Dear Abby: My sister's fiancé “Logan” was always picking on me. I told my sister that she needed to control her future husband. After they got married, the same gestures and insinuations continued, so I told my sister about it. Logan would do and say inappropriate things in front of my sister. My sister even said once, “Oh my, you married the wrong sister!”
The night of my father's funeral dinner, everyone was drunk (I don't drink). Logan grabbed me tightly around the waist twice in front of my wife and sister-in-law. I told him to stop. He said, “Fine, you've caused enough trouble.”
Later, while I was in the kitchen in front of my uncle and brother, Logan pulled me to his chest. When I moved away, Logan chased after me. I told him to stay away. Tension was already building between my sister and I. After dinner, as we were all leaving, Logan came over and tapped on the windshield of my car, pointed at me and said, “You, you, you.”
That night I texted him “Maybe you picked the wrong sister.” Of course he showed it to my sister. Now there's a huge rift in the family and I'm the “bad guy.” And the game was played in front of everyone, but no one saw anything during the meal at my father's funeral because everyone was drunk. One day the truth will come out. For now I have to live with the shame. Abby, any advice? — Penalized in Pennsylvania
To the punished: Your mistake was not yelling “NO!” the first time Logan attacked you. Avoid family gatherings that include alcohol. Avoid seeing Logan and your sister as much as possible. Take self-defense classes so you will be able to protect yourself if someone lays a hand on you. And finally, tell Logan that if he ever catches you alone or it happens again, you will call the police on him for assault, because that's what he has done to you.
Dear Abby: My husband of 42 years passed away a year and a half ago. He was a talented singer. Five months before he died, while he was still well enough to sing, two young women came to our home with a keyboard and a microphone and recorded him singing hymns so that our grandchildren, who were young when he passed away, would someday be able to hear him sing. These young women had been close friends of our family for many years.
They have cut me off and will not respond to any recording requests. We love them like family and it hurts beyond words. One of them just released an album of hymns that she has been trying to get her husband to work on for years. What should I do? — Sing a sad song
Dear Singing Voice: What you should do now is talk to a lawyer and tell them what happened, at the very least get a recording and if they have any financial gain, get a share of that money.
Dear Abby was written by Abigail Van Buren (aka Jean Phillips) and launched by her mother, Pauline Phillips. To contact Dear Abby, please contact us at http://www.DearAbby.com or write to PO Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
