Team8s and Counting

155. A Father's Day Twist

As Coiny was helping Dimey out with his homework in the kitchen, he heard the front door swing open. He looked over his shoulder, and saw that Saw and Gaty had just gotten home from work.

Saw and Gaty were quite impressed by how calm the house was when they walked in. "It feels awesome to walk into a clean house!" Gaty said.

Saw continued to admire the state of the house. "Seems like you kept the kids busy too!"

Coiny smiled, feeling proud of himself. "Coiny smiled, feeling proud of himself. "Thanks, you two. We had a productive day! The kids helped out a bit after school, too. They're starting to get pretty good at picking up after themselves!"

"Impressive!" Gaty said, setting her bag down. "You seem to have really found a grove already! Say, where's Bladey?"

Coiny's expression softened a little bit. "She's in her room. It's strange, she didn't want to chat for long after school today, said she had a lot of homework. My senses are telling me that something else is up."

Gaty and Saw looked at each other puzzled. "Bladey? Hiding things?" Gaty questioned. "She's definitely not that type, I wonder what happened at school today?"

A lightbulb went off in Saw's brain. "You know, there is that Father's day event at the elementary school tomorrow," Saw said. "Apparently, the kids can bring their dad's to class, Miss Chalk was telling me about today."

"A Fathers day event?" Coiny was scratching his head. "I think I would have remembered going to a Fathers Day event with Thread last year."

"Yeah, why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?" Gaty wondered.

"It's actually a new thing." Saw continued, "Miss Chalk mentioned they're trying it out this year as a way for kids to share something special with their fathers. But... it must be tough for Bladey since, well... she doesn't have a dad to bring."

"Aww, poor kid." Coiny said, as he went to quickly help Dimey out with another question on his work.

"How come Saw nor I got any emails about this?" Gaty questioned.

Saw shrugged. "Maybe they only sent it out to dads? Or maybe it got lost in the spam folder; you know how school emails can be."

"I wish Bladey had told us about this sooner so we could talk about it!" Gaty exclaimed. "I'm going to go up and talk to her

"Good idea," Coiny said, nodding. "."

Gaty made her way upstairs, knocking softly on Bladey's door. After a moment, she heard a faint "Come in," and opened the door to find Bladey sitting on her bed, a book open in her lap but clearly unread.

Gaty took a seat beside her. "Hey, sweetie. I heard there's a Fathers Day event at school tomorrow. Do you want to talk about it?"

Bladey looked down, fidgeting with the corner of her book. "I just didn't want to bother anyone... it's not like you or mom can go anyways."

Gaty sighed, knowing that what Bladey was saying was indeed true. "I'm sure other kids aren't going to have their dads with them either!"

Bladey groaned. "Maybe, but it's different. They'll still have dads, even if they're just not there. What if someone asks me where my dad is, and when I tell them I don't, they make fun of me..." Bladey got quiet, "like they did with Cappy. I can't just lie to everyone and tell them I have a dad that doesn't exist"

Gaty felt bad, and tried to comfort her as best she could, but poor Bladey was in a tough position, and Gaty didn't have an instant solution for her.

As Coiny was still down stairs, helping Dimey with his homework, he couldn't help but be grateful for the extra time he's gotten to spend with not only Thread and Dimey, but also the other kids too, thanks to the adjustments that Pin and Needle made to the bakery. He now had no work obligations except to just help around the house when he needed to.