There was a mum, a dad and two little children, one a baby in a highchair, the other a little boy about three years old. I'd already exchanged a smile with the mum as she spooned goo into the baby's mouth. I didn't see her leave the table but she must have taken the baby to change its nappy. Something about the dad's tone made me glance across. 'You stupid, stupid little boy' he hissed. The child had spilt his father's coffee. The dad noticed me watching but continued his lecture, lowering his voice. The child's face crumpled and he cried, head in hands. When mum came back, the child didn't lift his head from the table.
Come on mum, I urged her silently, please repair this. Instead she listened to dad's complaints about the child and ignored the boy. The waitress heard the story too, dad sneaking a look at me to guage my reaction.
Roll the tape on twenty years. Dad will despair of his son. 'He's a great lad but no ambition. Doesn't have a clue what he wants to do with his life.' Well, that's because he's stupid, Stupid.
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