The man whose head is turned by the woman's attention, her ready words but most of all the possibility of soft curves and low sighs. The man who marries and makes the two children and buys the things. The man cheated-on for the required time, then argued-with, diminished by the words from the mouth of the wife ignorant of her limitations yet reinforced by her girlfriends. The man who has the house taken from him, his children too, the man replaced on the bouncing mattress by the next man; the next man buying the things. At the end of it all, the man questioned by the woman - Why did he let it happen? Just look at you here in your bedsit! Why did he not fight back? And the man replying - His role was to offer no resistance; back then, when a girl, she might have done this; she might have done that: but now, today, she has done it; back then she might have been who she is: now she is. He knew she was coming years ago. He had been waiting.
The man who rents out one of his rooms to a family. The man who straightway sees the family take over the adjacent room too; then the whole floor of the house. The man who sees his wife leered at by some one of this family; she goes away and he cannot find her now. The man who sees many of his things sold or appropriated by the family. The man now confined in a single room while this family spreads itself about the halls and spaces that used to be his. At the end of it all, the man questioned by the family - When is he going to stop them; why doesn't he put his foot down on some boundary? The man replying - His role was to offer no resistance; back then, when it was 'before', the family might have done this, they might have done that: but now - when it is 'now' - they are who they are. He knew they were coming years ago. He had been waiting.
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