Illustrations
As evidenced in a second context Adam had, nevertheless, privately ascertained a drawn out Nooo…. acted much like applause by hinting the immediate, current conversation overflowed with entertaining and enjoyable details, sort of an anticipatory delight.
Adam had stumbled upon its simplistic beauty through random dealings with his cherubs over the months, of course.
To illustrate, a few weeks prior Brian had burst into the house after school, slung his bookbag towards the sofa, and called excitedly for his brother.
Adam answered him from the laundry room where he was halfway through folding a huge load of bath towels. He grinned at Brian's evident excitement. "What in the world has you so delighted?"
"Coach, Adam," Brian managed to sputter before his attempt at an explanation dissolved into laughter. He held out a hand to signal a timeout to compose himself.
Adam responded to the hilarity by chuckling at his brother's obvious glee. Too few times over the past year had occasions presented themselves for such a degree of unbridled humor.
Adam set the towels on the folding table and ordered impatiently, "Brian, tell me! Quit laughing and let me in on the fun."
It took a couple of more minutes but Brian finally pulled himself together enough to speak coherently. "Adam, remember how Coach always fumbles his words when he gets excited about something?"
Adam nodded knowingly. Coach was none other than the same coach under whom he had played sports during high school. Adam knew him all too well and had a great deal of respect for the man.
Brian leaned against the dryer and pivoted this way and that in an attempt to stretch. "So Coach had us all practicing vaulting out on the field and the landscaping class cut through the field at the exact same time. They needed to get to the greenhouse with their teacher. Remember the new ag instructor I showed you at the Open House back in August? Ms. Hattaway?"
Adam's eyebrows shot up as he recalled the attractive young teacher.
Brian's laughter erupted again and Adam mock chided him, "Get to it, Man! I have sheets to fold after the towels!"
"Okay, okay," Brian prefaced in another attempt at composing himself. "Remember Coach's favorite mantra? I mean that one when he's worked us over out there and players are about to fall out from exhaustion?"
Adam chuckled then, too. "Course I do! Coach has barked that for the past twenty years."
The brothers made eye contact, raised their arms upwards, and chanted in unison, "The best, the best, only your best will do!"
That elicited another wave of laughter.
Brian clapped both hands against his cheeks in an attempt to calm and turn serious. "So, Coach has us out there working and starts yelling out his usual orders. Then he spied Ms. Hattaway and her kids stroll by. Evidently it threw him off his game. And…"
Brian dissolved into gulps of laughter again and Adam grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him playfully. "Carry on, Man! You're killing me here!"
"And Coach yelled," Brian parroted, "The best, the best, and only your breast will do!"
"Noooo!" Adam's eyes widened and he slapped his hand over his mouth. "Oh, Nooo, nooo, nooo…!"
"Yes!" Brian burst into more gales of laughter at Adam's response and the sophomore fell against his brother. His whole body shook. Adam's laughter had erupted as well, and the two brothers clung to each other and laughed until tears filled their eyes.
It took a few minutes to regain control, but when they finally did Adam slung an arm around Brian and exhaled loudly. "Thank you, my star reporter, for sharing the juiciest tidbits from my alma mater. Thank you, thank you!"
Brian wiped his eyes. "Welcome."
"This should teach me a lesson. I should prepare myself in the future whenever I ask if anything noteworthy happened at school." Adam raised his eyebrows.
Brian's display certainly lightened Adam's afternoon, and news two days later from his resident showman, Daniel, illustrated another appropriate reason to employ that same "Noooo…"
Daniel nearly fell off of the bus in his attempt to jump down the steps to race to the house.
Adam heard Daniel calling his name from the kitchen. His mind zipped to Evan's broken arm and a flash of panic sizzled through him- something awful must have occurred on the bus.
He skirted the kitchen table, slipped past Guthrie and vaulted for the front door.
Daniel had run halfway up the drive when Adam wrenched open the door.
"Adam, Adam!" the child hailed. "Adam look!"
When Adam finally reached the child he snatched Daniel into his arms. "What happened? Where's Evan? Are you hurt?"
He clutched the little boy to him and rushed into the house.
Daniel struggled to break free of the embrace. "No, listen," he begged. "Adam, I have something important to tell you."
Daniel squirmed to the floor and unzipped his bookbag, then rooted around inside its depths until he located a piece of paper. He shoved it into Adam's hand.
Adam took a step back before glancing at the paper and told himself to remain calm no matter what that paper described or documented.
Crane's failed test lurked in every corner of his mind.
He sighed. "Tell me what I will see on the paper," he directed Daniel.
