#SoCS Whatever may result in a nasty surprise

“Whatever” as a response to a civil question has more than once resulted in a nasty surprise to the offender in our family. This will happen when you have the kind of wife or mother who thinks up diabolical punishments for this signal of indifference or plain rudeness. Someone like me.

We were married in the middle 70s and had two boys in quick succession. Times were hard, what with caring for two little boys and working full-time. Money was tight, time was limited and tempers frayed. Romance suffered and I decided to introduce the concept of date night to spice things up. Before marriage and babies happened we often went to the movies to watch action films – his choice. I didn’t mind too much. Then. Although my preferences were quite different. So when I asked him which movie he wanted to see and was met with that telltale shrug of the shoulders and the accompanying “whatever” I realised that he had no interest in the idea of date night. Therefore, by way of a surprise, I bought the tickets and drove him to the theatre for a surprise treat. And I made him sit through Roman Polanski’s 1979 version of Tess of the D’urbervilles, all three hours and six minutes of it. Date night flew out the window and took romance with it. Well, I never claimed to be a good wife.

Those two boys grew up and became moody, ill-tempered teenagers, always bored, always listless and never cooperating with any suggestions for family outings. So, when we were invited to a picnic cum pop music evening at the Botanical Gardens I tried in vain to generate a little good spirit. My gushing enthusiastic question as to what we should pack for our picnic dinner aroused only blank stares, shoulder shrugs and the age-old “whatever”. A surprise then. And that evening, with an Elvis impersonator singing in the background, and the aroma of barbecued meat hanging in the air, my family ate peanut butter sandwiches. Well, I never claimed to be a good mother.

We learned. All of us. And these days we actually enjoy family get-togethers.

Linda said: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “whatever.” Use the word “whatever” any way you’d like. Bonus points if you start your post with it. Have fun!

To see the rules for this weekly challenge and all the entries for Saturday 19 February 2022, visit Linda G Hill our gracious host for these challenges, where you will also find links to blogs added by other participants.

To see all my SoCS entries on this website, follow this link.