Sibling Interaction

While working at the insurance company I had three days off each weekend.  To take up my time, I then would tend bar at a discotheque.  I managed to pick up women there and out to breakfast we would go after the bar closed.  From there, on to their apartment.  I was still learning how to approach women.  I knew how to get them in bed, I just didn't know how to keep one as a girl friend.  If I wasn't tending bar, then I would go to Houston for the weekend and party there.  For some peculiar reason, my brother had me stay with him.  I don't know why.  He always would ridicule me.  He never missed a beat.  But then, him living away from home now, maybe I was missing the ridicule.  Maybe my personality was missing the abuse and the only satisfaction I could find was to stay with him or find it in the beds of available women.  In any case, it seemed to be more pleasant for a while.  He managed to run into some nice women.  Some were rich and I would wonder why they chose him.  Some were with child and I would wonder why they chose him.  All were attractive.  Then he ran into one that was peculiar.  She wasn't very attractive.  She had short hair like a dyke and was different from all of the others.  I never will forget.  One Saturday morning, my brother and I were up talking with each other.  She had called to see if she could come over.  He told her I was there, but it didn't matter.  She could come anyway.  I had grown used to his jabs and I was now jabbing back.  When "dykelike" finally arrived, we were introduced and we sat and talked.  My brother had said something to me that I thought was a jab, so I answered back in likewise fashion.  After my answer I looked at her face.  She was glaring at me with such disapproval of my answer to him that I could see hate in her face.  From that point on, it was down hill from there.  Not only was my brother putting my parents down for the clothing they would wear, but also the furniture in their house, the cars they would drive, even the things my father would do to keep busy.  For a full description read The Train Runs No More.  Even she would join in and it wasn't her place to do so.  She always thought she was better than my parents or even me.  I don't know how.  She was doing harder drugs than I was at the time.  Two things my mother used to say:  "Water seeks its own level and when you play with trash it will fall in your eye every time".  How right she was.  Eventually, I found other interests and stopped going to Houston, not to mention I had quit the insurance business and found other employment.  I was still trying to find myself.  I did learn that with the ridicule that my brother had to offer, apparently he didn't like it when I began fighting back.  His disposition began to evolve. And my evolution was changing as well.  I did manage to learn to listen to people and if there was something about them that I didn't appreciate, that would be the last time I would be around them.  I have developed an uncanny ability to detect within thirty minutes of speaking with someone whether someone is worth their salt or not.