A debt to the grandmother (part 2)

      It was one of the December's coldest nights, when the young Max decided to return to his home, after such a hard day at work, he had cut twice the trees he would cut other days since his fellow woodcutter was sick and he needed the money pretty bad. Max knew pretty well what luck of money could cause to a family and he hated the fact that missing one day's payment could make such a huge difference to a man's finances, specially when he had a family, big family.
    He took a shortcut in order to save some time and get back home as soon as he could, he was physically exhausted. He entered from the front door quitely, so that we wouldn't wake up his  beloved grandmother, the one he owed so much to. The light turned up suddenly and Max hopped and looked around startled. His grandmother stood by the lamp right side with everyday clothes, not nightgown.
"Why are you up so late gran? It way passed your bedtime" said quite annoyed by his grandmother's surprise.
"I wanted to talk to you Maxwell"
"What about?and what's up with this Maxwell thing?"
"Sit down, we have a lot to talk about!" said with a tone that showed no room for negotiation. Max sit in the armchair unease.
"So, what's all this about?"

" I received your report card today! No, don't try to explain yourself Maxwell, told him and prevented him from saying all kind of excuses. "Your father was a low-life man with no sense of responsibility and no knowledge of what was happening around him. Do you know why?

He shrugged "Genes?"

"No! He was exactly like you, working from a young age, rarely setting a foot on school. How did this turned out for him, Maxwell?"

"Becoming a bastard?"

" Maxwell-Richard Cubes, don't play the smartass to me! You know very well! Everybody used him in their own way and when he finally realised it, it was already too late"

"Like father like son, isn't that what they say?Is that what you are afraid of?"

"I don't want to see you wasting your life in the same way he did!"

"So, I have to study, become a doc and make my life?Is this my only solution?"

"No, it's not the only solution. But having knowledge of what is happening around you, so that they won't take advantage of you, is your only solution so that you won't be your father's son. You have to be better than that! Don't make the same mistakes he did, be more, do more!
And he did.