Seth’s Perspective
“What? What do you mean they’re missing?” I asked Ronda. Zach looked up from his lunch with concern on his face while the kids kept eating.
“What’s going on?” Zach whispered. I put the phone on speaker so he could hear.
“They were riding their bikes in the cul-de-sac while I was out working in the yard, I went into the backyard to grab something, I swear I was only gone for like a minute, and when I came back, they were gone. They’ve been gone for an hour… I’ve driven all around the neighborhood and can’t find them anywhere. I’m so sorry, Seth.” She said, I could hear the panic in her voice.
“It’s okay, Ronda, I’m sure they’re not far” Zach said. We both empathized with her, honestly when the three of them played at our house we just let them play, we didn’t supervise their every move like we did when Maggie came over to play with Izzy. They were six years old and more independent. But at the same time… Shit, the boys were missing!
“We’re coming to help you look for them” I said.
“Suzanne is driving around the neighborhood again looking for them, and I’m at the house waiting in case they come back here. I am so sorry, guys, I swear I was watching them” Ronda said beating herself up.
“We know you were, Ronda. It could’ve happened to any of us, we’ll find them” I said.
“We’ll be there in a few” Zach said before I hung up the phone, then he commanded, “you get the kids coats on, and I’ll call Brody and Max.” Zach went into take-charge mode (just like he did when I was in the accident). He called the guys and they showed up at our place in like three minutes, they drove separate vehicles. I put our kids in the Atlas, and Zach jumped into our Pickup. We figured we could cover a lot more ground in separate vehicles. We caravanned over to Ronda and Suzanne’s place where Ronda was in the front yard waiting for us.
“No luck yet?” Zach asked as he got out of the Pickup.
“No, and I am so sorry you guys. I swear I just turned my back for a minute…” Ronda said.
Zach went over and hugged her, “It’s not your fault. We’ll find them. They’re fine” He whispered consoling her.
While Zach was in command mode, Brody was the voice of reason, “they’re six year old boys” he said. They think they know everything. Hell, me and Dylan used ‘ta take off on our bikes and head for the beach all the time… daddy’d come find us and yell at us so loud that our ears rang for days.” He pause, then added, “They cain’t be too far.”
“Where’s Suzanne?” I asked. Ronda pointed a few houses over to where she was talking to a neighbor.
“She’s going door to door to see if anyone saw them take off” she replied. Suzanne saw us, waved, and made her way back to us.
“Hi guys” she said as she hugged us, “I’m sorry to wreck your day like this”. Then she looked into the back of the Atlas and greeted Izzy and Ali. Izzy understood that the boys had rode off on their bikes without permission and was very interested in how much trouble Freddy was in. She was good comic relief. “Mr. Wilcox was working in the yard and said he saw them turn the corner and head north.”
Brody, Ronda, and Suzanne knew the neighborhood, so the three of them mapped out the area for us and assigned different routes to each of us. We focused our search on a three mile radius figuring they couldn’t have gotten further than that. Brody and Zach started the farthest away and worked their way in. Me, Max, and Suzanne started at the house and each headed in a different direction. Ronda stayed at the house in case they came back. We started a group text to keep everyone informed of where we were and what we learned. Izzy and Ali rode with me, I must admit that Izzy was a big help, she was watching like a hawk. I like to believe she wanted to help with her brother’s safe return, but I think she was more interested in reading him the riot act and seeing what his punishment was for breaking the rules. “Dao a man” Izzy said pointing out someone working in their yard, I pulled over, rolled down the window and asked if he had seen them… HE DID! I texted everyone ‘Boys spotted by a neighbor… going north on Nun Street off Oleander about twenty minutes ago.’
‘I’m about a mile north of there, I’ll head back towards you and comb the streets along the way” Suzanne texted.
‘I’m South of there, will head North and cover the streets west of there” Max texted. We shared locations and sightings back and forth via text, it took us about forty five minutes, but Brody and Zach finally cornered the three little delinquents about a mile and a half away from the house. We all headed to their location; I was the last to drive up. The three boys were standing there in their helmets, holding their bikes up with the parents surrounding them.
Our elation and relief over finding the boys overshadowed how pissed off we were at them… for about a minute or so. The hugs stopped when Brody started in, “What in the HAIL were you boys thinkin’”
“We were just goin’ to our house and play with my Legos” Teddy said innocently.
“He’s got better Legos than me” Sammy said backing up his partner in crime. The answers were innocent, but them taking off was dangerous and frankly scared the fuck out of the six of us.
“What did you think you were going to do?” Suzanne asked. “Ride your bikes ten miles and cross a highway on your bikes?”
