The Price of Freedom
Setting the three year old on the cabinet by the sink in the kitchen, Tony yanked several paper towels off of the roll and wet them, wiping first at the teary face and then at the tiny legs and hands. The little fellow had skinned both knees, plus had bruised his palms trying to protect his fall. Working carefully and murmuring soothingly, Tony finally calmed and bandaged him before lifting him off of the cabinet and onto the floor.
"Ok, my little man, go use the bathroom for me and then you can join the others back outside to play some more, ok?"
Nodding happily, the toddler set off to obey. It disturbed Tony that in passing Ethan, the smaller boy shied away from him.
A flash of hurt crossed Ethan's face, but he quickly adopted the same bored look he had worn once he followed them indoors.
Addressing him, Tony licked his lips and spoke calmly, but firmly. "Head to your bedroom right now, Ethan. Do not leave your room until you have permission from me to do so, and make sure before I get there that your attitude will not offend me in any way."
The child actually opened his mouth to respond, but Elijah's return interrupted his answer and he obeyed the instructions instead.
Summoning Elijah with a motion of his finger and a grin, Tony kissed him on top of the head and then comically moving the little arms like a robot, marched the delighted toddler back outside while humming a Sousa marching tune.
Spying him at the door, Levi called out, "Look at me! I can run fast from that side of the yard to this!" Not waiting for a response the child tore off, and tagging the fence he stopped to catch his breath and called out hopefully, "Did the Daddy see?"
"I did, indeed," Tony assured him. "You ran so fast I could not even see your legs!"
The pride that radiated across the little face grabbed Tony's heart.
Making visual checks on the others, he saw that all was well, so entering the house again, he directed his energies towards addressing Ethan's behavior.
The boy sat at the desk in his room, chin resting on the edge of the desktop as he stared out the window. Striding into the room Tony dropped onto the edge of Levi's bed and directed, "Turn around and face me right this minute, and help me understand what you hoped to accomplish outside."
Ethan straightened a bit as he absorbed the demand, then regarded Tony with interest.
Impatient with the delaying tactic, Tony narrowed his eyes. "Start talking, Ethan, now."
Raising his arms above his head, Ethan stretched with exaggerated focus. "About what?" the nine year old inquired innocently.
Already annoyed, Tony rested his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward. "Let me clarify, then. I am offering you about ninety seconds to say something to defend your behavior before I make a decision about an appropriate consequence. After that, you will have nothing to interject, and nothing to offer in your own defense."
Choosing to not speak, Ethan regarded Tony with a smug expression instead.
In the back of his mind Tony recognized the ploy as one he had used himself as a child. Jethro had not tolerated it, nor would he.
"Fine," Tony responded, standing and smoothing the bedspread. "I believe I warned you earlier that your free passes had ceased where I am concerned, yet you decided to continue with inappropriate conduct. Worse yet, you knocked a child six years younger than you off the swing and onto the ground, which elevates your behavior into a serious issue within the physical realm. At no time will I…."
Ethan interrupted, suddenly worried that he might actually face something unpleasant. "Not hard, though, I…"
Refusing to allow him to finish, Tony held up a hand and snapped, "You forfeited your right to speak, so close your mouth right now. Hush and listen instead. At no time are you ever allowed to put your hands on anyone else. Because you chose that route ten minutes ago, I have just taken away your television viewing this evening. Instead of watching with the others, you will spend your time showering before any of the others and getting yourself ready for bed, which tonight will occur at the same time Vivienne and Elijah go down for nighty night."
The child evidently had not foreseen that.
Angry, Ethan slammed his body against the back of his chair and crossed his arms defiantly across his chest. "You can't tell me what to do!"
Raising an eyebrow, Tony responded firmly and instantly, "Yes, my little man, I most certainly can. I believe I have already explained to you today that I am the adult, and you are the child."
He waited several seconds for any contradictions, but Ethan did not add anything more.
"Now," Tony spoke decidedly, "you have lost the television and will have an early bedtime, and all of that comes directly because of your treatment, your mistreatment, of Elijah. Do you understand?"
