Responsibility
Dale lay on his tummy on the floor tapping the eraser of his pencil against his chin. Brow furrowed in thought, he propped on his elbows and stared vacantly at the ocean through the picture window.
Behind him the familiar sounds of his household buzzed.
Supper preparations had begun, and it was that time of day when all of his siblings either worked actively on homework, or had already completed their homework assignments.
Dale raised his upper body a bit so that he could peep over his shoulder. Paige sat in Paul's lap reciting her rhyming words for the next day.
"Block, sock, scott," she chanted, punctuating each word by tapping her father's wrist.
"Not scott," Paul corrected. "That would rhyme with spot. Your rhymes need the ock sound."
Paige resumed her task, "Block, sock, rock…"
Dale turned away. Truthfully his little sister didn't interest him too much. At four, she bothered him most of the time by demanding to tag along with him and the last thing he wanted was a little kid hanging onto him. At seven, he and his friends wanted to jet between one activity or another and most of the time Paige couldn't keep up.
Dale sighed dramatically and regarded the little girl with a more speculative glance. He had to be painstakingly careful when he ditched her these days. Before the school year started he had landed in a world of trouble which began because he ditched her. He and his friends tried to elude her one summer morning by winding in and out of a clump of bushes at the end of their street.
After a few minutes of frustration trying to catch her brother, Paige plopped down under one of the bushes and began to cry. Hearing her sob, Dale stopped for a moment and ordered irritably, "Quit crying Paige! Just wait there and we'll be back in a while."
Not interested in a response, Dale and his buddies raced off in the opposite direction, congratulating each other at their freedom and laughing at how Paige had believed Dale would return.
They stopped when they reached Zack's house and set up a bullseye target against one of Zack's trees. All of the boys practiced hitting it using the slingshot Zack had gotten for his birthday.
Dale out threw them all.
He knew he would because he always did.
His dad always bragged on Dale's innate knack of timing and obvious skill in target practice.
Some time later the boys became aware of a flurry of activity and sound on the periphery of their universe. It was intrusive enough that they stopped playing to investigate. Every available adult in the neighborhood had gathered into a semi-circle in the center of the street, their voices rising and lowering as they consulted a frantic Charlie.
A knot of fear suddenly galvanized him.
Abandoning his friends, Dale jogged over to his mother and his heart quickened at the sheer terror on her face. He had the horrible feeling that he was responsible for the crisis.
He sucked in a breath.
A line of children perched wide eyed on the rough concrete curb in front of his neighbor's house and Dale noted Mike and Johnny in the group.
It took several seconds for him to sort through the adult language and grasp Paige was missing. Dread and a suspicious realization slammed into him. "Mommy, mommy!" He grabbed Charlie's hand and yanked her towards the shrubbed area down the street, the explanation of his last contact with Paige sputtering from his mouth in a stream of disjointed words and syllables.
Charlie managed to translate the gist of the confession. She shook off his hand and ran in the direction he had indicated. Dale stayed where she left him and watched as the other adults fanned out behind her and jogged down the street.
His friends regarded him with wide-eyed glances which mirrored the guilt in his own. Dale moved woodenly and scooted to a seat between Johnny and Mike.
Time stood still and dragged all at the same time.
It took the grownups half an hour to locate Paige.
Apparently the preschooler had fallen asleep waiting for her brother and his friends to return. When Paige awoke disoriented and scared she set off in what she thought was the direction of her home.
In actuality, she moved farther and farther from Graceland.
By the time one of the neighbors spotted her, a terrified Paige was dirty, crying, and had skinned both knees and her elbow tripping over a tree root. Charlie snatched her little girl into her arms and burst into tears herself.
The entire scene had been just that traumatic- traumatic for every single one of them. Even thinking back on that morning brought the waves of fear for Paige's safety flooding back over Dale.
Dale shifted and took one more appraising look at Paul and Paige as she continued with her rhyming words, then settled back down against the floor. He was glad that she was ok in the end.
That incident had left quite an impression, and not just in the dread of realizing he was at fault and his sister could be hurt.
Paul had yanked him across his lap and spanked him as a consequence.
Spankings were so rare a punishment at Graceland that all the children grasped the severity of Dale's crime.
Dale cast an appraising look at his baby sister. Not only did he now keep tabs on Paige when she was with him, but he never again abandoned one of his siblings outside of their home.
