... my son was a liar and thief.
"Hi Bev, how are you, darling?" Wesley Rutland, an old friend of mine asked. We hadn't met in a longer time and I was glad he was at the convention. I confirmed I felt well. "You must be so relieved your son is feeling better again with that virus he had." I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. I had two sons. Both studied at the same college, where Wesley was working in administration, but neither had been sick. I had a clue Wes was referring to my oldest son Coldham Fintan. He had always been a troublemaker. When Fin, as we nick named our oldest son to avoid confusion with his father and name sake, was born, we had high hopes he would be similar to us, hardworking, ethical and outgoing. Unfortunately Fin proved to be introvert and unethical. If Fin was interested in a subject, he was working hard, but sometimes needed encouragement for the rest. We tried to change his behavior, but weren't successful. First we were worried Fin's shyness would hinder him later in life. He had only a few friends, while his younger brother Mike was outgoing and making lots of friends quickly.
Then we worried, because Fin started cutting classes. We put an end to it by having a talk to him and spanking him to send a clear message.
A couple of years later we were so disappointed, when Fin had been stealing from us, other family members and our friends. We punished him severely and sent him to a military academy. My husband and I thought we had Fin cured.
Wes' comment made me suspicious. I was going to investigate.
Discreet inquiries proved my hunch right. Fin hadn't been studying Economics and Architecture as he claimed and what we paid for. During the first semester he didn't show up at all for classes, but suddenly emerged as a Psychology student in the next, achieving excellent grades, claiming to have had a virus infection. Interesting enough I had requested to see the grades he had received for his economic and architectural projects Fin should have been working on a few months earlier, because he had been sarcastic and flippant to me about the importance of education.
I discussed my findings with Coldham. We decided to confront Fin as soon as he returned from a meeting with a friend. I intercepted Fin, when he arrived. "Please not now." He said. Fin passed me. I shouted after him: "Come right back, Coldham Fintan!" "Leave me alone!" He shouted back. I didn't care about his mood right now. He had reached the staircase. "Coldham Fintan, you better join us in the kitchen. We have issues to discuss!" My son took a deep breath, shrugged and finally gave in. I told him what we had found out. Coldham and I were so disappointed. We had invested a lot of time and money to allow Mike and Fin to go to college. We felt betrayed. Fin behaved obnoxious and didn't even deny he had been lying to us in regards to his studies and faked the test score. He also said he had trained as a burglar, never intended to go to college and wasn't interested in Psychology either. His "job" had demanded him to be in that specific class. He mocked us, and Coldham lost his temper. He slapped Fin very hard. Blood trickled from Fin's split lip. He threatened his father. I told Fin my piece of mind, and he replied in kind, basically accusing us of having neglected and abused him. It was too much. Coldham dragged Fin out of his chair and pushed him against the wall. I guess he intended to punch our son, but Fin was faster and suddenly a knife appeared out of nowhere. Fin threatened to cut Coldham's throat, if he touched him again. I barely kept from screaming and was so frightened! Coldham took Fin serious. He threw him out. We never ever wanted anything to do with a criminal. Unfortunately our paths crossed again, when Fin's grandmother had had a fatal accident.
©2012
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