Friday, January 19th 11:15 PM
Stella paced her kitchen thinking. "He couldn't have gotten far on foot," Stella thought to herself. "My sincerest apologies, Ellis. I had no idea what he was thinking. You know how kids can be," Miles could be heard saying from the other room. "Don't worry he'll have something coming to him when he comes back. Thanks a lot. Take care," Miles finished his phone conversation and came into the kitchen. Stella looked up at her husband and began glaring. "What? I needed to make sure to smooth everything over with Dr. Kramer. Arnold really embarrassed me tonight. Who the hell does he think he is to embarrass us like that?" Miles said. "I don't know if you noticed sticking your nose so far up that guy's ass but our son ran away and has yet to come home! You said he seemed nervous, right?" Stella asked. "Well yeah, but he's always spazzy like that," Miles said. "No he's not, he only gets that way when…" Stella stopped short of mentioning Arnold's panic disorder. "Only what?" Miles said. "Arnold made me swear not to tell his father," Stella thought. Stella looked up at Miles. She couldn't tell her husband she was worried about their son was possibly suffering another panic attack. "Never mind. Why are we still here? We should be out looking for him. He's probably wondering downtown with only a jacket!" Stella began worrying again. "Stells, I drove all over downtown for two hours searching for him. He wasn't anywhere. He's not dumb, he's gone up and down every inch of this city by himself. He can get around. He's probably at Gerald's or something. Avoiding me because he knows what's waiting for him when he gets back," Miles said, his jaw tightening.
"He was sweating though?" Stella asked. "Yeah, what does it matter? I was the one who he embarrassed by running out while we were being treated to dinner!" Miles began shouting at his wife. "This is your son, don't you give a shit about why he may have ran out? He doesn't do things like that. He's a good kid, a smart kid. He doesn't just do these things without a reason!" Stella yelled back. "Oh he doesn't? Everything he's done since he turned fifteen is out of character for him. I knew we'd go through this teenage rebellion bullshit but does it have to happen just as we're about to get him out the door?" Miles said. "He's never once rebelled against me!" Stella said. "Oh course not, you do nothing but coddle the kid! You don't push him to do anything! You're always just cool without whatever frivolous or bone headed thing he does! You offer him no structure at all!" Miles said. Stella stood incensed being screamed at by her husband. "Oh I'm the problem here? No, I don't think so buddy! You offer him zero compassion or empathy!" Stella said poking Miles in his chest. "Oh here we go with this new age crap, once again!" Miles said. "Shut it! Let me tell you something. You've become a stranger to your son. You don't talk to him when you see him. You ask for a progress report. As if his life is in service to your legacy! That's even if you're here. Half the month your traveling. Book signings, lectures, dig sites. You have a fucking family at home! What the hell are you doing traveling like that?!" Stella yelled back. "I'm making sure that our names mean something in educated circles! I'm making sure that my research is put forth so people can build on it!" Miles yelled again. "Don't get upset with me because your work is stale." Miles said. Stella scrunched her face at hearing that. "I am not stale in my work! I'm actually happy to be running a lab! I'm happy to go to one place everyday and to come home. I don't feel the need to act like I'm twenty years old and single!" Stella shot back at her husband. "I don't need to…" Miles began when he was interrupted. "You would know all that if you were home! If you talked to your family! When I say you're a stranger to your son, I fucking mean it. In your mind he's supposed to be this project for you to work on, build up and show how awesome you are. He's his own person! He has passions. He has dreams. Just because you think he should fit in some box doesn't mean he's eager to jump in and try to contort himself," Stella walked over to the other side of the kitchen. She rested both her hands on the counter, and exhaled heavily. She felt Miles behind her. He was a cloud that filled the room.
"I'm sorry, Stells," Miles said. "You're fucking right you are," Stella said still facing the counter. Suddenly she felt her cell phone buzzing. She pulled the phone out, but did not recognize the number. "Hello?" she said answering the phone. "Mrs. Shortman, it's Helga," Helga said on the other end of the line. "Helga! Is Arnold with you? Is he alright?" Stella pleaded into the phone. Miles looked up at this. "Yes, he's with me. He… called me and asked to come get him. He's fine now," Helga said. "Helga…" Stella looked over shoulder to make sure Miles was out of earshot. "Did he have an attack? Is he alright?" Stella whispered into the phone. "He did, at the restaurant. He called and asked me to come and get him. I got him out of there. He took his pill, and now he's with me. He's breathing and everything," Helga said. "Oh thank god," Stella said. "Thank you Helga, for taking care of him. Are you guys alright, where are you?" Stella asked. "Well… we're at my house now. He just needed some outside air and to get away from the business at the restaurant," Helga said. "I'll have him home in a half hour. I'm just making sure he's alright," Helga said. "I understand, Helga. We were just really worried," Stella said. "I know, I just turned his phone off so there was nothing stressing him. He made me call you to let you know where he was," Helga said. Stella smiled knowing her son was alright, and trying to be considerate. Stella turned around looking at Miles. "Tell him, it's alright to come home. There won't be any issues. For the moment at least," Stella said. "I'll let him know," Helga said. "Thank you, Helga" Stella hung up her phone and exhaled again. "Alright, Shortman. Here's what's going to happen: Arnold is going to come home at some point soon. You are not to bring up what happened tonight. You will let it go, for now. For tonight and for the next few days you are not to bring this up," Stella said pointing her finger at Miles. "Why are you trying to protect him so much?" Miles asked. "I am because you're starting to show just how much of an asshole you can be," Stella said.
"Fine. I'll drop it," Miles said. "Good," Stella said. "We're not done having this conversation, pal," Stella said bringing her enraged face close to his. He looked back at her, the stern brown eyes she had married. "Fine," Miles said crossing his arms. "One other thing," Stella said. "If I ever hear that you laid a hand on him again, you and I are gonna have a problem," Stella said. Miles looked apprehensive as she said that. She walked past Miles and headed for the stairs. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to him once more. "By the way, use your brain a little. We never hit him when he was ten, why the hell do you think it would be productive now?" Stella said. She stopped once more and said, "Oh, and again, use your brain. He has no reason to be scared of you physically. You're in shape, but in case you didn't notice. He's quite a bit bigger than you and half your age. If you take a swing at him and he decides one day to swing back, he's gonna hit you a lot harder than you can hit him," Stella finished and stormed up the stairs. "Get up here and come to bed!" Stella yelled from up the stairs. Miles jumped at the command and made his way up the stairs.