Monday, August 31, 2009

How many times in 8 hours can I piss off my dad?

It was a day like any other. Bright blue sky, birds chirping and Sterling couldn't wait to get outside and play with his friends. A couple hours into the day, I decided to leave and run a few errands. I called Sterling and asked if he wanted to come with me. "No" was the answer. I told him he would be solo for a couple hours and he was fine with that.
Sterling had blown a hole in a bike tire and I left to get it repaired. Done. Next over to Grandma's as she needed my vacuum. Done. Finally, I delivered a house warming gift to a friend. I BS'd with him for awhile then came home.
Sterling had seen my car and trotted home. "Hey dad." I turned around and Sterling and his friend Reed were there. I asked what Reed was doing and Sterling quickly replied, "remember dad...I asked you last night if Reed could stay the night and you said yes." I had said yes to this...LAST NIGHT. Pulling Sterling aside..."you need to let me know! A phone call...some sort of communication would have been nice. We need to clean the house before guests come over and I need to go shopping for dinner for you two as well as snacks for later." "Sorry" he said. I told Sterling to get into his room and clean it while I went to go and get pizza for dinner. "Clean the room yourself, don't let Reed help you" I said as I shut the door.
In the car...in reverse...let off the brake and "(insert horrible noise)." Put the car in park and jumped out and looked underneath. It sounded like my muffler was dragging on the pavement...nope it was Sterling's skateboard. With a full head of steam I went inside after Sterling. "You need to take better care of your stuff" was the message. He always leaves his crap outside for people to steal or for somebody to run over.
Out I go again to get pizza. When I come home, all the blinds are down and all the doors are locked. "What the hell is going on?" "Victor and James were making fun of me and Reed so I shut all the blinds." I went out the back door to smoke a cigarette and noticed that the lock was broken. "What the hell is going on?" I knew the answer but for some reason, longed to hear it. "I don't know." I said "you're an only child and nobody else is here except Reed." "I know...but I don't know how it happened," he said.
At this point, I was heated. An unannounced friend, cleaning, shopping, skateboard under car and a broken lock. AND WE WERE ONLY ONE HOUR INTO THE SLEEP OVER. At current speed, Sterling was going to ride this rollercoaster off the edge and into the pool of burning nepalm filled with flesh eating zombies wearing flame retardant clothing in record time.
Pizza gone, kids in bed and it's only midnight. Perfect. Blood pressure down to a manageable number. I had told them that if I heard them talking at 1am I would put them in separate rooms. It seemed to work as half an hour later I heard no talking.
At 2am I heard a thumping sound outside. I couldn't tell where it was coming from or what it was. I paced from one end of the house to the other. "Thump, thump, thump." Couldn't figure it out. I turned on some lights and went out the front door. A couple doors down I saw a car with engine running and lights on. That wasn't the knocking sound. I got nothin'. Back inside I go. Ten paces from the front door and six kids come blazin' around the house going mach 2. Upon seeing me...all of them froze. One girl exclaimed "oh shit" and all the kids retreated the way they had come. With a smile on my face, and satisfaction in my heart, I entered my house and went directly into Sterling's room. "Why you breathing so hard bud," I asked. Waiting for his puffing response, I looked in his bed to find his friend, with blanket over head, and not moving. Sterling was still trying to get the blinds down and into his sleeping bag. I put my hand on his chest and it was burning hot. "Come with me" I told him and walked out to the front room.
He proceeded to tell me that 4 of his friends had knocked on his window and asked him to come outside and talk. "What were you doing?" "Just talking" was the response I got four times. I told him to go to bed. As he was walking down the hall I asked "you know you're in trouble...right?" "ya"
I didn't get any sleep that night.

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