When Jennifer and Chris DeSoto were busy making their annual Mother's Day cards, Jenny, though busy with her glitter and glue, looked a little sad. Chris, at 12, was perceptive, and also very tender-hearted, towards his little sister; though he often covered it well.
"What's wrong, Sis?"
"Well, I was just thinking," her blond curls shook, almost dragging in the glue. "Mother's Day is in two days, on Sunday. Uncle Johnny always comes over on Sunday to play with us if he's not working; and I know he's not 'cause Daddy said he's not. And Daddy's not 'cause Mommy would kill him, and Daddy doesn't wanna get dead!" The eight-year-old was deadly serious, and Chris had a hard time hiding his laughter.
"I know, Sis, I thought it was kinda weird, too. How about if I go ask Dad about it, and let you know? I'm done with my card, anyway. He had skillfully drawn a racecar in the winner's circle on the front, with a big gold trophy inside, proudly proclaiming his mom as "Number One Mom!" Jenny smiled contentedly, continuing to mix glitter and glue, both on her card and in her hair.
Chris ran out onto the deck, where he found his dad relaxing alone with a cold beer. "Dad, can I talk to you?"
"Sure, Sport. Pull up a chair. What's up?"
As Chris took a seat, Roy noticed he seemed a bit confused about how to begin.
"Son, just start at the beginning. What's going on?
"Well, actually, it's about Uncle Johnny. Jenny and I wanna know why he won't come and play with us this Sunday. He always comes on the Sundays you both have off! Is he mad at us?"
Ahhh, they did notice, Roy thought. I should've realized they would. Sighing heavily, he tried to figure out how best to explain the problem.
"Well, Sport, you guys know it's Mother's Day on Sunday, right?"
"Of course! Jenny and I are both making Mom really neat cards!"
"And I know she'll love them; and we'll have a special dinner, and everything. But, you see, Uncle Johnny lost his mother—actually both his parents—a very long time ago, when he was just a little kid. He was only a little older than Jenny."
Chris looked shocked. This was something he hadn't known about the man he'd known almost all his life.
Roy hugged his son, who looked close to tears. "It's not something he talks about, but it's especially hard for him to be around people on Mother's Day. So, I respect that, and give him whatever space he needs.
Chris, being a wise old soul in a young boy's body, smiled sadly. "I get it, but I bet Jenny won't."
Roy, knowing his daughter, smiled at that. "You're probably right."
Predictably, once Jenny had heard the whole story from Chris, she got it; but no way was she about to accept it. And she came up with a plan. A brilliant plan.
"But, Johnny, If you don't come over this Sunday, I am gonna so be in the doghouse with Joanne. She decided to make this giant pot roast. She went out and got all the stuff for it! I told her you were coming last weekend. I forgot about it being Mother's Day on Sunday! Now, you tell me, exactly how am I supposed to admit to my wife that I forgot about Mother's Day, hmmm?"
Johnny frowned, still not wanting to give in. He really hated to be around people, because his emotions were all over the map on that day. He preferred to be alone, to cry or rage in private if he needed to.
He flashed a grin that did not reach his eyes. "Well, just do what you always, do. Admit you screwed up; bow and scrape a while; then kiss and make up."
Roy scowled. "That is NOT how I wanna spend my day off!" He turned away for a moment. Okay time for Plan B: "Rewease the Secwet Weapon!" Roy grinned to himself as he thought briefly of the movie they'd recently taken the kids to.*
"Uncle Johnny," Roy stated firmly, "Do you really wanna break Jenny's heart? She's counting on you being there Sunday. You know she is."
"Awww, Roy, now that's not fair!" Johnny pointed his finger in protest.
Roy shrugged. "I understand that, but, do you wanna call Jenny and explain it?"
"Can't you—"
"Is THAT really fair, Junior? You are her uncle, after all. When family has a problem, aren't they supposed to share it? Roy turned on his heel and stalked away, not missing the hurt in John's eyes.
Damn. He'd said a lot more than he'd intended to. He just hadn't realized up until that moment how much the situation bothered him. Roy realized he might have blown it. He went to look for Johnny, and found he had gone to his "don't bother me" spot—atop the hose tower. Crap! He sighed in disgust, and headed into get a cup of coffee.
