David

I was Mommy’s only child. We lived together in a house outside of town. I took the school bus to school. My earliest memories are of Mommy holding me and speaking softly. I don’t remember what she said, but I remember how wonderful I felt.

As I got older, and started school, I found out some of the kids had two parents, some like me had only a Mother, and one had only a father. Kids are what kids are and comparing parents, and why yours was best, was one of our favorite occupations, if you were competitive, which I was. The boy with whom I had the most disputes was Henry. He was about my size, and, I thought, aggressive. I was constantly getting into it with him. Things got so bad we ended up fighting on the school grounds, which got us both sent to the Principal’s office. Parents were called. Henry, like me, had only a mother. She was not as pretty as my Mommy, but she was pretty, I thought, as I sat examining her while we all waited together for the Principal. She started talking to Mommy and they, unlike their sons, got on quite well. I watched that and was miserable.

After a time, the lady at the desk got us and seated us in the principal’s office. He looked down at a paper and pursed his lips. He told our parents that we were constantly getting in trouble, getting in disputes, and generally disrupting the class. Outside class we constantly teased and confronted one another and this fight was, really, the last straw. He suspended us for 10 days of school and told our mothers they could pick up our schoolwork so that we didn’t fall behind in class, but if this continued, we were probably not going to get promoted to the next grade. He said he’d thought about putting us in separate classes, but that was just kicking the can down the road, not stopping, picking it up, and putting it in the recycling bin where it belonged. He suggested they come up with some solution, for both our futures.

Mommy was furious. She talked about possibly losing her job, which would put us on the street, and how thoughtless I was. She mentioned this was a reflection on her. My behavior had caused people to think she was a bad mother. After talking to me for several minutes after we got home, she sent me to my room. “I’m going to call Cindy (that was Henry’s mother) and see if we can come up with some solution for all this.”

I didn’t mind being in my room. She’d taken my phone, so I played on the computer. I laughed with my friends about what had happened, really, and bragged about my vacation from school. It wasn’t all that serious to me, once we were out of the principal’s office.

Mommy came and got me and told me Cindy and Henry were coming over for supper and they were tossing a couple of ideas around thinking about how to solve the problem Henry and I had caused. She asked me if I had had fun staying in my room. I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t know.” I’m sure she knew I was playing with my friends on the computer.

Henry and his Mom got there after a short time and she was just as mad as Mommy was. Henry rolled his eyes, which Mommy saw and mentioned. Henry’s Mom sat him down in our living room. Mommy sat me down in a chair across the room and they stayed in the kitchen, talking.

At first, I was bored, but then Henry started making faces, and calling me names in a real quiet voice, like ‘son of a snitch’, which made me pretty mad. He wouldn’t take it back so I hit him, he hit me back and our Moms separated us.

“What started this?” Mommy was madder than I had ever seen her.

So I told her. “He called me a son of a snitch.”

Mommy’s jaw dropped, Henry snickered. His Mom didn’t. “What? You called him what?” She grabbed Henry by the arm and would have shaken him if Mommy hadn’t intervened. “No. No. We’re not going to be part of the problem. I think I have just thought of a solution.”

Henry’s mom calmed down but didn’t let go. She held Henry’s arm real tight.

“I’ll get our coffees, Cindy. Put these two young gentlemen in separate chairs and stay here with them. I think we can get this solved pretty quickly.”

Mommy was smart. She was some kind of mathematician or something at a laboratory in town. I didn’t know Henry’s Mom at all. I hoped she was mean, especially to him.

We sat down. Henry’s Mom told us not even to look at each other. Mommy came into the living room with cups of coffee and a pot on a tray.

She smiled. I didn’t like this. Henry was smirking too. He didn’t know Mommy. He was about to.

“As I see it, we have two problems. The suspensions, which mean we’re going to have to take vacation or something, to deal with the child care, and the ongoing feud between these lovely young boys.”

I really didn’t like the sound of that at all.

Cindy agreed. “What do you think we can do about it?”

“Well, we can mitigate one half the problem with the child care” and she glared at me and then Henry, “by taking five days off each and take turns watching these adorable little scamps, who it seems, have difficulty playing, in a civilized way.”

There were too many big words, and too many sarcastic references to Henry and I to make me comfortable. He still sat snickering. I started dreading what was coming.

“What is Henry’s most precious possession?” Mom asked, sweetly.

“His phone.”

“Get it from him.”

Cindy’s mom got up and took Henry’s phone. For the first time, he looked a little uncomfortable.

“Here, let me have it.” She began examining it.

“That’s mine. I’m entitled to my privacy!” Henry positively shouted.

Mom smiled at him. “Do you want it back?”

“Give it to me.”

“First you have to apologize to Dave for calling him a son of a snitch.”

Henry looked at me. “I’m sorry for calling you a son of a snitch”, and he snickered.

“That’s nice. Wasn’t that sweet, Cindy?

“He apologizes all the time and just keeps doing it.”

“Well, Henry, your own mother is not impressed with your sincerity, your own mother. Tsk tsk. I guess you’re going to have to do something to show her you are sincere.”

“Get up, take Dave by the hand, kiss him and tell him you’re sorry for calling him a son of a snitch.”

“No.” Henry looked positively revolted.

“Ok, no problem.