When my Uncle Axel was a child he was dropped on his head.
That was the story my family told to excuse the eccentric behaviour of Uncle Axel.
Axel loved to drontify.
He was one of the great drontifiers of all time. In many ways his behaviour was entertaining, as he never saw himself as much more than a man of opinion.
When I was a small boy my mother would take me to see Uncle Axel and my lovely Aunt Peg. In fact mum went to see her brother a lot over the years and by the time I could accompany her he was an old man who’d sit out in his sunroom with the radio blaring.
Every morning he listened to talk back radio.
For Axel talk back radio was his chance to drontify to his hearts content. You hear him voicing his opinion to whatever the topic, and he always had an opinion.
How Aunt Peg put up with him and how she had come to marry him in the first place always surprised me but Peg was devoted to Axel.
She’d go about her morning tasks I imagine off in her own little world while Axel gave voice to his own drontifying notions.
One-day mum bought them a TV, which opened a whole new world for Uncle Axel. Morning television.
Here was talk back radio with visuals and visuals gave Axel another way to drontify. Now he had a vision of the person with whom he was taking exception over something;
I heard him one day, his voice strident, his opinion forceful but always practical say: ‘I’ve been listening to you for years ya dopey #@%#@#* bastard now I can see why you are such a dopey #@%#@#* bastard having to carry a head like that around with you every day.’
Axel had opinions about everything and the most colourful language.
Boat people he argued should be sent back: ‘Just burn the boats, let ‘em swim back where they come from.’ he’d say. ‘If they drown too bad. I won’t miss ‘em.’
When he wasn’t railing at the world he was a great storyteller. He was the one who first introduced me to fairies at the bottom of the garden. Axel believed he had a family of gremlin fairies living behind the rockery at the bottom of his garden.
He’d take me down there holding my hand warning me not to speak too loudly, not to step on the rocks and NOT to say anything #@%#@#* bad about them.
We’d crouch down a few feet from the rockery and Axel would pull me close to him and whisper in my ear:
‘They hear you the little blighters’ll have your toes off in no time.’
What added to this was the fact that Axel had a toe missing from his right foot. ‘Came right out and nipped the bugger off without a moments warning.’ He said it with such conviction that as a child I believed every word he said and so clung to him in fear of my own toes.
Later I realised I had never seen any evidence of anything other than a few lizards and an ant’s nest down there. It was mum who told me on the way home one day that he’d lost his toe working on the railway.
I asked my mother a lot of questions about Uncle Axel.
She told me about Axel as a child and that he had been dropped on his head.
When I queried the circumstances of his fall I saw for the first time a tear on my mum’s face.
‘I dropped him,’ she said.
Drontify: the ability to hold and argue an opinion/view point/understanding no matter how ludicrous it might be.
Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/tale-weaver-7-making-sense-of-nonsense/
Morpethroad 
Ah, I like your definition of drontify and Uncle Axel. I wonder what he would be like if he hadn’t fallen on his head?
I do know some drontifiers, including relatives. I wonder if they go dropped on their heads? It would explain ALOT, lol 🙂
It seems a common thing in so many families doesn’t it. Thanks for the comment, lovely that you could relate.
Always a pleasure to read your definitions.
I picked up on the ‘drone’ aspect for my own piece. But I only used the word once.
Hope you like it. 🙂
Thanks Jules, yes I did like your take. Thanks also for participating in the Tale Weaver.
What a colorful character and a fabulous definition!
Thanks Yves, glad you enjoyed my definition.
LOL I have a relative who can drontify at the drop of a hat. I love him dearly, but the trouble is, he tends to join in conversations when he has no idea what it’s about, and puts his foot right in it. Worst of all, he doesn’t know where any fairies are in the garden 🙂
Ha, shame about the fairies, they are bound to be there somewhere, you just have to look the right way…..thanks Lyn for reading and your great comment.
Lovely story…Interestingly, much of genius were dropped on their heads…this is how one gets a creative mind?….Love the humor side of the stories…easy to visualise and play ….
Thank you humbird for your comment and for participating in this prompt.
I think most genius is the result of some strange genetic factor though being dropped on your head as a child could bring about some kind of genius quality.
I’ve never come across the word drontify before but it looks like a good one to remember. Uncle Axel sounds like a great character – whether due to having been dropped on his head or not! Lovely story, Michael, and told with your usual humour and style. 🙂
Thank you Millie, I’m glad you haven’t come across drontify before……everyone has their own take on the meaning……enjoy your Easter break….
You too. 🙂
I’ve known a few drontifiers myself, Michael! 😀 Patience required.
I bet you have Mandy……as have I…..
Awwww…Poor mom.
Glad that Uncle Axel had someone that loved him despite having been drooped on his head.
He sounds like he was a fun person to have in the family.
One of life’s characters RoSy.