A Wary Woman

I’d love to say that ‘Crusher’ Webb is one good mate of mine, but old ‘Crusher’s’ temperamental and can act more like a swine, and it don’t take much to set him off; that’s when we all show fear, so we don’t know how to take him, ‘specially when he’s on the beer. I’ve been there when he’s lost the plot and really gone to town, and it’s taken more or less four blokes to try and hold him down, when the trigger’s been so trivial, that most would put aside, but not old ‘Crusher’, he goes mad, so the berth he’s given’s wide. I hate to think how many nights that ‘Crusher’s’ spent in gaol, from throttling blokes and busting pubs when he fell off the rail, but the fear we have means nothing for he’s just part of our life, so what must Deb be going through - his darling homely wife. She’s just the nicest person, so it’s a bit like chalk and cheese, the schizophrenic husband and his wife, who looks ill at ease. It must be a living nightmare when old ‘Crusher’s’ at his best, storming ‘round the family home with dirty water on his chest. Thank God they don’t have children for this brute to terrorize. It’s bad enough when he’s around to see the terror in our eyes, but it was on a brief occasion when I spoke to Deb alone, that I was shocked with what she said in quite a sombre tone. Deb’s voice shivered lowly “These days I must be so alert, that I don’t become child bearing” and my answer is quite pert, “But didn’t ‘Crusher’ have the ‘snip’, so no ‘hiccup’ would apply?” and Deb replied, “Oh yes he did, and that’s exactly why”.