Out of Our Hands

Dean

It's not like I didn't worry about Tanner. I just didn't see why everyone was freaking out when we were literally picking him up today. Sure, it was odd that he called at the time he did. But, if something wrong did happen, I'm sure he would follow up with a text. As we were driving to the airport to pick up Bailey, Lincoln asked me if I remembered the time Tanner got hit at school when he was little. I chuckled a little bit as I remembered the situation. I wasn't laughing at what happened to Tanner but instead at how I handled the situation. 

After Lincoln went to the school and asked for them to find who hit Tanner, it didn't take long for the school to give us a call back. As soon as I got a name I knew exactly where to go. I had sold the father of the kid a car not too long beforehand and always saw the bright blue vehicle in his driveway on my way to work. I put Tanner in the car and we drove off to the house. Sondra, Lincoln, and Bailey all asked to come with, but I said I just wanted to go with Tanner. I knew that if things got bad and everyone was there, then Sondra would try to peacefully resolve everything. I intended to do things my way. 

We parked outside the house of the boy who hit Tanner and I got ready to walk toward the front door. "Alright, now you just sit here. I'm going to go talk to that kids parents."

"I don't understand." Tanner was definitely uncomfortable being in the presence of the older kid again. 

"That kid is going to apologize for hitting you in the privates. That type of behavior needs to be brought to attention and apologized for." Tanner just stared at me blankly. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

I got to the front door of the house and knocked aggressively. After a few more knocks a scrawny man that I recognized came to open the door. 

"Hello?" The man asked. 

"Hi, are you Dave?"

"Yes?"

I reached out my hand to shake hands with the man. "I'm Dean. My son is Tanner Richards. Your son hit him in the privates during recess."

"Oh my goodness, Mr. Richards. I thought I recognized you. Yes, the school called. I am so sorry about all of that."

"Thanks for the apology Dave. Do you mind if your son comes out and apologizes to Tanner?"

Dave stared at me like a deer in the headlights. I shot him a hard stare back.

He finally responded with, "Look, we have already apologized to the school. And I just apologized to you. I'm truly sorry about what happened, but is it okay if we just move past all of this incident?"

"Definitely. But only after the person who caused the incident apologizes."

"Oh come on Dean! I'm not going to put on this fake sincerity anymore. It's just some boyish behavior. Just some horsing around that went too far."

"Your son is in fifth grade. My son is five years old. I don't see some fun rough housing. If it was with a kid your sons own age then yeah, maybe. But I see it as my boy being targeted by yours."

"It's not as big of a deal as you and everyone else is making it out to be. Piss off already."

After Dave's mistake of a comment, he went to close to the door in my face. I smacked my hand hard against the door and was now inside his home. "Let me ask you something Dave. Do you think it would be no big deal if I punched you as hard as I could down there right now?" And just like that, Dave's son came outside to apologize to Tanner. I lead the kid to the passenger side door where Tanner's window was down. 

"I'm really sorry I hit you Tanner." The boy named Ryan said. It was a weak apology, but an apology nonetheless. I looked back to the house and could see Dave standing in the doorway. 

"If you want, we can hang out sometime?" Ryan added. "We could could throw the football around or something like that."

I looked back toward the boy. "Oh! Nope! Tanner will pass on that offer, Ryan. Thank you for the apology."

"Thank you." Tanner said. 

Ryan nodded and walked slowly to the house. "Get your ass back in here!" I heard Dave yell to him. Ryan sprinted inside and Dave slammed the door shut. I got back in the car and rolled the windows up. 

"Feeling any better?" I asked Tanner.

"Yes."

"Good deal." I may have lost a customer at the dealership, but I was happy to have made the boy apologize to Tanner's face. And it also provided me comfort that Dave knew if his kid ever did anything to Tanner again, I would be back at his front door. 

Lincoln and I finished talking about the story. "Dad would you really have hit the guy?" Lincoln asked me. 

"It honestly keeps me up to this day that I didn't hit him," I gave Lincoln a serious stare. I then broke my front and started laughing. "No, that would have just caused more issues, but what I said got the message across to him. He had no idea if I was serious or not but he didn't want to take any chances."

While I think that day put an end to that Ryan kid messing with Tanner, I think it may have affected Tanner's relationship with me. He had told me later that he had seen everything go down from the car. He had seen the scene of me pushing Dave's door opened and entering the home. He wasn't a fan of the outright confrontation. I think he would have been fine with a written letter from Ryan apologizing. Ryan must have heard what I said to his dad as the word got out at the school that Tanner's dad, me, was a crazy maniac. Tanner said that fifth graders on his bus would ask if I would really hurt Ryan's dad. I saw this as positively reinforcing the fact that kids would not mess with Tanner. I didn't worry about my reputation, people in the community knew me well enough to know I wasn't a violent man. But they also knew that I wouldn't just sit around while someone in my family was being messed with. But to Tanner, these questions annoyed him. After this situation, in kindergarten, Tanner never once asked for my help again. Any hardship he faced, he went to Sondra, actually more so Bailey, and avoided me. We were still close in every other aspect of life. But when it came down to something as simple as a homework problem, he didn't need me. I took a real step back in activities like football. But maybe this was for the best. When I played football, my dad was always a coach in the stands. He'd come down and yell at the coach to run a different play and to always put the ball in. Tanner not wanting me to provide my input in any situation prevented me from going down that road. I would instead stand along the fence quietly watching my son as the majority of other fathers, and mothers, would yell for their kid to be put in or start chants to fire the coach. 

So I must admit, I was a little nervous to wake up to the missed call from Tanner. Our calls were usually related to wishing a happy birthday and talking about football, but none of those things were going on. Did I miss the one time my son truly needed me for something? But surely he would have called or texted by now if something was wrong, right? He hadn't anyone's calls or texts. Maybe he was too busy moving and packing his room up. 

We parked the transit van at a McDonald's near the airport. Sondra and Amanda came by and parked next to us. They left their car and got in the van so we only had to take one vehicle into the airport parking garage. Amanda and Sondra loaded into the back of the van with Faith who was sleeping. I then then drove us all to the parking garage. 

We were all anxious to see Bailey. We were watching people coming down the escalator, peeking through their heads to see if we could locate Bailey. Lincoln however, found a shoe shiner and decided not to stand with us in anticipation. Finally we saw Bailey come down the escalator with a huge smile on her face. We ran up to welcome her with big hugs. 

"Where's Lincoln?" She asked. I then pointed in the direction of where Lincoln was sitting getting his shoes shined. 

"Welcome back from rehab!" Lincoln yelled across, waving at Bailey. 

"Lincoln!" Sondra yelled at him like he was a little kid.

Lincoln just sat there laughing. I put my arm around Bailey and we walked toward the baggage claim.