Something to Say for Yourself
A Mr. Peabody and Sherman Oneshot
Mr. Peabody had never expected this to happen, or at least to happen again.
Which was ironic since he was really good at anticipating events and predicting outcomes. Some might say that he was as good as Sherlock Holmes himself but the dog knew that it was untrue. He might remember the dates of all important and unimportant events in history, but tended to forget where he put his glasses and keys. He might know a lot about anatomy but he couldn't explain why it felt really good to be scratched behind the ears.
He might know all ins and outs about Sherman, but sometimes he just couldn't understand him.
All he did today was doing his taxes–which seemed would take forever knowing that he owned a lot of properties, but the dog preferred to do that all by himself–when suddenly the phone rang. He didn't expect a call that day so it made him wonder. He checked the Caller's ID and it said that it was from school. At first he answered it without hesitation but soon regretted his choice.
He was called to come to the principal's office.
The dog father's heart merely stopped when he heard the information. No more details were given except that he was told to come to school as soon as possible. Mr. Peabody concluded that Sherman was in yet another trouble because it was never a good news when both of you and your parent were sent to the principal's office. He just knew that; the father learned it the hard way.
In a split second he dashed from his study to the elevators, not bothering to fix his messed up hair. He quickly pulled out his scooter from the basement and floored the vehicle as fast as the speed limit would let him. His head was filled with possibilities of what might happened to his only son at school, but soon snapped out of his thought since he was about to hit a stop sign.
"Sherman... What did you do?"
Sherman was certain that this thing would never happen, again.
The redhead was ashamed of himself, he could control himself better than this. How could he give in to the most basic yet the most gruesome of all human emotion; anger. The boy was taught of finding inner peace by Gandhi himself, and he also meditated from time to time. It seemed that he could use more tutoring knowing how easy he was to yell at a person.
Or to punch him.
The boy was sitting in the room he was most scared of for a full ten minutes, which seemed to be a long time because everyone was silent except for the sound of the grandfather clock in the far side of the room. The principal was behind his desk and watching him with his eyes that seemed to radiate intimidation. Sitting on the chair next to him was Bruce, a husky but tall fifth grader which was better known as the guy who was punched by Sherman.
The principal finally stood up and spoke to the boys with his calm but alarming voice. "Just wait until both of your parents come, then you both would feel bad for what you have done."
Sherman gulped, he had no idea that Mr. Peabody would be called. But he should though, and the last time his dad was called, it was not good for both of them.
And by that the door opened. Revealing an assistant that let two people in. One was a middle-aged aged skinny woman that wore stripped shirt and long trousers, and for the other one, was Mr. Peabody, with his usual black glasses and red bow tie.
There was absolutely no smile in both of them. The principal let them sit wherever they felt comfortable, and naturally, the woman took the seat next to Bruce and Mr. Peabody took the one next to Sherman. They did that all without even making eye contact with their sons. The young boy looked up to his adoptive father, which currently staring at the principal, and then glanced back down again.
"Ahem," the principal cleared his throat as he started. "As you can see that both of your boys are in trouble, they were involved in a fistfight to be exact."
The dog father flinched as he heard the word fistfight, trying to be sure that he hadn't misheard what the man said. He glanced at his adoptive son, which was now looking away from the father. You could notice that there were in fact some bruises that was already properly cleaned and taken care of.
"Sherman, is it true?" the father inquired, just trying to make sure.
Sherman mumbled an incomprehensible 'yes' while still staring away from his father.
"We found both of them fighting in the school corridor, while their schoolmates watched. We didn't fully know the story of fight; that was all for your boys to tell you."
"Of course sir," the only woman in the room finally piped in. "We will have a long talk after this and he will tell me all about it, I would not let something like this goes unpunished." Peabody looked at the boy in the next chair which obviously looked terrified of his mother. Peabody deduced that the woman seemed to apply a hefty amount of discipline inside their household. Should Peabody do that too? Probably not, he would raise Sherman with his own ways.
"I respected that decision Mrs. Lauds," the principal stood up from his chair with lesser intimidation on his eyes. "After all, he was just transferred in and it would be shameful if we have to expell him just because of this." He suddenly darted his eyes to Bruce, "But do not think that I was going easy on you, Bruce. It's still going to your records, and if I ever catched you in this same situation, believe me that you will be far from welcomed in this school. Do I make myself clear?"
Bruce just nodded quietly and threw his gaze to the windows next to him.
"As for you Sherman," the man reverted his eyes to a certain red-haired boy. "This is the second time your father was called to my office, do you have something to say for yourself?"
Sherman didn't answer, he just continue to stare at the wallpaper.
