Excuse Me

After dinner Dr. Deb reminded me I had promised to trim the hedges.

“I’d like to, but I’m wounded,” I said, pointing to my leg. “I probably shouldn’t put any weight on it.”

Brat Boy laughed. “What did you say about excuses and reasons?”

We’d had that conversation just the day before. I played dumb anyway. “I don’t remember,” I said.

“Don’t mistake an excuse for a real reason,” Brat Boy said. He hadn’t wanted to clean his room because he had to work that night stocking shelves in a grocery store.  I had told him I was pretty sure he had the stamina to do both.

I’d told him about people who’d driven through a blizzard to the liquor store but wouldn’t go to an AA meeting in the rain.  They started believing their excuses were real reasons. Soon they could justify not doing anything they didn’t want to.

“Is your room clean?” I asked.

Today I won’t mistake an excuse for a real reason.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/