Chapter 12

Football

"Carol what is that goop?" Dave asked lifting a wooden spoon out of a pot on the stove. Carol slapped his hand away and stirred the contents.

"Its spaghetti sauce Dave," she sighed. He had been underfoot all morning and it was wearing on Carol's nerves. He was worse then the girls. Plus with the added pregnancy hormones it just made her snappier. Doug was thrilled that they'd be having another baby which made Carol fall in love with him all over again.

"It's not any kind of spaghetti sauce I've ever seen," he commented grabbing a cookie off of another tray on the counter.

"David Malucci! Knock it off! The cookies are for after dinner," Carol cried.

"I thought you were scolding one of the little ones," Randi replied coming into the kitchen with Abby.

"Dave why don't you go watch football like all the normal men?" Abby suggested.

"It's okay. I much rather stay here and bother Carol," he smiled sweetly.

"Come on Dave," Abby sighed and grabbed the collar of his shirt to drag him into Carol's living room with her.

"When are we heading over to John's?" Randi asked pulling a stool up to the counter.

"Now," Carol replied putting the spaghetti sauce into a plastic container.

"Do we dare?" she asked nodding into the living room where a mixture of shouts of protest and whoops came.

"Some one just scored a touch down," Carol commented. "Alright let's see what all the excitement is about."

"That was a foul!" Benton cried.

"It was not a foul! Your men just don't know how to throw the ball straight!" Doug was quick to retort.

"Mommy why do those big guys keep hurting each other?" Amanda asked coming up to Carol. She had been playing on the floor with Damian. Jamie sat contently in Luka's lap trying to figure out what the people on TV were doing.

"Is it time to head over to Carters?" Benton asked hopefully. He wanted an easy way out of the bet he had made with Doug. Randi couldn't help but laugh at Dave. He was sitting on the arm of the sofa his eyes completely glued to the TV. But he had the blankest look on his face, telling her he had no idea whatsoever of what was going on.

"Come on. If we hurry we can make it before half time's over," Doug said lifting Amanda off of the floor.

"Daddy football is not a very good game," Amanda pouted. Doug laughed a tickled Amanda on her belly.

"Why do you say that princess?" he asked as they started loading into their cars.

"Because they hurt each other too much," Amanda said.

"Exactly my reasoning," Carole smiled and climbed into the front seat.

"Be ready to pay up Peter!" Doug cried after him as he climbed into the backseat of Luka's excursion. He would be going over with Abby, Dave, and Luka.

"Yeah yeah," Peter cried back.

Carole sighed heavily. "Football is totally the other woman."

Doug just smiled. "It's just like a second Thanksgiving. Football and food."

"I don't think Malucci's too in touch with his football side," Carole replied as they pulled up into Carter's driveway next to Kerry's car. It was just a short 5 minute drive between the Ross household and the Carters.

"I'll just be surprised if Abby didn't kill him on the way over," Doug said helping Damian out of the car.

"Hurry Dad! We have to see if halftime is over yet!" he cried tugging at his coat.

"Whoa. Slow down there mister. Remember what I told you? Tonight is a night to celebrate John coming back to work. Not to celebrate the Bears maybe beating the Redskins for a chance to go to the super bowl," Carole said strictly looking more at her husband then her son. "Do you understand?"

"Yes mama!" Damian saluted Carole as she pushed him towards the front door.

"So what does a running back do again?" Dave asked.

"The running back is an offensive back, just like say...a fullback or a halfback. They have the responsibility of advancing the ball by running with it on plays from the line of scrimmage," Abby tried to explain. But everyone around them knew that her efforts were lost on Dave.

"So what line would that be again?" Dave asked. Abby groaned.

"I already told you! The line of scrimmage is one of two imaginary lines extending across the playing field parallel to the goal line at the ends of the ball as it resists, prior to being snapped and at which each team lines up for a new play," Abby said exasperated trying to use her hands to explain to maybe actually get through to Dave.

"What color did you say they were?"

"THEIR IMAGINARY!" Doug, Luka, Romano (who had just arrived), and Abby cried at the same time. Amanda went up and knocked on the door. Abby sighed and sunk into Luka's embrace for comfort. "That's it. I give up. I am officially sticking to tennis," Dave said after trying to calculate Abby's explanations in his head to see if they made any sense. Carole sighed and rested her head on Doug's shoulder.

"This is going to be a long night."

Sorry for the long wait guys. My Beta reader is MIA. I will try to post more often!!!

Dru619