DISCLAIMER: Spot Conlon and Jack Kelly don't belong to us!
A.N: HEY! I know it's been a long time, lol, but I've been majorly busy with school and such. Guess what, though! I'm finally done with high school for the rest of my life, and all of grade school for that matter! W00t w00t! And even better, I got my first job at Sea World the other day, lol…as did several of my friends! So it'll be one heck of a summer!
As for this story, we're missing the first….mmm, page or so of it because Dimples wrote it to me in a letter and I can't find it! Ahhhh! This is, by the way, her chapter, lol. At the time she had no computer access and so I was in charge of uploading it. . But once we find this excerpt that has gone into the kingdom of the Lost, we shall add it to the story!!! Thanks to all who are reviewing!!!! YOU GUYS ROCK!
A Tale of Two Familes, Trying to Make it as One
"Where are your servants?" Connor asked, confused, as the Kelly children began to help unload the carriages. Ty glanced at him in disbelief and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"We don't have any," he replied, and motioned for the boy to help him move a bag of luggage. Connor didn't seem to notice as he was still revolted at the thought of not having someone to make his bed or clean up after him. He turned back to Ty and asked, "You mean they're not here now? Like they're on vacation?"
Rhett, seeing that the boy still did not understand, chose to intervene. "We don't need any servants. We have a few cowhands that help my dad with the animals, but we don't have any cooks or maids."
Connor rocked back on his heels in puzzlement and silently walked to where J.P. was standing and scowling for no apparent reason like usual. He relayed the information he had just learned to his older brother who simply smirked and told him to live with it, or in this case, without it.
Ethan splashed his face with water in the kitchen. He had never done this much work in his life, and he had been here for ten minutes! He hoped his father had already lined up some interviews so they wouldn't have to stay long. He already missed Brooklyn, the smells, the noises, the girls. He sighed and walked out to where everyone was gathered outside. He ducked to the back and looked over at the Kelly's. They actually seemed nice, he had to admit. But he was still disgusted with the thought that these people raised animals for a living. His thoughts were interrupted as his father jabbed him in the ribs and looked at him expectantly. He looked at his father in shock.
"Say your name," J.P., who stood right next to him, whispered in his ear.
"Ethan," he automatically responded and looked his father. He rubbed his side and scowled as his mother looked at him expectantly. "What?"
"Tell them something about yourself," she whispered to him as she motioned to the Kelly's.
"I. . .um, play baseball," he said, hopeful that that would be acceptable and they would find another victim. J.P. was next, and knowing that if he was the hellion to the Kelly's that he was to his family, he would find himself in much deeper trouble than he could imagine. It was one thing to be rude to your family; it was another to be impolite to strangers.
"Hello, I am J.P.," he said in his most pleasant voice, which caused his siblings to turn and gape at him. He simply smirked back at them in satisfaction.
"What do you like to do?" A small innocent voice inquired of him. J.P. turned and saw the speaker looked like the youngest of the Kelly boys. Oh, what was his name? Lou, Larry, something like that.
"I like to read novels. Dark ones. Brutal murders, suicides, things like that. Ever heard of Edgar Allan Poe?" He smiled at the boy's confusion and shrugged at the disapproving look his mother was giving him.
"No, could you read some of it to me sometime?"
Amy chose to intervene and gently tapped her son on the shoulder. "Maybe when you're older, Luke."
Luke nodded and smiled at J.P. as the latter stood there shocked. No arguments? No pleadings? Just a simple nod in acceptance of his mother's decree? He shook his head in disapproval. He needed to reform the boy. Soon.
The rest of the Conlon children introduced themselves and the Kelly's followed suit. The children were being civilized to each other, which was a definite plus. After a briefing of the household rules by Jack and Amy, the Conlon's were shown around the Kelly estate. All of the Conlon children were shocked to find that the Kelly children shared rooms with each other, especially since it seemed that the house was big enough for each child to have a room of their own.
"So where do we sleep?" Ethan asked as he gestured to his brothers and sister. He had seen one spare bedroom on the second floor and presumed that there was an official guest bedroom downstairs, which he assumed was where his parents would stay. Still, one bedroom was a very tight squeeze for six children. Jack looked at Amy, who nodded at him to take the initiative to answer Ethan's question.
