Companion to spirit

Prompt 8 – Cracker
Prompt 9 – Angel

Despite a punch in the arm from Ryan, Seth kept his tight hold of the beloved Captain Oats. He did agree to go back to the house if Ryan would stop yelling at him.

As predicted, he wasn't met with what one could call a warm welcome. His mother cut her eyes at him from her position on the couch. Summer shook her head as she took in his appearance. His hair had leaves sticking out of it and his clothes were covered in dirt. Taylor was the only one who looked even remotely sympathetic to his plight.

Seth refused to let this shake him. He was not wrong. He may have acted inappropriately. Clearly he shouldn't have ever even considered bestowing Sophie with Captain Oats. But his reason was perfectly reasonable. This was Captain Oats for crying out loud.

No. He resolved firmly. He wasn't flinching from his decision.

Of course, that was before his father came down the stairs. He was out of breath and beads of sweat were forming on his hairline. To begin with, Sandy had been so focused on regulating his breathing that he hadn't noticed Seth had returned. Once he did notice, Seth really wished he hadn't.

His eyes were full of so much fury and disbelief that Seth could not hold them with his own. His gaze turned to the living room and he looked upon his mother's face. What he saw frightened him further. He'd seen that look before. He knew his mother could get his father to do anything. Murder another person? Most likely. All she had to do was give him a certain look and he was butter.

Of course, there was another face telling him to do whatever he deemed necessary. This was the face she gave Sandy when he disciplined Seth. Crap.

"I hope," Sandy finally broke the silence. "That you are satisfied."

Seth should have known that was a rhetorical statement. "So she's pretty upset, huh?"

"Yeah, I'd say so! It took a promise of a lifetime supply of animal crackers, two rounds with me as her personal horse before she quit wailing. Then afterwards, two more rounds of galloping around on all fours." Sandy was breathless. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Seth tried to look like the innocent angel he was. "I'm sorry."

"You're damn right you're sorry!" Sandy shouted. "Now give me that stupid horse!" His hand stretched out.

"No," Seth looked at his father as if he were insane.

"Excuse me?" Sandy asked. "It's a plastic horse. You are twenty-five."

"You cannot have him!" Seth shouted back as Kirsten decided to intervene.

She approached her husband, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Sandy, we can get Sophie her own horse."

With his eyes still fixed on Seth, Sandy growled. "You promised her."

Seth's eyes fell from his father's onto the floor. Kirsten got in between her husband and her son.

She forced Sandy to look at her. "Sandy," she started, giving him her own angel eyes. "It'll be alright."

Sandy remained as tense as he had been for about a minute before he let out a big sigh and relaxed a tiny bit. He spoke quietly to his wife though he could still be heard.

"Okay. But you're on horse riding duty until we buy the toy." He teased her. She smiled back.

"I'll go to the store now." She grabbed her purse from the table in the foyer and reached for her jacket, bringing Sandy his as well. "You coming too?"

"Yes," he answered softly as he threaded his arms through the coat sleeves. He looked back at Seth. "Don't ever do that again."