Mari & Ilna- you guys are the absolute best. Thanks for EVERYTHING! There are no two people I'd rather be on this ride with.
Sandy-what would I do without you?
REAL Worlders-I can never fully express what all your amazing support means to me. All I can say is that in our fourth calendar year your support and encouragement keeps me as enthusiastic as I was about this project day one
The Dog Ate My Homework (1/1)
Joseph pulled the Highlander into a parking spot alongside the large blue building on Waiola Street that housed the Boys & Girls Club Spalding Clubhouse Branch where the three youngest Allen children attended after school programs. He hopped out and headed for the main entrance located around the front of the building. As he entered he was greeted by a young receptionist he'd talked to several times on his previous trips to pick up Dylan, Kaitlyn, and Jacob on Wednesdays when Jenna worked late.
"How are you today, Captain Rollins?" she smiled brightly.
"I'm great, Danielle. How are you? Did you get moved into your new apartment ok?"
"We sure did. Now if the gremlins would just go over there and unpack all the boxes while I'm here at work everything would be perfect."
"We're about to be in the same boat," Joseph commiserated. "We're headed back to New York for a few days to say goodbye to friends and pack up the house. We'll sell most of the furniture and big items but that's still gonna leave a lot of things that need to be shipped to the condo. Luckily, we're old hats at moving after all those years in the navy."
Danielle chuckled. "Not me. I told my husband our next move has to be to the house we're gonna live in for the rest of our lives. I am only going through this process one more time tops."
Joseph nodded knowingly. "Moving is just one more example of why I can say the day my wife agreed to marry me was the luckiest day of my life. She has a flawless system for how to handle a move. I just try to stay out of her way."
"Maybe she could teach me how she does it," Danielle sighed. "We're still drinking coffee out of soup bowls because it's been a week and we still can't find the box with the mugs. Knowing how Craig and I pack it's probably in a box marked office supplies."
"You'll get there," Joseph smiled confidently. "One box at a time."
Just then the door to one of the inner rooms opened and Dylan Allen led his two younger siblings towards the lobby. Joseph had taken note in all the weeks he'd been picking the children up that Dylan always made sure to escort Kaitlyn and Jacob out at the end of the day.
As soon as Jacob spotted Joseph he ran across the lobby to the reception desk, "I got to play the drum today, Uncle Joseph!" The young boy immediately began to pound furiously on an imaginary set of drums. "It was awesome!"
"I'll bet it was." Joseph winked at Danielle. "And probably loud too."
"We're working on a song," the youngest Allen reported. "Maybe you can hear us play it someday." He slid his hand into Joseph's.
"I'd like that." Joseph turned to Dylan and Kaitlyn who had now joined them at the desk. "How was school?"
"Good," Kaitlyn replied while Dylan answered, "Okay."
"Well, I happen to have it on good authority we might have time to get in a swim before dinner," Joseph told them. "Then after we eat how about we get your homework done before your mom comes to pick you up so she has one less thing to worry about after you get home."
"I finished my homework at school but I have another project I'm working on." Kaitlyn bit her lip. "I might need a little help with it."
"We can work on whatever you want," Joseph promised. "But first … let's swim."
"I've been practicing holding my breath underwater," Jacob said as they headed for the car. "Uncle Steve has been helping me. Maybe I can show you … "
Danielle smiled as she watched them walk out the door and heard Jacob's happy chattering fade away.
"How was the swim?" Elizabeth asked as Joseph and the children entered the condo, towels slung around their necks, laughing about something funny they'd seen at the pool.
Smokey came to greet them, tail wagging happily. He had quickly become used to Jacob's enthusiastic hugs and Dylan's most excellent ear scratches. He had also learned to approach Kaitlyn calmly and quietly and was now rewarded on a regular basis with soft pats on the head from the young girl.
"It was wonderful." Joseph kissed his wife on the cheek.
