As a kid, I had a Cat in the Hat plush novelty. I never read the books but I somehow got the toy. It was a later stuffed animal, one of the last ones that I got. It was also kind of gross. It had long fur coming out of where the toes would be and I think fingers too. I have no idea why. I can't find any pictures of this thing online but the toys I do see online all have normal hands and feet.

Anyway, my sister was doing some school project. She had to make a model of a mouse. So she thought she'd be cute and make a budget stuffed animal using felt, markers, and my beloved toys.

"I need whiskers. Let me cut the whiskers from your Cat in the Hat".

I made my feelings on the issue plain. I was not allowing it. The very idea was insane to me. You need whiskers, go to the craft shop and buy something suitable. They must have something. And it's not going to be expensive.

But no. She wanted to cut the whiskers from my toy cat. Time to bring in the adjudicator.

So my psycho mother says, "She's just going to cut a little bit of the whiskers, not all of them."

It's just unbelievable. Of course, that's what ended up happening but not without me crying and pleading. This cat had long whiskers and after she was done with it, it had short whiskers.

And for what? Some stupid ass school project that got thrown away?

Why not go to the craft shop? We had one in town. My mother went there for her craft shit. They surely sold little semi-stiff sticks. And it probably cost PENNIES.

We also had a dog. The dog had whiskers. Maybe try the dog. That would pretty authentic. Real animal whiskers. And the dog's whiskers will grow back. That stuffed animal's whiskers are not growing back.

Looking back at this stuff now, it's just crazy to me. First of all, why would my sister think it's appropriate to destroy my stuff for some dumb school project? But most baffling of all, why would my mother think it's appropriate? She's a grown woman.

I can't imagine having children, the one child says that she wants to destroy the toy of the other child for their school project, and I say, "Sounds like a good idea. Give her the toy."

I would say, "Absolutely no way. You're not touching your brother's stuff. Find another way to do this project. I'll see what they have at the craft shop."

One has to reach the conclusion that this is a lunatic and just enjoyed inflicting pain on me. There was no love in her. No compassion. Just some sort of hate-filled monster with nothing but contempt for her children. Or one child, anyway.

I hear about this sort of stuff at work sometimes where a parent will clearly disfavour one child. Take everyone to McDonalds except the one kid, for example.

And I saw a documentary about some murderer who would do a similar thing because he thought that he wasn't that kid's father.

There was nothing like that but only because my mother never took any of us anywhere.