K is for Knife

Jamie got in line at the grocery store. There were two people in front of him. He glanced at his watch; he was already late for Sunday dinner. The old lady at the front of the line was arguing with the cashier. Jamie sighed and then pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Danny.

Long line at the store. Be there soon.

Jamie pressed send and turned his attention on the various magazines in front of him. Another celebrity couple broke up, and there were pictures of celebs who had lost and gained wait. Jamie quickly lost interest and focused on his shoes. He made a mental note to clean them when he got a chance. The man in front of him moved forward. Jamie quickly loaded his three items; vanilla ice-cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream; onto the conveyer belt. The cashier had a bit of an attitude, but after dealing with the old lady, Jamie didn't blame him. He was polite anyway and the cahier's mood lightened a little.

Jamie walked swiftly to his car and searched his pockets for his keys. The parking lot had cleared out a lot and Jamie had to walk almost to the back to reach his car. The streetlamp next to his car flickered. Anxiety washed over Jamie, but he didn't know why. His eyes wandered around the parking lot. Seeing nothing, he put his key in the door. The door unlocked and he pulled it open. A hand grabbed him from behind, he spun.

The man who grabbed him started busting up laughing.

"I got you good kid."

"Very funny. You scared me half to death."

"I couldn't resist."

"Whatever, Vinny. I'm late for dinner, gotta run."

"See ya later, Reagan." Jamie chuckled and climbed into his car. He waved as he drove off. He pulled up to the house and grabbed the grocery bag and ran inside.

"Look who finally showed up!"

"Hey, blame the old lady in front of me." Danny chuckled.

"Remember, you were supposed to help Erin make dinner. Have fun dealing with her wrath." Jamie flinched at the thought. He made his way to the kitchen. Erin looked up.

"Where have you been?" Jamie held up the grocery bag and then proceeded to put the groceries away.

"What's left?"

"Oh, I left you the best job." She handed Jamie a raw onion and a knife. "Have fun." She turned her attention back on the meat she was cooking.

"Why do we even need onion? Danny is the only one who likes it."

"Dad likes it." Jamie rolled his eyes and placed the onion on the cutting board. He cut in in half and tears sprung to his eyes. He began cutting the onion into smaller pieces. His eyes watered even more, and tears rolled down his cheeks. He blinked rapidly. It didn't help much. He continued to cut and turned his head to ask Erin a question.

"Do I need to cut the who…OW!" Jamie's head turned back to his hand. There was a nice slice in his left hand, from his pointer finger to his thumb. It gushed blood and he quickly pulled it away from the onion. Erin came to his side.

"Go rinse it in the sink, I'll go get Linda and have her look at it." As Erin left the room, Jamie made his way to sink. His eyes were still full of tears from cutting the onion. He turned on the water and put his hand underneath, at first it stung, then in felt soothing. Erin returned with Linda. She took Jamie's hand and looked at it.

"It's going to need stiches." Jamie groaned. "Oh, put your big boy pants on. I can do it here. Let me go get the first aid kit from the car." Linda left.

"She keeps a first aid kit in the car?" Jamie looked at Erin.

"With Danny, it's not a bad idea." Erin and Jamie chuckled. Linda returned with a small white box and set to work.

Danny made his way to the kitchen to get a beer and check on dinner. He stopped when he saw his wife stitching up Jamie's hand.

"What happened?"

"Jamie's still too young to use a knife." Erin joked.

"Hey New York trusts me with a gun, so I think I can handle a knife."

"Yeah." Erin rolled her eyes. The three siblings laughed. Danny pulled two beers from the fridge and handed one to Jamie. He took it in his good hand. Linda was wrapping a bandage around the clean stitched wound.

"So I'm thinking, I'm going to tell Vinny that I punched a window saving a kid or something. That's better than saying I cut myself with a kitchen knife." Danny laughed.

"Yeah. 'Cause he'll fall for that."

"He might." Jamie said defensively. Erin chuckled and turned to finish dinner.

"Oh No! I burnt the meat." Erin held up a burnt steak. 'Looks like ice-cream sundaes for dinner." Nicki, Jack, and Sean cheered in the other room. Everyone laughed and helped Erin prepare the sundaes.