Cards

"Why is Carly doing this to me? Did I do something to wazz her off?" Sam said as she jammed a jacket into her stuffed duffle bag. "Did she find out I was the one who dinged her car last month? Did she realize I never paid her back that forty bucks I owe her?"

"Why do you think Carly's mad at you?" Freddie asked, looking up from his Pearpad, which he was playing on the couple's bed.

"Because why else would she make me go on this stupid camping trip?" Sam said.

"Maybe because she's the leader of the Sunshine Girls troop with nearly twenty little girls in it and will need help with all of them this weekend," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "And since you're her best friend, and since your two daughters are in the troop, she thought you'd be willing to pitch in."

"Oh shut up with your logic," Sam snapped. "Man...I just had to be best friends with the troop leader. I couldn't be like every other mom and just drop her kids off without even getting out of the car."

"Mom, Clarissa and Aunt Carly are downstairs," ten-year old Emma said, coming into the room with Ashton. "Aunt Carly says we need to get going because we have to pick everybody up to drive to the camp site."

"Ugh! Now I'm a chauffer too?" Sam moaned. "Fine! I'll be down in a minute."

"Have fun this weekend, girls," Freddie said, giving his daughters quick kisses on top of their blonde heads. "Make sure mom behaves herself."

"Ha, ha," Sam said dryly as the girls hurried back downstairs. "Alright, I think I have everything. Blanket, pillows, five boxes of Fat Cakes, earplugs to block out all the nature sounds…yup, we're good."

"Maybe it won't be so bad," Freddie said as he leaned down and gave his wife a kiss. "You might enjoy it. If anything, at least you'll get to spend some quality time with the girls."

"Yeah, I guess," Sam nodded. "Speaking of which, what are you planning on doing with the boys while we're gone? Gonna have one of those 'male bonding' sessions you've dreamed about?"

"Oh yeah, I have it all planned out," Freddie said excitedly. "We're gonna watch sci-fi movies and throw the ball around and I'll sprout my 'fatherly advice' in whenever the opportunity arises. It's gonna be great!"

"Aw, I'm sure Jason and Tyler will have fun with you," Sam said, giving her husband one last kiss. "Alright, I guess I better go before Carly gets too antsy. Be on standby to come break me out of that camp if I need you to."

…..

"Alright, you guys, this is the moment we've dreamed of!" Freddie said later that evening as he sat down on the couch with his two sons. "The girls are gone; it's just us men in the house for the next weekend."

"I wanted to go camping with mommy," six-year old Tyler pouted. "I miss mommy."

"Er, well, don't worry Ty, she'll be back before you know it," Freddie said quickly. "But in the meantime, me, you and your brother will have a ton of fun here. Right Jason? You're excited."

"Sure," Jason shrugged simply.

"Sure?" Freddie repeated. "Come on you guys, get pumped! Dad's in charge for the weekend! We can do whatever we want without having to worry about mom yelling at us for breaking the rules or making a mess!"

"You realize out of the two of you, you'd be way more likely to freak out over messes and rule breaking, right?" Jason pointed out.

"Er, okay, well normally I guess that'd be true, but think of this weekend as a fun exception," Freddie said. "Come on, I have all sorts of cool stuff planned!"

"What kind of stuff?" Tyler asked.

"Well," Freddie said. "How about we get in the car and find out! I'll take you guys to our first bonding activity of the weekend!"

"Are we going sky diving?" Tyler gasped. "Yay!"

"No, um, no we're not going sky diving," Freddie said quickly. "But I promise, where we're going will be just as fun."

…..

"The Pear Store?" Tyler frowned as him, Freddie and Jason walked up to the shop. "Why are we here? This isn't fun?"

"What? Of course it's fun," Freddie said. "Come on, I arranged a little something with a friend of mine here. We're going to go into the back and take apart one of the old computers they have back there. You can see all the different parts!"

"Whoa, that is fun!" Jason said, his face lighting up.

"That sounds boring," Tyler pouted.

"You'll see once you get back there, you'll have the time of your life," Freddie promised, rustling the six-year old's hair.

…..

An hour later, Freddie and Jason stood hunched over a half-taken apart computer while Tyler leaned against the table, bored out of his mind.

"Wow, look at these circuits," Freddie said in awe. "Really something, huh?"

"Definitely, this is so cool," Jason nodded. "Can I take apart our computer when we get home?"

"Er, that might cause your mom to kick in some very painful places," Freddie said. "But what about you, Tyler? You having fun?"

"No," Tyler moaned. "I hate computers. They're only fun to play games on."

"Oh, you just haven't had a chance to see them like this," Freddie said, ignoring the sting of his youngest son's words. "Come on, come get a better look."

He picked up Tyler and set him down on the table next to the computer.

"See? Not so boring when you can see everything up close, right?"

"It's just a bunch of wires," Tyler frowned.

"Well yes," Freddie agreed. "But think about what all these wires and microchips do. They make the whole computer work!"

"I though the 'on' button made the computer work," Tyler pointed out.

"But that button turns the computer on because of all these wires," Freddie said. "Cool stuff, right?"

"Mommy was right," Tyler mumbled. "Computers are lame."

Freddie sighed. It seemed like there was no way that Tyler was going to enjoy himself here, and the bonding moment he was aiming for included both of his sons.

"Alright, Tyler, we can go now," Freddie said.

"What? But I want to stay!" Jason frowned.

