Childish Mistakes
By Diana Moon Glampers
I don't own anything in this story. I don't even own my original characters. Go ahead and steal them, I don't give a sourdough loaf.
Chapter 1
Bil
Bil was pulling into the driveway of his friend's house, Darin. Bil had known Darin since high school and liked to keep in touch with him. His children loved visiting his house too. Darin was a very successful doctor and owned a pool in his backyard. Bil sometimes felt jealous of Darin. He was married to a woman named Martha. They never had any children and were very happy. Bil had four children and sometimes wished he had none. He thought about the times he and his wife Thelma talked about having children. He always wondered if it was ever a good idea.
Bil stopped the car and turned to his children. "We're here!" He said. "Yeah!" Jeffy shouted, climbing over his siblings to get out of the car. Jeffy loved the swimming pool. He never enjoyed Darin's company. In fact, subconsciously, Jeffy hated Darin because Darin never had any children for him to play with. Jeffy still enjoyed coming over to Darin's house, though.
Darin walked out of his house to greet The Keane family. "Bil! Glad to see you again!" He said. Bil shook his friend's hand. "How's it going, Darin? Anything new?" Bil asked. "Well, I've been reading a lot of really good books lately. I finally got around to Gulliver's Travels. I always wanted to try that one. It's amazing." Darin said. Bil tried to remember the last book he finished. It was a Hardy Boys novel he would periodically read Billy as a bedtime story. He always wanted to read Dan Brown, as Bil always thought his brand of historic adventure was interesting, but he never had the time to read anything on his own. "Well… Have you seen any good movies?" Bil asked, hoping to change the subject. "Well, I saw Avatar a while back. It was good, if a little cliché in concept." Darin said. Bil never saw Avatar. His children wanted to see it after getting toys based on the movie from their happy meals last year, but he had to tell them that it was too violent for children their age. He did see The DeVinci Code one night when he was fortunate enough to hire a sitter. "Did you ever see DeVinci Code? That one was good." Bil said. "Yeah. It was nice, but they got some of their facts wrong. Typical of Hollywood." Darin said.
Darin led Bil into his house. He looked over his shoulder to see where Thelma was. She was talking with Martha outside. "She'll be fine." Bil thought to himself. Once inside of Darin's house, Bil saw a very large cat. "Darin, is that a cheetah in your house?" Bil asked, nervous. Darin picked up his cat. The cat did not seem too happy that he was being picked up. "Who, this? This is Jake. He's a savannah cat." Bil said. "Savannah cat?" Bil said. He had never heard of that breed before. "It's a fancy cat breed, half ocelot. They're really cute, but they can tear up the furniture if you don't train them right." Darin said. He began cuddling Jake. "Isn't that right, Jake?" He said. Jake started to struggle. He hissed at Darin and jumped out of his arms.
Darin turned to Bil after Jake ran away. "Sorry. He gets nervous around strangers. Normally he loves being cuddled." He said. "It's a pretty cool cat. Is… Is it okay if you don't get him near my kids, though? Those claws looked pretty sharp." Bil said. "Yeah, they are. He scratched me real good a couple of times when he was a baby." Darin said. "Well… I'm glad my kids never hurt me like that." Bil said. "Well, I would have kids too…" Darin said. "What do you mean?" Bil asked, intrigued. "I'm going to be blunt, Bil. I'm sterile. I can't have kids. Ever. Martha and I, we tried for about a year now, and I even saw a doctor about it. I'm sterile. There's no way around it. That's why we have Jake." Darin said. "That's… unfortunate." Bil said. Darin led Bil to his kitchen. "Here, why don't we both relax, maybe kick back a couple of beers, and watch the game, right?" Darin said.
Darin reached into his refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of beer. They both looked foreign. Bil had never heard of the name before, and he could not read it either. "Darin, where are these from?" He asked. "I imported them from Japan. Try it, you'll like it." Darin said. Bil opened it up, and tasted the beer. It was very strong, the strongest tasting beer Darin had ever tried. "Wow." He said, finishing his sip. "That stuff packs a punch."
Bil sat down with Darin in the living room, which had a fairly tattered chair Darin sat on. "Sorry about the chair. Jake likes to scratch it. I'll have to get a new one someday." He said. He turned on the television to watch a baseball game. It was very relaxing for Bil. He sat back, drinking his imported beer, and watching a slow game of baseball. "I wonder what my life would have been like if I never had any kids." Bil thought to himself. He imagined himself like his friend, Darin, living in a fancy house, able to afford nice things, and being able to enjoy intelligent books. It was a life he threw away the minute he conceived his first son Billy. He remembered the night, how he was young and looking forward to a beautiful future with his beautiful wife. He was happy with his life now, but it was very stressful, trying to raise four children and have a job. He wished he had fewer kids, less of them to keep in line, less of them to make his life stressful. He laughed to himself upon thinking of this. It wasn't a normal laugh, though. It was a melancholy, wistful laugh. "What is it?" Darin asked. "Sorry. I get a little sentimental when I drink." Bil said.