In all of his seven year old wisdom, Dale acknowledged that he had earned the punishment and he deserved it- even though his father's hand was painful. His dad had reminded him that when he constantly begged his parents to allow him more privileges as the eldest, he needed to have earned those extras by having proved he could conduct himself responsibly.
Mike's tennis shoed feet appeared before his line of vision.
"What?" Dale growled, recognizing the shoelaces. "I told you no already that you can't borrow my magnifying glass."
No response.
Dale jabbed his pencil on the paper in rapid succession, creating a pattern of little graphite circles halfway across the margin.
Mike stayed put.
Protecting each other certainly didn't apply indoors with both parents home and visible! "Go away," he ordered with a hiss.
Mike shifted and refused, "No."
"Why are you here? What do you want?"
"Mommy said I can play," the little boy explained.
Dale responded sarcastically, "Go play then. I don't care." He mocked Mike's voice as he added, "You're not my responsibility right now."
No response.
Why did his family include brothers and a sister who pestered him? Why did he even have to be the oldest of the kids anyway?
Mike shifted again. "I'm telling."
"Telling what?" Dale demanded, scowling.
These younger ones were annoying and ridiculous and always trying to get him into trouble.
What happened to being an only child? Why had his mom and dad added to an already perfect family with an only child?
"I'm telling," Mike repeated but hurt laced his words.
"I'm telling," Dale mocked, imitating the childish sound of Mike's five year old voice. "Go tell then. I don't care."
That did the trick.
The tennis shoes departed.
Dale closed his eyes and whispered to himself, "Wait for it…wait for it….."
"DJ," Paul's voice called with that stern tone that meant business. "What are you doing over there?"
For a second he toyed with not responding, but decided that wasn't a wise choice. His father's carefully uttered syllables alerted him that Mike had done just as expected and tattled to a parent. He spoke pleasantly. "Daddy I'm working on something. I need to finish my homework."
"Ok," Paul accepted the explanation.
Dale's listened as Mike's voice rose in protest. "No," he heard Paul contradict, "do not go back over there again. Since you finished your own homework go find something else to do, Michael."
Dale ignored the rest of the exchange. The pencil dotted paper stared back at him and he licked his lips and tried to corral his creativity. He needed to put something down on the paper and just finish the assignment.
Charlie's voice drifted down from the upstairs landing. Dale clambered to a sitting position and regarded her from his vantage point. His mother was in conversation with Johnny, who apparently wanted her to act as audience while he modeled a couple of outfits. Picture day was the next day at the school the boys attended and Johnny planned to dress to the nines.
Dale shook his head in exasperation and blew out a defeated breath. Common sense told him his mom would insist on thorough baths for the boys that night which translated to his television time would be compromised. That meant she would check ears and fingernails and demand shampooed hair.
Dale grimaced. Other than Johnny, who cared about how they looked anyway?
Johnny just wanted to make sure he was handsome to parade in front of his many girlfriends.
Girls! Dale shuddered. What boy wanted a cootie headed girl sending love letters or trying to kiss him, other than Johnny?
The image made him smile. He could easily imagine the supper time conversation that would transpire that night. His dad and mom would tease Johnny about his female groupies and they would listen raptly as he- their eldest, discussed his own upcoming soccer game that weekend. They would congratulate Mikey on reciting all of the names of the planets and brag on Paige for not having a frowny face on her daily school report. Then his daddy would wink at his mommy and she would blow his dad a kiss from across the table.
His mom would make them put their napkins in their laps and would demand good manners. His dad would agree and support her. Like always, he would say that his children had better not resemble uncivilized humans who couldn't conduct themselves at the table!
Dale yelled up to his mother, "How do you spell sponsorbility?"
"Re-spon-si-bil-i-ty," Charlie stressed the syllables as she leaned over the banister. "It's r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y."
Dale knew what he wanted to write.
Responsibility
by Dale
This is my family and they are my responsibility and we live at graseland with all of us. I have a pretty mommy and she loves me. my daddy teaches me things all the time like socker. johnny is my brother paige is my sister but mike is my brother too. I am seven but I will be eight soon. sometimes they make me mad. but they all love me and I love them. my family gose to the zoo and park. mommy and daddy keep me safe. we take care of each other. I have chores I have to do every day. I will grow up and be a police or I will drive racecars.? The end
