Episode 3:

Cookie Discipline

Kris is sitting at the kitchen table making out a list of things for Rick to get from the market.

"Here's a list of things I want you to get.", she says as she tears it off and gives it to him.

"OK.", Rick says, as he skims through it. "Tracy, do you want to go to the market with Pop?", he called to his daughter in the other room.

Immediately, he hears the rapid sound of excited footsteps as the toddler darts through the kitchen doorway. "I get my 'soes'!", she declares, face all aglow.

"You need to wear a coat too.", her mom reminds her.

"Why?"

"Because, it's cold outside."

"But, I be inside."

"Just go get your coat.", Kris says, shaking her head.

"Why?"

"Because I said so. That's all you need to know."

A parental cliche, yes, but sometimes, Kris figured, it was the only way out of the vicious cycle of 'why's.

Ozzie is mowing the front lawn when Joe comes over.

"Oz?", Joe asks as he crosses over the freshly cut grass.

Ozzie keeps mowing, not being able to hear Joe over the roar of the lawn mower.

"Oz!", his visitor shouts much louder.

Ozzie turns off the lawn mower. "Oh hi, Joe."

"Hi. Listen, I need to talk to you. Next week is Clara and my anniversary."

"That's great.", Ozzie says enthusiastically. "Have you gotten her a present yet?"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something regarding the present."

"What's that?"

"Well, I got her these diamond earrings.", he says, taking them from the pocket of his pants to show Ozzie.

"Oh, those are beautiful. She'll love them."

"She'll love them even more if she doesn't find them."

This comment sends more than a few question marks popping up in Ozzie's brain. "What do you mean?", he asks, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Every year, on our anniversary, I buy her presents and every year, she always snoops and finds out what they are. So to keep her from doing that this year, I was wondering if I could hide her present in your house."

"It's fine with me, but I need to check with Harriet."

Harriet, standing nearby, heard everything about Clara's present being hidden in their house. "It's fine.", she agrees, then shifts her attention to her husband. "Ozzie, lunch is ready."

"What is it?", he inquires.

"Why don't you just go find out for yourself."

"Why?"

"Because", Harriet replies, "If Clara can wait a whole week to find out what her present is, you certainly can wait five minutes to find out what lunch is."

They say good-bye to Joe, then go inside.

Rick and Tracy come home with groceries, with Tracy holding the lightest bag.

"How come there's a box of chocolate chip cookies in here?", Kris asks as she begins to sort out the items in the bag. "Those weren't on the list I gave you.", she says, as she puts the groceries away.

"Would you believe, I forgot?", replies Rick.

"Absolutely not. Especially since you had the list with you."

"OK, it's Tracy.", he admits. "She threw a fit about not getting them, so I figured the easiest, and least embarrassing, thing to do would be to just get her a box."

"Tracy Kristine, you weren't naughty for Pop were you?", she asks, as she eyes her suspiciously.

"No!", came the little girl's quick retort.

"That's good, because that would mean that Mommy or Pop would have to punish you."

There was something a little off about the way she'd worded that. Rick jumps in quickly to do damage control, looking down to his daughter. "I don't know where this 'or Pop' comes from. Mommy meant just herself, Tracy."

Kris leaves the room, only to come back with a card game of Go Fish.

"We'll see.", she says, as she hands it to him.

"What's this?", Rick asks, turning the deck of cards over a few times in his hands.

"Go Fish. You and I will play a game and whoever loses will discipline Tracy."

After Kris sends Tracy to go play in her own room, she and Rick play a game of Go Fish, with Rick being the loser.

Much to his displeasure.

June comes home with a bag of paint samples. "Dave, I got all these paint samples for our room.", she says, then dumps them out of the bag, and onto the couch. "Which one do you like best?"

Picking up a few, she names them, as she puts them back down again. "Amazing Apricot, Sky Blue, Banana Yellow."

"You pick it and whatever you decide is OK with me.", Dave tells her.

"You said the same thing about the ice cream at the market last week.", she reminds him, sounding a little annoyed. "So I got vanilla, only to find out that you secretly had gotten chocolate."

"That's because chocolate is my favorite kind."

Danny comes in the room. "Hi, Mommy."

June turns toward the sound of his voice. Maybe he'd be a little more helpful. "Danny," she asks, "What color do you like best out of these paint samples?"

"I like them all.", he says after skimming through them.

"Well, Pop and I aren't using them all for our room."

"Then can Tracy and I use them all for my room?"

"No.", Dave and June reply in unison, both picturing the rainbow themed mess that would become of their walls.

Wally decided to have Ginger over to his house for lunch, rather than take her out the way he usually does.

