Farewell forever, dear friends, maybe I die soon. Really.

The current state of high drama in the Aliff household is all over that pit bull pup. This all started well over a month ago. My ex-brother in law is friends with some coke dealer and he took his daughters , my nieces, over there for a visit one day. The pretext was so they could look at his puppies. I knew as soon as they said why they were going over that they'd be bringing a dog home with them. They were warned repeatedly not to by their grandmother. They tried to be sneaky and hide it in the basement but pups don't understand "shhhhh" and the jig was quickly up. The guy who they got it from was able to unload all of the rest of the litter but this one. He used the "if I can't find somebody to take it I'll just kill it" line and they fell for it. The girls tried to sweet talk my parents into letting them keep the pup saying it wasn't a full-blooded pit, it was just a mutt with some pit in it. One look at the thing and you knew instantly what kind of dog it was. If it was a beagle or a hound dog of some sort my parents might have relented but it wasn't and they didn't. My sister wasn't any help, as usual, saying that she had no idea they were going to bring a dog home and that she absolved herself from the situation.

Over the next several weeks my nieces were told repeatedly that they had to get rid of. If they couldn't find somebody to take it then it was going to the pound. Naturally they lied a lot. So-and-so said he would take it but then he'd never show up. Whats-her-face said they could bring it over to her place but then she was never home. And so on and etc. I finally found a number for a local no-kill shelter but they aren't taking any dogs for the time being. I told the girls to call the local vets and see if they had any suggestions, or the pet store over in Beckley. They said yeah, they'd do that but they never did. Even though I didn't want the pup here either I didn't wanna see it put down for no reason if we could find a home for it so I asked around, even posted it on Twitter and FB, but couldn't find any takers. Until Monday.

A guy I work with said he'd like to have it so we made arrangements, he followed me home yesterday and I handed the dog over to him. All hell then proceeded to break lose. Laci, the oldest niece, happened to walk outside just as I was handing the pup over. She ran inside and cussed my dad like a sailor. Lisa, my sister, made some vague threat that I better be prepared to pack my bags as she and Laci stormed off in a huff. I'm not sure where they went but dad was still gracious enough to let them use his truck. Then later Julia, the youngest niece, bounced into my room, cussed me and said that when she fights, she fights hard or something to that effect. I said "alrighty" and she stomped off. I was 95% sure I knew what she and my sister were gonna attempt, and I was right.

Later, my sister demanded that I call the guy who took the dog and have him bring it back, all the while mom is in the background saying that the dog was never to be brought back here. The guy was already at his other job so I couldn't call him even if i wanted to. Lisa then demanded that I give her his number and she better get her dog back. Her dog? The same dog she said she had nothing to do with? Whatever. I didn't give her the number but said I'd giver hers to him. Then this morning as I was getting ready for work Lisa got up and followed me around as I was getting ready, huffing and glaring. I said again that I wasn't gonna giver her his number but I'd give him hers. Apparently he still hasn't called but I'm getting ahead of myself. Mom was up by then and told Lisa that the dog was never to come back here. Well, we'd all just better be prepared to deal with the consequences. I went on to work.

After I'd been at work a few hours I got a voice mail. It was Julia saying that she'd just told my dad I was gay. "I told you I'd fight back!" Okay. Let me digress and offer up some history. Waaay back in 1992, maybe in the Spring but no later than the Summer, I had The Talk with mom and dad at the kitchen table one evening. I was still attempting to be a student at WVU at the time so I was either home for a weekend or holiday, or summer break. Anyout, dad decided that I wasn't really gay, it was just experimenting or going through a phase, or it was because of all the drugs I was on at the time. He's known for a long time. He's been in denial, but he's known. In the years since we've all just decided to let him think whatever and not push the issue for the sake of keeping things calm. I really have meant to fess up on several occasions but Lisa and the girls always seemed to have some new tempest brewing - dad would be angrier and angrier, mom would be sadder and sadder so I never had the heart to add to the mess.

I should have kept the voice mail but hitting delete was a knee jerk reaction as I rolled my eyes. I really do delete all my messages unless it has necessary info so it was force of habit over-ruling better judgment. I wasn't angry, I pretty much saw it coming. I actually had another chance to spill the beans last night. Dad asked me out of the blue if I'd heard from Jesse (my ex), how much longer is gonna be at WVU, how long has be been in living in Morgantown now? Again, if it hadn't been for mom being upset because the girls hate her now I would have explained why I quickly change the subject whenever he asks about Jesse. I put it all out of my mind and focused on work. I do admit I was a tad nervous because dad is fairly homophobic so I wasn't sure what exactly I'd be walking into when I got home.

Mom was sitting ion the carport, dad was going in the door as I pulled up. Mom said that she had to tell me something that i needed to know. I said yeah, I knew, Julia left a message and told me what she'd done. Mom looked confused and asked what did Julia do. I told her and she said she didn't know anything about that but now the guy who used to own the pup, the same guy who said he was gonna kill it, told Lisa that if I didn't bring the dog back I was gonna end up with my head bashed in. Ah, really? I think Lisa dragged him back into it when she was trying to find a home for the dog after i gave it away. No idea why he's suddenly so concerned, though.

I half expected Julia to try and get her boyfriend and one of his pals to attempt something like that, so again, I wasn't too surprised. My sister is prone to blustery threats that never seem to get realized. Then she puts and fumes and holds a grudge forever, waiting for a chance to stick a passive/aggressive knife in your back. Her I'm not worried about. The low-life idiots she tends to surround herself with might actually be a concern. I won't lose sleep over it but I won't take it lightly either. Lisa said that they told her that even though mom had me give the dog away that they wouldn't beat up an old lady. It was all gonna come down on me. Most things usually do when my sister is involved.

But getting back to dad, right after mom told me all of that dad came outside and acted like nothing had happened. I dunno if Julia really did tell him anything or if she was trying to fuck with me. Either way, fail. If she really did say anything she actually did me favor. I don't have to try and find the exact right time to talk to him now. I don't have to worry about how he'll react. No more stress from that issue. And if she didn't say anything then I know what her big, and only, gun is. She's 15. She's certainly sneaky enough but not exactly Bobby Fischer. As for her mother, I've long been of the opinion that it would just be a matter of time before she turned on me like she has most of of our relatives and pretty much every friend she's ever had. Not anticipating that would be like owning a pit bull and then being surprised when it went for your throat.

And really, that's just the tip of the iceberg for the complete and utter mess of things going on here lately. I'm not gonna drag out all the dirty laundry but believe me when I say clusterfuck doesn't even begin to cover it. Well, I won't write it all out longform on here. I'd still be typing this tome tomorrow night. But, if you'd like to hear all about it I'm available for weddings and bar mitzvahs. Unless I get my head bashed in sometime soon.