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A day had passed since the surgery and Randy was currently sitting on the couch with a large dish of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice-cream as he watched television when he heard a knock on the front door.
Jill was sitting by the computer working on a paper for school when she heard it and got up to answer it. When she opened the door she saw it was several of Randy's friends from school.
"Hello, ." Tommy greeted. "Can we see Randy?"
"Yes, for just a few minutes." Jill responded as she opened the door further for the three of them to enter. "He still can't really talk because of the operation."
Tommy, Jeremy, and Beth all walked towards the living room and Randy smiled at them once they reached the couch.
"Hey Randy." Jeremy greeted.
He nodded and smiled at them but didn't speak because he barely had a voice.
"We wanted to bring you these."
He held out a bunch of letters to his friend who took them and began looking them over.
"It's from the kids from our classes and teachers." He explained. "They send their thoughts and hope you get better soon."
Randy smiled a little as he began reading one.
"Randy." Beth then spoke. "You know Thursday is the last day of school, and the eighth-grade dance is going to happen."
He knew what she was talking about. It was kind of a tradition at the middle school that the last day for them was a dance that took place in the cafeteria. There was pizza, music, saying goodbye to everyone as they left to head into high school, even though he was already there for math and science classes.
"Well, I was wondering if you could come. It's only going to be a few hours, do you think you could make it?"
Turning his head to look back at his mom, Randy stared at her and from the look on his face Jill could tell that he really wanted to go. She frowned a little, not wanting to tell him 'no' but didn't want to give him false hope either.
"I'll tell you what." She began as she walked over to the couch and answered for him. "I'll give Dr. Kauffman a call and if she says it's okay, then you can go. Okay?"
He nodded a little.
"Okay." Randy mouthed.
"Okay." Tommy responded. "We'll see you later, Randy."
Before leaving, Beth leaned down to give Randy a quick kiss on the cheek before following the boys out of the house. Jill couldn't help but smile at the scene as she went back to the computer, hoping that the doctor would let her son attend the dance. He had been through so much, he needed something to give his spirits a boost.
Meanwhile, Tim had just arrived at the studio for the taping on his show and was throwing his suit on just as Al came into sight and greeted him.
"Tim! Where have you been we're going on in two minutes."
"Well, excuse me Al, I have more important priorities. And if you didn't have the personality of a dead moth I wouldn't have had to show up today to save the program."
Al didn't respond as he stood side by side with Tim as the cameras went on and Heidi began to introduce them.
"Does everybody know what time it is?"
"Tool Time!" The audience yelled.
"That's right and here's your host, Tim "The Toolman" Taylor!"
The audience began clapping as Tim and Al both walked out onto the set before the crowd. Even though he had done this a hundred times Tim felt a little nervous this time around. The this show was part entertainment and he really didn't know if he could be funny right now with what was going on in his life right now.
"Thank you, Heidi. I am Tim "The Toolman" Taylor." He began while taking off his jacket. "And of course you know my assistant, Al "Paint watches him dry" Borland."
The crowd laughed a little as Al took his jacket and hung it up. He then walked towards their project for today, re-tiling a kitchen floor when he decided to bring up why he had been gone through the past several shows.
"I'm sorry that you all had to suffer through Al's show but I've been attending to my sick son."
"That's right." Al responded. "And we thank you all for the get well letters you all have sent to the studio for Tim's son."
"Well the good news is, his had surgery to remove a lump from his thyroid and it was successful."
"And we all pray that he continues to get better."
Tim scoffed as he picked up a hammer.
"Pray to what? There's nobody looking out of us. We're all on our own."
Al's brows furrowed at Tim's statement. Even Bud who was watching the taping from the sidelines looked confused as the two of them were supposed to be working on the project by now.
"Uh…Tim?"
"That's right." Tim responded as he bent down to look at the sample of the floor. "And if you actually believe that there is, then you're an idiot."
Al looked around nervously as the people in the crowd were now looking at each other in a mixture of confusion and being offended.
"Al, do want to tell them what we're going to be doing today?"
"Uh, sure. Today we're going to be re-tiling a kitchen floor."
Bud sighed heavily as he continued to watch the watch the two of them work. It certainly wasn't going well so far and it was the last thing the show needed at this point.
