I may as well begin with the latest bit of drama. Cousin Bedford tried to kill himself today.

It’s no surprise really. That he tried it, or that no one in the family took notice. Because that’s the thing about Cousin Bedford. No one really cares.

It’s his fault. He’s been stoned for eighteen years and doesn’t open his eyes when he talks. The family have a habit of forgetting about him until his mother, my father’s sister, points out that she does, in fact, still have a son. That he’s a bit of a loser but that he wont be any more because she had a prayer session at church and “God’s gonna deliver him from his idleness”.

There are worse things to be than idle and I’ve got other cousins who prove it, but Bedford does it in such a way that makes everyone around him think there isn’t. Anything worse.