The seven year old grinned. "You will see that I got chosen to meet the government for second grade!" Daniel jumped up and down excitedly.
Guthrie immediately copied him, slipped, and landed on his bottom.
Daniel pulled him upright and assured Adam, "He's good."
Adam smoothed Daniel's paper and began reading out loud.
Alerted to a surprise, Ford and Evan climbed onto the sofa to listen.
Dear Mr. McFadden,
The Governor of the state of California will visit our school next Monday morning. After a general assembly involving all of the school students the Governor plans to engage in a roundtable discussion with one representative from each grade level. The faculty chose Daniel to represent the second grade class because of his intelligence, personality, and delightfully extroverted nature.
Please sign below to permit Daniel's participation in the Governor's visit as well as to extend permission to photograph him during the event.
Adam threw his arms around the child and swung him into the air. "Noooo…Look at what my little entertainer gets to do and the celebrity he gets to meet! You will have an audience with the Governor of California! I am so proud of my boy!"
The younger boys joined in with clapping, allowing Daniel his moment to shine as Adam set him back on his feet.
Daniel beamed with the attention, then slowly took a dramatic bow. "Thank you my fan club of brothers. I will remember all of you when I drive my big airplane to my really big house and I have tons of money."
Adam hugged him again.
The school extended an invitation for parents to watch the roundtable discussion and Adam glowed with pride from the front row.
After the actual event, every time he passed the photograph he had framed of Daniel and the Governor his heart swelled.
Another illustration of Nooo…. uttered as an expression of entertainment occurred the day before. Though in a league of its own and not reminiscent of the circumstances lived by Brian and Crane, it still tickled Adam.
The McFadden bambino, Guthrie, reveled in his six older brothers and the older boys heaped attention upon him.
But he was definitely and without dispute the family's baby and his siblings took his protection and care seriously.
From Guthrie's perspective Adam ruled his toddler world as the only parent he recalled, as well as the one who cared for him on a daily basis.
Still, he adored the other five, and he waited impatiently each afternoon for them to return to the house and his personal world. They played with him, read to him, sang to him, and pampered him.
Guthrie tried his best to keep up with the others, but his toddler legs could not match the gaits of his taller brothers. When he attempted to follow for one chore or another someone-usually Adam- would hold him back and insist he wasn't big enough to help.
That frustrated the toddler and his green eyes often filled with tears if they left him behind.
So with his innate intelligence and determination he started mimicking the others at their different tasks. For example, as Brian washed dishes one evening and Evan dried them, Guthrie planted himself on the floor between the two of them. Yanking at Brian's jeans he demanded some of the crockery, but launched himself onto the linoleum when Brian handed him a plastic saucer minus a dish towel.
That time his tantrum backfired. Evidently Adam did not appreciate the ruckus and he plopped the toddler into a Guthrie timeout.
On occasion he won, though, such as when the family worked on homework assignments in the evenings. Guthrie worked right alongside at the table, using fat crayons to cover scratch paper in splotches of energetic color. Or during times when all of the boys lounged over the living room furniture engrossed in books, Guthrie would elbow Ford out of his path to commandeer Adam's lap, then curl comfortably to flip through pages of Dr. Suess books while Adam tried to read them aloud.
One Saturday afternoon Ford waited anxiously on the porch for Brian to return from Murphys. Brian had promised the little fellow a candy bar because several days earlier Ford had permitted Brian to borrow his box of Legos for a school project. Ford paced up and down the porch, scanning the road and field for signs of the jeep and his reward.
A short distance away Adam and Crane replaced a barn door hinge while Daniel and Evan raced their bikes along the driveway.
Suddenly Adam realized that Guthrie had slipped away. The baby had amused himself jumping on and off a pile of hay for several minutes but now the barn stood empty.
Adam scanned the fields and the yard.
He began to panic.
Then Ford burst into view on the porch and Adam sighed with relief once he discovered Guthrie stood right behind his brother.
"Noooo….." Adam tapped Crane on the shoulder and pointed to the two with a grin. "Check out Ford's twin on the porch."
They focused happily on the porch's occupants.
With hands clasped behind his back Guthrie dogged Ford's every footstep. He imitated Ford's walk and body movements impeccably, paused when Ford paused, and hurried on his own small legs when Ford hurried.
"Will you look at that sight? Guth's a copycat bambino," Adam smiled. "Notice his concentration."
Guthrie's actions provided a great example, but the best illustration of Nooo…to reflect surprise or delight occurred a few weeks before and centered upon Crane.
After supper finished and the boys completed homework one Wednesday Adam permitted a single television show before baths began.