"I surely didn't expect this Mr. Peabody," the man in charge turned his eyes to the only dog in the room. "He was becoming a really good student after his last year incident. I wonder what might have possessed him to do such kind of behavior."
"I'm pretty sure that it was one of his unconventional outbursts sir," Peabody answered calmly. "Of course I also think that fighting is not justifiable whatever the reason is, and I can guarantee that he'll learn his lesson after we talk about it." Peabody seemed to be calm answering to the questions but deep down he was terrified.
He feared that he might even never had a chance to teach Sherman his lessons.
"Allright, because we're all in the same boat, I think that there will be no reason for us to keep you all in here," the principal stated. "The boys are both excused for the rest of the day, to think about what have they done. Thank you for all of your cooperation."
With that, everyone stood up and started to shake hands with the principal and went out. But Peabody knew that it wasn't over yet, well at least for him. So he stayed there until everyone was out.
"Sherman, why don't you wait for your dad outside," the principal stated to the boy which seemed to be waiting for his dad by the door. The boy nodded and closed the door in front of him.
As soon as the door closed, the principal wasted no time to talk to the father. "Mr. Peabody, I do believe that you already know the procedure, that the school must report all of the incident that happened to Sherman to Child Support. "
"As matter in fact, I do." the dog father seemed to be really calm in handling this situation, but they both know that the dog's heart was crumbling with the possibilities of losing his son.
"Well as much as I like to see you two together, I really couldn't help it, the school needed to file this incident to the agency otherwise we would be in deep, deep trouble." The principal turned his gaze from Peabody to the trees outside the window. "We already called the agency and at some point in this week the agency will call you and you will be asked a ton of questions about Sherman and Sherman's fight. So it is best for you to ask Sherman what happened right after you both went home."
"I am sure that we will have a long talk after this."
"But of course, we also need to anticipate the worst possible scenario." the man kept talking, but now facing Peabody. "If you failed at the interview, you and Sherman will be dragged to the court. Of course I'll be more than happy to testify and help you, but there were still people like Grunion that was really against your adoption, and believe they will use whatever they got to destroy you."
The dog felt that the principal already given enough perception of the situation, so he stood up and offered a handshake."I'll do my best," the father stated that despite the fact that he didn't quite sure about it.
"You are Mr. Peabody, you'll figure something out." the principal accepted the handshake and escorted Peabody out of the room."
Sherman knew that his dad was beyond mad at him. They didn't talk at all on their scooter ride back home, which was supposed to be a fun father and son bonding activity with lots of joke and unimportant trivia of life. The elevator ride up was also awkwardly silent with Mr. Peabody frowned all the way up. When they reached the top, they both immediately went to the living room, it seemed to be the perfect place for the family to talk and confess about everything. Mr. Peabody slouched at one of the sofa, squinted his eyes in the most stressful of looks as if he was hit by an extreme migraine. The eight-year-old sat down in a chair opposite of him. But his small mind was wandering elsewhere with him thinking about the possibilities of what punishments his dad would give to him.
Ten, fifteen, thirty minutes had passed and at that time Sherman was just fiddling with his fingers and shoelaces and Peabody was just groaning silently.
"Mr. Peabody... "
"Not now Sherman," Mr. Peabody murmured. Dissatisfied with the answer, Sherman finally collected enough guts to stand up and walk to Peabody, which was now looking at him with red eyes.
"I don't–"
"Sherman! Did I specifically stated that I don't want to talk right now?" Peabody stood up and yelled, which made his son cowered a bit.
"But... but... you said... that you will let me tell you the story..." Sherman seemed to be holding his tears. Mr. Peabody rarely yelled at him before, and last time he did, it made Sherman joined an army. But he was a big boy now, so he had to be strong.
"Sherman, go to your room."
"No I won't dad, not until you hear my story!" Sherman just didn't think that sentence trough. It obviously had some problems. First he called Mr. Peabody 'dad', that sentence was technically answering to your parent's command, and he didn't notice that he raised his voice louder than Peabody's. And of course the dog father was clearly upset with that, the adoptive son could notice that the adoptive father started to growl obnoxiously, his eyes were now angrier than ever, and his fists were curled into a ball as if he would punch something. But Sherman decided to go against this odds and answer him one last time.
"Do you have something to say for yourself Sherman?" Mr. Peabody finally lost it, and Sherman had never seen him as angry as this. "You should know better than to hit other people Sherman. You should know that all of what you did have consequences to you, or other people! But no, you just had to hit that person in the face–"
"Dad, if you just listen–"
"I. Am. Not. Your. Dad. Anymore. Go to your room Sherman or so help me because I am this close to hitting you!"
