The argument
Today Lynn Loud Sr., the father of eleven spent a rather hectic day at his restaurant Lynn's Table and the man was extremely exhausted when stepping through the front door. By this time Lola's seven minutes in the corner had ended a minute ago and she Lana were parked on the sofa watching their favorite cartoons. Every day before starting dinner for the entire family, Lynn Sr. would rest his weary self inside his bedroom for ten minutes. When he first opened the restaurant he made the decision to keep it closed on Sundays in order to stay home with his family and prep dinners for the entire week. He then stored them in a freezer he bought for that purpose. The habitual noises commonplace among the siblings was noticeable absent since Rita told everyone to finish their homework or just watch TV.
Later that night, with the children in their beds, Rita checked the windows and doors to ensure they were locked before getting dressed for bed. Earlier while the family ate dinner, Rita's mind had drifted to the incidents caused by Luan, Lola, and Lynn Jr. as everyone ate the spaghetti and meatballs. Lynn Sr had noticed her distant demeanor but thought nothing of it.
As Lynn Sr. entered their bedroom after brushing his teeth, Rita was already under the covers on her side of the bed. While Lynn Sr. started putting on his pajamas, Rita decided to speak.
"Honey Lola, Luan and LJ really tried my patience this afternoon, time we really put some boundaries on the kids especially those three and Lisa," Rita admitted.
She noticed her husband's jerking his shoulders a bit in apprehension and looked slightly afraid.
"I think it's time Luna, Luan and Lynn have more responsibilities, we could give LJ the responsibility to feed one of the pets, say Geo, and Luna and Luan could help at the restaurant sometimes. I know you'd rather not have them work at the restaurant but, she said as Lynn Sr. walked over to his side of the bed.
"Honey lets discuss these issues another time, today was a hectic day at the restaurant," he pleaded in a weary tone as he pulled down the sheets on his side.
On Friday a few days later while Rita and Lynn Sr. watched the evening news and the kids relaxed in their bedrooms the doorbell rang. Opening it, Rita saw one of their neighbors standing there.
"Hello Mrs. Foster, what can we do for you?" Rita asked smiling warmly.
"Evening Mr. and Mrs. Loud, I just want to ask both of you a favor, my daughter Claire just gave birth to our first grandchild three days ago and we offered Claire and her husband to stay with us temporarily since their apartment was infested with termites and they have to vacate the premises. They're arriving tomorrow morning."
"That's a shame," Lynn Sr. interjected in sympathy.
"What did they have, a boy or girl?" Rita asked.
"It's a girl they named her Cherish, so I'm asking could you please ask your kids to tone down on the loud noise so my grandchild doesn't get disturbed when she's sleeping," was the response.
Lynn Sr. responded in a way nobody had expected though with a snarl crossing the father of elevens face.
"Excuse me, you have some nerve telling us we should control our kids behavior, we refuse to stifle their freedom of expression," Lynn Sr. retorted then frowned.
"But, but all I'm asking is for some quiet," the neighbor protested.
"Mrs. Foster, my wife and I aren't home all the time, it would be impossible for us to control them during our absence. You might enjoy a quieter life but our family doesn't so don't expect them to keep silent twenty four seven," he said harshly.
Totally angered at his response, Mrs. Foster replied, "You'd rather them behave anyway they want towards their neighbors just because they're kids?'
Lynn Sr. remained with his arms folded in a haughty manner.
"Honey relax," Rita urged her infuriated husband, placing a hand on his right shoulder to pacify him.
Their neighbor sighed in frustration then tried reasoning with the couple one more time.
"At least ask them to show some consideration in the mornings," Mrs. Foster implored.
Lynn Sr. kept his arms folded as Rita gave a courteous smile to their neighbor and replied, "We'll pass on the info to the children."
Without another word, Mrs. Foster turned around to return home.
Rita began feeling a mix of embarrassment and annoyance about her husband's outburst seconds ago as she locked the front door.
Once the couple stepped inside their bedroom Rita couldn't contain herself from showing her displeasure towards her husband.
"Lynn how the heck could you speak that way to Mrs. Foster," she began.
Turning around to face his wife, Lynn Sr. saw the irate expression on her face and began defending himself with a loud voice.
"Dear that lady had no authority to demand how our kids should behave, remember we agreed they could express themselves freely," Lynn Sr. insisted, the couple unaware their younger daughters walking inside the bathroom at this very moment to brush their teeth.
Without saying a word to each other, the girls gathered around the bathroom vent to eavesdrop as Rita continued speaking vehemently.
"So, you'd rather them not have any consideration towards their neighbors? Luna, Luan, and LJ are way too old to be acting like five year olds. We need to reconsider this hands off parenting ideal before our neighbors start petitioning to remove us from the neighborhood," Rita stated.
'Come on hon, you know that LJ, Luan, and the twins have…," he protested, before getting interrupted.
"Don't you use their ADHD diagnosis to excuse their behavior, all we do is enable them," Rita continued getting furious.
"What do you mean enable them?" Lynn Sr. shouted heatedly.
"You know when it comes to the kids especially the girls we let so many things slide, LJ taking us to watch sports events and making us do those embarrassing good luck rituals so her team can win, Lunas loud music, Lola's tattling and look at what we go through every April Fools with Luan, all we do is ground her for a week and make her clean up the mess she made," Rita continued loudly.
"What should we do, place them on the medication Dr. Larkin suggested years ago," he added.
"Of course not," Rita declared angrily, "We're somewhat to blame for them being out of control."
"Well they'll grow out of it, they will soon act as responsible as Lori," he continued.
Rita responded by raising her arms up in the air in absolute frustration while her husband continued defending their daughters.
"I give up, Lynn, just continue condoning everything the girls do," Rita said in frustration.
Lynn Sr. made his way over to his side of the dresser to retrieve his pajamas.
"I'm going to check the doors and windows," Rita said before leaving.
Inside the bathroom, the girls stayed around the vent when the arguing stopped, unsure if their parents would begin arguing again, but after a minute of silence, they moved away from the vent and got their toothbrushes on the bathroom sink to start brushing their teeth.
Next morning the sun shone brightly through the master bedroom window, rousing the mother of eleven from her slumber. Rita had endured somewhat of a restless night, getting out of bed once to prepare warm milk to relieve her stressed mind. Part of her stress was as a result of replaying in her mind over and over again the angry words exchanged last night between her and Lynn Sr.
Another thing to worry about was the fact April Fool's Day was around the corner which meant Luan would subject everyone to her usual over the top and sometimes dangerous pranks.
Just as Rita walked towards the door, her husband entered the room. Rita stopped in her tracks as Lynn Sr placed his left hand lovingly on her shoulder then planted a kiss on her left cheek.
"Morning hon, sleep well," he began, hoping to break the ice.
However the usual affection he expected from Rita at moments like these didn't happen, instead she stiffened a bit which puzzled her husband of twenty years.
'What no morning kiss," he asked in a joking way, but Rita remained icy.
"She's still upset about last night, I should probably do something about it," he thought.
Then Rita replied, "Morning Lynn," before leaving.