He finally had all the cards stacked in a nice, neat deck. God had other plans. Now they were scattered all over the room. Ian took a deep breath and started reshuffling. He didn’t even want to think about the deck his son had to reshuffle. At least Ian’s childhood was just a horrible nightmare, not a gentle, loving lie.
Ian felt something between a shiver and a sigh. He could finally admit that to himself; say it out loud. Son, he had a little boy, a living, breathing ten-year-old boy currently giggling on the floor of the living room playing with that disgusting fur ball.
What now? Breakfast has been made and consumed. The dishes had been washed and put away. All he knew to do was stand there and watch the boy smile. There had to be more to this fatherhood thing than standing around with a half goofy, half terrified grin on his mug.
Ronnie was fed. Check. He was clean and dressed. Check. Time for school…oh God…school. Ronnie needed school. Do you just find a bus and put him on it? Was there some paperwork or shots or something? He was a father now, shouldn’t he know this? Ian put his head in his hands.
“What’s wrong?” His little boy looked up at him, maniacal fuzzy thing still batting away at a shoestring Ronnie was dangling in the air.
“Uhm…no…yes…I don’t know.” Ian said. “School…”
Ronnie frowned. “Oh…I reckon there’s not a bus to Lost Mountain Grammar.”
“Probably not.” Ian sat on the couch, well away from the venomous clutches of the creature. “We should talk about school or talk to somebody. I’m sorry Ronnie, I’ve never done this before. I’m not sure what steps to take so you’re going to have to bear with me.”
“It’s okay.” He said taking a seat right beside him. “I’ve been a kid for a long time, so I kin prob’ly help out some.”
Ian smiled. “That’s good to know.”
“Let’s start at the beginnin’. Okay?” Ronnie looked up at him, petting the cat who had just hopped up in his lap.
“Okay.” He leaned back on the couch. “Just keep that rodent away from me.”
“It’s a kitty, and it won’t hurt cha.”
“Just keep it over there.” Ian said. “Now, since you have all the experience, where do we begin?”
“Well, what should I call you?” Ronnie looked up at Ian’s face. “Mister Ian, don’t seem right no more.”
Ian wasn’t sure how to respond. “What do you want to call me?”
“I already had a daddy.” Ronnie stroked the kitty and looked at the floor. “That didn’t work out too well.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Tain’t your fault.” He said quietly and continued to stroke a purr out of the fuzz ball in his lap.
“But…”
Ronnie put his hand on Ian’s shoulder and turned to look at his face. He said very clearly. “It ain’t your fault.”
Something fatherly popped in Ian’s head and he just rolled with it. “Ronnie, do you want to talk about…”
“No.”
“When you are ready.” Ronnie shook his head. “What about…do you have any questions about me…” Ian struggled a little. “You know…why…or…”
Ronnie leaned back on Ian’s chest. Ian slipped his arm around him. “Maybe.”
“Like?”
“My mamma.” He didn’t look at Ian, just down at the cat rolling on his back in the child’s lap, purring obnoxiously away. “My real mamma.”
Ian sighed. Maybe he wasn’t ready, but he’d opened the can. He had no choice to let the worms out. “Taylor, her name was Taylor.”
Ronnie kept his eyes forward. “My mamma’s sister?”
“Yes.”
“We loved each other very much.”
“She died.” He rolled his head back and looked up in Ian’s face.
“Yes, when you were born.” Ian wrapped his arms around the boy and kissed him on the forehead. “And your Mamma and your Daddy couldn’t have kids. They’d tried so hard, so many times. It…it just seemed the best thing for you.”
Ronnie looked back down and nodded his head. “I unnerstand.” He scratched the cat’s belly. “Do I have any brothers and sisters?”
“Uh…no.”
“Oh.” He sounded a little disappointed. “You ain’t married. Gotta girlfriend?”
Ian smiled. “No. Is that important?”
“Not unless it’s important to you.”
“I think I just need to concentrate on you for now.”
Ronnie rolled his head back and looked at Ian again. “Papa…you kin be my Papa. How’s that?”
“I like it. Is that okay with you?”
“Suits me right fine.”