The boy noticed the ball of fist in his father's arm, seemed like that it could move just about in any second. That last argument pretty much had broken the boy to pieces. He soon regretted the choice he took by answering Peabody's command. He did exactly what he was told , running into his room, trying to hold back his tears. But he couldn't. As soon as he entered his bedroom and slammed the door hard, he immediately cried into his pillow.
Could it be true? Mr. Peabody didn't love him anymore. Well it should be right since he clearly stated that he was not Sherman's father, he also yelled to him, and also threatened to punch him. All of the news he heard about abusive parents that tended to beat their kids was right, and Peabody's image of being a parent different from them finally vanished.
I am not your dad anymore.
Those words stabbed him like a knife, secretly tearing him up into tiny cuts. Why he couldn't just hold back all of urges to punch back then. Why couldn't he just go away back then so none of this would ever happen. Because of his own short temper, now he lost the love of the only family he ever had, the one that gave him hope while no one else in the world would. The one that actually proud to call him his son now seemed to be a stranger him. A stranger that already yelled at him.
He didn't know which one he hated more, his act at school an hour ago, or Mr. Peabody's act on the living room a minute ago, so he decided to hate both of them.
With that thought in mind, Sherman cried himself to sleep, drifting into a sleepless slumber.
"He was no different from any other abusive parent," Sherman stated confidently. "He yelled at me and already threatened to hit me, he was an unfit parent from the start and I don't think that he will ever be fit to raise a kid." Despite looking at Peabody's pleading eye, Sherman decided to continue. "He also sent me to my room without either lunch or dinner."
Peabody found himself in the middle of the courtroom, much to his darkest fear, and his only son Sherman was already testified, for an argument that really against him. He could look at Sherman's eyes that the kid was beyond mad...
... and disappointed.
He could just retreat back to his own room and think about his problems alone but no, he just have to yell, and threaten his son. Thanks to that, he lost the love of the only family he ever had, and now the boy who he fought so hard to get now ended up fighting against him in the court.
"Are all of this true Mr. Peabody?" the judge spoke to him.
"Yes your honor," the dog father didn't even think of rebutting, because he knew that no one, not even the world's best lawyer could win this case for him. Even if he ended up winning the case, there was no way for Sherman to ever, willingly return to him.
"Do you have something to say for yourself, Mr. Peabody?" the judge added. "You should know better than to hurt your adopted son. You should know better that all of what you did have consequences to other people, and you!"
Peabody words finally returned to attack him, and he was ashamed of himself. All he could do now was to sit still, lower his head, and try to hold back his tears that was leaking from his head.
"I guess not, so here I deemed that Mr. Peabody is unfit as an adoptive parent and shall be stripped from his custody of Sherman Peabody."
"Not Sherman Peabody. Just Sherman." Sherman stated as he walked away from the courtroom.
Peabody blew it big time. All he ever done for Sherman in the past eight years were blown away by a mere anger issue. All the fears of Sherman being taken away by some heartless monster seemed to be ridiculous.
Because he himself was the heartless monster.
"Mr. Peabody!" a familiar voice snapped the father back into reality as he was also shaken by a small pair of hand. "Wake up!"
The father opened his eyes, regained his perception of reality and looked at his son, whose eyes were really puffy, signaling that he might cried all this time. He glanced at the window, the sun was setting, which meant that he already slept for at least six hours.
Sherman also noticed that his father eyes were red, deducting that the dog also cried himself to sleep. He also noticed his father bone-shaped chew toy in his mouth, the chew toy that usually only came out when the dog was in deep agony, he hated to surrender to his basic, unintelligent, dog instinct.
With that father removed the toy from his mouth and fixed his glasses. There was an awful minute of two of silence before the father blurted something.
"Sherman, what are you doing here?" the dog didn't even look at his son, intimidated by Sherman's weary eyes.
"It was late and I got hungry," Sherman stated, also didn't bother to look at his father. "I helped myself for a bowl of cereal, but I heard your whimpers and groans so I decided to wake you up." Sherman then walked away from the living room, "I'm sorry... for... for bothering you. I guess I'll be in my room."
No, the boy shouldn't be sorry, the beagle was actually glad to be waken up from his nightmare.
"Sherman, we... we need to talk." The dog stammered as he signaled Sherman to sit next to him.
As much as Sherman hated his father, he really wanted to resolve their conflicts. So he hesitantly walked back to the sofa and sat down, without peering at his father in the process.
The dog father finally collected enough guts to look at his son, which was looking at the wall opposite to them. "Let's... let's cut to the chase, I'm... I am really sorry for hurting you."
Sherman knew that the beagle already spoke clearly but he took the time to answer it, and by the time he did, Peabody was sure that his son wouldn't want to talk to him. So the dog stood up and walked away.
