This choice: "I learned to tie my shoes!" • Go Back...Chapter #5Not as Helpless as He Seems by: Derpus   You smiled as you looked up at your daughter. "Really?! Would you mind showing me?", you asked. You were thankful that it was something normal for a change.
Jenny happily nodded as she excitedly ran to get her shoes, Jet still holding onto his sister's hair. Once she got to your kids room, she set you on the ground and pulled out her blue and pink My Little Pony shoes and slipped them on, making sure you saw as she tied the laces. It took a little bit, as was expected of a young child, but she finally managed to finish all on her own, tying up the laces in a bow. "Aaaand done!", she proudly exclaimed. "See, daddy-doll? I did it all by myself!"
You smiled and clapped your hands as you looked up at your giant daughter. "That's wonderful, Jenny! Congrat-"
"And Jet showed me how to tie them another way!", Jenny interrupted.
As your daughter untied her laces, you briefly noticed that Jet had a panicked expression on his face before he hid in his sister's hair. You were curious, but you wanted to see what kind of trick he had taught her. After fiddling with her laces, she got frustrated and pouted. "Hmph. Well, Jet knows how to do it better than me." Jenny dug into her hair and plucked out her tiny brother. "C'mon out, silly! Show daddy-doll how you helped tie those boys shoes!" Your young giantess of a daughter set your son by her shoelaces, looking quite frightened.
You gave both Jet and Jenny a puzzled look. "Jet? Is there something you'd like to tell me?", you asked.
The tiny boy shook his head in feigned ignorance. "Nuh-uh!" He looked up at Jenny and whispered quite loudly to her. "Jennyyyy!", he loud whispered. "It doesn't work on your shoes, remember!"
Both you and Jenny looked confused, but your questions would soon be answered as you heard the phone ringing. Choosing to be helpful, Jenny quickly grabbed you and Jet and ran over to the kitchen, briefly forgetting that she was wearing a pair of shoes with the laces untied before kicking them off. You didn't like Jenny leaving her things lying around, but you supposed you wouldn't worry about it right now. Your daughter managed to get you to the phone just in time as you answered. "Hello? McMinor residence, this is Steve speaking."
"Ah, Mr... I'm sorry, Doctor McMinor", a middle aged woman's voice spoke. "This is the teacher of your childrens' class, Miss Hawkins."
"Oh, hello there", you answered. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" You noticed Jet looking very nervous as Jenny held him in her hand, trying to squirm in to hide, but failing as she would just push him out with her thumb.
"I'm afraid it's no pleasure of mine", the elementary teacher said. "Your son has been causing quite a problem for a couple of other boys in my class. Their names are Kevin and Garret."
You were more than a little confused. Sure, Jet was certainly acting suspicious, but you couldn't fathom how the tiny boy could be a nuisance to boys that were giants to him. "I'm... I'm sorry, I don't think I'm following", you responded to Miss Hawkins. "My son, Jet McMinor?"
"I know nobody likes to imagine that they have a problem child, but I don't have any other tiny children in my class." The teacher cleared her throat as she continued. "I don't know if it's in retaliation to something they did to him, but their parents are convinced that he started it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but they aren't aware of your son's condition. The principal has requested a parent teacher meeting, so I'm afraid I'll need to see both yourself and your son tomorrow. Perhaps once they actually see that the two of you aren't capable of causing any trouble, they'll stop calling my personal number." Miss Hawkins sounded more than a little annoyed.
"Yes, I don't have any patients until the afternoon, so I'll be available to come." You looked over at Jet and sighed. You still weren't sure of what was going on, but you got the feeling that your son wasn't completely innocent.
"That would be wonderful", the elementary teacher said, sighing in relief. "Thank you for taking time out of your day, Dr. McMinor. I'll see you and your children tomorrow."
As Miss Hawkins hung up the phone, you looked over at Jet, still trying to hide in Jenny's hand. "Jenny, put your brother down, please, and go watch TV."
"Okay, daddy-doll", Jenny said as she set her tiny brother down and skipped away to continue watching cartoons.
Jet began to sweat nervously as you looked down at your son. "Now Jet", you said in a stern, but still gentle tone, "I'm going to ask you again. Is there something you'd like to tell me?"
Your son looked down and began fidgeting with his fingers. "U-Um... I... kinda pranked a couple of kids... a lot..."
"Okay...", you responded, making sure to not to raise your voice. "And why did you think that was okay?"
"Th-they started it!", Jet insisted. "They keep making fun of me when Jenny's not around! Then Kevin pretended not to notice and sat on me! What's wrong with fighting back?"
You found it hard to argue with his logic. There were a lot of times when you were young that you wanted to get back at some bully or get your sister into trouble for stuffing you into her socks. But you knew that if you fought back, they'd just try to do something worse. Without a second thought, some mean kid could snatch up poor Jet and stomp him into a splatter or flush him down the toilet. You didn't want him to go through anything like that. You wanted a better life for your son than you've had. You had to break him of this before it got him into major trouble.
Sighing, you walked up to Jet and gave him a hug. "Son, I know you're just trying to stand up for yourself, and I understand that", you said. "But we're too vulnerable, you and I. You have to get into the habit of going to the teacher or your sister whenever you have a problem."
"But that's why they pick on me", Jet said, annoyed. "They call me the Crybaby-bug..."
"Sooner or later they'll realize that they're always going to get in trouble for being mean to you. Then they'll stop.", you responded. "Maybe if you tried, you could make friends with them."
"Daddy, noooo..." Jet retched. "They're super annoying."
"Well, either way, you need to apologize to them for the trouble you caused."
"Yeah, okay..."
"Alright. Let's go watch TV with your sister until your mother gets home", you suggested.
"I'm... not in trouble?", Jet asked.
It's true that you were disappointed with how your son handled his two bullies, but you understood why he was doing what he was doing. It was tough being small. He just needed to learn how to properly handle his problems with big people. "Let's see how the meeting goes before we decide on that", you said with a smile. "Let's not tell your mom, though, or you really will be in trouble."
Jet winced. "Yeah... good idea..."
True to your word, you didn't speak a word of it to Angela when she got home, and you convinced Jenny to keep quiet about her teacher calling as well. The rest of the night was uneventful, save for Jenny showing your wife that she learned how to tie her shoes, which meant ice cream cake for dessert.
In the morning, you told Angela that you'd be taking Jet to school since you didn't have any patients until much later, and she didn't think anything of it. When you arrived at the school, you thought about what to do. You knew that the parents might be waiting, but it might be a good idea to talk to the boys themselves first. Maybe you could get them to act more friendly toward Jet. If you could convince them to be friends with your son, that would take away a lot of worry. Or maybe you should talk to the teacher. She seemed to respect you enough to refer to you as doctor. Perhaps you can get her to give Jet some special treatment and keep him at her desk or make sure he's properly supervised so nothing like this happens again.
It was true that you didn't have any patients until the afternoon, but you didn't know how long this meeting would take. If you were going to do anything else, it'd be a good idea to do it first.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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