Scene: Friday Night. Our heroes are enjoying a bit of dinner while discussing the likely culprit behind the small, melted, plastic toy that has just been discovered in the oven.
Jack chooses a direct approach. “Will, you did it didn’t you?”
“Nuh-uh,” Will shouts, struggling to hold an appropriately scandalized look on his face. “Did not!”
“Well, it was your Bakugan,” Jack insists. “So you must have put it in there!”
Will’s protests mix and meld with Jack’s continued accusations. Tom studiously stirs the caramel sauce meant for his apple fries into the adjacent sweet and sour sauce with the tip of his index finger. He takes an experimental lick and smiles in satisfaction. His culinary experimentation rendering him insensible to the escalating storm around him.
But Sam…Sam is growing steadily more irate. His gaze bounces back and forth from Jack to Will and his dinner is virtually forgotten. Finally, he blurts out, “The wind did it!!”
Jack and Will, caught between volleys, stop and stare for a beat. Jack recovers the fastest.
“Sam, there is no way the wind blew the Bakugan into the oven.” With logic that would leave Sam Spade breathless, Jack proceeds to point out the physical impossibility of this scenario — detailing everything from the difficulty of opening the oven door to the clear absence of wind in our kitchen. It’s an impressive display, but Sam is only galvanized to greater eloquence.
“No! The wind did it, and you’re just a…a jerk!” Sam delivers this bomb half standing in by his chair, stubby index finger serving as punctuation for that last, devastating blow.
“Mom!!” Jack yells.
With my face turned to the wall, and doing the best I could to steady my voice, I reminded Sam we don’t call people jerks. But if you could have seen him, people — defending his brother to the bitter end when everyone else in the room had already pronounced him guilty — I think you’d have felt the quick rush of pride that I did.
Mommy can’t be there to fight every battle, so it’s good to know these boys can take care of each other.
It’s so hard to smile when they do stuff like that. You’re lucky that you had your back turned, I’d have been on the floor laughing.
you’re doing well then, Jodi. Very well!