Friday continued

Too tired to work out how to correct the last one, so will just carry on.  Sorry, readers.  Was going to say, would never put him through surgery.

Anyway, we had a good day.  The time just flies past until three when I have to start the school run, and then it is mayhem until Paul gets back at about six.

Tonight I am emotionally drained - I had a horrible phone call from my elder brother who has just found out about my book and is totally overreacting, without having even tried to read it.  I won't go into details here about what he said, but it was really not nice - not the way anyone should talk to their sister or anyone else.  Really properly unpleasant.  He is worried about what is in the book.  I did try to tell him that if he read it he would find out that it is about me, not about anyone or anything else in the family.  But he wouldn't have it.

What I didn't tell him, but wish I had now, is that almost everybody else in the family already read the book ages ago and that nobody else has had any problems with it.  He is convinced that the whole family is outraged.  Because he spoke to my younger brother earlier, who denied all knowledge of the book.  I know this because my younger brother phoned me earlier this morning, told me the older one had heard about the book and was on the warpath, and asked me not to tell the older one that he has in fact already read it.  Basically because he is scared of him and of his reaction if he knew that he knew about it already and hadn't said.

Is anybody following all this?  I'm not even sure if I am.  It reminds me of an American TV programme I used to watch decades ago, which took the mickey out of Dallas et al and detailed the most convoluted and impossible plots ever in a voiceover at the beginning of the show.  I wish I could remember what it was called...Paul is saying something about Burt.

Anyway, the only person who has the right to be upset about the book - the only person who is really presented in a bad light - is my mother.  And she has been saintly, bless her.  She just said 'It's the truth'.

I just hope my brother will calm down in a few days.  Maybe he will even read the book and come to understand a little more about life, or at least about my experience of it.  As things stand he has told me never to contact him ever again and to burn all evidence of ever having known him.  Reasonable, non?

Going to stop going on about it.  One of my sisters has just called and reassured me that it is all nonsense and everybody else actually likes the book etc.  So I will put it out of my mind.  I knew this particular brother would go nutty when he heard about the book - he was the one who objected eight years ago when I first wrote it.  I decided then to put it on the back burner - not worth upsetting him, I thought - but the book just wouldn't go away.  It needed to be written (that sounds very grand and self-important, I don't mean it that way.  But sometimes in life you need to do what is best for you.  I have spent a lot of mine trying to please others and tiptoe around people.  Trying to make myself loved. 

Now the worm has turned.  Ha!

Hope you are all having a peaceful weekend.  Bye for now.

The worm.  x.