"Uncle Joseph built a raft out of pool noodles," Dylan said excitedly. "It held all three of us. It was rad."
"Building is hard work." Joseph grinned as he snatched a raw sweet potato fry from the bowl in his wife's hands. "I have to warn you, we worked up quite an appetite."
"Good." Elizabeth swatted his hand away playfully as he reached for another. "How do veggie burgers, hot dogs, sweet potato fries and coleslaw sound?"
Jacob pumped his fist. "I love hotdogs!"
"I know you do." Elizabeth tousled his hair. "And if everyone eats their dinner there may be ice cream sundaes for dessert."
"Yay!" Kaitlyn clapped her hands happily.
"Grandma Ang and I want to hear all about your adventures at the pool over dinner," Elizabeth said. "Why don't you get out of those wet suits and join us on the patio. By the time you're all dressed we'll be ready to eat."
"Okay." Dylan started down the hall towards the guest room then turned around and came back. "Where should we put our wet towels?"
"Just toss them on the floor in the laundry room," Elizabeth told him.
As the middle Allen son made his way down the hall Joseph heard him remind his younger brother and sister not to put their wet towels on the carpet and smiled. He was growing into quite an impressive young man, much like his older brother.
"More," Grandma Ang said, her eyes twinkling, as Elizabeth topped the ice cream sundaes with whipped cream. "We like a lot of whipped cream, don't we?"
Kaitlyn giggled as she shook her head in agreement while Smokey sat at attention, eyes focused hopefully on the can of Reddi-Whip.
"No cherry though." Dylan shook his head adamantly, "I don't like those."
Elizabeth smiled. "No cherry for Dylan." She finished topping the sundaes before passing them down the table to their eager recipients. As they ate their dessert, Jacob related, in great detail, the story of a man at the pool who did a giant belly flop into the deep end. As he talked he waved his hands around resulting in the need to clean chocolate sauce out of both his hair and Kaitlyn's before they settled down in the living room to start on homework.
Joseph and Dylan sat down on the carpeted floor in front of the loveseat.
"My teacher said I can use the things I'm learning in my robotics program after school as part of my science project." Dylan unfolded the schematic of his after-school project emblazoned with the familiar clasped hands logo of the Boys and Girls Club. He and nine other members of his group had chosen to develop an idea for a program to help deal with efficient handling and disposal of industrial waste.
The ten members of the team were tasked to first choose an issue they'd like to explore, then develop a plan to deal with the problem, and then finally design, build, and program a working robot to aid in their mission.
"Over 700,000 tons of garbage goes to the H-Power plant every year to be converted into electricity. They make 10% of all the electric power used on the island," Dylan explained. "They handle about 90% of the garbage on the entire island."
"Sounds like a good way to do things," Joseph nodded.
"The problem is," Dylan grabbed his notebook from behind him on the couch, "it only works for the garbage that comes from people's houses. All the commercial and industrial garbage, along with everything from construction projects, goes straight to the Nanakuli landfill which is filling up fast. Our team is trying to come up with a way to process that garbage in a useful way too."
"I'm very impressed," Joseph said sincerely. "It sounds like an important issue that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. I'm proud of you guys for picking a topic like this."
Dylan beamed. "Thanks. We got this list from the Oahu Waste Management Department of the most common items of industrial waste that end up in the landfill. We plan to divide it into two categories, things that could be recycled in some way and things that can't. Once we get that done we're going to design an automated system to separate the garbage. We think we can come up with a way to send 40% of it the H-power plant and keep it out of the landfill."
"How can I help?" Joseph asked eagerly.
Dylan pointed to five items highlighted in yellow. "These are mine. I need to research them and figure out if there's any way they can be recycled."
"Well then," Joseph grabbed his tablet off the end table, "let's get to work."
Across the room Kaitlyn and Grandma Ang sat side by side on the couch studying papers spread out on the coffee table in front of them.