"Well, see, we weren't exactly sure how many of you there were, so this is just a plan that we came up with a short while ago. Ruthie, isn't it? You can stay with Felicity and Adelaide in their room. We have a spare cot you can sleep on or if one of the girls is willing, you can share a bed."
Ruthie smiled at the chance to be sharing a room with girls for once. She and her mother were the only females of the Conlon household so it was a very special opportunity for her to be able to room with other girls. She grinned at the two Kelly girls and hugged her doll close to her small chest as she walked over to them. Seeing the little girl's glee, Jack smiled and continued reading the list of room assignments aloud.
"Ethan, J.P., Connor, and Rhett, you all can stay in the boy's room right now. There's already a bunk in there and we'll try to take the single bed out and replace it with another bunk bed tomorrow," he informed them and watched as they slowly accepted that the four of them would be sharing a room.
"We have another extra cot someone can use for tonight," he added as they seemed to calculate in their minds that there was only room for three of them for the night. They seemed to nod in understanding as Rhett volunteered to take the cot. Jack turned to the youngest children of the two families and told them that they would be staying in the upstairs guest room.
"So that means that Ty, Luke, Andy, and Neeko will be sharing a room. We can put a lot of blankets and sheets down for tonight and tomorrow we'll see about getting you all some cots or even a bunk. Sound good?" He asked them, to which they all nodded.
"Sir?" A soft voice called his attention to the smallest boy of the Conlon crew. The boy coughed and covered his mouth as he wheezed. Jack knelt down and rubbed his back as he inquired as to what was wrong.
"Is there a lamp I can use as a nightlight? Sometimes I get scared of the dark," he whispered to Jack and tightened his grip on the teddy bear he constantly carried around as he meekly looked at the ground.
"I bet we can find one," Jack replied as he smiled at the boy and ruffled his hair. No sooner had he risen up when the young boy began to wheeze and have another fit of coughing. Jack smiled sadly at the boy and made a mental note to ask Spot about the boy's recurring bouts of coughing. He left the children to organize their rooms and sleeping arrangements as he made his way to help Amy with dinner.
"So how is everyone?" Amy asked as she stirred the spaghetti noodles in the pot of boiling water and glanced up at her husband.
"About as well as I could imagine, given the situation," he told her as he kissed her cheek and retrieved some tomatoes to slice for a sauce for their meal. They made small talk as they continued to prepare the meal and set the table. It had been decided that the adults and older children (Felicity, Rhett, Ethan, and J.P.) would eat in the dining room while the younger children and one unlucky adult would be seated at the dinette set adjacent to the kitchen. It had crossed their minds that they could separate by families and let the Conlon's have the dining room or dinette set by themselves, but it was quickly disregarded as a way to deter the families from interacting, especially since they had no idea how long the present situation would last. Spot and Dewey entered the kitchen as Amy finished with the pasta.
"It smells wonderful," Dewey complimented Amy as she leaned over the counter to glance at the meal.
"Thank you, I hope spaghetti is alright with everyone," Amy replied as she drained the water from the pot.
"Oh it's fine. We actually haven't had it in awhile," Dewey said as she retrieved some glasses from the cupboard. "I'm sorry I didn't help with dinner tonight. We unpacked and then I went to help the kids with unpacking."
"That's okay. There really wasn't much to do anyway," Amy told her as the children began to walk in. She was pleased that the children were getting along for the moment. She glanced up just in time to see Ethan and J.P. seat themselves at the dinette set, waiting to be served.
"Umm, boys…in this house you serve yourselves. Okay?" She was uncomfortable correcting someone else's children and whispered a silent apology as the boys filled their plates.
"Also, Ethan, J.P., Rhett, and Felicity, you all are sitting with the adults in the dining room," she added and looked down to see Adelaide tugging on her apron.
"Mommy, why don't we get to eat dinner with you and Daddy?" The child asked, carefully trying to balance her own plate and select a glass for herself at the same time. Amy, seeing a mess in the near future, grabbed a cup for her, filled it with milk, and gave it to her daughter.
"Well, an adult will sit with you all tonight. We'll rotate so Daddy or I will sit with you every other night," she answered her daughter and sent her on her way to sit at the dinette set. No sooner had Amy filled a plate for herself and was about to retrieve a cup for dinner when Adelaide reappeared in the kitchen, an indignant look on her face.