Rather than respond, Ethan turned to look towards the bedroom door.
"Fine," Tony concluded, "and now for your insolent behavior…"
"Insolent what?"
"Your nasty attitude, which I promised to fix myself if you refused to do so. That has earned you an additional hour of punishment, which you will serve right here in your bedroom. You may not leave this room until I call you for lunch. Now, do you understand? No television tonight, bath and bedtime right after supper, and a nice long timeout until lunch."
This time Ethan nodded an acknowledgement before swiping the backs of his hands against his eyes. Despite a valiant attempt, traces of quickly forming tears remained.
Tony ignored the emotion and pointed across the hall. "Go use the restroom right now, then return to this room. I will wait right here."
Evidently, the punishment had managed to cut through the uncaring persona the boy employed to mask himself. Tony could tell by the body language alone that just hearing the punishment had knocked some of the bravado from Ethan's modus operandi.
True to his word, Tony waited until he returned, then repeated the expectations of the next hour and those of the later evening.
Back on the sun porch he regrouped as exhaustion washed over him. Was this what parenting really meant, unwelcome physical and emotional upheaval while juggling issues such as bedtimes and meals? Could he keep up with the demands that each hour brought, multiplied by five?
The ringing of the bell startled him and he glanced with shock at the breakfast room's wall clock. Time had flown, and he had made no preparations towards lunch or plans, and now the sitter had arrived.
Before he could cut through to the front door running feet pounded into the house, and he caught the distinctive sound of the back screen door slamming. Levi and Ava practically ran into him, both excitedly reporting the presence of a strange car in their driveway.
The sound of terrified sobs sliced into the chatter, and wheeling back towards the porch, Tony realized that Elijah and Vivienne could not open the door to enter and follow Ava and Levi. Pitifully Elijah yelled for him, trapped outside, his small body jumping up and down in an attempt to engage the door handle. Viv's sobbing face regarded Tony from where she plastered it against the screen.
Sliding the door open without slamming it into the children proved tricky, but Tony managed to do so. The second he appeared the children threw themselves on him, both nearly hysterical from fright. Juggling the small bodies he managed to position one on one hip and one on the other, and buried his head between the two tiny ones to murmur reassurance and comfort.
"This is the daddy," Levi announced proudly, and Tony pivoted to find that their visitor had been greeted and let into the home by his mini host and hostess. Caught off guard as he was, he stammered a hello and then ushered her into the den ahead of him.
The sobs slowed, and evidently the smallest two allowed their curiosity to staunch some of their hurt. They peeped up from where their heads lay on his shoulders.
"I'm Tony," he offered as an introduction, "and I apologize that you walked into us at our absolute worst. Please sit and let me attempt some redemption."
Once she did, he settled awkwardly on the couch, trying not to pin any of the four legs wrapped around him as he perched on the couch cushion.
The sitter smiled sympathetically, and Ava, watching from the doorway, grinned back at her.
Tony felt a stab of guilt. The little girl probably longed for a female presence, someone who actually could style hair into cute pigtails.
"This is the daddy," Levi repeated, pointing to Tony. "But who are you, lady?"
"My name is Daphne Dorminey," she looked Levi in the eye as she responded, and added, "I attend school at the University and I babysit, also."
"Well then, what grade are you in now?" Ava puzzled, shocked at Daphne's advanced age.
Before Daphne could respond Levi clapped his hands. "We know your school, too! We're the Georgia Bulldogs!"
Tony had to smile. His little charge had paid rapt attention to the history of their new hometown and its famous college team.
The sitter laughed sweetly, "As for being a bulldog, I'll have to teach you to bark like an authentic University of Georgia Bulldog does on game day. I think I can also teach you a bit about our mascot, a bulldog named Uga. And Honey, I finished grade school, and then high school and college. Now I attend graduate school because I am already completely grown like your daddy."
No one bothered to correct her misinterpretation of Tony's status.
"What degree are you seeking, master's or doctorate?" Tony managed to extricate Vivienne enough to seat her onto his lap. "And just as important, what is your major?"
