I have two brothers and one sister, and I’m third in the lineup. The second one is very much the black sheep of the family. There’s nothing wrong with him mentally, but ever since we were kids, he’s had an “I’m older than you, I can do what I want” attitude, along with a “what’s yours is mine” mindset. Growing up, he’d take my things and give them to his friends, and he couldn’t care less if he ever got them back. Both my older brother and I have kicked his ass on several occasions, and he still hasn’t learned his lesson.
Growing up, my dad was an avid hunter, and over the years he built up a sizable rifle collection. In 2005, I gave him a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun for Christmas. Sadly, my dad passed away this past July. Afterward, my mom told us he wanted us to split the rifle collection between us and my brother-in-law. All I asked for was his Winchester 30-30, because that rifle reminds me most of my dad. I also wanted the shotgun I gave him, since it’s under my name.
When my older brother and I went into the gun safe to take everything out, we noticed a few rifles were missing, specifically the Mossberg shotgun. I asked my mom about it, and she had no idea it was gone. Then we asked the black sheep. He said he didn’t know, but you could tell by the smirk on his face that he did. After about ten minutes of pressing him, he finally admitted, while laughing, that he gave it to a friend and didn’t know what the friend did with it. He also said it wasn’t his problem.
That’s when things escalated to the point where my sister had to step in before my older brother and I beat his ass. For context, he had also taken a .22 rifle my dad bought for my niece and sold it for beer money.
He kept laughing and saying he didn’t care when we told him to get it back immediately. Again, he said it wasn’t his problem.
That’s when my mom stepped in, slapped him, and screamed at him like he was a kid. She told him he’d better get that gun back or he’d find himself living on the street. For reference, he was still living at my parents’ house at 44.
And yeah, within a day, he got that shotgun back after it had been gone for over two years. My mom might be in her late 60s, but when she drops the hammer, she doesn’t mess around.