Gemotions

“Well,” Robert drawled, surveying the living room with a slow, deliberate sweep of his gaze. "It’s certainly... a space." His parents, bewildered, had offered him their spare room. His career had stalled but he was back in the familial fold.

He’d immediately started making suggestions. The curtains? Ghastly. The rug? Positively tragic. The books? Massively outdated. He began to organize the kitchen and the living room, as if trying to reorder the world.

He spent the next few days in a whirlwind of cleaning and decluttering. "You really need to get rid of this," he declared, holding up a chipped ceramic figurine. "It's not doing anyone any favors." He was, after all, the expert.

One evening, he presented his parents with a meticulously crafted budget for their household expenses. He was now, in effect, managing their lives.