i cringe

when somebody cracks their fingers or toes.

I fly into a rage if I see an adult do it to a child (even while clowning around).

When I was a kid my Papa Brennan would hold us down and bite us and pinch us and crack our fingers and toes (not to mention doing a few other unmentionable things). He would be laughing crazily (he was an alcoholic) while he held us down and tortured us. I can't count the times we would leave the house in tears because he wouldn't stop. He was not playing either. He was just deliberately inflicting pain.

I can remember him holding me down and covering my nose and mouth with his mouth and breathing his foul smelling beer breath down my throat until I passed out. He was an awful man. That is until I got older.

When I was 19 I got into trouble with the law. He was the only member of the family that was civil to me at the time. (he and my Aunt Mary) Everybody else was too upset about me spoiling the family reputation. When I thought my world would end, he assurred me that everything was going to be OK. He told me that I was a good kid that just messed up(that was true) and he would give me a few bucks when he saw me and take me to dinner and just generally act like a papa should.

See there is a happy ending.