"Mommy!! Andy took my seat!!" She informed her mother, her hands on her hips, a frown evident on her face. Andy was next to enter the kitchen, a perplexed look on his face as he attempted to explain to his mother that he had no idea what he had done. Amy solved the problem immediately by convincing Adelaide to let Andy sit in her seat and the former could sit in another seat for the night. The conclusion seemed to work for the moment and both families prepared for the blessing. Adelaide insisted that she say the prayer, and so all of the Kelly's and Conlon's bowed their heads as she began.
"Dear God, thank you for this day and thank you for the Conlon's coming to stay with us. Please watch over us and bless Mommy, Daddy, Luke, Ty, Felicity, and Rhett and also Mr. Conlon and Mrs. Conlon and Ethan, I think that's his name, and Ruthie, J.P., Neeko, Andy, and the other one, umm Connor, that's it. Please keep us all healthy and safe. Amen," She finished and heard several amen's in approval. Spot had volunteered to sit with the younger children, and so the two families' first dinner seemed to be quite peaceful, hopefully a premonition of what was to come.
The younger children, fascinated with the strands of noodles that seemed to be infinite in length laughed as they twirled the food around their forks. Spot found that sitting with the younger children wasn't half bad, for the Kelly children were quite sociable and asked him many questions about life back in Brooklyn. Andy was eating the spaghetti so rapidly that a drop of his sauce landed on Ty's arm. Ty, noticing the red speck on his arm, glanced up at Andy who seemed to be too entranced with spinning the spaghetti on his fork to notice. He cleared his throat and nudged the boy's leg under the table, but Andy simply continued to eat his dinner. Frustrated with the boy, Ty took matters into his own hands and picked up a strand of spaghetti. He flung it across the table at the younger boy and smiled in satisfaction as it landed right on Andy's hand that held his fork.
"Hey!" Andy exclaimed in offense as he removed the noodle from his hand. "Who did that?"
Ty cast his eyes downward and grinned at the thought that he had gotten away with his criminal act. He looked up just in time to see Andy load a meatball onto his fork in order to retaliate. He raised his hands in defense, but Andy's aim was poor and so instead of hitting Ty, Adelaide was the victim of the meatball shot. She screeched as the meatball hit her in the chest and fell to the ground. Spot, who was in the kitchen refilling his glass, walked into the makings of what could be a terrible food fight and looked to see that Ruthie seemed to be the only one not trying to hit another child with a piece of food. All of the others seemed so excited at the prospect of making a mess and shrieking in pleasure that they hardly noticed his presence until he decided to step in and stop all of the chaos.
"Alright, quit throwing food," he ordered, his temper already starting to flare up. He took all of the utensils from the children's hands and was in the process of taking their plates away when Jack and Dewey entered the kitchen, their hands full from clearing the dining room table.
"What happened?" Dewey asked as she placed the plates in the sink and looked at her children's faces. Each one seemed to have some type of spaghetti sauce smear on their cheeks and guilty looks on their faces.
"He started it," Ty and Andy said at the same time, each motioning to the other. They glared at each other and crossed their arms over their chests, neither looking like they would admit to being the culprit. Spot chose to step in and answer for the otherwise silent charges.
"It looks to me like they had the makings of a food fight going," he told Jack and Dewey, his voice stern. "They're all guilty because they didn't stop it."
"It's okay Spot," Jack replied and looked at the children, trying to keep the situation under control without losing his temper. One of them getting angry was bad, but both of them would be a nightmare. "Let's just clean all of them up. Y'all had your fun. Now you have to clean up."
Spot stood there in silent awe of Jack. The old Jack would have yelled at them and demanded an answer as to who started it. Now he just seemed to let things go. He was jolted back to present by Dewey who asked him to help pick up the last of the food strewn on the table. After dinner, the two families split up to do some miscellaneous jobs. Dewey offered to clean the dishes and enlisted Spot to help her dry them while Amy set up the cots and made some makeshift beds for the boys.
"Even though you all are not exactly used to these living conditions, I will remind you that this is not the Waldorf so feel free to help out anytime," she commented when she noticed that the boys just seemed to stand there as she made their beds and made no move to help her set up the cots. The boys, a bit taken aback by her comment, slowly began to help out, and in the process, Amy taught all of the Conlon boys how to make their own beds.
