| It's a beautiful, summer's day. Sitting on the deck, Coors in hand, the sunshine warmed my bones, and the birds sang in the trees, keeping me from my nap. Best of all, my kid's out with a buddy. Yup, don't be surprised, he has a buddy, well, quite a few so I'm led to believe and they are currently out tearing around the malls and the parks of Colorado Springs. |
| Last night, I was informed that a hard ass, grey haired, Colonel who plays as much Play-station as his kid is not a cool kinda friend to have. |
| Who knew? |
| I was shattered of course, that was until I realized that it had been Danny's way of working up to tell me he wanted to go and stay the night with his friends. |
| I really tried not to look relieved that the kid had friends and also thrilled that he wanted to go stay with them, after all, I figured it was about time someone else got to Danny-sit. |
| I think most parents say such things as 'don't stay up late, don't annoy the other kid's parents', that kinda thing. I obviously threw in those pearls of wisdom and of course the, 'no cussing in foreign languages' just for my little linguist, 'cause Danny knows more cuss words than any man alive that I know and coming from a special ops background, that some record to beat! |
| I then dutifully thrust twenty dollars into his fist, told him to buy pizza for everyone. I'm not stupid, so I added, if I found out they'd spent it on anything else I'd serve him his head on a platter. |
| That got a heavy dose of eye rolling, but a rueful grin into the bargain; worth every cent I reckon and considering I haven't heard any reports from worried parents, or the local sheriff, I'm kinda hoping my boy stayed out of trouble and had a good time. I sure did! |
| A screeching of BMX bike brakes shook me from my musing and I realized that the sun was getting pretty low in the sky. I'd say that's Danny back from his sleep over and Mall explorations, so set about getting up and thinking about supper options. Saturday night, maybe I could just call out for Cantonese? Danny still loves that. I'd missed my kid and was looking forward to hearing how his night had gone. |
| Casually dropping the now empty beer bottle into the trash I turn to be greeted by a stampede of kids. My eyebrows disappear into my hairline, and my mouth droops like the village idiot. Crap! There must be a dozen of them. |
| A scruffy mop of 'oh too long' hair appears at my side, glasses sliding down the freckled nose, the bright blue eyes twinkling with anticipation, fingers twitching at his side. Oy. |
| "Jack, can my friends stay over?" |
| Stunned into silence, I do a quick head count, five that makes six teens under one roof, my roof. |
| "I'll take that as yes then," Danny rolls his eyes at my stunning imitation of marine life and starts to return to his whispering friend, that's just before my guiding, but firm hand, lands on his shoulder. |
| "Jaaaaaack, whaaaaat?" he knew that line we'd talked about was in grave danger of being trampled to death! |
| "Hang on, kiddo. Can we have a little talk here?" By this time I'm steering my archaeologist into the kitchen while the other kids suddenly fall silent, and watch with wide, interested eyes. |
| He turns and scowls at me, "Atch!" I hold up a silencing finger as Daniel try's to launch into his plea. |
| "They can stay, this time." |
| A grin breaks out, but he has the very good sense to look apologetic. He's a great kid really, and I'd never stop him having friends around, but a little notice would have been nice. Now is the time to reinforce my authority here. |
| Folding my arms, I read him the rules of engagement. "But, and this is a biggy, Daniel. I expect everyone to behave, okay? I also want parent's phone numbers just in case." |
| "Got it." He nods and sighs deeply; I can tell this is really sinking in. |
| Might as well zero in for the kill, so I lower my voice, "and you boys will go to sleep, when I say so, no arguments, okay?" My best Colonel glare has little effect and Daniel breaks into a beautiful grin and throws me a sloppy salute. "Sir, yes, sir" |
| The parental permission issue still has to be addressed, and so I ask casually as Daniel turns to leave, "I presume all their parents know where they are?" |
| Daniel smiles at me over his shoulder, "Don't be such a nag, dad," and wanders of to join his friends. Heavy footsteps pound up the stairs and the sounds of muffled giggles and shouts can be heard. |
| My kid sure has a way with words, he knew that little slip would throw me off balance and here I was thinking I had the upper hand…how many kinds of a fool can one man be in a day? |
