4

Kyle awoke on that Saturday morning at 10am.  He changed into some loungewear and sauntered toward the kitchen.  He found his parents sitting at the kitchen table.  Danielle was working on a mill levy proposal while Aaron was drinking coffee and helping her.  Kyle pulled a package of bagels and some milk from the fridge.  He sliced the bagel in half and put it in the toaster. As he waited for it to pop up, he poured a glass of milk and grabbed the raspberry jam from the pantry.  The bagel popped up and the youngster smeared much jam across it.  When he finished his breakfast preparation, he joined his parents at the table.

            His parents glanced at him and then continued their activities with much thought.  Kyle momentarily studied his parents and noticed how intently they were trying to avoid him.  Aaron Dawson was 5-foot-8 with lightly graying brown hair and light green eyes.  Danielle Dawson was 5-foot-5 with graying dark brown hair and dark green eyes.  Both of them seemed to have a knack for wanting to sidestep troubling issues.  Kyle tried to break the tension at the table.

            "We won last night over Clinton High last night 22-21," Kyle voiced.

            "That's nice, Kyle," Danielle remarked nonchalantly.

            "I got to play last night. Daniel O'Malley went out in last quarter with a leg injury. I was put in on the last two plays. I caught the last two passes of the game. I caught a touchdown and a two-point PAT," Kyle said mentally hoping for some sort of positive reinforcement.  The opposite seemed inexorably given.

            "Nice job, son," Aaron said in a smart-aleck way.

            "Come on, aren't you happy for me?" Kyle retorted.

            "Honey, we do care. We just don't like football," Danielle uttered.  Kyle internalized her words and his bilge detector went off.

            "Still, why didn't you come to the game at least?" Kyle responded angrily.  He hadn't smarted off so he could drag the conversation as long as he could.

            "Because we both had work to do!" Aaron stated crossly.  He wanted peace to return to the table in the form of Kyle leaving them.

            "Whatever! You were watching a stupid B-movie when I came in," Kyle countered tersely.

            "We were entertaining two members of the town council last night so we could get to help with this mill levy proposal," Danielle interceded to try to excuse her lousy supportive parenting skills.

            "Couldn't you have scheduled it for tonight instead of last night? I mean the political business in this town could have been pushed over an extra night.  It wouldn't have killed you to come to my game!" Kyle came back with.

            "Kyle, be nice to your mother!" Aaron yelled.  According to him, Kyle violated the first rule of lousy parenting.

            "Hey, Dad, if you are going to order me around, why not set an example and be nice to me?" Kyle snapped back.

            "Son, I provide you a roof and food. Why not be thankful for that?" Aaron hollered.  It meant 'back off before you get what's coming to you'.

            "I believe a vow a parent makes is to love their children. This is mandatory as well," Kyle answered.  It meant 'that's not likely to happen'.

            "We do love you!" Danielle yelled defensively.  According to her, Kyle violated the second rule of lousy parenting.

            "Mom, if you really loved me you would say it and mean it. I have heard you say that you two loved me before we moved to this smelly brown-eye burg. Since living here, I haven't found anybody to be my friend and all I get is crap from everybody around me, school and home. My schoolmates hate me for being me. Not once, not in three years has anyone been my defender. Nobody stood up for me until last night," Kyle lamented.

              Aaron and Danielle Dawson were deeply floored by Kyle's last statement.  The angst-ridden young man heaved a sigh and then he took a bite out of his raspberry jam-covered bagel.  Kyle finished chewing and he looked back at his still stunned parents.

            "What?" Kyle asked sharply.

            "What do you mean by '…until last night'?" Danielle inquired.

            "Oh, I kissed a girl for the first time ever last night," Kyle verbalized derisively.

            Aaron and Danielle shot their only child a double take, a chilly double take.  He smirked back at them knowing he hit a nerve.

            "I am not going to tell you anything about what happened," Kyle chirped proudly.  If they didn't care about him, why should he reveal anything?

            "You didn't have sex with her, did you?" Aaron came back with angrily.

            "Why the sudden interest? You two didn't seem to care about my performance in the game last night. It was the best moment of my young life and you didn't care to come out and cheer me on.  Why should I continue on?" Kyle said sardonically.

            "Cut the s**t, Kyle. Did you doink her?" Aaron asked frankly.

            "I am not going to divulge that information. If I did, I would compromise my privacy with her. It's sort of an attorney-client privilege thing, daddy dear.  I believe you instructed me on that," Kyle bounced back with.  The grin on his face was wider than an Indiana cornfield.

            "If you don't tell us now, you are grounded until the twelfth of never, mister," Danielle screeched in all her motherly sweetness.

            "Mom, if you really cared, your threats might have some weight with me.  Knowing your track record as an uncaring nurturer in recent memory, I doubt that you would try anything!" Kyle replied harshly.

            Danielle shut her mouth and Aaron kept quiet.  Both of them seemed to understand that fighting further with their only son wouldn't remove him from their sight any quicker.  Kyle returned brought back his cornfield grin and trudged back into the kitchen.  The young man finished eating his bagel and he drank down what milk was left in the glass.  After that, he dumped his dishes and walked to his bedroom.  Kyle knew his forecast would be correct considering his history of family arguments in the prior 2 1/2 years ended in the same way.  All bark, no bite and so on.  He almost always came away with being on the right side of the argument.  Its ironic his mother could never claim such a title since the older woman was an attorney.  The young man shook his head and proceeded to ready himself for his date with Mary.

Reviews

[joshua deathdealer]

Another great chapter. The beginning got me hungry and I like the realism in this book. I really like this stanza. " "I am not going to divulge that information. If I did, I would compromise my privacy with her. It's sort of an attorney-client privilege thing, daddy dear. I believe you instructed me on that," Kyle bounced back with. The grin on his face was wider than an Indiana cornfield." Excellent work..xx