It was about eight o'clock when the Kelly children began to take showers and get ready for bed. The Conlon's were puzzled as each child seemed to obey without complaint and prepared to go to bed. Back in Brooklyn, it was considered a blessing to have all of the children bathed and in bed by eleven. Dewey commented about this to Amy in wonder as she watched the children file into the living room for their bedtime story.
"How do you do it? I haven't heard them complain once," Dewey told her, envious of the way the children actually obeyed their parents.
"They know the rules. It's up to them to follow them or be punished," Amy replied as she folded some towels. "Their bedtime is nine o'clock. They need to be in bed at nine, not brushing their teeth, or combing their hair. If they aren't in bed, they know that they lose their privileges or they may get extra chores to do tomorrow. Mostly though I think they're trying to show off for guests."
Dewey had to laugh at this as Amy added, "We won't enforce those rules on your kids though. We're not their parents. That's up to you and Spot."
Dewey nodded in understanding and replied, "I've tried to get them to go to bed earlier. Mostly it was a losing battle though. They refused, even when I said that there were consequences."
"Just be firm about it," Amy told her, "hopefully tonight they'll be so tired from moving that they won't argue."
Both women laughed at the thought and went to the living room where they found their children and husbands sprawled out in various places, listening to Jack read the story of Robin Hood. Jack even attempted to incorporate the deep voice of Friar Tuck and the soft voice of Maid Marian as he intently read to them. Soon many of the children's eyelids began to flutter as they tried to stay up and hear the end of the story. Jack finished a few moments later, and the Conlon and Kelly children who were still awake made their way to their designated rooms for the night. Spot gathered Connor in his arms, for the child had dozed off and carried him upstairs as Jack copied the action with Adelaide. Soon all of the children were in their beds, most of them asleep before their heads hit the pillow. Jack, Amy, Dewey, and Spot all told the children goodnight and smiled in great satisfaction at the prospect that their children were getting along so well. Jack and Amy retired to their bedroom, leaving Spot and Dewey to some peace and quiet as they got ready for bed.
"I love you," Dewey smiled as her husband whispered in her ear and shared a kiss with her.
"I love you too," she replied as they broke apart and lay down in their bed. She had just turned the light out when Spot whispered her name and caressed her shoulder.
"Lily, do ya think that Jack read the kids the Robin Hood story on purpose? Y'know, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor and stuff?" Spot asked his wife as he played with a ringlet of her hair. Dewey looked at him, perplexed and sighed.
"Spot, he probably didn't give it any thought. He found a book and read it. It means nothing," she told her husband and looked over at him, his features still questioning the action.
"Okay," he conceded and gave her one more kiss. "Good night."
"Night Spot," Lily replied and slipped into a dreamless sleep.
In the master bedroom Amy sighed contently as she bookmarked a page in the book she was reading and gazed at her husband.
"You know what I just realized?" she asked as she laid the book on the nightstand and snuggled closer to Jack, "we have eleven children in this house now. Eleven."
Jack smiled at her and replied, "Plus four adults. That's fifteen people in all."
Amy's chocolate eyes sparkled in astonishment. She smiled and declared, "We can make it work."
Both laughed softly and soon fell asleep in each other's arms, each wondering what would be in store for them for the next few weeks.
The next morning was fortunately a Saturday, so everyone slept late. Amy fixed pancakes for breakfast and much of the morning the children either played outside or explored more of the Kelly house. Jack enlisted Spot to help him assemble the two bunk beds he had in the storage room for the boys.
"Where'd ya find these?" Spot asked as Jack handed him a mattress.
"Ya mean you don't recognize them?" Jack replied, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.
"Nah, sorry."
"They're from the old lodging house actually," Jack told him as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Really?" Spot took a double take of the wooden slat he was holding. 'Brooklyn was here' was carved in very familiar writing. He fingered the letters and smiled at the memory of his youth.
"Yeah, I was in town about a year ago and heard that the Lodging House was going to be turned into a bar or something and so I went by there and walked around. This guy was cleaning stuff out and asked me if I was interested in taking anything since he had no use for any of it. I arranged to have my bunk and your old bunk sent here. I guess I wanted something from my past," Jack shrugged and handed Spot a footboard.
