Deb
finishes study, regresses to maleness
Monday 29 May, 2000
Deb has finally finished her research paper for her Master's degree. She got an A for it, something I was never in doubt of! It's a huge relief around the house that she's finally finished, it's a very stressful time when someone's that focused on a big project.
But, now that she's finished, I have to confess I'm a little worried about her. She's not in the room now, so I can tell you.
She's changing, now she's finished and can relax and have free time. And I'm not sure it's for the better. Like tonight, we were having dinner, or at least I was and trying to feed Matthew pieces of bread a the same time. He was like a little duck, floating round the kitchen table, quacking at me until I gave him small pieces of buttered bread … But I digress. Debbie was in a world of her own relaxation. I watched her. She took a big swig of her beer. She leaned back in her chair. She gave a long burp, and then settled in to read the sports pages of the newspaper. The sports pages! You can see why I'm worried, she never reads those.
And now, she's watching TV — “That 70s show” followed by “Will and Grace”.
I'm worried about where it might end. She might enjoy this new-found freedom to relax, instead of having the horror of needing to study always hanging over her. She might develop her own favourite programmes on TV. She might start sitting in the seat I like to sit in. She might start farting as well as burping.
I can see it now. She might start demanding a hot dinner on the table, slippers ready and a beer freshly poured when she arrives home each night at 6.10pm. She'll want to read the sports pages before me. She'll take no notice of my attempts at conversation over the dinner table.
There'll be no stopping her. She'll start hanging out in bars with her friends. She'll demand sex at really weird times. She'll even start wanting to watch sport on TV as well as reading about it. Oh shit, she'll develop a liking for Sports Talkback on the radio …
This is all too much for me. There's dishes I need to go wash or something …