Roswelllostcause: I'm not so sure Philip thinks he's lying to Liz at this point. If nothing comes of this inquiry then there will be no need to rock the boat so to speak...
Eve: You're right...yes.
Carolyn: LOL, JP will take care of his mom, bless his little heart.
Chapter: 12
It was after 5:00 p.m. and Liz was in the kitchen starting dinner, she was still a nervous wreck over the entire incident and, truth be known, she also felt better with the new skillet on the stove. Max would be home soon, everyone was safe and sound and having great fun, so she relaxed a little. The boys were outside, or so she thought, when she heard the slamming of the back door. She looked up from her work at the counter only to see JP head up the back staircase and she figured he was on an important mission and didn’t give it a second thought. Soon JP came back down the stairs carrying his little back pack filled to over flowing and headed to the front door.
“JP, where are you going?”
“I’M RUNNING AWAY!!!” The child yelled…He was livid.
Liz put the paring knife on the counter, wiped her hands on the dish towel that was lying next to her and walked to the front hallway slowly…
“Well, where do you think you’ll be headed?” She asked calmly, trying very hard not to smile because JP was really angry about something.
“I don’t know yet?” He scowled as he looked down at his shoes.
“Well, do you think you have enough money to get someplace?” Liz asked her youngest who seemed to stop and think about that for a minute.
“I packed my piggy bank but I don’t know how much I have. Do I need a lot?”
“Well, I don’t know, depends on where you’re going. Let’s sit down on the steps a minute and check it out.”
“Okay.” JP was agreeable to that idea…
So mother and son sat on the second step from the landing and opened the little back pack that JP used for preschool. Mom with her feet on the landing and child with his feet resting on the first step they proceeded to look for the piggy bank in the back pack. Liz noticed that he was wearing his ‘kicking’ boots and inside the back pack he had his favorite story book, his favorite hot wheels and lo and behold, clean underwear. It was getting really tough for Liz to keep a straight face. He even had one of Max’s tee-shirts and he hadn’t needed one of those in months. She really had to stifle a laugh when that showed up, and then he pulled out his piggy bank.
“Well, shall we count it up and see what you have?” she managed to say with a straight face.
“Yup!” He replied just as serious as anyone could be.
“Let’s see…oh boy, you have a five dollar bill in here. Where did you get that?”
“Grandpa gave it to me when I helped take out the trash at his house.”
“Wow, five dollars, there must have been a lot of trash.”
“Yeah, but I just carried some of it.”
“Oh. Well let’s see…there’s some quarters in here and, oh, look…here’s a ninja badge. Do you think that you can trade that for something?”
“No, I’m hiding it from Parker…he said he could use it at school.”
“Hmmm, what do you think he could use it for?”
“I don’t know but he can’t have it. And he can keep his old baseball mitt and bat too. He said I’m too little to play catch with him and Gerard and I’m going to go somewhere where I’m not too little to play baseball…do you want to come with me?” He looked up at his mom with hope in his eyes.
“Oh, I don’t know JP…mommies don’t usually run away from home. They have too much to do. Why don’t you stay here with me for awhile and maybe when daddy gets home he can play baseball with you. Daddy doesn’t think you’re too little to play and after dinner maybe I can play too, unless you don’t want to play with a girl. What do you think?”
“Well, I don’t know…I really think I should run away. It would probably be better… that way I can find more kids my age to play with.” He looked up at his mother with the hope still in his eyes that was there a minute ago.
“Hmmm, well, if you stay home with me and wait until next year you can find lots of kids your age at school and you won’t have to spend your money, annnnd… you will be old enough to play T-ball too. What are you going to buy yourself for dinner?”
“Maybe a snickers bar, what do you think?” And he frowned at his mom in thought…
“Oh, snickers bars are good but don’t you think it would be better to have a snickers bar for dessert and eat something else for dinner?” Liz raised her eyebrows just a little in question…
“What are you fixing for dinner here?” JP asked thoughtfully,
“Buskettie.”
Liz wasn’t really planning on spaghetti but the occasion was calling for it…it was his favorite and she needed to play every card she had, she wanted it to be JP’s idea to stay home.
“Well, maybe I can wait and play ball with dad…do we have any snickers bars?”
Now he was playing his mom, but she knew that, and it was okay…
“Well, if we don’t we will go buy some and you can save your money, what do you say?” Liz smiled knowingly,
“Okay, but don’t tell Parker where my badge is…I don’t want him to get it.” JP whispered, he was very serious about his ninja badge …
“It’s a secret JP so I won’t tell…now why don’t you go put all of your things away and I’ll go finish up the buskettie? Does that sound like a plan?”
This game was coming to a close and both mother and son knew it...
“Yup.” And JP started putting his little belongings back into his backpack along with his clean underwear and trudged back up the stairs to put them away.
Unbeknownst to Liz, Max had come in through the backdoor and saw her and JP sitting on the steps so he decided to eavesdrop…He couldn’t love her more if there was even a way to do it. How she managed to be so good with these kids with her upbringing never ceased to amaze him. He walked over, took a seat next to her, put his arm around her waist and drew her in close to him. He planted a kiss on her temple and proceeded to tell her how his mother dealt with his running away…
“She told me ‘I came into this world with nothing and I could leave with nothing’ and then she stripped me naked and sent me out the front door.”
