We were young, she continued, while she had a bad heart. Did we not want to earn our tips, she asked us and, cowed, we refrained from introducing the subject again.Her bad heart, I noticed, did not force her to abstain from smoking, or from eating large portions of puddings. Every time I heard her opening how she could not carry anything heavy, I thought sourly "except yourself".
Toni Maguire, Don't Tell Mummy: A True Story of the Ultimate Betrayal
child, children, health, humour, hypocrisy, hypocrite, ironic, irony, smoking