"Damnit, Earl! I married you and you really were all this time?! Well, you suck at this."

"Don't you turn this around on me, Joy! I... I try... I didn't know the details!"

"Well, now ya do, and you can just leave it! He already thought you were his biological father--- now he just don't ever hafta be told different 'cause he's right."


"Wait a minute--- we're off subject here!" Darnell interjected.

"No, the subject was Earl sucking." Joy said with a slight smirk.

"You're glossing over Earl Junior. Well Joy, now I did think Earl Junior was my son."

"He is Darnell! Just not biologically!" Joy shouted. "Now this dummy here is Dodge's biological dad and he better step up before I kick his ass."

"I told you that I was sorry, okay!?" Earl shouted.

"Well, I am not the one you need to appoligize with dummy. Dodge is. You are his daddy, so now go be one!"

Earl sighed. He knew Joy was right... He walked outside where Dodge was playing baseball by himself.

"Where's your brother?" he asked.

"Over there in Richie Tarpin's trailer." he shrugged. "Why?"

"Just wonderin'... Dodge, you wanna come stay at the hotel for a few days with me an' Uncle Randy?"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, Old Daddy..."

"Ah, about that... you can take the old off, huh?"

"Oh so I can just call you daddy then?" Dodge asked, hope in his eyes.

"Yup. That's who I am. I'm your daddy."

"But what about my new daddy, what should I call him?"

Earl opened his mouth and then closed it. He sighed.

"That is something you need to discuss with your stepfather."

The word rolled off his tongue easier than he thought. It was a relationship that he once thought fitted him.

"What's wrong Daddy?" Dodge asked Earl looking up at him with big eyes. "Did I say something wrong?"

Earl shook his head. "No, no, of course not. You know about my list?"

"The dummy list?" Dodge innocently asked.

Earl bit his his tongue. "Yes, but I call it my Karma list. It's a list of things I have done wrong in the past that I need to fix."

"Oh can I see it?" Dodge asked.

"No!" Earl shouted a bit too loud and Dodge took a step back.

Seeing the expression on Dodge face, Earl frowned. "It's just that there are lots adult stuff on this list. Which you can't read until you are older."

Dodge flashed Earl a look. "I do know cuss words Daddy."

Earl grinned. "Well, that's not exactly what I mean..."

"Is it like when Momma said she was fightin' the wolfman and I walked in on her and new Daddy?"

Earl flushed.

"Ah, yeah... somethin' like that."

"Oh." Dodge replied.

"So are you ready to go? Do you need to pack something?"

Dodge nodded. "Yeah. I will be right back."

While Dodge left to get his things, he thought about what Joy told Darnell; that Earl Junior is still his son in the ways that matter. He probably should hang out with Earl Junior some time soon. But, now he knew Dodge really needed some quality father and son time. Like Joy said, he was his son and he had been a very bad father lately. Dodge was on the list-- a few times actually. But still not enough...

Earl took out a pen and added a new entry to the list.

"Be a better father to my son Dodge."