heart. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like old people either.

-Mac-

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