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The family ate their sandwiches. Dan sat at his spot at the head of the table at the far end of the table, with his sons on either side of him, and one of his daughters sitting next to their brother. Roseanne's spot at the other end table sat empty (Obviously)
DJ played with his spoon before finding the courage to ask his question. "Does anyone else think that mom is haunting the house?"
Dan looked at DJ, and so did Becky and Darlene. Dan spoke first. "Why do you think that, son?"
DJ looked at Dan. "Sometimes I hear noises like someone is walking around from your room to behind me. And no one's there." DJ was talking to Dan, but Darlene spoke to.
"Of course mom is haunting the house."
Now Becky talked, "If she's haunting the house that means she has unfinished business."
DJ glowered at Becky. "You got that from Casper!"
Darlene looked at Becky, "Her business is to haunt the house!"
Dan noted that this talk was fastly becoming a fight, by the way that all his kids were raising their voices. He intervened, loudly.
"Hey! Everyone stop fighting."
Dan finished his command and his kids went quiet. DJ turned to his dad and glared at him. "You think mom is going to hell."
Dan looked at DJ, "No I don't."
DJ continued his death stare. "Yes you do. I told you once that if you didn't believe in God then you'll go to Hell and you said 'That's okay. I prefer to stay with your mother.' That meant you thought mom was going to Hell."
Dan stared dumbfounded at his son. As Dan remembered that DJ was right, he did say that. Darlene and Becky watched their dad's facial expressions. He looked hurt by DJ's statement.
Dan tried to control his feelings. He knew this was an ultra-sensitive subject. "That was meant to be a joke."
DJ eyed his dad. Dan said nothing and stood up and left the kitchen. Everyone watched him leave. Dan sat silently burying his head in his hands.
"I wonder what that's all about." Darlene said.
Everyone remained quiet especially Dan who said nothing for the remainder of the meal.
When he was finished eating, Dan put his plate in the sink and then went upstairs. He knocked on DJ door.
"DJ?" He didn't get a reply so he tried again. "DJ?" Still no answer. Now Dan realized that DJ wasn't answering him on purpose so he opened the door without a response.
DJ was at his desk, writing something on loose leaf. "Why didn't you answer me?" Dan asked, gruffly.
DJ kept his eyes on his paper and ignored Dan. Dan remembered the time that Becky refused to speak to Roseanne and wondered of this is what it felt like. Dan watched his son, knowing that DJ was mad at him. One of Dan's worse fears was the idea that he would end up with the same relationship with DJ or Jerry that he shared with his father. He was determined to see that their relationship did not come to that.
So he dropped his tone and tried to sound friendlier. But not too friendly after all he was the boy's father.
"I'm sorry for what I said DJ."
DJ looked up and swung around in his chair to face his dad. "It's okay."
Dan sighed, DJs tone still registered anger. Dan sat on DJ's bed with his hands cupped together in his lap. "We haven't talked just you and me in a while. What's going on?" Dan tried to sound happy. He really wanted the satisfaction of knowing that DJ was okay with him again.
DJ sighed. "Still working on the movie."
Dan smiled. That was satisfaction enough. "Yeah, how is that going?"
"Well we're still writing the script but we can't agree on what happens in the movie."
Dan shook his head. "Well you'll find that that happens quite a lot…unfortunately."
DJ played with the pencil that was in his hand. "Well we know that we want it to be about a football team. Xavier wants it to have zombies, and the girls want cheerleaders no one can get along."
Dan sat back. It seemed to him that it would have been fairly easy to make a story, with a football team, cheerleaders and zombies. "I'm sorry son. I don't see the problem."
DJ got up off his desk chair and then sat by his dad on his bed. "We need an adult to play the football coach and we can't decide to ask." Dan looked around nervously. DJ looked at his dad, and Dan knew what DJ was thinking. "Dad could you be our football coach?"
Dan shot up from the bed and found himself pacing all the while keeping his attention on DJ.
"Uh, I guess on the weekends. I don't know how well I could play the part though…." Dan all the sudden got shy.
DJ stood up. "Dad you were a football player. How hard could it be for you to act like a coach?"
Dan put his hand on his chest like the THINKING MAN. "Not hard I guess but son there's something you should know." Dan sat on the bed next to DJ again. "Son I get stage fright."
DJ stared at his dad. "You used to be in a band…"
Dan shook his head. "I know. And every time I was on stage I was um you…know."
DJ mouthed the word. "Drunk?"
Dan nodded. "Yeah. I was drunk. I have a hard time with talking in front of a lot of people. I failed drama because I couldn't speak in front of an audience. Teacher cast me in a tiny scene of the play Big River as Huckleberry Finns dad and I passed out. Of course I never told you're mom that but still." Dan exclaimed with his hands.
"Dad, we'd just need you to act like the coach from Revenge of the Nerds. You love that movie…In fact you kind of look like that guy."
Dan looked down at his self. Now that he was way thinner, he did kind of look like Coach Harris. "You really want me in your movie?"
DJ nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah."
What do Revenge of the Nerds and Big River have in common? Don't know? Google it !
Please review if you think you know the answer.
