Flashbacks

A Boy and his (Teacher's) Motorcycle

For Vanessa.

This short story is not featured in Autumn in Philadelphia, but is set in the same universe.

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Shawn stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the door to his room as hard as he could. Jon stood in the kitchen with his hand over his mouth, deep in thought.

Chet called. It wasn't a pleasant conversation.

Although Jon could only hear Shawn's side, he knew Chet was being evasive about where he was and what he was doing. Shawn tried to have a serious conversation with the man; tried to tell him about Audrey and how good things were going. Chet blew him off.

"Is she pretty?! Is that all you can say?!" Shawn had cried, outraged by his father's reaction when he tried to explain how much Audrey meant to him.

"Well, is she? That's important stuff, boy!" Chet had been so loud Jon could hear him.

Shawn almost threw the phone then.

The phone was thrown when Chet slipped up and let his son know he wasn't actively looking for Virna; he was "taking a break" because chasing "that woman" was tough.

The receiver was cracked beyond repair. Jon was going to have to buy a new phone.

He let it go. He let Shawn go. He thought it would be okay in the morning.

It wasn't.

The phone was just the beginning of Shawn's issues.

At first it was stupid stuff like letting Mrs. Buckman's cat out of her apartment knowing full well it would go straight to the basement and not come out without Mrs. Buckman calling the fire department. The fire department called in animal control, and, in the end, the cat was found back at home under the couch. The whole building was inconvenienced.

The whole building was inconvenienced again when the fire alarm was randomly pulled in the middle of the night a few days later. Jon ended up outside, freezing, in only a pair of sweatpants in early March. Shawn was the only one laughing.

Sarcasm at school ramped up in his class and every other class. The only person he wasn't rude to was Cory and Audrey. Topanga was snapped at for simply existing.

Jon tried to reason with the teen. He tried to talk to him and show him was willing to listen. But Shawn rebuffed him no matter what he tried. The angrier he became with Chet the angrier he became with Jon.

He got busted sneaking out four times.

Jon had to get a lock put on his bedroom door so that Shawn was not able to use his window to get out. He moved the couch in front of the door and slept there.

Language became an issue, with the teen casually cursing at anyone who happened to be near him when he was particularly angry. Which was always.

When Jon lost his temper and used the very same language to express his frustration, Shawn stood back and triumphantly smirked. His intention all along was to force Jon into admitting his own hypocrisy.

And so Shawn was grounded. Again and again

"Just stay firm," Alan had said. "Don't back down or give in. Shawn has to know where the boundaries are and that they won't move."

Jon continued to ground the kid. No TV, no going anywhere but school for any reason. No girls. No phone. No Cory.

No difference.

"Two weeks and every time I catch you breakin' the groundin', I'm addin' another day!" He shouldn't have yelled but he couldn't help it. Shawn had been yelling at him all week.