Late 1947
One year old Darry Curtis had been gurgling and babbling since he first discovered how to make sounds with his mouth. He had not said any real words yet however.
Whenever Darry opened his mouth, Shannon and Darrell always begged for Darry to say a word, but he never did.
That was until one day, Shannon and Darrell had to go and visit Darrell's mother and father. Darrell's mother was kind-hearted just like Darrell, however Darrell's father was horrid.
Shannon and Darrell were busy talking in the car while little Darry was strapped into one of the back seats.
"You look a lot like your father, Darrell." Shannon remarked, and Darrell sneered.
"Are you calling me ugly?" he chuckled, and Shannon grinned.
The baby wasn't sure why, but he liked the sound of the word ugly. The 'ug' sound made him giggle delightedly, gaining attention from both of his parents.
"We're actually quite lucky that Darry can't talk yet; he'd probably be telling my old man about all of our discussions we've had, including the 'you know what' discussions." Darrell laughed, and Shannon turned red.
"Never speak of those in public." She demanded, and Darrell nodded.
"Don't worry, I won't." Darrell claimed, and then turned around to face his son.
"That goes for you too, little one." He chuckled, tickling Darry's tummy.
Darry squealed and smiled at his father, icy-blue eyes shining like glass.
The rest of the ride to Ardmore, almost a three hour drive from Tulsa, consisted of Shannon and Darrell singing to their favorite songs and Darry gurgling endlessly.
Once they finally arrived at Darrell's parents' house, Darrell unstrapped his baby boy from the car while Shannon gathered their belongings.
"Need any help, love?" Darrell asked Shannon, fixing Darry, who was now asleep, on his hip.
"No thanks, I'm fine." She said, and picked up the heavy suitcase effortlessly.
Darrell smiled; even though his wife was small, she almost had as much strength as him. He often called her Superwoman for her nickname, which drove her insane.
The young man knocked on the door, and his father answered the door.
"Oh, it's you." He said with a bored expression on his face. "And you have a kid…"
"Dad, your grandson was born over a year and a half ago. This is my son." Darrell snapped, angry with his father's comment.
Darrell's father, Bernard, just shrugged and left to alert his wife that his son's family had arrived.
Thelma, Darrell's mother, came running out to greet her son and his family.
"There's my baby boy!" she screamed, picking up a half-asleep Darry out of her son's arms.
Darry squealed delightedly; he loved his grandma a lot. He certainly wasn't sure about his grandfather however.
Darrell's brother and sister came running out to see Darry.
Darrell's younger sister, Gloria, was pregnant with her first child while his older brother, Lloyd, already had a three year old daughter named Vera.
Gloria kissed Darry on the forehead while Lloyd rubbed the little boy's hair with his rough hand. Darry wriggled around a little but allowed his aunt and uncle to coddle him; they were in his good books. The only person who wasn't in Darry's good books was Bernard.
The family went inside and everybody sat in different places: Darrell and Shannon on one sofa with Darry in-between them, Gloria on another sofa all to herself because she was lying down, Thelma in her rocking chair and Lloyd and Bernard on two different recliners. Vera was there aswell, but she was upstairs sleeping.
After half an hour of watching some movie from 1939, Darry got bored and made a weird sound to get his parents attention.
"Are you tired, little man?" Darrell asked, and Darry stared up at him.
Thelma got up from her rocking chair and picked Darry up from the sofa and nuzzled his forehead with her nose. Darry giggled, and Thelma smiled.
"Can you say grandma?" she said to Darry, and Darry opened his mouth. Everybody's breath hitched, but Darry just gurgled. That just made everybody sigh in annoyance.
Bernard got up from his recliner and stood by his wife and glared down at Darry.
"You're almost two years old. You need to say something!" Bernard groaned.
"Don't push him, dad." Gloria sighed.
"He needs to talk!" Bernard shouted. Darrell was about to tell his father off, but Darry opened his own mouth first.
"Ug-ug…UGLY!" Darry screamed, pointing a finger at Bernard.
Everybody in the room gasped, and then everybody except for Bernard burst into fits of laughter.
Bernard's face turned scarlet, and the man stomped out of the room, embarrassed.
Darrell took Darry from his mother, and he and Shannon kissed their baby boy. Darry just smiled up at his parents.
Thelma went to go and see if Bernard was okay, Lloyd left to wake up Vera, and Gloria looked at Darry and winked at him.
"Finally, somebody taught my father a lesson." She said aloud, and Darrell and Shannon burst into fits of laughter again.
AN: Hey guys, so I bring you two chapters because I didn't update before. I apologize for that; my internet connection was down for a lot of the day, plus I had a piano lesson and was practicing it a lot of the day. I might be travelling to a different city tomorrow, and I've got a stupid math exam the day I go back to school which I need to study for so that might mean two more chapters tomorrow evening!