ETA: Okay, I just phoned him. He was at the grocery store (the regular one, not Whole Foods) buying stuff for his mom. I said, "Okay, I've figured this out." He said, "What?" I said, "I want you to come out and bring me turkey and stuffing, but I don't expect you to, because I know you have a lot to do right now." There was a pause. He said, "Okay?" with a puzzled tone in his voice. I didn't say anything. Finally, he said, "I'm working on getting out there tomorrow." Then I asked him to buy me four cans of Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger soup. He looked for it, but there was only one can. It's very tasty-- the best of the Campbell's Chunky group.
I a normal relationship, my calling to "patch" things up and offer the olive branch would build good will. It would be like the silt that accumulates on the earth and the reason that the present city of Rome is 50 feet higher than the floor of the Roman Forum.
With him, good will does not seem to build up. It's sort of a zero-balance financing system. You continually start at zero and don't seem to accumulate any credit, good feelings, good will, benefit of the doubt, etc.
