Maladjusted

Chapter 14

As the family came in through the front door Lee thought he'd try to get them talking a little more by querying, "Can everyone please go in and sit down on the couch? I'd like to try to go over what we'll be doing as far as security measures go here-"

But Dotty answered evenly as she went to the kitchen, "You go right ahead, Lee. I can hear perfectly well while I reheat the casserole for dinner. But if you ask me, all we really need is that baseball bat. We also have to remember to check and lock all the doors before going up for the night. And we all know how to dial 911 for the police should anything be wrong. Also, Boys. No going anywhere without telling us, hmm?"

Lee sighed joining Amanda and the boys on the couch and replied, "Yes. That's all well and good, Dotty. But I'm talking about intruders that would ignore the bat and instead go for the jugular-"

Dotty shook her head as she went to preheat the oven and chuckling lightly responded, "Oh for heaven's sakes, Lee. I've seen all the police shows and I can pretty much figure out how to stop a burglar-"

Lee thundered, "Enough with the TV crap, all right? This is real! This is what Amanda and I have to deal with on a daily basis! I don't appreciate you taking it so lightly!"

Dotty turning on him argued back crisply, "And I don't appreciate you putting my only daughter's life in danger for the last what, almost four years?! And to have her be so deceitful has really set a poor example for the boys-"

Jamie then yelled, "Stop it!"

The adults all shocked looked at him as he railed, " Lee, you and Phillip both screwed up the other night. But at least with our dad's job, he doesn't have to cover up anything much. Yeah, it's dangerous where he is also, but he doesn't kill people for a living!"

Then he shook his head and swallowed hard remarking, "And Mom? You always taught us to be honest and told us that guns are dangerous. And now we find out that you're learning how to use one? It doesn't really make sense to us that you're allowed to do that kind of job but we can't talk about it to anyone..."

Then Phillip finished with, "Yeah, Jamie's right. Dad's with the EAO, helping people that don't have what we have. Most of our friends have parents with normal jobs, Lee. At least if you were a cop, we could talk about it a little. But you're still asking us to lie by saying that you and Mom are filmmakers?"

He then gestured toward the stairs replying, "We're not hungry. We're going up...Goodnight."

As the boys left the room and headed upstairs Dotty got up and turning off the oven once more took the casserole out putting it on the stove and stated tiredly to Lee and Amanda, "Congratulations. You now have three people in this house that have lost their appetites tonight. I hope you're proud of yourselves...I have to tell you that it's going to take us some time to get used to this new way of living. We all still love you but we're hurting. So for now, can we shelve this discussion until we've had time to process it? I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight..."

As Dotty headed up slowly Lee clearing his throat responded quietly, "Whoa! Looks like I know how to clear a room."

When Amanda didn't answer Lee glanced at her and questioned softly, "What do you think, Honey? Can we get this family back to normal soon?"

Amanda shrugged and remarked gesturing slowly, "I dunno. Because there's your kind of normal and there's my kind of normal. What I think right now is that we should take a step back and let everything die down for a while and then revisit it later, okay?"

She got up and went over to the stove and covering the casserole with foil put it in the fridge and queried, "I'm going to check on the boys and then turn in. Do a little reading. Would you please lock up?"

Lee replied as she got to the landing,"Yeah. Oh. Tonight's garbage night, right?"

Amanda commented, "Yes. I forgot to ask Phillip to-"

But Lee put up his hand answering, "I've got it. Don't worry. I have to go out anyway. Just for a while. Be back soon."

Amanda gave a slight nod as she went up but didn't respond as Lee shaking his head grabbed his keys and left the house locking the front door behind him.

Going to the garage he pulled out the trash cans leaving them at the curb and then shut and locked the garage door and back door before going to his car.

Starting the car and pulling out he stated hurtfully," A step back, huh? Don't mind if I do..."

Shaking his head as he left the neighborhood he thought, Georgetown's looking better and better lately...

TBC