“They weren’t thinking” Zach added sounding just like his father. “You all know you are too young to be going off on your own like that. You had everyone in a panic.” I was upset, relieved, and now kind of amused… Daddy Sach was channeling my father in-law and it was cute as hell.
Max got into the action next, “Let’s load the bikes into the truck, I can tell you right now that Teddy won’t be seeing his for quite a while.”
“Same goes for Freddy” Zach said looking at me to make sure I wasn’t going to argue… I just gave him a nod as I admired his parenting skills.
“Yeah, that bike is going in the garage attic when we get home young man” Suzanne said.
“You guys all know better” I said being the most empathetic of the five adults. “if you wanted to go to Teddy’s to play, why didn’t you just ask Sammy’s moms?” I asked in a calm, reasonable tone.
“Because they would’ve said no!” Sammy sniped.
“And why do you think that is?” I asked, still being the voice of reason. The three of them just looked at me like I was a total idiot and shrugged. “BECAUSE IT’S DANGEROUS AND THE THREE OF YOU COULD’VE GOTTEN HURT OR WORSE!” I yelled. The three boys all jumped back a little bit out of surprise. Zach grinned at me like he was thinking, ‘okay, there’s the parenting partner I was waiting for.’ We stayed on the street corner for a while as the parents lectured the three runaways. Finally, we finished loading the bikes in the back of the pickups and headed back to Ronda and Suzanne’s. Teddy got into the Gladiator with Brody, Sammy got into the Subaru with his mom, and Freddy climbed into his seat in the back of the Atlas.
“You bad!” Izzy scowled and scolded her big brother. “You in big twubbo” she added shaking her head. Then she looked at me in the rearview mirror and said, “I good Daddy Zeff” then flashed those sweet eyes… she was playing me bigtime. (Izzy to English translation: ‘You were bad, Freddy, now you’re in big trouble and I’M the good one… so HA!’).
“Shut up Izzy, I was just riding my bike with my friends” Freddy snottily barked back at his sister.
“FREDDY!” I scolded, “we don’t talk like that around here. Apologize to your sister.”
“No” he said defiantly, “I didn’t do nothin’, I was just ridin’ my bike, what good is a bike if I can’t ride it” he griped.
“You’re about to find out young man” I said to the usually perfect kid turned brat sitting in the third row of my vehicle. “You keep up that attitude and you’ll never see that damn bike again” I said without thinking.
“Daddy Zeff said a bad wode. I tewwing Daddy Sach” Izzy said, calling me out. (Izzy to English translation: ‘You said a bad word. I don’t care how mad you are, you don’t swear, I’m telling my other daddy then you’ll be in trouble too’). This whole time, Ali just sat in his seat sucking on his pacifier, holding onto his foot with his tiny right hand, taking it all in, and being unaffected by any of it. We pulled into Ronda and Suzanne’s driveway at the same time as the other parents, and everyone piled out of their cars,
Ronda grabbed onto Sammy and held him tight; tears were rolling down her face, she opened her arms wide and invited the other two boys into the hug. “Don’t you three EVER scare us like that again. EVER!” She said, her voice crackling.
“Sorry momma” Sammy said, but the other two didn’t apologize, it was clear to me that the only thing they were sorry about is getting caught.
“Freddy” Zach said in a stern voice. “You apologize to Ronda for taking off like that.”
Freddy shot Zach a look I had never seen on his face before… Defiance? Annoyance? Distain maybe? I’m not sure what it was, but it was clearly not remorse and it was clear he didn’t feel the need to apologize… that kid was NOT sorry for what he did, But he said it, quietly and half-assed, “I’m sorry.”
Max and Brody shot Teddy a look that could kill and he said, “I’m sorry too.” Again, I wasn’t buying it. Those three little shits weren’t sorry, they were pissed that we ruined their good time.
Suzanne had lunch ready for the boys, but we all decided the play date was over, said our goodbyes and got in our cars and headed for home. Freddy rode with Zach, and the other kids rode with me in the Atlas. Izzy could NOT stop talking about how “Fweddy was bad” and “he in twubbo.” She was the sweetest kid, but there was no doubt that she was loving watching her perfect older brother get in trouble for a change instead of her. I got a kick out of it and let her enjoy her moment… she’d undoubtedly be in trouble again soon enough.
When we all got home, Zach took Freddy and his bike into the garage and put a lock on the bike in front of him. Freddy came up to me and apologized, again… it was a half-assed apology but getting better. It was clear he had gotten a lecture on the ride home. The rest of the afternoon was quiet as Freddy pouted and the rest of us went back to together.
