I am the worst father
Sunday being Father’s Day, the boy spent Saturday night with me.
We stopped at the hardware store to get some spackle. I’ve had a deal with the boy ever since he started coming to hardware stores with me. The deal is that he can have anything he wants, as long as it’s not sharp, and it costs less than $10. That’s how he’s ended up with a nice collection of pipe fittings, pulleys, and valves. This time he became entranced by a turnbuckle.
After that we went to the hobby store next door and got another robot to put together. After a quick trip to a Chinese restaurant to pick up food, we went home.
Dinner was nice. He watched Robots again while I dozed in my chair. After that it was time to go to bed. That’s when we discovered that the huggables were missing.
The huggables are the huggable blanket, a blanket he received when he was born, and the huggable sweater, once of Beth’s old sweaters that he sleeps with. I am not allowed to touch the huggables. We called Beth to see if she’d bring them over. Beth was out. Part of me was very curious where she might be. Part of me didn’t care at all.
In the morning we worked on some rockets, and I made some breakfast. The boy gave me my father’s day gifts: two bottles of Coca Cola Blāk and a little clock shaped like a computer. Very adorable. My new toaster set off the smoke alarm. We ate, played Jenga, and off for a walk in the hot hot sun.
Lunch at the cafe near the common. A bit of tree-climbing. Then ice cream at the little shop on the other end of the common.
Here’s where it got ugly.
On our way back home his ice cream fell. I looked at him, and said “Oh well, it happens.”
When he realized we weren’t going back to get a replacement, he started crying and falling on the ground. He ran away, climbed a tree, yelled and screamed. Finally, when I started to walk away, he came down, and we walked home. The entire time he told me I didn’t deserve the presents. That I wasn’t a good dad. That Mom was a better mom. That he was going to take away the gifts.
And he did.