A rare occurrence was happening in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Kenny Rogers was home from work. A bigger, burlier man with a mustache so thick you could get lost in it, Kenny was rarely away from the love of his life: his boat. Yet today, it was his son's birthday, and rather than be out fishing in the deep blue Atlantic, he decided that he should surprise his little boy.

His son's name was Kenny Junior. Very original. But, most of the family called him Duck. If you ever let him talk to you, you'd understand why. After pulling up in his blue truck, Kenny walked up to his trailer house situated in a park within the city. He heard the loud sound of the television; his wife, Katjaa, rarely let Duck watch cartoons but when he did, he loved to blast the volume to 100. It sounded like he was watching a Super Dinosaur cartoon. He grabbed his key and unlocked the door. As he opened the door, he yelled "Honey, I'm home!" as if it was a 60s sitcom. Katjaa, was busy making Duck's favorite meal (pork pot pie) before she quickly turned around to face her husband. She put on a smile and ran over to Kenny, where she was quickly joined by the family dog, Franklin, and Duck, who jumped up from the floor to greet his dad.

"Kenny! I thought you said you weren't going to be able to come to shore today! How wonderful!" exclaimed Katjaa. She happily hugged him.

"Yeah, well I thought the same thing, but hell, I figure if you can take a break from that damn veterinary clinic of yours, I can take one away from my beautiful girl to go see my other beautiful girl," replied Kenny as he returned the hug. "And I figured I'd come to see you too, huh boy?" he said as he rubbed Duck's head. "Can't believe you're already 8!"

Katjaa frowned slightly. "Kenny, he's turning 9. You were kidding, right?"

Kenny took his hat off and scratched his head. "Well, uhh, that's what I meant... say, is that the smell of a burnin' pig infectin' my house? Hun, you sure know how to make a damn good pork pie. Why don't Duck and I go outside and play some catch so you can finish up dinner? Maybe afterwards, we can have some cake and ice cream, eh? How's that sound, Duck?" he laughed nervously as he grabbed Duck's hand to go towards the door. Katjaa did not look so amused.

"Yeah, maybe it would be good for you to actually spend time with your actual family and not on some boat." mumbled Kat.

"That sounds awesome, dad! I want to hear your boat stories!" the boy exclaimed as he willingly followed his dad outside.

Kenny grabbed an old baseball from the bed of his truck and tossed it toward Duck, who dropped it despite his best efforts. "No, no! Ya gotta focus, kid. Like you do at the damn television. Ya gotta let it come to you, don't try gettin' it too early or else it'll fall out of your hands. Toss it back to me and watch."

"Okay, dad! Did you catch any huge fish?!" he asked before weakly tossing it back to his dad, who had to bend down to catch it.

"Oh, son. Ya gotta throw it with more force than that! See, look." Kenny tossed it back with a bit more force. This time, Duck actually caught it though. "Good job!"

"Thanks, dad! Did you catch any, like, huge fish?!" Duck asked once more before tossing it back with more force than last time. Kenny, of course, caught it.

"Alright, I'm gonna go a bit harder. Are you ready?" Kenny asked. Before Duck could reply, however, he had a ball thrown right into his forehead. Kenny rushed over to him as he tripped backward. "Are you okay, Duck?"

Kenny expected the boy to cry, but instead, he laughed. "Yeah, I'm fine! Hey dad, did you catch any huge fish?" asked the boy as he rubbed a small bump on his head.

Kenny chuckled. "Yeah, son. I caught some really big fish." Katjaa yelled from the window that dinner was done. Kenny helped his boy up from the ground and the two walked back into the house together. After going inside, all three sat at the table with big slices of pork pot pie on their plates.

"So, Kenny, how has work been?" asked Kat.

After taking a big bite of his dinner, he replied "Great! I love it out there. Just me, the sea, and my precious girl. It's really nice, Kat!" He noticed her slight frown, however. "But that's not to say I don't miss y'all every single day... it's just, you know... someone has gotta make money, and between your doctorin' of dogs n' cats n' what not, and my fishin', we're doing pretty good... right, Kat?" Kenny pleaded for understanding with his eyes as he stared at her's.

"I get it, Kenny. I want Duck to be well off, and I know you do too. It's just that it'd be a little nice to have you around more, is all. I was thinking, maybe we could visit my sister in Memphis before the summer ends?" Her eyes returned Kenny's plea with a plea of her own.

He put more food into his mouth and looked down. "Kat, I... you know I have a few more months on the boat before winter, I have a quota to meet, you know that! Please understand... it was hard enough to get time off for today. Maybe next summer, I... I'll talk to the boss tomorrow when I leave. I'll tell em, next summer, me and the family, we're going to Tennessee. How's that sound?"

Katjaa smiled slightly. "It sounds nice, Kenny. I do wish it could be this year. I miss Louise and the kids." Katjaa looked over at Duck's already empty plate. He wasted no time finishing his pie. "How about cake and ice cream?"

Duck's eyes darted to his mom. "Wait, did you say we have to visit boring old Aunt Louise! Ugh, and her kids are so mean! Wait... did you say cake?!" Kenny and Katjaa chuckled. It was a nice night for the Florida family, the last one that Kenny would spend with them for another 3 months.