March 5, 2023:
"I heard a scratching sound, and found a mouse in the — "
She interrupts with irrelevant jokes.
"I heard a scratching sound, and found a mouse in the bathtub. It was trying to climb out — "
She interrupts with irrelevant jokes. She seems to be deliberately intending to prevent me continuing.
"I heard a scratching sound, and found a mouse in the bathtub. It was trying to climb out, but couldn't get traction on the slippery porcelain. So I — "
She interrupts with irrelevant jokes. She definitely does not want to hear what I'm telling her.
"I heard a scratching sound, and found a mouse in the bathtub. It was trying to climb out, but couldn't get traction on the slippery porcelain. So I used a pair of pliers — "
She interrupts with irrelevant jokes. She unmistakably does not want to hear what I'm telling her.
"I heard a scratching sound, and found a mouse in the bathtub. It was trying to climb out, but couldn't get traction on the slippery porcelain. So I used a pair of pliers to pick it up by the tail — "
She interrupts with irrelevant jokes and begins to walk away. She most emphatically does not want to hear what I'm telling her.
"I heard a scratching sound, and found a mouse in the bathtub. It was trying to climb out, but couldn't get traction on the slippery porcelain. So I used a pair of pliers to pick it up by the tail and let it loose outside."
She says, after a small pause, "Oh. I thought you were going to say you killed it."
It required six patient attempts to convey one small bit of information I was sure she would ultimately approve.
This was our life together at its most benign, that is, in the quiet moments between outbursts of vicious verbal abuse I learned to expect at near random.