Rip - Becoming Whole

A Little Bit of Everything *last chapter*

Don't forget to leave feedback at the end of this. Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

"Get your darn hands out of my glove box, Rip," Mr Dutton scolded. "What are you even looking for in there?"

"Nothing," Rip moaned in a bored tone of voice. "How much longer is it?" Rip asked, as he slouched back down into the passenger seat beside his uncle, putting his knees up against the dashboard.

They were on their way home.

"We are not even on the road for an hour yet, so at least another two and a half hours," Mr Dutton told Rip sympathetically. He wasn't sure what the boy had hoped to get out of the visit with Wheeler but gathered that the present discomfort was down to it not having gone according to plan. Even though Mr Dutton felt it had gone a lot better than expected.

Rip moaned in discontent.

"You know my gun is in there and that's why you can't just go rooting around in there," Mr Dutton explained, trying to show that his request had not been that unreasonable.

"I'm not interested in your stupid gun. I'm a pacifist," Rip declared sullenly, despite Mr Dutton's soft tone.

"Hah," the old man laughed, "you're spending far too much time with those people."

Those people were Chrissy's folks, or more precisely the elderly Mrs Dunne, and her daughter 'who never got married'. Samuel had informed his father it is was no longer proper to refer to her as a 'spinster', and Chrissy told him he should not concern himself with her marital status full stop. "Whether you are in a relationship and with who does not define you as a person," she had told Frank and him one Saturday evening when they were yet again all sitting on the porch waiting for Rip to return from her grandmother's place. Mr Dutton told her that he as a prosperous widower and Frank as the only eligible bachelor in the valley, didn't mind being referred to by their marital status. Sure, how else would they attract the attention of single women of their own age whose marital status suggested equal availability, he explained to her without showing his delight. She just laughed at them while Samuel tried to lecture him that there was a difference between being called a spinster and bachelor. Samuel was very lucky that he usually found himself on the same side of the argument as Chrissy. He would not be able for her at all, Mr Dutton thought to himself fondly.

"Phew," Rip huffed, and just about audibly enough muttered "you can thank Robert for that," so that Mr Dutton glanced over at him and gave him a strict and disapproving look.

Rip knew why and the old man was right. The fact that Rip spent so much time with Chrissy's grandmother and her daughter had nothing to do with Robert. But Rip was still angry with him, for having come down so hard on him and then also abuse his power so unashamedly.

Although Robert had kept his word and told Rip he was no longer grounded once the month was up, he never lifted any of the other sanctions he had imposed on him. Instead he kept Rip as his personal slave and general dog's body, making him do all the chores in their shared living space and his bedroom, and everything else that he couldn't be bothered doing himself. After weeks and weeks of "Rip, go get me..." and "Rip, bring that to..." and "Clean this..." and "Fix that..." Rip finally snapped and went to their father to confess what he had done and what Robert had punished him for only to find out that Mr Dutton had known all along. 

Bernard had found several chewing gum wrappers below the window of his pantry where Rip had been sitting that night, chewing gum to keep his teeth from chattering. His uncle put two and two together and had it figured out in no time when the man came to him a few days later to complain.