The Correction

Interesting relationship indeed

The new son-in-law, Mario, was still trying to adjust to his new set of parents. Sure, they were in-laws, but they were all he had for parent figures in this State.

Mario’s father-in-law, James, was a large burly man, made few mistakes, and was right on just about everything. Just ask him, he’ll tell you. James had been the COO of a large and successful multinational electronics corporation. He was not accustomed to being contradicted or second-guessed.

James’ wife, Tanya, was the polar opposite. She was quiet, inward, and caring. Tanya did have opinions, but kept them to herself or let James voice them for her. She never countered his opinions, but it doesn’t mean she agreed with all of them, even if they were supposed to be hers.

Mario was quiet around the retired COO but not at all intimidated. He had grown up believing to speak his mind at the right time and let the chips fall where they may.

Prior to his foray into the business world, James was a police officer for three years. He hated every minute of it so he got out and started working his way up the corporate ladder.

With James, though, old habits died hard. By his own admission, as a police officer, he spent the bulk of his time passing out traffic tickets. Even though that was thirty years ago, he could spot an out-of-date license tag or inspection tag from 50 feet away. Everyone in the car would hear about it, despite Tanya telling him it had been a long time since he had to worry about that.

“You see that guy? He just cut me off,” James said, but he didn’t slow down.

Mario leaned forward and said, “Uh, James, I believe you were the one who cut him off. You’re lucky he didn’t slam into you. But it so happens you’re just in luck, James, because I was helping you brake back here.”

Tanya turned her head toward the backseat, shook her head, and laughed.

“Yeah, well, he drives like a complete idiot,” James said. “What a fool!”

It’s gonna be an interesting relationship, Mario thought. Very interesting indeed.