Dad in Charge

Dad in Charge

“The living room is a mess!”

“I didn’t do it.”

“Look at this place!” the voice continued.

“I didn’t do it,” Charlie yelled louder.

“Well who did?” Dad yelled back down the hall. “Look at this mess.”

Curious, Charlie got up and went looking in through the doorway, the room looked the same to him as it always did.

“Just look at this mess!” his father said, pointing to a cup and an empty napkin on the end table.

“It musta been Mom, I don’t drink coffee, remember?”

“Well, it could have been hot chocolate…”

“Well, I didn’t do it no matter what is was. Weren’t you eating a muffin and drinking coffee when Auntie Joan called?”

“…Oh…” Dad said softly, “you’re right. It was Mom and I had to go get her a recipe, I forgot all about this! I’m sorry! I really thought it was you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s OK Dad,” Charlie said, “It does look like something I would do.”

“Thank you, Charlie! You’re such a good boy.”

Charlie went back to his room, climbed over the clothes, kicking legos out of the way, and his crayons and coloring books, spread across the floor, till he got to is bed. Then he climbed up the side to where he had been sitting when he heard his father complaining. Now that that was taken care of, he could get back to what he’d been doing. He bit another big hunk of the chocolate cake he’d found in the refrigerator, and turned back to the comic book from under his brother Tony’s bed. Vintage, Tony had called it. Charlie didn’t know what that meant, but he liked the pictures. Oop, he leaned down to lick a hunk of frosting off where it had landed on the cover.