My Principal poked his head into the car before I had closed the door. “You get some rest this weekend. I expect you back in school Monday morning and ready to hit the books.” He then shook my good hand and gave me a bump on the chin with the side of his thumb.
As we left the parking lot I turned so that I was facing Grandfather and pointblank asked him, “So Mom and John don’t know anything about what happened?”
Grandfather glanced at me and then returned his eyes to the road. “As far as they know, you’re still at school dancing your little heart out with your little girlfriend.”
“Grandfather! I said before, she’s not my girlfriend. And besides she and Larry, the guy I fought, they are boyfriend and girlfriend now.” I told him.
He shook his head, “A person would go insane trying to understand how you kids manage to leap from girl to girl so willy-nilly.”
I let that one go by without comment because I had something more important on my mind, “Grandfather, would it be okay if we didn’t tell Mom and John about what happened at the dance?”
“I suppose you don’t want me to tell her you wet yourself again either?” he said with a knowing smirk.
Without thought I reached down and squeezed the front of my pants. “Damn!” I cussed and unlike before Grandfather didn’t let that one go without comment.
Without taking his eyes off the road he reached out, took hold of my leg much the way he had done before except this time when he squeezed my leg it hurt.
“How about we make a deal here and now.” He began, “I won’t say a word to your folks about what happened if you promise me that you will clean up that filthy mouth of yours?”
Now, I know that sounded bad, but really it wasn’t. Grandfather hadn’t raised his voice and he didn’t sound angry. What he had done was get my attention and make me aware of the fact that I wasn’t going to get away with using dirty words anymore.
Since he was giving my leg the anaconda squeezing all I was able to do was nod my head in agreement. However, he wasn’t done with me just yet.
“And another thing.” He said squeezing my leg even tighter and I started to get worried because I didn’t know what was coming next.
“When we get home you are going straight to your mother and apologize.” He said.
That was when I found my voice, “But I didn’t…” I wasn’t able to finish my sentence. Grandfather’s hand further compressed the meat of my thigh and the pain choked the words right out of me.
You might think that I would have objected to him squeezing my leg so hard, but to be totally honest with you, it didn’t even occur to me. I mean, he is my Grandfather and well, he scares the crap out of me even when he isn’t trying to. It’s kind of like when a shark is swimming around you. Your best bet is to stay quiet and wait for it to go away. If you start splashing around and making a bunch of noise, odds are you’re eventually going to end up as shark poop.
“I don’t care if you are to blame or not. All I care about is that you are going to apologize to your mother and you are going to mean it.” He said.
I hadn’t realized it until afterward, but I had reached out and grabbed my Grandfathers wrist with my one good hand. Thankfully he loosened his death grip on my leg, but only a little.
After a very short moments thought I reluctantly agreed, “Alright, but you promise that you won’t tell either?”
“No I’m not done yet.” Grandfather said almost running over my words with his own. “From now on you are going to try a lot harder to get along, not just with your parents, but also with your Grandmother and myself.”
I started to say something, but he tightened his grip again, making it impossible to do more than whimper.
“Boy, I’m just getting warmed up here.” He said very seriously, but still without any anger or harshness in his voice. “Your mother and father are trying hard to get their lives together and to take care of you. They don’t need you making life any harder for them.”
He stopped long enough to take a breath before continuing, “With that said, I don’t want you getting into any more fights.”
He paused yet again and then added, “You are done sneaking around the house and sneaking out of the house for that matter.”
He gave my leg a squeeze almost as though he wanted to make sure I was paying attention and hearing every word he said.
“You will not get into any more trouble at school like you did this afternoon.”
Once more I tried to speak to remind him that what happened earlier today wasn’t my fault, but he didn’t let me.
“Oh no, oh no! Don’t try to tell me that it wasn’t your fault. Whether you agree with your teachers or not, you will obey them. They are adults and you will obey them no matter what, even if it means you have to pee your pants in class.”
He finally took his eyes off the road to look at me, “Are we clear so far?”
I nodded and realized that I was crying again.
He looked back to the road as he said, “Good. And one last thing.” He took another breath before saying, “You’ve got a wetting problem and your parents have come up with a solution that will keep you from having to go around all day in wet smelly britches. You may not like their solution, you may not agree with it, but by God they are your parents and you will obey them and not fight them on this.”
Again he looked at me, “Are we clear?”
I didn’t nod my head to that one because I couldn’t; not after what Stacks had told me. Instead I shook my head, wept and said, “But Stacks said that everyone can see that I am wearing diapers even under my clothes! Everyone is going to laugh at me!”
Apparently I had brought up a valid point, because Grandfather let go of my leg, smoothed the fabric of my pants with his fingers and then patted my thigh before returning his hand to the steering wheel.
Eventually I turned back in my seat so that I was facing the windshield again. I used the silence to calm myself down and used my bandaged wrist as a makeshift rag to wipe away my tears.
“I promise you this. Before the weekend is out, I will have a solution to that problem.” Grandfather said after a long period of thought and then he looked at me for some kind of reaction.
Not knowing what else I could do or say, I gave him a small shrug of my shoulders accompanied by a nod of my head. I guess I would have to hope and trust that by Sunday evening, Grandfather will have come up with something.
The End
