THE UNEXPECTED EVENING
Well, that went well.
Another evening like this at the Smith house and Sarah won't let JJ come over anymore. Come to think of it, with the beating Walt took tonight, she might not let him near me either.
And I'm not sure I'd blame her. I now have several doors shot through with bullet holes, electrical wiring to replace, smoke damage throughout several rooms, closet and basement walls to repair, and more blood to mop up than I care to think about. Not to mention I wrenched my shoulder -- again! -- just when I thought I was finally healed from rolling the car on the Fourth.
I may very well not be that safe to be around.
Man, I really seem to be attracting the criminal element lately. It's still pretty amazing to me that we got away. We wouldn't have, if it hadn't been for this house.
This house ... I had no idea that it still held so many secrets. I mean, after all the renovation I did last year on the place, I had no clue that this place had had a dumbwaiter. And though I knew it was built during Prohibition, I didn't know there was a hidden back way into the cellar!
Until tonight, I really didn't think there was any truth to those stories Grandpa John told me when I was a kid about his father and grandfather.
I guess JJ's now going to have a "tall tale" to tell his grandkids. One that'll start out a bit like "An Unexpected Party" at the beginning of Tolkien's "The Hobbit" ... except substitute terrified teen and hit men for the dwarves and psychic dad for the wizard.
Really, all I wanted to do tonight was hang out, play a few videogames with my kid, maybe order in some pizza. When JJ said he wanted to go bowling, I thought that sounded like an even better plan.
So, why didn't I listen to him? Instead, I decided to be an old fuddy duddy and order up an hour or two of token punishment cleaning the attic. Usually, I'm OK being the cool dad. Normally, I'm just fine leaving the discipline stuff to Sarah and Walt.
So, why did I insist on staying home tonight?
Well, for one thing, if we had gone to the bowling alley, Randy might not have found someone to help him. Those thugs might've carried out their orders, killed him too, and gotten away. We wouldn't have been there to save this kid.
Poor guy, losing his dad like that. He's been through so much already, and now he has to start a whole new life all over again with only a few Witness Protection Program agents to help him.
Maybe I should try to look in on him every once in a while -- in visions, that is -- to make sure he's OK.
Past Entries:
- (6/25) A Touchy Subject
- (6/18) Does Janus Know About Armageddon?