“She did not!?!” Liz was indignant as all get out and didn’t believe him for one minute…
“Oh yes she did.” Max looked down at her very seriously, stifling the laugh he was trying so desperately to contain.
“What did you do?” Liz raised her eyes to meet her husbands in question…
“I hid in the corner of the porch and when dad came home he asked me what in the hell I thought I was doing and I told him mom threw me out. Liz, I wish you could have seen the look on his face…I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Honest to God, he looked like he wanted to bust wide open with laughter but instead he opened the front door and yelled at mom. He told her he found a naked homeless kid on the front porch and asked her if she had room for him and mom told him if the kid knew how to behave himself to bring him on in.” and Max looked away in deep thought, as he remembered the incident as if it were yesterday…
“Max Evans, you are making that up.” Liz still didn’t believe him for a minute…
And then Max turned back toward his wife…
“No Liz, I swear to God, it’s the whole truth. I never tried to run away again…I could only imagine all my friends seeing me on the streets naked and I never tried it again.”
“I still think you made that up…come help me in the kitchen, tonight’s menu changed and I might need something from the market besides snickers.”
Max got up and gave Liz a hand to pull her up and as she stood he wrapped her in his arms and grinned…
“I love you and the story is true.”
And he gave her a proper kiss before heading to the kitchen. Liz still wasn’t sure about Max’s story but he seemed like he was telling the truth. ‘Nah, Diane would never do that…would she?’ She thought to herself.
*
Soon JP showed up in the kitchen and saw his mom and dad both working at the island and he asked his dad if he wanted to play catch with him…
“Of course I want to play catch with you buddy…do you have your mitt and a ball?” Max gave his little son a great big smile and waited for his response.
“Yup, do you need yours?” JP asked his dad and Max looked at his son and grinned. He really didn’t need his mitt but he definitely would make this a grown up game of catch and so he leaned over and kissed Liz on the nose and told her she was on her own.
She looked up into those beautiful honey eyes and grinned…
“Have fun…I’ll call you when dinner is ready, yummy Max.” And they both grinned at
each other and Max gave Liz’s fanny a little smack as he walked past to go get his mitt.
Max’s heart just swelled and he chuckled at the idea of playing catch with JP…he put his whole heart and soul into it and it was a blast just to watch him.
(A/N: Picture of the little baseball star is taken from the “Make A Wish” campaign. I love it! It says it all.)
*~*~*
About that time Bree and Dee Dee came into the kitchen and took a look around.
“I thought we were having chicken tonight?” Briana asked her mother…
“We are, chicken cacciatore and salad with garlic bread.” Liz smiled.
“What happened to mashed potatoes and gravy?” Deana wanted to know.
“There’s been a change of plans. Are you finished with your project?”
She smiled at her daughters and realized they were growing into quite the young ladies. She wasn’t too sure she was ready for that.
“Yes mom, all finished and we need you to look at it and tell us what else it needs.”
Liz smiled again…they were never totally sure of themselves and so needed approval with everything. She and Max needed to help them to become more self confident, but then, a little approval never hurt anyone. She wiped her hands on the towel lying on the counter and headed to the dining room table. The girls had assembled pictures on a poster board of the civil war and used the computer to print out, in large bold letters, descriptions of the various scenes in the photographs. They had taken colored felt tip markers and made frames for each depiction and aligned everything to form a battle field. It was truly amazing for eight year olds and Liz was bursting with pride.
“Girls, it’s just beautiful. I wouldn’t change a thing. When do you need to take it to school?”
The girls were thrilled that their mom liked their work and they told her that it didn’t need to be at school until Monday. That was when all the rooms were getting ready for the open house.
“Do you think that Grandma and Grandpa Evans and Parker can come?”
“I’m sure they can come and they are going to be so pleased when they see the work you have done. It truly is beautiful.” And Liz hugged both of her girls and kissed them on the cheek.
“Now, let’s get this buskettie cooking so we can get to the market and buy some snickers for dessert tonight.”
“Snickers? How come?”
“It’s a bribe so’s JP won’t run away from home.”
“Oh…did he know where he was going to go?” Bree asked, it seems that nothing JP could do would surprise any of them.
“No, but he wanted to take me with him. He thinks he needs kids his own age to play with so he was going to go find some.” Liz answered nonchalantly.
“Oh…well… we’re glad all he needed was a snickers.”
“Oh no, he could have bought his own snickers…he’s staying for the spaghetti.” Liz informed.
“OH!!! That’s why we aren’t having mashed potatoes and gravy…can we have them tomorrow?” Big brown eyes looked questioningly!
“Of course; now put your poster somewhere safe and I’ll set the table.”
“Okay.” And off they went.
Liz thought to herself…one more crisis averted at the Evans household and with that thought she was off to the kitchen once again. She smiled as she went, tossing her dish towel in the air and catching it as it floated toward her.
And someone sitting outside the estate sat in his automobile and smiled to himself.
*~*~*
But I think all of the adults that he deals with are well aware of his little tricks. I know what you mean about grandparents...I truly believe we are all alike. I even over-pay my neighbor's granddaughter when she does work for me. It just seems like the right thing to do... 