Ray awoke, this most recent of many mornings, to an empty house. Not so many years ago, it was a nexus of life and activity. Even mischief was, to a certain extent, tolerable. ~What have I brought upon myself?~ he wondered. He looked inside Reggie's room, now austere with a plain twin bed, an empty closet and chest of drawers. What had been Otto's room was now barren, with a bare mattress on the floor; his son had bartered away most of the room's decor within the past year or so and had ultimately given away the blue Cadillac bed to the sole surviving son of the family mechanic. Ray had been okay with that; Otto was growing and his tastes were evolving. Ray then went back downstairs to the master bedroom, and opened the safe. He paused for an eternity of minutes, gazing at the spine of a special photo album he kept in there. Then without touching anything he secured the safe. He blindly snatched a volume from the book shelf. Randomly he selected a page and began to read. ~Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath... ...Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same he shall receive from the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, knowing that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him...~ (Ephesians, Ch. 6) He continued to read, then realized the lateness of time and got ready for work. Tito was already opening up at the Shore Shack, and from the dish room Ray on his arrival could hear a great noise of blasting water and crashing aluminum. "Tito, what's going on here? Who is this ...person in my dish room??" Ray stammered. "In *your* dish room?" answered Tito. ".Oh! I'd like you to meet Wilbur. He enjoys washing dishes, is absolutely terrified of the ocean, and as far as I can determine has no interest at all in acting, skateboarding, roller skating, or hockey. Wilbur!!" Tito bellowed, "come out heah an meet yo uddah boss!!" "Aight suh!!" answered a voice from the back. The work noise stopped, and a moment later a pale looking fellow in glasses emerged wearing an apron and a paper hat. "Goo morning Meestah Rocket. I hope everything good?" "Yes, ...fine," Ray briefly looked around the place and answered Wilbur with quiet hesitation. "Wilbur, you will excuse us for a moment. I have to talk with Tito, privately." "Yes suh," Wilbur answered in an accent Ray couldn't quite place, as he returned to his chores. "Tito, just what the *hell* do you think you're doing?" inquired Ray. "Nothing I don't have authority to do," Tito answered. "Retaining outside help is--" "--Allowed under article nine paragraph three of our contract of incorporation, and something we've actually been in a position to do for quite some time now, though some of us may have chosen to remain ignorant of that option. Paragraph four also says, that 'each principal may hire, and the company shall employ, such qualified members of the general public as may be needed from time to time to care for the business,' etcetera, etcetera. Face it, cuz: you haven't wanted to qualify a successor, you just want free labor in the kitchen. You say you want your kids to become wise and independent, and you wig out when your boy is awarded a four-year free ride at college. No expense to you." Tito drew a breath. "What's gotten into you, man? I been tryin' to analyze your situation and more and more I don't like what I see: it's like you have this compulsive pathological need to be in absolute and total command of *somebody*. That *scares* me. It's *normal* for people to grow up and move on. So what if it took Otto a little while longer than normal to bloom? Why does it bother you that he wants to evolve? I feel sorry for you, man." Ray sighed. "I wish I knew. And *that* scares me..."
"I just don't like the idea of having a 22 year old freshman. It's just too late to do these kind of things," said Ray. Tito just slapped his head on his face, "Let's face it, Ray, you've become a control freak. So what if he's 22? In the grand scheme of things that's not too much older than 18 or
19, and his brain is catching up more to his body." Tito further said, "...and the development of his brain is catching up more to that of his body. That's the nature of a lot of "learning disabilities" to begin with. Otto is developing the where-with-all to become a fine man,
and you'll be surprised in a few years." It was a slap in the face to Ray. Tito was right. Ray was so busy trying to
control Otto, that he never thought of his dreams, his feelings and his thoughts. Now, his relationship with his own son would be soured forever if
he didn't do something. He decided to give Otto a call.
Meanwhile, Otto was studying scripts to the Shakespeare play, Othello, when the phone rang. "Hello?" Otto asked. "Hello, Otto. Listen..." "Ray, I don't want you butting into my life! Good day!" Otto slammed the phone. Twister and Reggie wondered what was bugging Otto. "Hey, Otto-man," asked Twister.
"What's bugging you?" Otto just replied, "My dad. Any more questions?" Reggie understood what was going on. Ray was trying to make amends with his
son, but Otto was SO angry that he just refused to listen to anything.
Reggie said, "Otto, I know you're angry at your father for holding you back, but I think he wanted to apologize." "What does it matter anymore? He doesn't support what I want to do. He's never listened to me, so why should I listen to him?" Reggie had a plan in mind. It would require the help of
Tito though.
"Hey, Rocket Boy," Reggie said. "How about you and I go to the Shack to
celebrate?" Otto nodded. Reggie asked Otto to go wait out in the car. Reggie then called Ray, "Hey Dad, how about you and I go eat at the Shack?
Just father and daughter." Ray asked, "Are you not mad at me anymore?" Reggie laughed, "Of course not, Dad, do you want to go out and eat?" "Sure!
I'll see you there about 6," Ray replied. "Good deal, Dad." Reggie hoped that Tito would keep this a secret. After all, Tito had been known to slip information out to other people that didn't need to know it.
Like the time that Merv was afraid of tiny sand crabs. And Tito had to
mention it in the town meeting. Reggie and Otto hopped into the car, unknowing to Otto that he would be seeing his dad very shortly. An elaborate scheme that Reggie hoped neither Ray or Otto would catch what was going on. They arrived shortly before 6,
about 5 minutes till then. Otto hopped out of Reggie's Corvette. "Hey, careful there, Otto, I still
have a few months to pay on that car." "Sorry, I'm just excited," he replied. "Let's go eat! I need some serious grindage!" Reggie thought to
herself, "Some things never change." "Table for 3!" Reggie shouted. Tito said, "You got it! I'll have your food ready in a jiffy! For my nickname is Tito "Iron Man" Makani, Jr." "Yeah, right," said Otto. "He couldn't keep up with us, remember? But he was still
cool even then." "So, who's the third to eat with us? Twister?" Reggie
said, "Let's just say, it's someone you know pretty well." Then, Ray showed up at the table. Otto just hollered "GET HIM OUT OF HERE! He's not my dad!" Reggie said, "Calm down, Otto!" Otto started to go after
his father again, but Reggie restrained him. Ray just shook his head. "Otto, I'm sorry about this. I should have supported you all along, and all
I did was control you." "Control ME? All you did was ruin my life! You humiliated me in front of a whole crowd of people in the Shack. People must think I'm some kind of loser to live with you." Ray and Otto continued to
exchange insults. Reggie just snapped.

She just wanted to play peacemaker, but the fighting had to stop. "Everybody! Shut up!" Reggie yelled. "I'm tired of you two fighting. If I can't help you stop fighting, then this opportunity for Otto is no good! I'm taking a walk down the pier and when I come back, I want you to come to
some sort of agreement!" Reggie just stormed out. Her plan obviously backfired. What would it take to get these two to cooperate and get along?

TO BE CONTINUED...