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Episode Tag to: The Rats Strike Back

Chronicle 007

Chapter: Compromise

Password: *********

Date: 05.19.13

Time: 1:34 PM

Going on a dinner with your mom at a fancy, insanely expensive restaurant: good. Going on a dinner with your mom at a fancy, insanely expensive restaurant to discuss a major change in the household and a certain person's living arrangements: bad.

Very, very bad.

I should have known. It's very rare that Mom comes to school to pick me up. Since they've been married, it has always been Big D who comes in the afternoon—sometimes late in the evening, if I get detention—to get us. She's normally not able to because the news station she works for often calls her in for the evening reports. When she does, it's often for special events, like Parent-Teacher Night or Open House or Career Day.

To be fair, the Leo senses did start going off when both her and Big D pulled up to the curb after school last Friday. Adam, Bree and Chase were as clueless as I was to what was happening. I thought at first that maybe Mom was getting her car fixed after a piece of our roof fell on it during the gravity belt incident, and she would leave the car at the shop then jump in to the other car to go home.

But her car was in a great condition.

Mom hugged me then kissed me. It was embarrassing. Then, she smiled. "Your change of clothes is in the back, Leo," she said. "We're going to your favorite restaurant."

I remember making a face. "Why do I have to change clothes to go to Subway?" I asked her.

She laughed, but not too much. "I'm talking about the other one, baby," she said. "The one we haven't been to for a while."

I almost jumped for joy when I figured out the place. Of course I was excited. Who wouldn't be? They cook the best food, make the best mind-blowing shakes I've ever had in my lifetime, and the dining area is so beautiful I could almost cry. I don't think we've gone there as a family before, so it made it even more exciting. At least I could talk about it over and over again with other people besides Mom.

"Oh, good!" Chase said. "I'm kinda hungry. We had burritos today. I don't care what they say; I really believe that those green stuff inside wasn't guacamole."

"Um…" Big D scratched the back of his head uneasily. "We can stop by somewhere on the way home. You guys can pick whichever place you want."

"What?" Bree asked. "I thought we were going somewhere already?"

Big D just opened the doors of his car for them, and Mom just patted me on the shoulder. "Come on, Leo. Our reservation's in thirty minutes," she said. Now that I think about it, she was slightly pushing me towards her car when she said that. She glanced back at them only when we were already getting inside. "See you kids at home."

I have to admit that what happened was pretty weird. It didn't make sense to me at the time how and why we all separated like that. It's unnatural. Borderline disturbing, even. It was like we were in the Twilight Zone, and our parents got replaced by replicas who acted the exact opposites of them.

Who surprised me the most was Mom. She was all smiles and 'How was school today, baby?' and stopping promptly on red lights like a good citizen while she was driving. I tested her once and told her I was failing all my classes and am planning to drop out of school to become a deadbeat to see how she would react.

"Well, maybe we can discuss better options during dinner" was all she said, her smile never breaking.

That was when I figured that I was in deep trouble. If Mom was her normal self, she would have snapped and get pulled over for reckless driving and some sort of vehicular violence.

'Discuss better options during dinner' is not the kind of woman my mother is.

I was too afraid to ask what the deal was. Me being in trouble was already established, but for what I couldn't figure out. It must have been huge, because she's never used a trip to one of my favorite places as a way to gently break the judgment to me. The last time that happened, it was about her and Big D getting married and us moving into his house which, as I've made clear before, wasn't trouble at all.

We got to the restaurant ten minutes before we're up, and it gave me enough time to change. It didn't take long for us to get settled. The waiter came, asked what we want to drink, went away, came back with the drinks after five minutes, and then went away again with our orders five minutes after. I kind of didn't want him to leave, because leaving us alone would mean that the gavel would have to come down.

And it usually does that painfully, painfully slowly.

"So…" I tried to break the ice, "you got paid!"

Mom shrugged. "Yes, but not much," she answered me. I could see it in her face that she knew I was nervous. "Don't worry. I've saved enough money for tonight."

I nodded and said okay. Then I made small talk about the chandeliers and the centerpiece. She agreed with everything I said about them. I also talked about how Adam would have loved the paintings on the ceiling and how Bree would have been taking pictures of them at that moment.

She didn't say anything about that.

By the time the food came, I've had enough. "Mom, why are we here?" I asked.

"Because you like this place," she said.

"No. It's because you know something that I don't and you're planning on telling me but you want me in a good mood before I can hear it."

She raised her eyebrows. "Okay…?"

I scoffed. "Mom. Is it or not?" I asked.

She was probably going to say no because she stayed her unusually happy self for a few seconds. Then she deflated like a balloon. "It is," she said. "Look. I promise to tell you everything, Leo, but let's at least finish dinner first. You can even order desserts, and then we'll talk after that."

It's one of those few things that spoiled my appetite. I couldn't bear any bad suspense, especially when she had told me that there was something to worry about.

"Okay. Maybe after dinner."

"Oh, come on!"

"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll tell you. You'll have to know sooner or later anyways." She sighed. "Apparently, it's sooner," she mumbled.

"Thank you."

She was putting together the right words and the proper phrasing to make sure I don't get upset. She even managed to avoid my eyes by staring at her dinner while she was doing it, for good measure.

