"A Father's Pride"
Author's Note: In light of the death of Alan Thicke ("Jason Seaver") on December 16, 2016, I looked back at some clips from "Growing Pains" and decided to do an extended version of the end scene from "Thank God It's Friday" from Season Two, Episode Fifteen and making it come from Jason's point of view. Rest In Peace Alan.
I take a look at the clock on the wall and it says, "1:50 am". It was my turn this time around, waiting up for Mike. Maggie had a long day and turned in around eleven we got a dollar for everytime two of us stayed up to catch our oldest sneaking in after curfew, I could close up my psychiatric practice and retire to the Caribbean.
It had been just over an hour ago when his friends Boner and Eddie called asking for him. They left me a cryptic message to pass onto Mike. They said he would understand. Kids these days have the strangest codes.
Usually, when Mike is late, it's around five maybe ten minutes late unless he calls, often giving me some excuse so I could decide how to chew him out in advance once he comes on in. But this it felt...different, like something else was going on. I hope he's okay, at least he can at least call me from a pay phone or something. I would go get him from wherever he is. It's unusual for him to be out this late without some form of communication.
He better have a good excuse for pulling a stunt like this. Usually I would have a glass of water or something, but not this time. Then at two fifteen, I hear the familiar sound of Mike's car come up, a brief flash of the headlights pass through the window. I get up and stand at the base of the stairs, ready to hear what he had cooked up for this time.
He was suprised to see me standing there as he came in, quietly as always. "Dad, I didn't see you there." His voice indicated surprise. "I know I was out way too late. Hey, isn't it the night we turn the clocks back?" I tell him that was in October and that was how long he would be grounded if he didn't give me a good reason why he was out there at this time of morning.
I was relieved that he was okay, and that was more important in this dangerous world. I almost dragged him to the couch, then I sat in the recliner, wanting to get really comfortable to hear his latest excuse. My oldest was gifted in making up stuff on the fly, some would call him a 'slacker'. Being a father, and having done this enough times, Mike knew the routine, he makes up some crackpot story, I catch him on it and he gets grounded.
"What is it this time, Mike?" I start, "You saved some lives, or you ran into those darn gypsies again?" Looking over, I see him not trying to defend himself. No quick joke or quip in an attempt to weasel his way out of this. This was not like my boy, there had to be something else going on.
"Dad, can I talk to you as a friend and not someone who makes my life miserable?" Mike bursts out, almost franic. "What's wrong?" I ask him, then he goes into a whole thing about what he was going to say wasn't going to be used against him. "Just tell me." I say, whether it was the psychiatrist or the father in me wanted to know. Maybe both, and at that moment I was starting to panic.
He then tells me about how Eddie, Boner and him ended up at a party. "Where everyone was doing cocaine." That last word set me off in a state of great concern. What was he doing in a situation like that? Part of me wanted to rail into him, but then, they didn't know until they got there. The big talk Maggie and I had with our kids about drugs not long ago better have sunk into Mike.
He gets up and tries to walk off, I ask him if he did any and he responds that he didn't do the stupid drug. Eddie and Boner weren't sure of what to do, so he left them there when he left. We sat back down on the couch where he just opens up. By what I could tell, there was no indication he did any cocaine. All the agitation was from him stressed being in that situation.
"Never have I felt so much pressure Dad, everyone there laughed at me when I told the girl who offered it to me no. They thought I was actually joking, when I wasn't. It wasn't about me saying no like you taught me, it was about what others thought when I gave them an answer they didn't expect." Mike runs his hands through his hair, worried sick.
"I had been driving trying to decide if I did the right thing. About what they would think of me. Mike Seaver, the class clown and all around slacker, turning down something like cocaine." He tells me, "I was almost too much deciding to please the crowd or follow what you and Mom taught me about this poison."
Hearing all this, I remembered when I was that age. I felt the same thing when at a party and offered a beer or something stronger. I knew it was wrong, but would take a sip of the alcohol at a high school party. Nothing more. Mike needed to be reassured he made the right decision.
"You can't please everyone all the time Mike," I tell him, "but you pleased yourself in not giving in. You may be a goofball, clown, even slacker, but you know when to put that to the side and step up."
He looks at me before getting up, a look in his eyes tells me that what I said had sunk in. Then he walks to the stairs, but turns around and wraps me in a big hug. "Thanks Dad, for hearing me out and not judging me. For what you and Mom have taught me." I let him go so he could get to bed.
"Mike, Boner and Eddie called asking for you. They left a message, they didn't go to the bathroom and don't want to." I tell him, "What does that mean?" Mike pauses and beams a big smile. "A lot Dad." Then he goes upstairs. In light of the situation, that message did make sense after all.
Crawling into bed with Maggie, she wakes up asking what punishment I gave him this time, wanting to know the details. I tell her what happened with Mike, and that she should be proud that our oldest didn't cave in to the pressure of taking drugs. I certainly was. He may make something of himself after all...
Needless to say, this was one time Mike didn't get punished for breaking curfew...