I was talking below about car dramas. A similar situation to the shopping drama occurs if I drive in to my neighbours for a quick chat on the way home. The same attention-getting scenario has been played out there more than once, and the wife now sits in the car chatting with my mom to give me a few minutes peace to talk to her husband, my farming neighbour - a gesture I really appreciate.
One day I was in my driving seat talking to them as they stood by my side of the car. First of all, my mom announced she needed a drink of water, which the wife brought. This has become a ritual - and very often includes "cadging" a biscuit, much to my embarrassment - I frequently now say "no, we will get that at home," when she starts with the drink of water ploy.
Then she complained of a sore back and leg, and turned on a realhy huge hysteria over it, becoming incoherent and mentally and physically agitated to an extreme degree. So we hastily said our goodbyes and I drove down their short drive, opened our adjacent road gate, drove in, closed the gate, got back in the car and realised how quickly she had become quiet. I said to her, "How are you?" She looked at me quite sharply and said, "I'm Fine." (What's wrong with you? - She's good at that.)
I had to count to 10 VERY VERY slowly. Luckily, I had to get out and open my second gate, which gave me what the experts might euphemistically describe as "stress-relieving physical activity". More to the point, it took her out of my immediate range or I might have almost done something un-daughterly. (Heaven forbid - haha!) I have had similar occurrences when talking on the phone to others - the drama starts up and continues until I finish the conversation and turn my attention back to her. I had never before seen anyone "hysterical", but I think this behaviour of hers pretty much fits the description.
These performances surprise me, because by and large she used to be pretty stoical in her behaviour - although my guess is that underneath she also always expected to be the center of attention. And maybe now I am seeing something closer to what she was like as a small child (daddy's favourite I believe), before learning the "appropriate behavior patterns" we all absorb as we grow up.
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