Second Chances

Hard Times

Conner was sipping his coffee and reading his Sunday morning paper in the living room while Molly took her nap when he heard a car horn honk from outside. Two, actually. Luckily, Molly was a heavy sleeper. Conner stepped outside to see two minivans. Dylan stepped out of the first one when Becky hopped out of the second, each saying goodbye to their friends.

"Hey! How was your night?" He asked as they came inside. "Sweet!", Dylan told him. "Joey and I played video games all night long!" Everything came out of Becky's mouth all at once. "Amy's mom let us use some of her old makeup and jewelry. Can I get my ears pierced? We played Truth or Dare, and I dared Johanna Murklewitz to dump tomato sauce all over herself!"

Conner laughed. "Slow down, sweetie. First off, I can see you have makeup on. When you get older and are allowed to wear makeup full-time, might I suggest that you don't outline your lipstick in green? Just a suggestion." Becky shrugged. "It was dark. It was late. I thought it was lipliner. It was really eyeliner." Conner rolled his eyes. "Second, I thought we decided you can get your ears pierced when you're ten." "Dadddddddddddyyy...", she whined. "Everyone's getting it done." Conner raised an eyebrow. That was a definite no.

Conner watched them place their baggage on the floor, grab the remote control, and turn on the TV, sitting criss-cross before the set. He approached them cautiously. "Dylan? Becky?" "Yeah, Dad?", Dylan inquired, he and Becky's eyes glued to the television screen. "Remember how you guys said you'd be willing to meet Megan?", Conner said slowly. "Well...she's taking us all out to dinner tonight." That got their minds off their program.

Dylan turned and looked up at Conner. "Dad, I said sometime, not immediately. My book report is due tomorrow, and I'm only half-finished. Besides, I have to think about it. Can't we reschedule? Maybe over Christmas break?" "But that's almost three months away!", Becky pointed out. Conner nodded. "She's right. Its the beginning of October. We are not waiting until the end of December."

"My book report.", Dylan repeated. "We don't need to pick Megan up until six.", Conner explained. "You have plenty of time to get it done, and get it done well." "But—", Dylan started to say, still not willing to give up the fight. Conner held up a hand to silence him. "Dylan, you promised me. I will use up two birthday certificates if I have to."

The look on his face told them there was no point arguing with him. Shooting his father a dirty look, Dylan got up and walked towards the stairs. "Where are you going?", Becky asked. "To my room.", he replied, not looking back. "I need to be alone." "While you're up there, you can start your homework.", Conner said. "Start getting ready for dinner around five. We're going someplace nice."

Dylan stomped all the way up the stairs towards his bedroom. He stomped on the first step because he had to meet Megan. He stomped on the second step because he'd have to sit and eat dinner with her. The third stomp was because his father was making him do it. The fourth was because his mom wasn't around to see what was happening and get back together with Conner.

Dylan stomped with both feet on the fifth step because his parents had changed his entire life without his permission. The rest of the stomps was just annoy his dad and because he felt like stomping. He stormed down the hall to his room and slammed the door loudly. He didn't resume his book report. Instead, he fell back onto his bed and spent the next hour staring at the ceiling.

Then, when he was done staring, he took out his Mom Book and turned to his favorite picture of her, the one where she was holding a newborn Dylan and smiling happily. "Mom, things are getting drastic. Dad's making me and Becky meet Megan. Tonight. I told you things could get serious, and now they are."

He sat up and stared at his mother's picture. "I know you're not real, but I'm begging you, Mom. You have to come home right away. You have to straighten things out with Dad, so you guys can get back together, and we can be a family again." He felt his eyes water with salty tears. "Please, Mom. Please come back to us."

Dylan put the Book down, new troublesome thoughts running through his head. What if Megan's actually not that bad?, he thought. What if Becky and Molly and I actually like her? Than wouldn't we be betraying Mom? I don't want Megan to replace Mom. I don't want anyone to replace Mom.

All he wanted was to see his mother's face, not just a photo of her face, but her actual real-life face. He wanted to hear her voice in his ear, telling him that everything would turn out alright in the end. Instead, Dylan just sat there and listened to the silence of his room. He was screaming on the inside...and he didn't know how to make anything come out.