The other problem was that the tones remained stubbornly silent. Good for the County, not so good for the men sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop. Boredom, and therefore, bickering flairs up easily. Especially when it involved a bored Phantom and a pissed off Pigeon. One too many water and flour traps found the two at each other's throats.
It was actually Mike who settled it as Cap was in the shower at the time. With a glare worthy of Genghis Khan, Mike placed Chet at one end of the table, and John at the other. "Now, you two are gonna sit there and be quiet until I tell you that you can get up…unless we tone out of course. If either one of you moves," here he shook a finger at the shocked men, "you are BOTH gonna polish Big Red—with your toothbrushes!" Marco burst out laughing. "Stokes, are you actually putting Gage and Kelly in time-out?!" "Yep! I outrank 'em and I can do it. It's what Beth and I do with the boys!" He sat back down on the sofa, picked up his dropped newspaper and calmly began reading again. He looked up a moment later at Roy's whispered question. "So, uhhh, how long, are you gonna—you know—"He nodded to the two seething but silent men.
Mike considered the question. "Well, let's see…with the boys it's one minute per year of age, so, that would work out to, roughly—he checked his watch—another 20 minutes. His eyes twinkled as Roy shook his head and wandered off, shaking his head. Stoker never ceased to amaze him.
Roy also filled Cap in on what was happening in the kitchen. Cap had the chance to peek in on his men, but chose to spend the time in his office, because he couldn't keep a straight face. He personally thought it was funny as hell. He wished he'd had a camera. Stoker was the stuff of legends!
After the 20 minutes was up, Mike made the two men shake and apologize, just as he did his young sons. John stalked off without a word, but Mike was confident he'd get over being mad quickly. He always did. Chet, on the other hand, glared at Mike. "Stoker, you better be careful. The Phantom just may switch targets!"
Mike grinned evilly at Chet. "In that case, give the Phantom a message for me."
"What's that?"
"Tell him he'd better stock up on toothbrushes!"
John went looking for Roy after the incident in the kitchen. At first he'd been angry, but after a while, he'd gotten to thinking about what Roy had said about family, and about how Mike and Beth handled their boys. Those were precious things; part of being a family. He did have a special gift; one given to him by two kids who loved him unconditionally; and their parents, who couldn't be closer if they were his own brother and sister. With the nature of his job, what right did he have to waste any time with them? Roy got that, and now, he did, too.
He found Roy outside, just watching the few stars they could see. Johnny idly commented, "View's better from the ranch, but I think Sunday would be a great day to break in that new baseball mitt I got Chris for his birthday." He smiled sadly. "I'll try, Roy. No guarantees. But, I'll try.
Roy grinned. "What made you change your mind, Junior?"
"Thank Stoker. It's amazing what having almost 30 minutes of absolutely nothing to do can do to a guy! But if he ever tries it again, I'm gonna kill him!"
Roy went back inside to let Jo know that their plan had worked, and that Johnny would be there on Sunday. He also reminded her to talk to the kids a bit more about how Johnny might be feeling that day; that his normally sunny disposition might have some storm clouds floating around close by.
Mother's Day dawned bright and beautiful. The DeSoto household rocked with laughter as the children assisted their father, the Chef-de-Jour, with a Mother's Day tradition: a massive breakfast of blueberry waffles, eggs, sausage, grits, (Roy's secret passion) sliced oranges, toast, milk, orange juice and coffee .
A serving each was placed on a tray, along with a vase of pink roses from the garden; and then heralded up to their Queen for the Day! The children carried their cards and Roy's gift up the stairs as well—a box of chocolates. (Johnny would be arriving sometime around noon, bringing dessert, which he had promised would be completely spectacular!) Queen Jo was absolutely delighted with the racecar card, and with the card depicting a redheaded man, a blond boy, a blonde woman, a little blonde girl, and a black-haired man all holding hands on the front. Inside, in glittery squiggles, was written "Happy Mother's Day to my Family!"
~~~The End~~~
A/N: I know this is rather late in the evening on Mother's Day, but I was suddenly inspired and dashed this out in about two hours. Hope you like it. Btw: *Anyone recognize this line? It's from Disney's "The Rescuers" 1977…if the date's off with the kid's ages, just roll with it, please. ;-)
