Old Flames

Old Flames: Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Aaron truly didn't know what all the fuss was about. He picked up the kids from Lainie's at ten o'clock and the three of them walked down to the park to play for a little while. Chloe stayed on the swings the whole time, and Chris played on the jungle gym and slides. They were happy, and they were perfect little angels. In fact, if anything, Aaron was bored off his rocker. He tried pushing Chloe on the swings, but she insisted that she knew how to pump her legs and didn't need his help. Then he trailed after Chris, trying to engage him in conversation, but the little man only answered in single syllable words and finally hid out in the tunnel slide until Aaron stopped bugging him.

 So Aaron sat on a bench near the fish pond and stared off into space for the better part of an hour. And an hour was all he could stand. He should have brought Bowser with them. At least then he'd have someone to play with.

 At eleven o'clock – and not a minute later – Aaron gathered up the kids and headed back to his house for an early lunch. He fixed them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with carrot sticks and corn chips and red jello for dessert. They helped him set the table, pour their milk, and used all those please's and thank you's that were so hard for little kids to remember.

 Aaron watched them, speechless and through narrow eyes. By now, he figured they were playing him. No one – not even a saintly nun – could remain this docile and polite for so long without an evil reason behind it. What are they planning?

 When his cell phone rang and he had to step into another room to deal with a work crisis, he honestly didn't think two, young, sweet, innocent children could manage to do what they did in the three minutes he was gone. Entering the dining room again, he stopped – stunned and stupefied. Bowser had turned four different colors in the time elapse...brown from the peanut butter, purple from the grape jelly, white from the ranch dipping sauce, and red from the jello.

 Chloe and Chris giggled as they painted his dog with their lunch, and Bowser wiggled around and around, trying to eagerly lick off the treats as fast as the kids applied it. Aaron closed his eyes and sighed. Well, now he knew he hadn't imagined his suspicions earlier. Sneaky, little turds. They almost had him going.

 “Uh, oh,” one of them said, and Aaron opened his eyes. Both looked at him like they knew they'd done wrong and were waiting to see what would happen to them. Aaron couldn't find it in himself to get mad or upset with them. He was pretty sure he did something just like this when he was their age. He had no idea how Lainie would handle this, but he just shrugged and figured they were only doing what they did best – being kids.

 “This is a sticky situation,” he said to them. “Sticky, being the relative word,” he added as he eyed Bowser, who worked his chops around, licking at the peanut butter on his mouth and tongue.

 “You can't spank us,” Chris said, defiantly. “Mama would get mad at you.”

 “I wouldn't spank you anyway,” Aaron said, matter-of-factly. “That's a horrible way for you to learn.”

 “Mama would put us in time-out,” Chloe said to her brother in a superior voice and then snapped her mouth when she realized she just dished out impertinent information on their discipline routine.

 Aaron shifted his stance, placing his hands on his hips. “I'm a believer in hard work for correcting wrongs,” he told them. Chloe frowned, confused, at him, but Chris caught the meaning quite clearly. Aaron had to give him kudos for that keen mind of his. He'll be a handful, when he grows up, Aaron thought, and then looked at his dog and amended, they're both a handful now.