Kaitlyn's hands twisted nervously in her lap, "I really want to get a pet so I'm working on something to help convince my mom to let me get one."
"I see," Grandma Ang nodded, keeping her face as neutral as possible. She wanted to smile at the young girl's earnestness but knew she didn't dare. Kaitlyn was clearly very serious about her endeavor.
"I thought about all the possibilities and I think I'd like to get a cat. They're cute and cuddly and it would be okay for the long hours we're at school and Mom's at work. What do you think?"
"I think cats make excellent pets," Ang agreed.
"Every Wednesday the Humane Society has special half-price adoptions. That makes the cost $42.50. I have enough money in my bank to cover that plus a food bowl and food and some toys and a litter box." Kaitlyn's eyes sparkled at the thought. "I know Mom works late on Wednesdays but I was thinking maybe if she agrees to let me get one and if Uncle Joseph doesn't mind we could stop there on the way home from Boys and Girls Club some week and meet Mom on her dinner break to pick one out."
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind at all," Ang said confidently.
"I made a list of all the things I would need to do. Feed him or her every day, make sure they always have fresh water, scoop the litter box, play with them and give them attention."
Grandma Ang wrapped her in a one-armed hug. "I think you would make an amazing pet parent," she smiled. "You have the perfect heart for it."
"Will you help me try to convince my mom?" Kaitlyn asked hopefully.
Grandma Ang beamed. "I'll be happy to."
"We're working on fractions." Jacob sighed dramatically. "They're pretty hard."
Elizabeth sat beside him at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen and living room and smiled. "I think I should be able to help you with that."
"The only reason we're doing them is because my whole class got an A on the last test about adding big numbers and my teacher said we needed something more channeling."
"Challenging?" Elizabeth grinned.
"That's it," Jacob nodded before returning his forlorn gaze to his homework packet. "I thought maybe we'd get a reward for all of us getting an A. This doesn't seem like much of a reward," he sighed.
"Fractions are fun." Elizabeth looked around for a minute then reached for the container of Smokey's treats which immediately brought the curious dog to their feet. "Here is one of Smokey's treats. This represents one whole unit. If I break it in half," she snapped it down the middle, "what do we have?"
"Two pieces," Jacob replied.
"Right. And if the whole treat was one unit and now there are two pieces … "
"One half!" Jacob cut her off excitedly. "Because one half and one half make one whole."
"Very good." Elizabeth signaled to Smokey to give her just a few more seconds. "Now if I break each of the halves in half again what happens?"
Jacob's face was a mask of concentration. He began to work the problem on the paper in front of him. After a minute, he looked at Elizabeth uncertainly. "One fourth?"
"Yes," she said and gave him a congratulatory high five.
"Can I give Smokey the pieces?" Jacob pleaded.
Elizabeth handed them over. "Of course you can."
"I think Smokey's reward is better than fractions," Jacob said as he handed the happy dog the treat pieces one by one.
"Okay now, let's work on the next problem. Thirds." Elizabeth reached for another dog treat.
"Okay," Jacob laughed. "I guess this is Smokey's lucky night."
Elizabeth opened the door of the condo to Jenna at just before 8:30. As Jenna stepped in she immediately heard the sound of footsteps thundering down the hall. In a flash, all three of her children shot past her and took refuge with Grandma Ang in the living room.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jenna cringed. "They know better than to run in the house."
"It's not their fault." Joseph skidded to a stop in front of her wearing a bedsheet as a cape and a hat made of newspaper. "I was chasing them."
"He's just one big kid himself," Elizabeth grinned. "He's having as much fun as they are. Maybe more. Luckily we live on the ground floor so there are no downstairs neighbors to disturb."
"I really appreciate you guys doing this every week." Jenna smiled sincerely. "Are you sure it's not too much?"
"Not at all," Elizabeth waved her off. "We love it."
"Hey, Mom, guess what?" Jacob popped his head out from behind Grandma Ang. "The dog ate my homework."
THE END
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