All he needs to know is present in the way his mother says his name. The short clipped tone, the complete lack of warmth. Normally his mother is a pretty loving person. Normally, she sounds happy to see him. Normally, he hasn’t wrecked his father’s BMW in an illegal joyriding incident, and he doesn’t think he’s going to get a whole lot of leeway on that one.
He was trying to breeze past the dining room without being seen, but since he’s already been busted, he decides he’s going to just roll with it. He flashes his mother his most charming smile as he makes his way down the stairs.
“Hi, Mom. How was your day?”
“Just got off the phone with the insurance investigator.”
“That good, huh?”
His mother is giving him the driest look and he swallows down his discomfort, slowly inching forward as though to try and find the best way he can approach this without getting into too much trouble.
“Okay, I take it back. That bad?”
“You’re so lucky that we persuaded them to cover it. An unlicensed driver crashing our car that happened to be our own son? If your father didn’t have friends and the company …”
… He’ll be honest and admit that he’s mostly tuned her out at this point. It isn’t anything personal, but he’s heard this rant several times before and while he doesn’t believe it’s wrong necessarily, he just wants to escape it all and retreat to the safety of his own room.
“… so you are grounded for the next six months.”
“What?” Part of him is glad he tuned in just in time for that, but the rest of him is just baffled at the severity of this punishment. “That’s the entire summer!”
“Yes it is. The only exception you’ll have for leaving the house is a part time job that you’re going to get to pay us back the amount of money it’s going to take to fix this car!”
“You said the insurance was going to cover it!”
“Yes and our rates are going to go sky high with it!” She places her hands on her hips firmly, and still fixes him with a glare. “Honestly, you’re lucky that we’re not reporting you to the police. They, I’m sure, would be much less forgiving.”
He’s almost starting to wish that he had paid more attention to the lecture, to be honest. Right now he’s simply just stunned at how hard and fast this particular punishment had come down and right now he can’t see a way to wiggle out of it. He lets the silence linger for a moment, before glancing up at her again. “Is there anything else?”
“Not now,” she replies, before waving him off. He nods as he turns to go before glancing back over his shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
She glances back to him, rubbing her eyes for a moment, before responding. “It shouldn’t take a massive punishment for you to finally say that.”
He swallows hard before nodding again and retreating to his room. He flops down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment and just tries to process how it feels to have his metaphorical knees knocked out from under him. Then he takes a deep breath and nods.
“I kinda deserve that.”
And then he rolls over and reaches for his phone. He’s fairly certain that he’ll find a way around this particular punishment eventually. He’s smart enough that he usually does, when push comes to shove.
7/26/18 | dog days of summer idiomatic challenge | COMPLETE | 605
All he needs to know is present in the way his mother says his name. The short clipped tone, the complete lack of warmth. Normally his mother is a pretty loving person. Normally, she sounds happy to see him. Normally, he hasn’t wrecked his father’s BMW in an illegal joyriding incident, and he doesn’t think he’s going to get a whole lot of leeway on that one.
He was trying to breeze past the dining room without being seen, but since he’s already been busted, he decides he’s going to just roll with it. He flashes his mother his most charming smile as he makes his way down the stairs.
“Hi, Mom. How was your day?”
“Just got off the phone with the insurance investigator.”
“That good, huh?”
His mother is giving him the driest look and he swallows down his discomfort, slowly inching forward as though to try and find the best way he can approach this without getting into too much trouble.
“Okay, I take it back. That bad?”
“You’re so lucky that we persuaded them to cover it. An unlicensed driver crashing our car that happened to be our own son? If your father didn’t have friends and the company …”
… He’ll be honest and admit that he’s mostly tuned her out at this point. It isn’t anything personal, but he’s heard this rant several times before and while he doesn’t believe it’s wrong necessarily, he just wants to escape it all and retreat to the safety of his own room.
“… so you are grounded for the next six months.”
“What?” Part of him is glad he tuned in just in time for that, but the rest of him is just baffled at the severity of this punishment. “That’s the entire summer!”
“Yes it is. The only exception you’ll have for leaving the house is a part time job that you’re going to get to pay us back the amount of money it’s going to take to fix this car!”
“You said the insurance was going to cover it!”
“Yes and our rates are going to go sky high with it!” She places her hands on her hips firmly, and still fixes him with a glare. “Honestly, you’re lucky that we’re not reporting you to the police. They, I’m sure, would be much less forgiving.”
He’s almost starting to wish that he had paid more attention to the lecture, to be honest. Right now he’s simply just stunned at how hard and fast this particular punishment had come down and right now he can’t see a way to wiggle out of it. He lets the silence linger for a moment, before glancing up at her again. “Is there anything else?”
“Not now,” she replies, before waving him off. He nods as he turns to go before glancing back over his shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
She glances back to him, rubbing her eyes for a moment, before responding. “It shouldn’t take a massive punishment for you to finally say that.”
He swallows hard before nodding again and retreating to his room. He flops down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment and just tries to process how it feels to have his metaphorical knees knocked out from under him. Then he takes a deep breath and nods.
“I kinda deserve that.”
And then he rolls over and reaches for his phone. He’s fairly certain that he’ll find a way around this particular punishment eventually. He’s smart enough that he usually does, when push comes to shove.
Just give him a month or two and watch him fly.