Like a Lady: Part of I Once Was

Like A Lady

“Stand Up!” he yelled.
With a look of familiar confusion, I stood.                                                      
“Now,” he said, annoyed, “Sit back down, on that couch, like a lady.”                      
I sat.  
“No! Now damn it, stand up!”  He yelled again.                                                    
I stood once again.  He sat in his chair, on the opposite side of the living room.          
“Quit flopping on that couch.” My grandfather was stern.                            
“Now, slowly, sit back down,” he said softly, almost a whisper.  He paused with each word.                                                      I lowered myself onto that couch, my eyes never leaving his.                          
He yelled to my grandmother. “Bunnie, would you look at this!”                
“What?” she asked, coming into the living room from the kitchen.  She stood beside him, hands placed on her hips.  A dishtowel rested over her shoulder.  
“Stand Up!” he said, motioning to me with his hands.                                      
Yet again, he asked me to sit back down ‘like a lady’.                                        
I lowered myself back onto that couch, just as he had asked.                        
“Okay, that’s enough!” my grandmother said, shaking her head at the sight.    
“I’m just tired of seeing her flop,” he said, leaning back in his chair.  “Besides, she’ll wear out my cushions.”