"You were in town? Why didn't ya stop by my place? We could've gone out for a drink at least," Spot asked him, wondering why his friend hadn't paid him a visit.
"Well I thought about it but I heard you were fighting that big O'Malley case and besides I don't drink anymore," Jack answered him. Spot almost dropped the box springs he was holding when he heard this.
"You don't drink at all? What are ya, Amish?" Spot inquired of his friend. Jack rolled his eyes and handed his friend a headboard.
"No Spot. I never really liked drinking that much. Sure it was great to go out every once in a while but when we parted ways, I guess that tradition died. Besides I have kids now. I'd hang myself if they ever got a hold of a bottle of alcohol or anything."
Spot nodded in understanding. Even though he hadn't been at home much before he was fired, he knew he would feel the same way if he came home and found a bottle of beer in Ethan or J.P.'s hands. Jack, taking advantage of the silence, decided to change the subject.
"Y'know Spot I was kinda surprised to get a telegram from you asking for help," he confided in his friend as he removed he last pieces for constructing the bunk beds.
"Really? Why?" Spot asked as they began to move all of the materials into the boy's room. He always thought he would be welcome at the Kelly's.
"Well, I kinda thought you had other friends ya know, some bigwigs that ya always socialized with. New friends maybe. I don't know, replacements for me and the other newsies," Jack sighed and glanced over to see Spot with a stunned look on his face.
"Replacements? Why would ya think that?" Spot asked, confused.
"I don't know, I mean we all went our separate ways but you, you went to law school. You became this big-time lawyer. And what were we? Reminders of your past. The past that you wanted to leave behind I guess. I mean, I knew we'd always stay friends, but you had a new circle of highly educated, upstanding individuals and we were just the kids ya teamed up with to beat Pulitzer," Jack replied as he shook his head.
"Jack, we'll always be friends. I'm just sorry I neglected that fact as I became more successful. You'll always be my best friend. I know I can always count on you to help me out," Spot told him and smiled at his friend. "Thanks again, Jack."
"No problem, Spot."
The old friends finished assembling the bunk beds that afternoon and later that evening bound together once again to tell their children of their glorious revolution against Pulitzer, not that any of the offspring had never heard before.
"First and foremost, it was my idea," Spot smiled proudly as he began.
"Spot, tell them the truth…it was my idea," Jack corrected him and laughed as Spot glared. The children caught on and some even dared to giggle at the sight of a grown man being caught in a lie.
"Okay, so I admit it, the strike was Jack's idea, BUT I had a big hand in making it a success," Spot conceded to his captive audience. For almost an hour and half the Conlon and Kelly children sat in awe as they heard the story they'd been told times over in a new way, with two of the leaders present and contributing. Adelaide and Neeko even drifted to sleep because Spot and Jack would get off subject and argue about petty matters that really no one other than themselves cared about. They finally ended the story, recounting the feeling of defeating Pulitzer. The Kelly and Conlon children smiled and congratulated their fathers and walked upstairs to go bed. Everyone slept peacefully while visions of newsies tearing up papers and standing up to their oppressors danced in their dreams.
Felicity walked downstairs the next morning and adjusted the strap on her shoes. She entered the kitchen to find Ethan still in his pajamas and just sitting down to eat a slice of toast.
"Why aren't you dressed to go to church?" she asked him, wondering how he intended to go to church in an undershirt and long johns.
"Cause I'm not going," Ethan replied, drank his milk, and added, "you know, you don't have to do everything your parents tell you to."
"I don't go to church because my parents tell me to," Felicity defended herself, her hands on her hips, hazel eyes blazing.
"Oh really? Just like you don't clean your room just because your parents tell you to?" Ethan countered and smiled as Felicity hesitated for a second.
"I do what my parents tell me because I respect them, something you have yet to learn," she replied, smirking to herself as Ethan sat in silence.
"Listen girl, if you lived the life I do, you wouldn't jump every time your parents told you to," Ethan glared at her, knowing he had taken a wrong turn in the conversation.
"Oh, and what life is that? The one that you have every opportunity available to you, you don't even lift a finger, much less thank anyone for anything! I see the way you treat everyone as if you're the king and everyone else is here to serve you. Even your brothers and sister don't act like this! What makes you think you're so special?" Felicity returned his glare as Ethan stepped closer to her.
