#43: Family Squabble

..............................................................................................................................................

“Whatcha doing Tommy?”Captain asked the little boy who was standing on the shore looking across the river. “is everything alright? Can I help you with something?”

“Everything’s fine Officer Parmalee. I’m waiting for my daddy to come home.” The little boy said, he sniffled a little. Captain realized the little guy wanted to cry really bad.

“It’s kind of late.” Captain told him gently. “I’ll just wait here with you until your poppa comes home. Where’s your mommy?”

“She inside the house.” Tommy told him with a sniffle. “Mommy and daddy were shouting at each other when he left for work this morning. She’s crying. She’s been crying all day. I hate it when she does that. I hate it when THEY do that. She told me to go outside and play before he came home. I came down here to watch the water. I like to watch the birds play. We’ve had some really strange birds show up lately. Have you noticed them?”

“Actually I have seen the birds they are really strange.” he lied to the little boy. He had no idea what he was talking about but this didn’t seem the time to disagree about anything. The kid was pretty stressed.

Captain said “Oh Hey! What do you think of that new Avenger movie? Have you seen it yet?”

“Oh yeah!” the little boy said “The Hulk is awesome! I saw it. I also saw RoboCop on NetFlix. It got me to thinking. RoboCop reminded me of you. Are you a Cyborg too?”

“Well no...or maybe yeah...kinda. I’ll have to think on that. Actually I am I suppose.” Captain told him. “In a manner of speaking, yeah. I’m not missing near as many parts as he was though. I’m only missing my legs. Does that bother you?”

“NO! I think it’s awesome. I wish I could be a cyborg too. It’s cool.” The little guy’s mind was totally off his family problems now.

Captain and the little boy talked for a while. They took turns skipping flat rocks across the water. Just before dark the boy’s dad appeared.

“Tommy. So there you are” the father said. “it’s time to come home now son. Your mother is waiting for you.”

“Is she still crying?” Tommie looked at his daddy.

“No..she’s ok now. Everything is Ok. We kissed and made up.” the man told his son.

“Ewwwww’ Tommy made a face. That didn’t stop him from taking off like a streak.

“Thank you for watching after Tommy.” the father said. “His mother and I had a bit of a squabble.”

“It happens. Is everything all right?” Captain asked “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No...you’ve helped us a lot just by visiting with Tommie. I saw you standing here earlier when I got home. Then wife and I had a nice little chat with out fear of him overhearing us. After that we reconciled.” he winked “if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah...I know what you mean.” Captain forced a knowing grin and lied like a rug. He had no clue what the guy meant.

“I need to get back. “ the man said. “Thank you again.”

“All part of the service. “ Captain said.

“All part of the service.” Captain muttered to himself as he continued his beat.

“Reconciled? Reconciled must have been a codeword” he muttered. “I wonder what it means”.

Then it came to him...”ohhhhhhhh”

He grinned then.

---

The Next Episode is
#45 :Coffee, Donuts and Strategy…
The Previous Episode was
#42: Bank Heist…
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue

---

I'm

@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
I have books on Amazon too.
Sometimes I also comment on the news

Sometimes it's hard to tell fiction from the news.