"Don't worry, Jason, the next thing I have planned for us will be just as fun," Freddie said. "You'll see, this will be a weekend both of you never forget."

"Catch?" Jason said in disbelief as him, Freddie and Tyler stood in the Bensons' backyard. "You want me to play catch? Like with a ball?"

"Yes! I love catch!" Tyler cheered.

"Come on, throwing the ball around is like, the traditional father-son activity," Freddie said.

"But I hate sports," Jason moaned. "I have no hand-eye coordination. Mom said I got that from you."

"You'll be fine," Freddie said, rolling his eyes as he picked up the ball.

"Throw it, dad!" Tyler said excitedly.

Freddie tossed the ball. It didn't go very far, but Tyler still happily ran and dove for the ball.

"I got it!" Tyler cheered. "Did you see me, dad?"

"Yeah, I did," Freddie chuckled. "Okay, throw it back to me now."

Freddie barely managed to catch the throw; his youngest son seemed to have quite an arm on him (something Sam would no doubt take credit for).

"Good throw," Freddie said. He turned to Jason. "Alright, Jason, your turn."

He lobbed the ball over to Jason, but instead easily catching it like Tyler, Jason flinched and the ball wound up colliding with his face.

"You okay?" Freddie asked, hurrying over.

"No!" Jason snapped. "That dumb ball broke my nose."

"Your nose isn't broken, Jason," Freddie said. "You're fine."

"And my ball isn't dumb!" Tyler said firmly.

"I don't want to play this stupid catch game anymore," Jason mumbled. "This is just as bad as gym class."

Freddie sighed. Jason looked just as miserable as Tyler had back at the Pear Store. It looked like he wasn't going to get his bonding moment this way either.

"Alright, fine," Freddie conceded. "We don't have to play catch anymore."

"Thank you," Jason said, relieved.

"But I like catch!" Tyler pouted. "What else are we going to do?"

"Er, I don't know," Freddie replied. "I just need to brainstorm for a little bit. But no worries; I'll come up with something that will still make this an unforgettable father-son weekend for both of you!"

…..

"This is impossible," Freddie moaned nearly five hours later as he sat down in the office. "I can't think of one thing to do with those two that will give me the dang father-son bonding moment I want! Tyler will fall asleep if we have a Galaxy Wars marathon, Jason will complain about fencing, neither of them like playing that headbands game with me for some reason…there's nothing!"

He slumped down in his seat sadly. "Guess the only thing those two will ever remember about this weekend is how lame their dad is." He glanced at his watch and saw it was almost dinner time.

"Well, at least food is one thing I can do," Freddie said heavily. "I'll order them pizza. How exciting…"

…..

"Alright you guys, dinnertime," Freddie said, setting down a large pizza box on the coffee table in the living room.

"We only got one pizza?" Tyler frowned.

"You're forgetting we don't have to share this one with mom," Freddie chuckled. "Or Emma. Between the three of us, this will be plenty, even with your budding appetite. So what have you two been up to?"

"We're just watching T.V.," Jason shrugged. "Are we going to do anything else tonight?"
"Er, actually, don't worry about it," Freddie sighed, setting down his shakers of red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese. "You two can just do your own things for the rest of the night; just try to have some fun today."

"Dad, what are you doing to your pizza?" Tyler asked as Freddie began to season his slice with red pepper flakes.

"Huh? Oh, I'm just adding a little extra flavor," Freddie said. "I like my pizza with the perfect blend of parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes."

"Since when?" Jason said. "You've never done that when we've ordered pizza before."

"It annoys your mom when I spend twenty minutes seasoning like this," Freddie chuckled. "I've learned to just make do without this around her. But whenever I get a chance to eat pizza away from her, I treat myself to this."

"Does it taste better?" Tyler asked.

"Oh yeah," Freddie nodded. "It's delicious."

"Can we try?" Jason asked.

"Oh, well sure," Freddie nodded. "Here, just be careful. The trick is to make sure you get about a two-to-one ratio of red-pepper flakes to parmesan cheese."

"Like this?" Tyler asked, shaking a hearty amount of red pepper onto his slice.

"Easy, you don't want to go overboard," Freddie smiled. "Too much red pepper will make the pizza way too spicy."

"I think I got it!" Jason said excitedly. "Dad, look, is this right?"

"Hey, yeah, I think you did!" Freddie said.

"Help me, dad!" Tyler said. "I want to try again!"

"Don't worry, here's another slice," Freddie said. "Here, now do it like this…"

Nearly twenty minutes later, once all three Bensons had their pizza slices perfectly seasoned, they all took a bite of their creations.

"Whoa, this does taste amazing," Jason said. "Dad, you're a genius!"

"It's the most delicious pizza I've ever tasted," Tyler said. "Can we do this every time we get pizza, dad?"

"Well…for you two mom might make allow it," Freddie chuckled. "So you really like it?"

"Yeah, thanks for teaching us, dad," Jason said, taking another bite of his pizza.

"You're the best, dad!" Tyler beamed.

"Oh, well thanks you guys," Freddie smiled. "You know…since you two seem to be experts at seasoning now, why don't I show you how we can make this even better with garlic salt?"

"Yay!" Tyler cheered.

"I'll go get some!" Jason volunteered, jumping to his feet.

"Me too!" Tyler exclaimed, running after his older brother into the kitchen.

Freddie chuckled to himself as he looked down at the pizza on his plate. It wasn't how he imagined the moment, but it looked like he'd finally get the father-son bonding experience he had been dreaming of.