"You better be sorry, why not hitting me in the face while you're at it?" the boy answered coldly and the harsh answer sent flinches to the dog's heart. But Peabody managed to turn back and answer.
"I know what I did, Sherman and believe me, I clearly regretted everything I say to you," the beagle felt his eyes dampened but decided to continue. "I don't... I don't... I don't think before I speak. I'm just really tensed up... and... and I really feared that someone might use this opportunity to separate us. The beagle took his glasses off and wiped his eyes with his paw." And by the time I said that I was not your father, I was already at my breaking point and pretty sure that I'll lose you in the next court battle. I feared that someone might take you away from me, when instead it was me that might take you away.
Sherman just sat there in silence. It wasn't anything like Mr. Peabody at all. Mr. Peabody he knew was really compassionate, able to keep his emotion at bay, and able to keep his anxiety from getting the best of him. The fight that the boy had done at school that that day was problematic enough for his dad, the amazing Mr. Peabody, to become someone else Sherman never knew.
Now the boy felt really bad, his dad hadn't done anything wrong, it was his entire fault all along. The beagle just concerned about his boy's safety. He was just trying to be a good dad.
While Sherman was being a very bad boy.
"I understand that you don't want to meet me anymore, and if you don't feel to spend the night here, I'll call the HardRock orphanage to set you up and hail you a cab, and I'll send someone for your stuff tomorrow." With that Peabody walked away, decided to get into his room.
"Mr. Peabody..." Sherman mumbled.
"I'm not much of a father, Sherman. Hope you'll ever forgive me for being yours." That settled the boy's heart, he unconsciously stood up and ran as fast as he could to his dad that was walking away from him.
"No Mr. Peabody! No dad... don't send me back... send me back... back... back to the orphanage!" Sherman buried his face in his father coat. Peabody turned his back so now he could finally look at Sherman on his knees, sobbing obnoxiously. "Please don't send me... send me back..."
"Sherman, I thought you hated me." Obviously the dog father was still surprised. He might know all ins and outs about Sherman, but sometimes he just couldn't understand him.
"I know... what I said... and I'm sorry for all of that. I'm sorry for yelling at you." Sherman continued to hug his dad, while Mr. Peabody started to tousle his red hair. "It was all my fault, I shouldn't let my anger get the best of me and I shouldn't have involved in the fistfight, and made you mad–
"Shush, Sherman, please stop crying–"
"No, you should ground me, lock me up for a year I don't care, or you could just hit me over and over like you said you would but please don't send me out." Now Sherman cried louder than ever. "You are... the only family I... I ever had..."
"I think you've learned your lesson."
"No... You haven't punish me..."
"You don't need to punish a person to make him learn his lesson." Peabody lifted his boy's chin up so their eyes were in the same level. "I lost my temper to you today too, and even though you didn't punish me clearly, I already learned a valuable lesson from that; something I know I won't forget in my entire life." He lifted Sherman glasses and wiped all of his tears. "Do you want to know what?"
Sherman nodded, with a small smile on his face.
"That you are also the only family I've ever had, and family fights, and since we're going to be a family for a long time, we need to get used to it. But what I really learn is that no matter how bad the fights are, we'll still be exchanging I love you at the end of the day, you'll see."
"I love you... I love you dad." Sherman hugged his dad tightly and the father hugged him back.
"I love you too son..."
They stood there for a while before Peabody's stomach finally grumbled loudly, breaking both the silence and the hug.
"Someone's being hungry," Sherman cheerfully stated.
"Well, I missed lunch today," Peabody answered. "And it seemed that the cereal didn't fulfill you either. So why don't you wash up and meet me here... in about... fifteen minutes and we will go outside for dinner? Sounds good?"
Sherman nodded and started to run to the hallway, but before he walked off any further he turned around. "Can I pick where should we eat?" He asked.
"Umm, why don't you tell me what you got in mind and... and I'll think about it. As much as Peabody wanted Sherman to pick, he clearly didn't want that kid to eat unhealthy fast food.
"Okay, and Mr. Peabody?" Sherman yelled again.
"Yes Sherman?" Peabody looked to his son one last time.
"I'm not much of a son. Hope you'll ever forgive me for being yours."
Peabody just nodded, but deep down his heart skipped a beat. He looked at Sherman, the boy was growing up, and this was just another bump on his voyage of life. There was more to come and Peabody needed to be sure that he was prepared for all of it. And no matter how bad the fights would be, Sherman would still love him at the end of the day.
"And Mr. Peabody!"
"What?" Peabody raised his tone, obviously annoyed.
"How do you control your temper?"
"Well Sherman, as we both know that even for me there is so much to learn, but my chew toy always works for me."
"Cool!" Sherman exclaimed. "Can I get one for myself?"
"Umm, I'll... I'll think about it."