Too Young
Jamie Reagan walks next to his brother Joe on his way home from school on Friday afternoon. It has been a month since he met his new friend, Veronica. Joe looks to his younger brother by five years and wonders what he is thinking about, as Jamie as a thoughtful look on his face. This is normal for his younger brother as he is always thoughtful and caring towards other people. They walk into their house in Bay Ridge and Jamie goes straight to his room which is abnormal for him as he always says hi to their mom first. Joe frowns, contemplating about Jamie when he sees his mom, Mary, in the kitchen making dinner for the family of seven, as he knows that his older brother and sister-in-law will be coming for dinner as well. Joe walks up to him mom to give her kiss when Erin, his older sister by two years, walks in the kitchen with a frown on her face. Joe asks, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You sure."
"Yea, why is something wrong?"
"I'm worried about Jamie."
"What's wrong with Jamie?"
"He was quiet on the way home and he went straight to him room when he got home."
"Maybe it's nothing."
"I don't know. I'll keep an eye on him anyways."
"Ok"
My little girl met a new friend just the other day
On the playground at school
Between the tires and the swings
But she came home with tear-filled eyes
And she said to me, "Daddy, Alyssa lies"
Jamie walks down the stairs to the dining room for dinner and sits in his normal spot, in between Joe and Erin. He serves his food but just plays around with it with his fork. His dad, Frank Reagan who is a New York City Detective looks at him questionably, "Everything alright there Jamie." Jamie looks up startled to his dad, a confuse look on his face, "What dad?"
"Is everything alright?'"
"Yea, why wouldn't it be."
"You're not eating your dinner tonight."
"Guess I'm not hungry."
"You sure."
"Yea, can I be excused?"
"Ok." Jamie gets out of his seat at the table and goes back up to his room. Frank looks around the table to his kids and they all shrug with Joe piping up, "he was quiet on the way home."
"He didn't say anything to you."
"No."
"Hmm."
Well I just brushed it off at first
'Cause I didn't know how much my little girl had been hurt
Or the things she had seen
I wasn't ready when I said you can tell me
And she said
Frank walks into Jamie's room that night, Jamie sits in his bed with his knees up to his chest and looks like he is crying, Frank comes over and sits on the edge of Jamie's bed and puts a comforting hand on Jamie's knee, "you know you can come talk to me at any time with anything." Jamie looks up to his dad, the one person he knows will keep him safe, his protector, the one to keep the nightmares away and the monsters, the one who will listen and won't judge him. Jamie looks to his dad and he resolve breaks and he jumps on his dad, hugging him with all that its worth, "I think a friend is in trouble."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because, Veronica lies to the classroom, Veronica lies every day at school, Veronica lies to the teachers, as she tries to cover every bruise. I don't know what to do."
"You just be her friend and I'll look into it at work."
"Thanks daddy."
"Alyssa lies to the classroom
Alyssa lies every day at school
Alyssa lies to the teachers
As she tries to cover every bruise"
Jamie gets out of his bed and walks to the restroom to finish getting ready for bed. He comes back into his room a few minutes later with his dad still there, Jamie walks up to him and gives him a hug, relishing in the safety that his dad gives, the comfort of being love, hoping that his friend Veronica, as the same thing, but knowing that she doesn't. He bows down his head for his nightly prayers while his dad leaves his room, Frank stands right outside the room and hears his youngest son say his prayers, "God bless my mom and my dad, and my new friend Veronica, oh I know she needs you bad."
My little girl laid her head down that night to go to sleep
As I stepped out the room I heard her say
A prayer so soft and sweet
"God bless my mom and my dad
And my new friend Alyssa
Oh I know she needs you bad because
Alyssa lies to the classroom
Alyssa lies every day at school
Alyssa lies to the teachers
As she tries to cover every bruise"
Frank back down the stairs and sits on the couch, thinking. His oldest son and daughter, Daniel and Erin comes sit down on the couch besides him, "what's going on?"
"Nothing for you guys to worry about."
"So there is something going on with Jamie."
"Not really with Jamie but a friend of Jamie's"
"Can we help?"
"I don't know."
"Ok pop, Linda and I are leaving soon."
"Ok, keep it quiet, Jamie went to bed already and I don't want you to wake him."
"Ok." Daniel gets up from the couch and heads up the stairs with Linda, while Erin stays and Joe sits by her. Joe asks, "what can we do for Jamie?"
"Nothing, we can't do much for him, just be there for him. When I go back into work on Monday, I will look what the problem is for him."
"Ok, well I'm knackered and I have that baseball game tomorrow."
"Goodnight Joe." Erin stays on the couch lays her head down on his lap while Mary comes on and sits down in the chair, opposite of the couch and open up her book to read.
I had the worst night of sleep in years
As I tried to think of a way to calm her fears
I knew exactly what I had to do
But when we got to school on Monday I heard the news
Franks walks back up the stairs to his bedroom and gets ready for bed. His wife, Mary gets into bed next to him and he wraps his arms around her. Unfortunately, even with her next to him, he still had dreams. Having the worst night sleep he has had in years, he tries to think of a way to calm his youngest sons fears, knowing that even though he is looking in on it on Monday, he knew exactly what he was going to do. However…
My little girl asked me why everybody looked so sad
The lump in my throat grew bigger
With every question that she asked
Until I felt the tears run down my face
And I told her that Alyssa wouldn't be at school today
Frank takes Jamie to school Monday morning, and seeing everyone, the teachers, the students and the parents looking sad, he knew that something had happened over the weekend. He walks up to one of the teachers and whisper in his, he looks towards Jamie and knows that he has to give bad news to his son. He walks back over to Jamie, and steers him away from everyone, he bends down, puts his hands on Jamie's shoulders while asks, "why is everybody looking so sad?" Franks takes a swallow, as his throat became dry at the question, and told him why Veronica won't be at school today.
'Cause she doesn't lie in the classroom
She doesn't lie anymore at school
Alyssa lies with Jesus
Because there's nothing anyone would do
Jamie looks at his dad, tears streaming down his face, he looks around. He falls his dad, his head buried in his dads' strong chest, crying. Frank picks Jamie up and walks over to a teacher and whispers in his ear, the teacher looks at Jamie with a sad smile and nods his head, Frank takes Jamie back to the car, putting Jamie in the back seat, Frank starts driving home. When he gets home, his wife comes out, picking Jamie up who had fallen asleep in the back seat
Tears filled my eyes
When my little girl asked me why
Alyssa lies
Oh daddy, oh daddy tell me why
Alyssa lies
A little later in the afternoon, Frank walks up the stairs after taking the day off from work, and goes into Jamie's room, seeing him awake and huddle on his bed, Frank goes over and climb into the bed with his son, gathering Jamie up in his arms, Jamie asks, "why did she have to die, what did she do?"
"Veronica didn't do anything and I don't know why she had to die. It wasn't her fault; it was her dads fault."
"But why was her daddy mean to her?"
"I don't know. Most of the time no one knows why someone does what they do, but they have to live with themselves when they do something bad."
"Why did she have to die?"
"I don't know why. Sometimes bad things happen to good people."
"I'm glad that you are my daddy."
"Thank you baby. Why don't you do your work that you missed today?"
"Ok daddy." Frank kisses Jamie's forehead and leaves the room.
Jamie comes down the stairs for dinner and sits in between Joe and Erin, and serves himself. He eats his food, though there is a feeling of melancholy as Frank told the other what had happened.
One week later, the Reagans comes home from Veronicas funeral. Jamie goes up to his daddy and give him a big hug and says, "I love you daddy."