You Have to Help Me: A Story About Elder Abuse


I’m almost out of money and my blackjack chips are disappearing fast. I will have to find my father to get some more money so I can keep the game going. I know he is somewhere in the slot machine area.

The way things are going, there’s a good chance I’ll also have to ask him to pay my rent and buy me two weeks worth of groceries. Then there’s the gas money. He’ll give that to me if I tell him that I’ll lose my job if I can’t drive to work. And if I lose my job, he knows I won’t be able to pay my rent. He doesn’t want my son and I to be evicted from the apartment and living on the street.

Sometimes, he refuses to help me, but I just get more persistent. One time, I had to shake him by the shoulders to get the money. I know I shouldn’t have done that, considering his heart condition, but I needed some cash to pay my overdue electricity bill. Besides, I help him with the yard work for nothing, so he owes me.

I feel I’m pretty good at my game, so if I just keep at it, I will win big and pay him back, or even stop for awhile – I’ll pay off my bills, drop off my kid at Dad’s place and have a good time.

This man is financially, physically and emotionally abusing his father, as well as having a problem with gambling. He is unable to pay his bills, has difficulty providing care for his child and mistakenly believes that gambling will solve his financial problems. He expects his father to bail him out, and because his father gambles too, he feels that gambling is okay despite the negative consequences. One of the difficulties in problem gambling situations is that people often don’t recognize or work on the underlining “real” problems until much damage has been done in their lives.

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