Little Blessings Part II
"She needs to be punished, Michonne. You can't keep coddling her all the time. She needs to understand right from wrong. I'm putting my foot down about this, now step aside," Rick demands.
"Well, just let me talk to her first," Michonne implores, eyeing the belt in Rick's hand with apprehension. "Today was just a little stressful."
"Stressful, how?" Rick inquires. "We've been to church services before."
"Rick, it's hard for her to sit still for a long time. She's a toddler. What do you expect?"
"I expect her to obey her Mom and Dad when we tell her to do something. She clearly disobeyed you, she disobeyed me and I'm not standing for it." Rick moves toward their bedroom door, but Michonne quickly blocks his path.
"So, you're really going to do this? You're going to spank her?" Michonne can't help the tears that spring to her eyes.
Rick closes his eyes and rests his hands at his waist. "Babe, Judy has got to be punished. She's getting out of hand and you….you allow her to do it."
"But she's usually really good with doing what we tell her to do. She just wasn't today." She grabs his arm. "Let's just talk to her again. She's already confined to her room. That's a form of punishment right there."
Rick sighs as he looks down at his wife. "Ok, we'll talk to her again. If she sasses back, that's it."
Michonne prays that Judith behaves. She's not sure what got into the little one today. Her guess is her big brother's influence. Carl isn't necessarily disobedient, but he can be vocal when he doesn't agree with her or his Dad. Obviously, Judy has been very observant. No matter what they told her to do at church services this morning, she refused, flat out yelling no at her parents.
She was so loud singing the "ABC Song" that Father Gabriel stopped speaking twice during his sermon. Rick and Michonne finally excused themselves and walked home, telling Judith to go to her room. To Rick's further astonishment, she refused to do that as well. When Rick reached for his belt and started removing it, Michonne snatched up their daughter and raced up the stairs to her room.
Rick soon followed, wanting to discuss Judith's punishment with his wife.
They are now making their way to her room to talk with her yet again. She is sitting at her table, two of her dolls occupying other chairs as she talks with them quietly.
Her little eyes zero in on the belt in her Dad's hand and she stops what she is doing to glare at him.
Michonne takes the vacant chair at the table. "Judith honey you're going to have to apologize to me and Daddy for the way you behaved at church today. That was not nice. Father Gabriel worked long and hard on his sermon and you kept interrupting him. Then when Daddy and I asked you sit down, you wouldn't. You even yelled back and you know that's not right." She looks to Rick, then back to Judith. "So, tell Daddy that you're going to be good from now on and he doesn't have to punish you."
"Da-dee spak me?" She asks in her small voice. "I tell Mama da-dee spak me."
"Judy, you are going to apologize for your behavior. Say sorry to Mommy and Daddy, ok?" Rick encourages.
"NO!" Judy yells.
Michonne gulps as Rick steps toward his daughter. She stands up and pushes Judith behind her. The little girl clings to her leg as they both eye Rick.
"Michonne, we discussed this before we came in here," Rick reminds her.
"Ok, but just give me the belt. Don't use the belt. Your hand should be good enough." She offers her hand and sighs as Rick places the belt there softly. She then removes Judith from her leg gently and walks out of the room. She can hear her baby call her name as Rick doles out her punishment.
Minutes later, Michonne wipes the tears from her eyes as she hears Rick talking with Judith in the hallway. He steps into their room, holding their daughter in his arms. He moves over to the bed where Michonne is sitting and hands Judith to her. The little girl's eyes are red rimmed, her bottom lip quivering.
She grasps one her mother's dreadlocks. "Da-dee spak me. I sorra, Mama."
That makes Michonne cry even more as she holds Judith against her. Rick shakes his head but understands the love Michonne has for their daughter. That's why he has to make the tough decisions every now and then when it comes to their children. His wife is all about communication and he is as well, but sometimes that just doesn't work.
He listens for a little while as Judith starts to tell her Mom all the ways she is going to be good and obey her Mama and Da-dee. He slowly walks backward to the door, knowing how deep those two get when they're talking. No one else exists for them. He makes his way downstairs and moves into the kitchen just as Carl walks through the front door. He decided to stay on for services and had brunch with the rest of the family at Daryl and Sasha's place afterward.
His son joins him in the kitchen. "Everything ok with Judith?"
Rick sighs as he didn't realize punishing Judith would affect him so profoundly. He can only thank his wife for that he surmises. "I had to give your sister her first spanking today."
Carl drops his head, feeling for his little sister. "Well, I'm going to have a talk with her. She knows right from wrong. I guess she's just testing the waters so to speak."
"Yeah, kinda like her older brother does every now and again," Rick reminds him. "You know you set the example for her too, right? She looks to you just like she looks to us."
Carl knew that and he realizes that he wasn't being too reasonable with his parents as of late. He just thought it was silly that he had to be home by a certain time with everything they've seen and done. How could they possibly enforce a curfew now? "I know, Dad. I'm sorry. I promise I'll do better."
"I'm glad to hear it. You know who else will be glad to hear it?" Rick asks.
"Mom?"
Rick nods. "It can wait though. She and Judith are having one of their deep talks right now."
Carl smiles as he thinks of the deep connection his mom and his sister have. I guess it's identical to what I have with Mom as well. He walks toward the stairs, wondering if they have room for one more.