"Let me show you what we have for lunch here.", he says to her. "Cucumber sandwiches, chocolate pudding cups, styrofoam bowls of fruit cocktail, and to drink, yellow lemonade that I made myself." He pauses briefly, biting his lip. "OK, it's only a mix, but at least I still made it. I didn't buy it."

"This is everything I like.", notes Ginger. "I've also been thinking about cucumber sandwiches lately."

"Well, my full name is Wallace Know It All Plumstead."

"Rick told me it was Wallace Henry Plumstead.", Ginger corrects.

"He doesn't know.", says Wally with a laugh. "I'll have to have a talk with that boy."

Rick, Kris, and Tracy have just finished dinner.

"I think I'll go finish that letter to my Mom.", Kris announces, standing up from the table.

"Can I hear what you have so far?", Rick asks.

"No."

"OK, then can I read what you have so far?"

It may have been subtle, but Kris knew what he was trying to do.

"You lost the card game.", she reminds him. "We had a deal remember?"

"OK.", he says glumly.

After Kris leaves, Rick lets Tracy out of her high chair.

"Tracy, do me a favor.", he says to the child. "Go in your room and bring me your diaper bag, please."

"But, I don't need be changed.", objected Tracy.

"Nevermind that. Just do what Pop says and bring me your diaper bag."

After she brings him her diaper bag, Rick starts taking the magnetic numbers off the fridge and putting them in there. For a while, Tracy watches him, her eyes shifting back and forth along with his movements.

"Are we gonna play a game, Pop?", she asks after some time.

"I wish, but no.", he tells her, a sadness lurking in his voice as he speaks. "You were naughty at the market about the cookies today. So this isn't a game, it's a punishment."

Rick stops a moment, gazing out the window. "Pick a number out of here.", he eventually says, avoiding eye-contact. Punishments had never been easy for him. He'd have liked nothing better than to sweep Tracy up into his arms and forget the whole thing, but he knew that he couldn't. It would be easier, purge his body of the guilt that weighed him down, but it wouldn't be good for Tracy. Not in the long run. He had to go through with this.

Tracy reaches into the bag, picking out a 9.

"OK, this a 9, so that means you have to wait 9 minutes before you can have a cookie."

"9 minutes.", Tracy says. " 'Dats' how long it takes for a baby to come."

Close, but not quite.

"No, it's not.", corrects her dad.

"Uh-huh! That's what 'Gamma Harrit' said."

"No, she didn't. She said 9 months."

"How long is 'dat'?"

"To you, it's an eternity."

"A turnity?", Tracy ponders, puzzled by the new word. " What does 'dat' mean?"

"Nevermind.", he says, exasperated.

Dave and June decided on Sky Blue for their room.

June comes in the room. "Dave, I just got off the phone with your Mom and she said she'd be glad to have us spend the night in yours and Rick's old room tonight."

"That's great.", Dave replies.

"What are you doing?", she asks.

"Oh, I was just thinking." He holds one of the paint samples in his hand. "This Razzle Dazzle Red sure brings back memories."

"Why's that?"

"Well, on Rick's 5th. birthday, Pop told him that he could choose any color he wanted to have his toy chest painted. So, he chose this color just because he liked his new red shirt."

"That sounds like something someone his age would do.", June figures. "Well, I better go pack now."

"I'll do it.", offers Dave.

"No, thank you. I'll do it."

"Why can't I do it?"

"Because, the last time I let you pack, you just stuffed everything in the suitcase. You're supposed to fold things first, and then put them in the suitcase. That's how I like it."

"You mean, perfect?"

"To describe it in one word, yes.."

Joe rings the door bell and Harriet lets him in. "Hi, Joe.", she says warmly. "Happy Anniversary."

"Thanks, Harriet.", replies Joe, stepping into the house. "I came to pick up Clara's gift."

"OK. Ozzie hid it in this end table here."

Ozzie, who hears Harriet from the other room, comes in and asks, "How do you know that? You were at the market when I hid it."

"It's the same place you hid my gift on our anniversary last time, so I just took a guess and I was right."

"Well, I think I know what Clara's gift from me will be next year.", Joe tells them.

"What's that?", Ozzie wonders.

"Last night, before we went to bed, I didn't really tell Clara what her gift was. I just told her, 'Clara, I got you something you're gonna love'. She guessed a Birthstone bracelet, but when I said 'no', she said, 'That's something I'll love, when are you gonna get me that?'."

Not exactly subtle, but certainly a helpful 'hint'.

Joe leaves after he, Ozzie, and Harriet say good-bye to each other.