Bad Blood Fears

Nothing enflamed me more with fear and loathing, nothing fueled my phobia of the elderly, than having to spend time in the same room with Aunty Rosalie. One look at her wrinkled skin send shivers of disgust through me, from head to to toe.  I had seen Shar Pei's that looked smooth next to her.

Her lips were thin and taut, a bloodless color and in a permanent scowl.  Her eyelids drooped so that only a narrow edge of a black iris peered out.  Her nose was flattened and you could see mucus dribbling down her philtrum, a yellow green almost reaching her pale lips.

Her thinning hair was gray, her skull dotted with balding patches.  Sometimes she wore a wig, but apparently that vanity escaped her today.

"Well, Marcus," she began, in a creepy croak that made my ears shrivel,  "So you've got another girl, do you?"

So that's what this was about?  Another Aunty grilling about his girlfriend of the week?  Except...this one was more serious.  How could she know that?

"Her name is what?  Katty something?" she sneered, mucus bubbling into her mouth, her long ear hairs twitching.

"Katra, Aunty Rosalie.  Katra Harma."

She almost started to rise, her inexplicably black eyebrows arching skyward.  "Ah hah!" she shouted.  "So what I have been told is true!  And it is also true that she is...." and here her voice dropped into an ominous whisper....."ESTONIAN!!!"

"What?  Uh...yeah.  So what?" Aunty Rosalie was a bigoted old fart, but why would an Estonian throw her close to collapse?

"You cannot marry this woman!"

"Aunty, she's just somebody I'm dating.  We're a long ways from anything...."

She interrupted with a shout, "You cannot be making babies with this woman!"

"Huh?  Who said anything about making babies?" I wanted to drop it but my curiosity was piqued.  "Regardless, what's wrong with Katra and babies?  I don't get that!"

She rose out of her chair to her full height of 4 foot 9.  "Because," pausing for dramatic effect, "she has BAD BLOOD!"

"Bad blood/"

Aunty Rosalie collapsed back into her chair.  "Yes.  Bad blood.  Lots of negatives.  Especially B negative.  They're very bad personalities, and it's harder to find blood donors if they're hurt.  You think I want a grandchild with an ugly personality, and then for the unwanted thing to die when they're beat up because there's not enough of their blood type?"

"That's ridiculous!  You don't even know Katra's blood type."

"It's in her genes.  Even if she doesn't have it, she could pass it on.  No more of this woman!  you leave her now or...".  She scrunched her face, turning it inot layers of wrinkles upon wrinkles with only a small tip of her nose sticking out.  "...or I will cut you off!  No inheritance from Aunty Rosalie!"

And there it was.  Why I put up with her despite my intense phobia of her.  She had me by the money balls.

So what do I choose?  My lovely Katra, or Aunty's millions?  Beautiful, sexy bad blood, or swallow my phobia and keep in Aunty's good graces?

Oh, well.

Estonia is too cold, anyways.


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This story is the result of  the writing topics at our last Writer's Guild meeting.  The two choices were Bad Blood or Phobias.  So i figured, what the heck?  Let's see if I can't combine the two.