"Why you little…" Felicity didn't even flinch as he got closer to her, but sighed in relief when Rhett, Andy, and Ty appeared, all dressed in their Sunday's best. The looked questionably at their siblings, but didn't say anything as Ethan set his plate in the sink and disappeared upstairs. A few moments later, he reappeared, still in his pajamas and took a seat in an easy chair and began to read the day's paper. Felicity rolled her eyes but did not comment. She would leave that up to Spot and Dewey who had just appeared and saw that their son was not dressed. Spot walked to the chair Ethan was sitting in and stood behind him, waiting to be acknowledged. When Ethan seemed to not even notice his presence, he swiped the paper from his son's grasp and smacked him on the head.
"Why aren't you dressed?" he hissed to his son as he unrolled the paper and waited for a pitiful explanation.
"Cause I'm not going," Ethan replied, his eyes full of determination. He folded his arms across his chest, reminding Spot of an indignant five-year-old. Well, if that was how he was going to act, that's how he would be treated. He grabbed a lock of his son's curly mane and asked, "Oh really? I would rethink that decision if I were you."
Spot straightened up as he saw his son cower and shook his head. Dewey caught his eye, her eyebrow raised and lips pursed. Spot sighed and glanced at Ethan. It seemed he could never do anything right by Dewey.
"Okay Ethan, you wanna stay here? Fine. If you stay, this place better be clean from top to bottom when we get back. Don't think you're going to spend the morning loafing around," at least he was giving Ethan a choice.
Ethan groaned at the thought of picking up after himself, much less someone else. He glared at his father and slowly rose from his place in the easy chair. "Fine, I'll go."
Spot smiled in satisfaction, basking in the glow of his victory. Dewey, on the other hand, did not look pleased, but hid her disappointment as she gathered her Bible and helped Neeko put on his jacket. Soon everyone was ready to leave for church, and the Kelly's and the Conlon's began the short pilgrimage to the neighborhood church. Spot and Dewey trailed the large group as they talked about the morning's episode.
"Well Spot, that was a great way to handle it. You just gave him an ultimatum and told him to choose," Dewey said, her tone harsh.
"Well what would you have done?" Spot knowingly asked, prepared for a lecture about parenting.
"I would have just told him to get up right now and get dressed. Otherwise, we'll drag you to church as you are and you can explain to people why you are still in your long johns. You may have gotten your way this time Spot, but just try to think before you make them choose," Dewey replied, "We're their friends, but that doesn't mean we stop being their parents. That's something you have yet to establish with them."
Spot ran a hand through his hair in frustration and almost lost his temper as he recounted times when Dewey had had her own shortcomings of being a model parent. Instead he whispered an apology and hugged her close to him as he kissed her forehead. A few feet ahead, Adelaide and Neeko were walking side by side and had heard the entire conversation.
"Do your mommy and daddy always fight like that?" Adelaide asked and risked a glance at the embracing couple.
"Only when they're really mad," Neeko replied and looked toward his parents with a smile, "but they always get happy again cause my daddy apologizes and buys my mommy something."
The pair giggled at the comment and continued on, leaving Spot and Dewey to walk the rest of the way in treasured silence.
The following morning, everyone was up early, milling around the house until the children left for school. Spot and Dewey walked with them to enroll their children in the school and laughed as the Kelly children talked about their school.
"Recess is the best part of the day," Luke informed them as he picked up a stick and drew some pictures in the dirt road. "Sometimes Miss Adams lets us out early and we play kickball games before we go home."
"Yeah, Miss Adams is really nice, but Miss Wells is kinda mean," Ty added as he also picked up a stick and pretended to joust with his younger brother. "She's the teacher for the older kids- Miss Wells."
"I happen to like her," Felicity interjected as she skipped along the road. "If you all didn't talk so much and get demerits, you would like her too."
"You just don't talk because you're too busy drawing hearts all over your papers and making goo-goo eyes at Paul," Rhett teased her and dodged a playful slap on the arm.
