Surprise
One day before Christmas Eve, my drug-addicted brother showed up after two years of no contact. I wasn’t thrilled, but my parents were. He swore he was clean, had dinner, and we all went to bed. The next day, he was gone—taking our wallets and all the Christmas presents. He even emptied the fridge!
Family Matters
My cousins, Maja and Bea, are identical twins. For two years, Maja dated Peti and Bea dated Zoli—then they swapped, and for the past year, Maja has been with Zoli and Bea with Peti.
Stepmom
My dad’s new wife is younger than me. Dad is 48, I’m 25, and his new bride is just 23.
Swap Meet
I was dating a girl, and we introduced our parents. My mom and her dad got caught having an affair. Everyone divorced, and then my mom married the girl’s dad. The girl and I broke up just before their wedding, but now we’re one big family.
The Crew
I have three siblings and four cousins. I’m the only one who’s never been arrested. My sister fought her best friend, my brother embezzled, one cousin worked as a professional escort, another sold drugs, and my favorite cousin got caught stealing every garden gnome in the village.
Bad Plans
My sister’s boyfriend was a shady guy—they broke up and got back together repeatedly. At 18, she got pregnant on purpose (she stopped taking birth control without telling anyone) and was shocked when he refused to marry her and pushed for an abortion. She then went to Italy for a month to clear her head and met a 40-year-old widower with three kids. Two months later, they married and have been living there with the four children ever since. It’s been three years, and they seem to be doing okay.
A Cautionary Tale
My uncle got two girls pregnant while still in high school and another in college. By age 20, he already had three kids with three different women.
Misunderstanding
Since I didn’t have a girlfriend until I was 20—because I was an anxious, skinny kid—my parents told everyone in the family I was gay. I moved to the capital for university, have had a girlfriend for two years, but I purposely haven’t introduced her to them.
Fight
My sister asked my dad for the hundredth time to fix her car. Dad got fed up and told her he wouldn’t give free parts and she had to pay. They argued and then fought. The fight was even because my sister is tall and strong, and dad isn’t young anymore. In the end, the police took my sister in because dad had more injuries (including bite marks).
The House
My little brother has always been a hopeless slacker. I helped him with his homework in elementary school and kept him out of trouble in high school. I got him all his jobs, but he never held a position well, often embarrassed me, and was never grateful. When I told him not to come to me for help anymore, my parents sided with him and said they wouldn’t talk to me either.
Four years passed without any communication. In the meantime, I bought a house, got married, and had everything I wanted. Then one day, my dad called to make peace. I was glad they softened and went to visit with my wife, who they were meeting for the first time. We sat down, and they got straight to the point: I learned my brother had borrowed huge sums from acquaintances and lost it all on a "sure thing" bet. It turned out they contacted me because relatives heard I was doing well and had a house, thinking if I sold it, my brother could pay back his debts. My wife was speechless, I just laughed, told them to get lost, and we headed to the car. Meanwhile, my parents called me the worst sibling who doesn’t care about family.
