Understanding

Understanding

Dad walked into the house by the side door, and was immediately shocked at the condition of the den. There was no one in it, and it looked as if a tornado had struck. The tv was on, as usual, but that was the only usual. There were piles of things everywhere, the floor the sofa, even around the TV on the TV table. It looked as if a tornado had run through tossing everything up in the air and leaving a small path of clear floor from one door to the other. Just as he finished looking, Jan and Steven walked in.

“Hi Dad!” Jan said, as if everything was fine.

Trying to keep his voice under control, he said, “What happened?”

“What happened to what?” Steven said, as innocent sounding as a six-year-old could be.

“This mess?” Dad said, “Who is to blame for this?”

“I guess Mom!” Jan said, kind of laughing.

That caught Dad off guard, and made him a little angry too.

“Your mother?” he said holding his emotions in as much as he could considering how thoughtless he thought his daughter was being, “She made this mess? Your mother who keeps this whole house clean and tidy just for us, you say she made this mess?”

“Yup,” said Jan, and Steven chimed in, “Mom did it! We helped!”

Now bordering on very angry, but detoured by confusion, Dad said, “Mom?”

“Yup!” they both said at once.

Bewilderment hit. Dad was totally confused, still angry at the mess, but lost in the conversation enough to have no idea what to do next.

Mom walked in. “Oh Henry! Thank goodness! The kids and I are doing a deep cleaning, can you pull out the sofa with me so we can clean under it?”

And, understanding hit.