Family...

Through the red veil of rage, the man spotted the child.

Barely over twelve years in age… she lay helpless and forlorn on the narrow bed. His daughter… testimony to the family he had once had.

All the pains and humiliations of the day came rushing back. The jeers of an unsympathetic world at the failures of a lonely man… hell bent on destroying someone who sought nothing more than a life… for himself and his little girl.

It was all her fault!

He had lost his ability to walk because of her. When she was seven… she had pranced her way into the path of an oncoming bus. And now… her father couldn’t move two paces without his crutches. He had lost his job… and soon the meager settlement he had received had run out too. He had to struggle just to keep her fed… his own meals had ceased to matter. He struggled to find a job… with no real education and a physical handicap.

After an eternity of pent up despair… he could almost hear his own patience snap.

He tottered over to the sleeping girl… and stood looking down at her skinny body. His best efforts to provide for her had gone in vain... a fact her underfed form declared.

How much more was he expected to do!

His vision rapidly blurring with tears of rage… he grabbed her by a fistful of her hair and dragged her off the bed.

The child, shocked at the sudden pain as she hit the floor, blinked stupidly… trying to figure out what was happening.

A blow from the crutch sent her sprawling.

“You! You are the bane of my life!” The red faced demon screamed. Tears were running down his hollow cheeks and spittle flew from his frothing mouth.

She raised herself on her elbows… inexplicably scared of the man who had always smiled through pain and poverty. Since as far back as she could remember, he had been all that she had for a family. Always kind… always gentle… he had smiled as he lay on the road holding her after the bus that would have killed her had destroyed his right leg. She cringed… expecting another blow.

“My wife died giving birth to you! I lost my leg trying to save you! I work twenty hours each day on a pair of rotting pieces of wood to keep you fed! What crimes am I atoning for by living with you?”

Incoherent with the resentment bottled up for a decade… he raised his crutch again.... and again… trying in some way to punish the witch that had destroyed his existence. He wanted to hurt the girl who had robbed him of his loving wife… and his ability to support himself… merely by her presence.

“Da-ddy!”

Her small voice… filled with pain made his upraised arm freeze. He watched as a thin red line drew itself on her cheek… while she cowered into the corner of the dingy room.

Rage didn’t fade so much as drain… and repentance filled its place. He dropped the crutch with a clatter and awkwardly sat down next to her. Crooning to her… while he wiped her face with his own sleeve and cleaned the wound he himself had inflicted seconds ago.

The daughter buried her face in her father’s chest and sobbed… while the cripple stoked her hair… tears rolling down his cheeks and onto his daughter’s head.

The crutch lay on the floor waiting to be picked up again.