father knows best

Prompt: Your story or poem must END with the following line, exactly as it appears below, with no edits. It must be the LAST line of your story or poem.
She never cared for watermelon after that.
Word Count: 814

“Well,” he said, raising his cup of whisky in one of his massive fists and draping a long, lanky arm around his future son-in-law, “good luck to you, Daniel. May you fare better than the rest of us.” He clanked his tin cup against Daniel’s and downed the rest of his liquor in one hearty gulp.

Daniel snorted. “At this rate, I am going to need it,” he answered, taking a long swig from his cup.

“She does not listen to a blasted thing you tell her, does she?”

“It is like she purposely does the opposite.” Daniel shook his head, “You know, sometimes, I am actually right.”

“Well, do not take it personally, Daniel. Katarina is like that with everyone. Always has been a bit headstrong, that girl. She comes about it honestly, though. Her mother was the same way. It took me many years, but I finally realized there was only one way to keep from losing my mind.”

“What is that?”

“I just let her do what she wants.”

Daniel raised one of his eyebrows.

“All you have to be is right one time, Daniel. Just once,” he went on, pointing his index finger, “And you are set for life.”

“I do not follow,” Daniel replied, eyebrow still raised.

“Have I ever told you the watermelon story?”

“The what?”

“So I have not,” he continued, taking a drink from his freshly refilled cup. “The watermelon story is perhaps one of my greatest achievements in my entire tenure in parenthood. Katarina was probably, oh, about seven, I would say, and as stubborn as ever.” He paused, taking a drink as he looked at Daniel. Daniel nodded.

“Well one day it had gotten pretty warm. The air was sticky and muggy – people were stripping down to almost nothing. It was too hot to work. It was too hot to move, really. So I decide to trade some spice I picked up fighting out east with one of my neighbors to get something refreshing for my children. I come back home with this big, beautiful, green watermelon,” he said gesturing with his hands to approximate the watermelon’s size.

“So I bring this thing home and Katarina sees it first. Now her eyes get as big a saucers and she asks me what it is I have. I tell her it is a watermelon for her and her brother to share because it is so hot. Then I give her wink and ask if she wants to try a slice before I get her brother and she says yes. So I cut the watermelon in half and then I cut it in half again and then again and I ask her what she thinks. Well,” he paused again as he tried to stifle a chuckle, “well she has this watermelon juice dripping down her chin and she nods her head all excitedly. Well then I hand her another piece and tell her to save some for her brother or she will get sick.”

“Oh no,” Daniel said, his widening.

“Well, like I said, she was stubborn,” he continued, “and she told me that she would not get sick. ‘You should listen to your old dad,’ I told her. So I go outside to get her brother, and I know what she is going to do, so I make sure to take my time. Finally, I get her brother and I tell him to follow my lead. Sure enough, when we get back inside, she has that whole watermelon almost gone,” he said, struggling to hold back his laughter. “So I tell her, ‘Kat – do not eat any more or you are going to get sick!’ and her brother goes along with me and says ‘Yeah, Kat, you cannot eat any more’. So of course, she keeps eating the watermelon. Well that little girl almost finished that entire watermelon, and she is just sticky and covered in watermelon juice, and I see her face start turn a little pale and she stops eating. And so I ask her what is wrong and she just gives me the saddest look that nearly breaks my heart. Then she runs outside and throws up about a gallon of watermelon.” He began to laugh heartily then, wiping tears away from eyes with the back of his hand.

“I run out to check on her and I tell her that I told her not to eat all of that and she said - and I will never forget this as long as I live - ‘I am sorry, Daddy, you were right,’ and I nearly fell over backwards. To this day it is one of the best moments of fatherhood I have ever experienced.”

“I was eating some watermelon not that long ago and she made me get rid of it,” Daniel said, furrowing his brow.

“She never cared for watermelon after that.”