Mac had just gotten home from Foster's a few days later when Mom dragged Terrence into the apartment, both looking extremely harried.
"Honestly, Terrence," Mom was gasping, her son's arm still held in a deathgrip in her left hand. "I think I can say, in all sincerity, that that was the worst experience of my parenting career! I have never seen such a display in all my life! I thought that poor nice girl at the counter was going to cry!"
Mac positioned himself well out of the way of any physical scuffle that may occur. He knew that the day Terrence went to the optometrist was going to be rough on Mom, but it looked like he may have actually underestimated his brother for once.
Still not relinquishing her hold on the teen, who was squirming to escape, Mom wrenched her purse off of her shoulder and tried to drop it onto a kitchen chair (she missed and it hit the ground). "I can't believe that was actually worse than the dentist last month," she moaned.
Mac, who had been present at the now-infamous Drill Incident, raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"
Ignoring the daggers Terrence was glaring, Mom answered, "Your brother is getting glasses next week."
A smile slowly worked its way across Mac's face. "Oh, really?" he replied, directing the question more at Terrence, who just seethed in silence. Mom finally let the older boy go at this point, and he darted into his room like a rodent scurrying for cover. Mom collapsed on the couch. Mac picked up her purse and set it on the table before sitting next to her.
"You okay?" he asked her, unable to completely hide his amusement. Wait until he told Bloo about this. He'd about die.
But Mom wasn't so amused. "I'm sorry, Mac," she sighed, covering her face with her hands.
Mac's smile vanished. "What?"
"I'm sorry I work all the time," Mom went on, raising her head. "I'm sorry I'm so busy. I'm sorry I can't spend more time with you boys. But it's hard."
Mac was confused. He touched her arm. "Mom?" he queried, hoping for clarification.
Mom sighed again, and dropped her hands in her lap. "How long has he needed glasses?" she asked the far wall, as if it could and would answer the rhetorical question. "No wonder he has so much trouble in school. I should have noticed. Its all my fault."
She looked so miserable that Mac hugged her at once. "It's not your fault Terrence won't do his homework," he argued, defending her.
"Mac," Mom said, only halfheartedly returning the hug, "Terrence is farsighted. That means he can't quite make out things right in front of him." She mimed holding a book before herself. "If you tried to do your homework every day and you couldn't figure out why you're having so much trouble understanding it, you'd get frustrated too. The doctor says he sees it in kids all the time."
Mac mulled that over. Even if it was true that Terrence had trouble reading that didn't absolve him of all the dumb things he did. And he was still a jerk. A dumb jerk. But he decided not to say that, and nodded mutely instead.
Mom grabbed a tissue from the box on the endtable and stood up, dabbing at one eye. "Try to be nice to your brother?" she implored, looking at Mac. "Just try it?"
"Okay," Mac replied after a short hesitation. "I'll try it."
Operation Be Nice To Terrence was doomed from the start, however. Mac found himself digging fabric out of his nether regions following a Terrence-inflicted uberwedgie only a few hours later when they both entered the bathroom to brush their teeth at the same time, thus ridding Mac of any blossoming notions of regret for calling Terrence stupid.
If it was possible, Terrence became even more abusive following the optometrist visit, and his harsh treatment of Mac escalated. Mac's time at Foster's for the next week was spent with Bloo drawing rude pictures of Terrence sporting all manner of unfashionable eyewear and coming up with new ways to insult him. Neither of them could wait for "G-Day," as they had dubbed it, and at last, it came.