They finally reached the school a few moments later, and the Kelly children showed them in. Dewey and Spot had to admit it was nothing like the private school their children attended; there was only one large room where all the children were taught and also only two teachers. The Conlon's stayed close to the Kelly children, and Dewey and Spot were greeted by the teacher who introduced herself as Miss Adams. She gave them some forms to fill out for registration purposes and left them sitting in something that resembled a closet more than an office space. Both Dewey and Spot began to fill out the paperwork, which kept them busy most of the morning. Spot was filling out Andy's papers when he came to a blank he couldn't remember. Andy's birthday. Was it the second or seventh of May? He had no idea if it was even in May. Recalling that Dewey was filling out Ruthie's papers, he risked a glance as he put his arm around his wife in attempts to try to see the necessary information. Unfortunately, Dewey's hand happened to be covering the space, and Spot rocked back in frustration as he tried to see the blank. Dewey, noticing that her husband had stopped filling out the paperwork, inquired, "Did you finish already Spot?"
She glanced over the form and nodded her head as she read the information to herself. "Oh Spot, you left one blank. See?"
Dewey gestured to the blank and looked at Spot questionably. Spot groaned and hid his face as he attempted once more to look at the form Dewey held in her hand. Dewey looked at Spot, her features contorted in confusion. "What's wrong Spot? Why don't you just finish filling out the form?"
"Hand cramp," Spot quickly replied and rubbed his left hand, only to realize that he in fact was rubbing the wrong hand. He quickly began to rub his right hand and smiled at his wife as he tried once more to see the information she held in her hands. Dewey looked up just in time to see Spot reading the information to himself, and sat back as she shook her head.
"Spot Conlon, you mean to tell me you can't remember your own son's birthday?" she asked him, unbelieving.
"Well, there's five of them Dewey. It slipped my mind. Honestly. Can I just see? Please?" He pleaded with her and kissed her cheek as she handed him her own form. He thanked her and copied the date down- September eighth. He shook his head. How could he have forgotten? He handed the form back to Dewey and heard a slight sniffling in the doorway. It was Andy. He had heard. Spot sighed, walked to where the boy was, and kneeled down to his level.
"I'm so sorry sport," he told his son and brushed a tear from his cheek. "I didn't mean to. I…"
Andy simply shook his head and turned away from his father. He broke out in a run, leaving a very agitated Dewey and an apologetic Spot to try to reconcile with their son behind. In a moment's decision, Dewey cautiously followed Andy and easily caught up with him as he began to tire. She hugged her son close to her chest and whispered countless apologies in his ear. Tears streamed down Andy's face as he looked up to see if his father were anywhere in sight. Sadly, Spot had stayed in the sanctuary of the office, determined to not cause further damage to his relationship with his son.
"I'm so sorry, Andy. Your father's sorry too," Dewey stroked the boy's reddened cheek and smiled. Andy's head perked up at the sound of his father and shook his head.
"Why do you always have to apologize for him?!" Andy erratically shook his small fists in the air. Dewey sat back, stunned, as she watched her son run off to rejoin his classmates as they filed outside for recess. She returned to the office where she said nothing to Spot for the remainder of the time there.
The day wore on slowly, and the class was finally dismissed for recess. The younger children took part in a game of stickball while their elder siblings watched on. In J.P.'s case of course, this consisted of making some explicit remarks and scowling as he tried to concentrate on writing his latest work of prose while dodging a few stray balls that came his way. Miss Wells, who has supervising the children covered her mouth in disdain and made a mental note to approach him about his language use later in the day. After recess the children filed back into class and were all working diligently on their mathematics worksheets when Miss Wells made an announcement to the class.
"Remember we're having a picnic Friday so please bring a sack lunch. Your parents are also welcome to join us," She said as she politely smiled at her students.
"Oh J.P., I'd almost forgotten. I've written a note for you to take home to your parents," Miss Wells addressed the youth who was currently engrossed with his latest Poe novel. Agitated and slightly embarrassed that she had made the announcement to the entire class, J.P. slowly rose and set his book on his desk. He sauntered to the desk Miss Wells sat at and retrieved the note she held out to him. Without even the slightest hesitation, he took the note in his hands and began to tear it into pieces. He looked up to see his classmates as well as his siblings staring at him, their mouths agape in horror. He looked back to Miss Wells, her features also exhibiting shock. He emptied his hands in the nearby trash can and walked back to his desk where he proceeded to retrieve his book and leave the classroom.
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