Hard of Hearing

I know that I’m not perfect, just go and ask me wife. At times she’s kind of said - I’m the bane of her life, but on her better days she wouldn’t trade me for a thing, and sometimes she has even thanked me for the ring. Sometimes I overlook a mite and pile clothes on the floor; leave a beer can in the lounge room or forget to shut a draw. The toilet seat might be left up; grease in the bathroom sink, and of course I cop a barrage - “Don’t you ever bloody think!” I put up a slight defence I s’pose to save me on the skids, I reminded her I’m not as bad as either of our kids, but remarks like that cause suffering; the vote goes three to one, so I had to do some crawling for the damage that I done. The crawling that I had to do is behind their Mother’s back, but once again a big mistake saw her leading an attack. In a request for gaining brownie points I should have chose a cat, but the kids insist they wanted me - to buy them a pet rat. We snuck this rat into the shed and they both named it Brad, but our female ‘Sergeant Major’ went completely bloody mad. She really stuck the boots in; especially into me … making promise of a firing squad if neglect soon came to be. But both the kids then promised to satisfy their Mother’s rage, that Brad will be looked after; well fed in the cleanest cage. They pampered Brad for two months - treated like a king, then the novelty wore off - Mum was doing everything. So at the dinner table Mum declared she’d had enough. Maintaining to our children that it has got too tough. He’s too much work for one and because that one is me, he’s going to have to leave and the kids did half agree. Then Mother added furthermore, “I’m sick of his daily mess, and right now I note he’s eating, and drinking to excess.” Me eldest boy then quietly spoke, by adding “Mum you’re right, if he didn’t eat and drink so much, he could stay is that right?” Mum responded firmly, “Correct, he could stay for evermore, if he had used better manners and cleaned his mess off the floor, now go to the shed and grab the cage, and in the car put Brad …” “Brad!” Me youngest ‘fella’ bawled - “We thought you said Dad.”