That evening, Eli and Riley came over for dinner and brought Chinese takeout (Riley had a craving). Riley was showing, things were going well with the pregnancy, and they decided they wanted to come over and tell the kids. The kids were eating at the island in the kitchen and the adults were at the small kitchen table when Uncle Eli looked over at the kids and said, “Hey we have something to tell you guys.” No one said anything, but all three of them looked over at Eli, he had their attention.
Riley stood up and showed off her modest baby bump, “See this?” She asked. “me and Uncle Eli are going to have a baby.”
“You guys will have a brand new baby cousin” Eli added.
Even the still-brooding Freddy smiled, “Cool! What’s his name gonna be?” He seemed to get the whole concept.
“Well, we don’t know. We don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl yet” Riley said.
“Where da baby at?” Izzy asked.
“It’s growing in my belly” Riley answered trying not to laugh.
“You know, like when Aunt Gina had DJ” Zach said to help her understand. Izzy thought about it, then seemed to get it.
“I want to see” She said. Riley walked over to her and lifted her shirt. Izzy touched her belly gently and said, “Hi baby, I Izzy you cuzzint” then she went on babbling about playing together, etc. it was cute as hell… Izzy had a new friend… Riley’s belly. Before they left, Riley and the baby tucked Izzy in, I could hear them through the baby monitor. Izzy had a million questions for poor Riley (and the baby)… but it was good practice for her. Uncle Eli tucked Ali in and read him a story. When the two littlest ones were down for the count, Eli and Riley said goodnight and headed home.
Zach immediately sent Freddy up to bed. “It’s only seven thirty! I always get to stay up late on Saturday” Freddy whined.
“Not this weekend” Zach said, his voice was stern just as it had been all day. “Good boys get to stay up late. Boys who take off on their bikes without permission go up to bed with the little kids.” Okay, I got it, He messed up, but I was so happy he was safe that I had long forgiven him.
After Freddy stomped and pouted his way up to bed, Zach and I poured ourselves a much needed cocktail. “Aren’t you being a little tough on the kid, Zach? He’s a good kid, he’s never screwed up like that before” I said as I grabbed the cocktail glass from my husband.
“Oh, I’m just getting started” Zach huffed. “Those little shits scared the hell out of all of us… I want him to think long and hard before he does something that stupid again.” I could hear Nathan Hall in every word.
“Zach, they’re just testing the boundaries. They’re kids” I said defending my usually great kid and his two friends who were more like brothers.
“Yeah, kids who would’ve tried to cross a damn highway on their bikes and been splattered all over the pavement of highway 74/76” Zach shot back, “Seth, this is serious. They’re six years old, they could’ve gotten even more lost than they were, or kidnapped, or worse.” I had assumed that Zach was just pissed off because Freddy disobeyed, but now I got it. He was scared. We were on a journey with three sweet kids in our care. For the most part they listened to us and we could protect them, but eventually they’d be facing the world without us and it scared the hell out of us.
We went into the living room and sat on the couch, I cuddled against him and kissed him. We spent the rest of the night just cuddling and reveling in the fact that I was raising my kids with the perfect partner. Eventually, we got up and went to our bed where I fell asleep in his arms. It was about midnight when Freddy climbed into our bed, squeezed between us, and woke us both up. “What’s up bud, can’t sleep?” I asked.
He was laying on his back on top of the covers with his hands tucked behind his head, he turned and looked at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to Sammy’s Mom.” He said.
I brushed the hair out of his face, “You know why we were upset, right?” I asked.
He nodded, “Cuz’ we coulda got hurted” he answered. “But we didn’t, we were careful.”
“Yeah” Zach chimed in quietly from the other side of the boy, “you didn’t get hurt this time. You might not be so lucky next time buddy, and we love you too much to let you get hurt.”
“It’s not fair, we just wanted to play Legos at Teddy’s house” he said making his final statement before falling asleep. It was clear he knew he was wrong, but wanted to make his point. He spent his whole life being a little man, now he was just trying to be a little boy. We had no choice but to love the kid.
The next morning, We were all up and eating breakfast. Freddy was almost done pouting and getting back to being his sweet self, Izzy was still reveling in being “the good one,” and Ali was just being Ali when the backdoor flung open and in burst grandma and grandpa Hall!
“GWAMMA!!!” Izzy screamed and tried to squirm out of her seat, Ali smiled and held his arms up to be held, and Freddy asked the question on all our minds, “why are you here?”
“We have a court date this week, so we decided to come down early” Nathan responded.
“We got to town late last night, and I couldn’t wait any longer to see my grandbabies” Kelly said. They hugged us all, and fawned over their grandchildren while I cracked more eggs and fried more bacon. “Well, we hope you don’t have plans today… we thought maybe we could take the kids to Jungle Rapids.”
“YES!” Freddy yelled, “Can Teddy and Sammy come with us?”
