I can respect that.

[ her feelings, her take on it. maybe not howard, but her image of the man, her love for him. he's grown enough that he can appreciate some things about his father and resent the others. he's grown enough that he can shake his head and say, ]

so he saved your life and you didn't have the decency to get him to save his mustache? seriously, you let him walk around with that stupid thing on his face for years.

Don't you dare blame me for that atrocity. [ she raises a hand; she waggles a finger. ] What say did I have in how he wore his mustache? He was a civilian. It's not like I could bring him up on dress-code infractions like the other lads.

[ not to mention... ]

Having that conversation with him once was more than enough to put me off my appetite for a week.

[ because, oh, the innuendo that followed! ]

I'm just saying, I couldn't blame my mom, they say love is blind. I couldn't blame Jarvis, he was working for the man, you're the last one I could hope would stop that from happening. and yet. you know, he never shaved it, he wore it when his hair went grey.

[ but it does feel good to laugh about the subject, for once, to feel anything affectionate and not also dipped in resentment. ]