mayalaen

dad: two of the five guys i used to bowl with died of broken necks!

mom: really?! at the same time or like...

dad: a few months apart from each other

mom: how does that even happen?! that's a wild coincidence!

dad: *blathers on for a while talking about boring "good old times" shit*

dad (finishing up): and the one fell down a flight of stairs and had a bad head injury

mom *suspicious*: so... he died from the brain injury or the broken neck?

dad: well they didn't say anything about a broken neck so probably the head injury

mom *more suspicious*: so then the other guy, how did he die?

dad: he fell off a roof

mom: and broke his neck?

dad: well the family's post didn't say what exactly killed him

me: so your story, the way you told it, is that two guys from your old team died of broken necks but the truth is that no one from your old team died of broken necks. correct?

dad *the MNPD flaring because his precious ego has been wounded*: well should i just go back to my room then since you guys don't want to hear about what's going on in my life?

BTW the proper response to this (according to the books and psych docs) is to change the subject. The ego has already been wounded, which the MNDP then considered a "lost game" and moving on puts a stop to the direction the conversation was going and also shows how little everyone around them cares about said subject -- adding to the "lost game" feeling.

So we changed the subject while he sulked for a minute but then he joined in again later, moving on.