When she looked up, the guilt in her eyes caught me by surprise. I had seen it earlier that day. Big D had that same look on his face when he was talking to the four of us about the weird pick up set up. I beat Mom to it. "This doesn't have anything to do with you guys having dis…differences in opinions, does it?" I asked.

She smiled sadly. "It does."

"Oh, you guys will be fine. I'm guessing this is normal. You guys just got married last year. You can work this out, whatever 'this' is. Trust me. It'll get better," I assured her, because she seemed really upset.

"We had thought it through," she said, "and an agreement had been reached so that we wouldn't disagree much anymore."

I thought that would be it. Problem's solved, all thanks to yours truly.

It wasn't.

"Leo, you'll be staying with Grandma for a while."

"Wait, wait, wait. What? You're kicking me out of the house? What did I do?"

"No, Leo—you didn't do anything," she tried to calm me down. I'm guessing it's because the other people there were starting to stare because I was freaking out.

"I must've done something! Big D wants me out, and it's over something I probably didn't do. Whatever it is, Eddy did it!"

"Calm down, Leo."

"How? I'm going to be homeless! I'm going to be Leo 'Homeless' Dooley!"

"You're not going to be homeless! You're going to be with Grandma Rose."

"I'd rather be homeless!" I told her. Living with Grandma means countless hours of cheek pinching, endless health nut foods, and Poochie peeing on me while I sleep. That dog has a personal vendetta against me, and I would never want to stay under the same roof with that unstable Chihuahua.

"Leo, would you just listen?" Mom hissed.

I did what she said by not saying any other thing, but it's mostly because I'm too occupied with rocking back and forth in my seat while hugging myself.

She explained everything. "Your stepfather didn't have any part in this decision. He actually hated it when I told him. I came up with this on my own."

I stopped. "Why?" I asked. "You don't want me anymore?"

"Of course I do. You're my kid, and I'd always want you with me," she said. "But lately I'm starting to realize that you're not safe when you're with them, with us."

Bingo. That's what the problem was.

"Are you blaming them for what happened last week?" I asked.

She said nothing.

"I had something to do with it, too. It's not all their fault. I wanted to be the test person for the belt, remember?"

"It's not just that," she said. "Not only that. Things happen to you almost every single time I'm not around. Almost got recycled, almost got smashed by an air conditioner, almost drowned to death—what. I've almost lost you how many times now?"

"But Adam and Bree and Chase are always there to save me—"

"That's not the point." She had a hand over her eyes, and I got really frazzled because the waterworks started to pour. "I'm your mother. You have to understand that. I constantly wonder what could happen if they're not there to save you, what would happen if you're just on your own with no one to help."

"But they are. And if not, then I'll do my best to make sure that I turn up alright."

"That's not good enough for me," Mom said. "I can't lose you. I've already lost him. I can't lose you, too." She sniffled.

I gave her my table napkin.

She took it. "And after that car incident, things hadn't been the same," she said. "You're not as close to your brothers and your sister as you used to be. You keep things to yourself. It scares me to think that what you're hiding is something that's hurting you, and you won't even let me do anything about it."

Then I felt bad, because I could see where she was coming from with her decision. It made a lot of sense. But, I couldn't leave the house. I couldn't leave them. Not now. Not at this time.

"I'm sorry it's affecting you like this, Mom," I said, "but you have to let me go. This is a battle I have to fight alone."

"But you're too young. You're not supposed to face things like these until you're older," Mom said. "I did all that's possible to make sure it won't happen to you."

I smiled and gave her the best answer I could give her. "Well, it just got started early for me," I said. I grinned. "And I don't want to brag, but I'm holding up pretty well."

Mom laughed a little, and it lightened things up. "I know you do," she said. "You weren't raised a coward." Then she changed her mind. "In most cases."

"Big D cares about us, Mom. The guy may love himself sometimes, but it doesn't compare to how he feels for you. Adam, Bree, and Chase really like having you around, the same as you like having them around. I know you don't really blame them. You love 'em too much for that."

She nodded. Thankfully, she had stopped crying. "You're right. I do love them. But I love you more."

"Umm, between you and I? I think I could really use a little less loving," I told her, and in a way I did mean it as a joke to get her to cheer up.

It worked.

"You'll know in time, Mom. I'll tell you guys everything," I promised her. "Right now I just have to deal with this on my own. Don't worry. I'll ask for help when it gets too much. "

Mom nodded. "Okay," she said.

After that and a semi-awkward silence, we ate. The food was great like I expected. We talked about other different but still relevant things. I found out that Mom had been setting up things for me to move to Grandma's (I almost moved to another school), and when she 'officially' told Big D about it, that's when got upset. He wanted me to stay in the house, and he's been fighting for me not to go.

That, of course, made me feel the love. Eddy was wrong; I'm not just the team's pencil pushing mascot after all.

See? It's nice to talk things out without saying too much. If that makes sense.

There were a lot of things that could have happened that day. I could have left my family. It would have been easy because I had the option to. Yet I decided to stick around. I had no choice in feeling otherwise in that. I guess it's because ever since I met Big D, Adam, Bree, and Chase, I've known they had always been worth it.

Yeah, yeah. Cheesy, I know. That's what happens when you go on a hunger strike for a choreless weekend.

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

End of Chapter Compromise

Re-Enter Password: *********

Date: 05.19.13

Time: 4:05 PM

In The Rats Strike Back, what was the title of the show Bree was watching before the power went out in the lab? Answers are optional, and reviews are much adored!