Levi began to scale the back of the sofa, hooking a leg over the side arm. Tony narrowed his eyes at the boy and with a disappointed sigh, Levi jumped down.
"Master's, and I majored in Accounting as an undergrad, but now will earn this degree in Finance."
Tony studied her, appreciating the brown eyes and dark hair. She looked as though she cared about keeping her body fit, and he made a mental note that she possessed self discipline alongside a sharp intelligence.
Elijah awkwardly changed positions, kneeing Tony in the thigh as he struggled to sit beside him.
Stroking the little boy's hair, Tony leaned down and asked Ava to fetch the box of tissues from the bathroom. Delighted to demonstrate her talent with responsibility, she returned quickly and presented the box like a bouquet of flowers.
He kissed the top of her head before yanking out one thick tissue, covering Elijah's nose, and ordering him to blow. The performance repeated for Vivienne, though she failed to understand blow and sucked in air instead. Tickled at her effort, Tony managed to wipe her face and get her more comfortable.
"Four kids, right?" Daphne asked brightly, and to her credit, she appeared undaunted at the number.
"Missing one," Tony clarified, pointing towards the hall. "The nine year old, Ethan, is enjoying a bit of timeout as we visit."
Elijah, Ava, and Levi felt called upon to share a collaborative explanation of Ethan's crime with Daphne, and in descriptive detail, they did, talking over one another.
Tony finally shushed them, insisting he wanted them to listen quietly while he and Daphne got acquainted and talked business.
Incredibly, they did, and he set Elijah and Vivienne down on the floor and solidified her hourly charge and preferred sitting hours. The more they talked, the more he relaxed, and suddenly Tony realized that just having the opportunity of an afternoon's break while a responsible adult supervised his charges flooded him with welcome relief.
Ava had worked her way to Tony's side during the chat, and maneuvered her way onto his lap, wriggling until she felt comfortable. Stroking her hair, Tony marveled at her ability to focus onto the adult conversation, a testament to her spectacular attention span.
Finally, they paused for breath, and grinning, Tony patted Ava's leg. "All right my princess, it looks like you have lucked up with a sitter extraordinaire. Daphne will help with lunch, then will stay and care for all of you while I run some errands."
She stiffened so abruptly that Tony instinctively grabbed her arm, fearful that she would fall from his lap.
Instead, she spun around and threw herself against him, grabbing his neck between her tiny arms. "Please, please, I don't want the daddy to leave me. I'll be good, I promise!"
Taken aback at the reaction, Tony tried to grapple with the fear he heard in her voice as he wrapped his arms around her. Overhearing Ava's impassioned plea, both Levi and Elijah also reacted, each proclaiming himself needing Tony to stay.
Chaos erupted with the three, and Viv, not certain what had upset everyone, burst into sobs and toddled unsteadily to Tony, desperately throwing up her arms for him to hold her. Within seconds, all four cried dejectedly and broken heartedly, sobbing out pleas that the daddy not leave them.
As for Tony, he had faced felons, murderers, rapists, and arsonists and had held his own with confidence, and never had the young man found himself completely baffled by his handling of a single one of those incidents.
Now, however, he did.
A room full of children crying and begging him to stay sucker punched his self assurance.
The anticipated afternoon dissolved in an instant and devastated him, not just because he knew that the emotional stability of every one of the children would begin with baby steps, as in having him leave them a couple of hours at a time, but also because their heartbreak occurred because they wanted him, the daddy.
Daphne's patient eyes observed him, and the fact that she remained collected granted him some assurance. One by one, he quieted the four, then setting them on the sofa beside him, slid off so that he could turn and face them.
Then, firmly, but with reassurances of his return mid afternoon, he insisted that he would leave for a couple of hours that day. However, he elaborated that for the next five days after that, he and Daphne had agreed that she would babysit four while he took each of them individually to a private lunch and errand running trip.
Relying upon his sports background and knowledge of coaching, along with the parenting he himself had witnessed from his dad's hands, he secured a shaky victory.
Nearly an hour later, after serving lunch and orienting Daphne to the routines of the house, he backed out of the driveway and to his first official free couple of hours as a single dad.