The boys scattered at once. Adam only agreed to television viewing a couple of nights each week.
Technically all of them scattered except Crane, who dawdled by the edge of the kitchen table.
Adam noticed him from the laundry room. "Hey, you know the tv is off limits for you, but you can sit in the kitchen and read or go up to your room and do the same."
Crane nodded. "I know."
Adam dumped a clean load of towels onto the folding table and pushed the pile aside to allow himself folding room. When he checked a couple of minutes later Crane remained at the table.
"Or," Adam invited. "You could come help fold and just tell me what's on your mind."
"Ok," Crane obeyed reluctantly and once in the laundry room he scooted to lean against the dryer. He dug in his pocket for a folded piece of paper which he held out to Adam. "You need to see this," he admitted softly.
Warned by the tone and suspicious of the gesture Adam crossed his arms across his chest and snapped irritably. "Crane McFadden, let me make something crystal clear to you. If that paper contains bad news from the school I will make good on my promise and spank you the second I finish reading."
Crane glanced down but didn't respond.
"I expected a wonderful report card and wonderful comments about you two days from now," Adam added in bewilderment. "Crane, you assured me you wanted to get off restriction."
Crane remained silent.
"Hand the paper to me." Adam snapped and exhaled loudly.
Crane finally removed himself from the dryer and deposited the paper in Adam's hand. He watched thoughtfully as his brother unfolded the paper and began to read.
"Noooo…!" Adam regarded him with a look of shock. "Noooo, Crane!" Adam practically chortled, "Oh noooo, noooo, nooo!" He yanked Crane against him with one arm and squeezed the child in a hug. "Look at this, just look at this paper! I am so proud of you!"
Crane smiled shyly and wrapped both arms around his brother. He murmured into Adam's chest, "Did I surprise you?"
"Surprise me? You blew me away! I wasn't expecting your report card until the end of the week."
"Technically it's not the actual card. I just begged my homeroom teacher to make a copy of it for me to bring home early." Crane licked his lips and shoved his hands inside his pockets. "She knows I landed in a bunch of trouble with you about my behavior and grades."
Adam raised Crane's chin and brushed back blond bangs to kiss his forehead. "Yes, well, original or not, I plan for this copy to star as the main display on the refrigerator."
"My teacher also said to inform you the school will send the actual bona fide report card Friday."
Adam winked at Crane and held the grade sheet in front of him at arm's length. "Let me just look at these averages again- 98, 97, 94, 100, 95, and another 97. I do believe all those A's catapulted you onto the Honor Roll. And for the icing on the cake-whew-these comments are fantastic: 'Hard worker, pleasant and cooperative, conscientious, enjoyable student,'he read.
Crane tiptoed backwards from his brother and shrugged hopefully. "So did I satisfy you? Does this make the cut? Will you take me off punishment now?"
Adam frowned and pretended to think, "I don't know about all that. True the grades and comments impress me, but you did nearly scare me to death and I almost suffered an aneurism. That alone certainly warrants a spanking or some type of grounding…" He narrowed his dark eyes at his little brother and drummed his fingers on the washer lid. "However, I think I'll forgive you and settle for just-"
Adam yanked the little boy to him and began to tickle him. "This!"
Crane dissolved into gales of laughter and Adam added, "Almost gave me a heart attack you ungrateful sixth grader, you!"
Finally Adam stopped tickling and leaned against the folding table before gently pulling the little pre-teen to him. When Crane finally quit giggling and inhaled a deep, steadying breath,
Adam brushed back the blond hair. "You have made my day, Crane. I am just so proud of what you have done."
His little brother smiled shyly. "So may I watch tv tonight?"
"Of course you may watch tv tonight."
"And I'm not grounded any more?"
"Correct. Punishment's over." Adam regarded him thoughtfully. "But tell me, what did you learn from this whole ordeal?"
Crane blushed and immediately responded. "If my grades or school behavior slip you will punish me."
"Because?" Adam prompted.
"Because that is your expectation."
"What is?"
"That I always work hard and behave at school."
"Or?"
Crane pursed his lips. "Or you will heap unwelcome consequences on my head."
"Okay, then, Little Brother. The entire situation just finished with this piece of paper."
Crane hugged Adam again and buried his face in Adam's chest. "I know I let you down and I am sorry, Adam. I don't want to disappoint you again."
"I believe that, but it's over now. You messed up and I punished you. Then you flipped everything around with a spectacular academic attack."
Crane admitted, "What really makes me glad is that I managed to avoid a spanking."
"I don't doubt it," Adam laughed.