Chapter 4
The walk to the playground was silent between father and son. It was another gorgeous late summer day in LazyTown; warm, sunny, and without a cloud in the sky. Joshua was fascinated by the butterflies.
In a few minutes they reached the apartment complex's playground. There were other kids playing, laughing, and running all around.
"Look Daddy!" Joshua pointed to the swings. Sportacus smiled and lifted his son out of the stroller. Setting him down, the above-average hero parked the stroller near the bike rack.
"Take my hand now." Sportacus told Joshua. The little boy nodded and the two walked over to the swings. Picking him up, the above-average hero placed him inside on of the baby swings. Then he crouched down to be at eye level with his son.
"You know you're getting better at that." Sportacus smiled.
"No fall!" Joshua exclaimed.
"That's right you didn't fall." His father said. The smile faded from his face. The fact of the matter was he had missed a lot of things his son was doing. Back in June, his son had taken his first steps. However, the above-average hero had missed them because he was off saving people. In the beginning of August, Joshua's first word was 'ma'. His absence had been a big deal no matter how much Stephanie tried to cover it up. That's probably why she had said what she did yesterday.
"Daddy?" Joshua seemed to sense that something wasn't right.
"You want a push don't you? Sorry buddy." Sportacus said as he broke from his reverie. Joshua pointed to his father's head, then his own, and then winked. His father shook his head in amazement. That was the second time his son had done that. The first time had been almost a year ago when his father had returned from his time travels. Then as if nothing had happened Joshua said,
"Push Daddy!" Sportacus did as son wanted and started to push. It was the strangest thing but the above-average hero swore that his son was somehow reading his mind.Back at the apartment, the girls were almost done cleaning the food off everything. Trixie's dilemma, however, wasn't getting along so easily.
"As I see it, the only way to get Stingy to realize what is more important is to force him to find out what life is like without you." Stephanie said.
"But how? This town is too small for us not to bump into each other and we live together." Trixie wondered.
"Good question. Well maybe the first step is to get your things and tell him you're moving out." Stephanie suggested.
"Well I think that's all of it." Amanda flung out there.
"What?" Trixie asked.
"I think I got all of the stuff off the food-encrusted microwave. By the way, who eats Raisin Bran ©?" Amanda asked.
"My husband; that and usually cut up fruit for breakfast." Stephanie smiled.
"If that stuff sticks to the appliances like this I can't imagine what it does to his insides." Amanda joked.
"Meanwhile back at the ranch, what do I do?" Trixie asked trying to get everyone back on topic.
"I've got it!" Stephanie suddenly shouted.
"Got what?" Amanda asked.
To Be Continued…