“Me, too.” Ian squeezed his son’s shoulders. “Now, what else do we need to talk about?”
“Well, I guess there’s some stuff you need to know.”
“Like?”
“Well, I get a hunnerd dollars a week fer my allowance. I don’t have a bedtime and school I jus’ kinda do when the mood hits me.”
“I see.” Ian was glad the child couldn’t see that he was trying not to laugh out loud. “Well, things have changed.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“Figured.” Ian took a deep breath. “You get five dollars a week, if you do your chores and school is something you do unless you’re sick and I need to see blood or body fluid as proof.”
“Gross.”
“That thing just touched me.”
“Ten a week and it’ll never happen again.” Ronnie bargained.
“I’ll get used to it.”
“I was afraid of that, too.”
Ian gently turned to boy around to look him directly in the eyes. “Look Ronnie, there are a lot of things we are going to have to play by ear. We both have a lot of adjusting to do. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes sir.”
“Let’s always be honest with each other and I think we’ll be just fine.”
“Coolness.” Ronnie scrunched up his nose. “Did I say that right?”
Ian smiled. “Yes. Now, here’s the deal. I need to figure out about school, so I’m sure with what’s happened no one from social services will come beating down the door…”
“What’s social services?”
“An organization that…” Ian thought about that a moment. “They’re a group of people who…” Ronnie cocked his head. “Someone neither one of us wants to tick off.”
“’kay”
“Anyway, I’ll need to call your old school and see about a new school, but until then it’s probably better for you to be at home with me.”
“Yeah.” Ronnie tried to look responsible. “That sounds right.”
“As far as allowance goes, five dollars for now, more when you earn it. I’m going to try not to spoil you.”
“I’m real hard to spoil.”
“I’m sure. Now I’m know there are going to be times when we are going to argue and get mad at each other, but let’s always remember that no matter what we’ve got each other.”
“An’ we love each other.”
Ian grinned, suddenly knowing the boy was going to be impossible not to spoil. He was going to have to work extremely hard not to be manipulated, but he knew he was a good kid. “And we love each other, no matter what. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Now what?” Ian asked.
“What’s my chores?”
Ian thought a moment. “Well, make your bed. Pick up your clothes. Keep that evil purring thing away from me, and help me keep the house clean.”
“I kin do that. What else?”
“What did you used to do?” Ian pulled the boy totally in his lap. “You got paid a hundred dollars a week, you must have had a mighty big list of chores.”
“Oh, it was just awful, but since I’m taking a cut in pay, you’ll have to take a cut in chores.”
“I figured that.”
Ronnie took a deep breath. “I reckon I kin still gather the eggs in the mornin’ and I’ll help out in the garden but only ever other day, an’ only cause I kinda like doin’ that.”
“I see. Looks like we have a problem.” Ronnie sat up and turned to look at him. “We don’t have any chickens and other than a few flowers there’s no garden.”
“No chickens? No garden?” Ronnie was flabbergasted. “What do we eat?”
“We go to the grocery store.”
“Fer ever thing?”
“Pretty much.”
Ronnie turned around and lay back against Ian’s chest. “That don’t make a lot a sense, but awright.”
“You can keep the grocery list and go shopping with me and help put everything away when we get home.”
“Deal.”
“Anything else?”
“I think that’s about it fer now. You got any questions fer me?”
“I’m sure I do, but…” Ian thought a second. “Do you like your room?”
“It’s fine.”
“Just fine?”
“Well, it’s sa big.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, no. It probably needs a big teevee in it and one of them TiVos. You know, just ta fill up all that space.”
“That’s sounds about right.”
“I thought so.” Ronnie agreed.
“Until you save your money to buy the big teevee and the TiVo, you’ll be able to make do with what we’ve got, won’t you?”
Ronnie turned and looked at him. “Didn’t slip that one passed ya, did I?”
“Uh uh.”
“I’m a kid. It’s my job.”
“I’m a Papa, it’s my job.”
They were interrupted by a knock at the back door.
“Should I get that?” Ronnie asked.
“If you want to.”
“Kin I charge extry for it?”
“No.”
Ronnie put the cat on the floor. “Cain’t blame me for tryin’.” He disappeared into the kitchen.
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