“You’re not going anywhere” Zach said. “I’m sorry Mom and Dad, but Freddy and his friends took off on their bikes yesterday without permission and scared the crap out of all of us. He’s grounded.” Zach was dead serious. He looked and sounded tough, but I knew it was killing him inside… he wanted Freddy to be able to go more than Freddy wanted to go, but he was sticking to his guns on this.
“But Daaaaad” Freddy whined, “That’s totally not fair.” Zach wouldn’t budge and the subject was dropped. The Hall’s sat down and joined us for breakfast, when Zach and I had finished eating, and Kelly and the kids were still catching up, Nathan asked to speak with Zach and me. We took our coffee and went out to the patio. There was a chill in the air and Zach and I were shivering a bit dressed in just our sweats with bare feet.
“So, what happened yesterday?” Nathan asked and Zach told his dad the story. “Listen, I’m not going to tell you how to parent, but that is a great kid in there… he messed up. He’s been an adult since the day he was born, forgive him and let him be a kid” Nathan suggested.
“Dad, those little shits were headed towards the highway. What if they would’ve made it and tried to cross?!” Zach asked.
“Then today would’ve been a very different day. But they didn’t. What’s important here is not the punishment but the learning. Talk to him.” Nathan talked to the two of us for a while, he didn’t lecture, he listened and shared his experience. Apparently, Zach went on a similar adventure when he was a kid and Nathan took that opportunity to teach him about responsibility. Zach reluctantly took his father’s advice and had a heart to heart with Freddy. He must’ve gotten through because after the talk Freddy came up to me and sincerely apologized for not listening, and for scaring us all. Then he asked if he could call Sammy’s moms and Teddy’s dads to say he was sorry. After that, we just moved on. Freddy’s bike was going to stay under lock and key for a week as punishment, but he got to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa at Jungle Rapids… and yes both Freddy and Sammy got to go along (after they apologized to all the parents). I wasn’t sure that we made the right parenting choice…but then again, I never was.
Monday morning life went back to normal. Trevor was back from Phoenix to tie up loose ends and came in for his session after work at the Candle Co.
“So, how did Max and Timmy react to your quitting?” I asked Trev.
He shrugged, “They were cool about it. Max thanked me for my hard work and wished me luck… they were totally supportive.”
“Good. It looked like y’all were having fun when you skyped us from Brad and Scotty’s the other night” I said making small talk.
“Yeah” he said then let out a snicker, “he’s SUCH an older you” then we made small talk about his trip until I just came out and asked.
“So, are you gonna come clean and tell me the real reason your moving to Phoenix?”
He inhaled deep, “fine. I like Asher. But that’s not my only reason, I really thought through this Seth. I swear. I can get a good job there, I can go to school, I got a place to live. I never really saw Wilmington as my permanent home” he shared. We talked. I still was uneasy about it all, but it was his decision, all I could do was advise and help.
I had talked to Daddy James’ about helping him get a car, so after our session I drove him over there. “Well, your timing’ sucks fellas” Daddy James said. “We just sent four beauties off to auction over the weekend, and if you’re leaving in less than two weeks, that don’t leave a whole lotta time to find somethin’ new and do the work on it.” He thought, scratched his head, and led us out of the service station and into the parking lot out back. “I got this ole girl. Ain’t much to look at but she’s 10 years old and only has 60,000 miles on her. With you helpin’ me, I could get her ready to ride for a few more years with just a couple days work.”
It was an old pea-ish green Yaris… it was fugly as sin. The paint was scorched from the sun, it only had one hubcap, and the front seats had a lot of wear. “You think it’ll get him to Phoenix?” I asked.
Hell yeah, the old gal’s gotta lotta life left in ‘er, we got enough time to get her engine purrin’, but you’re gonna have to live with the way she looks cuz you ain’t givin’ me enough time to fix up the body and interior.”
Trev looked at the car, I couldn’t read him. “Seth said I have to pay for parts. How much will that cost?”
“I reckon about a hundred n’ fifty plus tires. I gotta guy that can hook ya’ up with four new ones for about two hundred. So, about $350 should get you her up and runnin’. Daddy replied.
Trev smiled wide, “I got that. I guess this is my new best friend!” I laughed because I knew Asso would consider those fightin’ words. Before we left, Trevor and Daddy worked out a plan and schedule for getting the fugly old car road ready. When we got back to The Village, I gave Trev the keys to the Beetle so he could get out to Daddy’s garage to work on his car after work. I also set him up with our insurance guy, and he went up to his apartment to research registering the vehicle in North Carolina and/or Arizona. I felt better knowing he was taking this seriously.
Well, another Villager was moving on... like I said it was always bittersweet.
To be continued…
