4. MAD Child

Posted on 24th October 2019

At the age of six years-old, in 1981, I declared to my mother that I was a MAD child.

I’d been sitting on the sofa with my her, whilst my younger sister played with her favourite doll on the living-room floor.

“I just felt a kick.” my mother had said gazing down at her heavily pregnant body. “Can you feel it Mark?” she’d asked, taking my hand and gliding it over her stretched skin.

“Yes, I can feel it,” I’d replied as the baby kicked again.

“You’ll have a brother or sister very soon.”

“Will it be born like me?” I asked.

“What do mean?” She asked.

“Made of Mutual Assured Destruction” I replied.

My mother’s eyes met mine. “There’s no reason why the baby will be born with any difficulties.”

I remember, after she’d said this, looking at her in disbelief.

---

^{Image from paddle8.com}