The Dad Moment

The Dad Moment

“What happened?!!!”

The voice from the doorway sent an immediate freeze into the bodies of the two children in the room. They stood there, like statues, looking toward the door, practically not breathing. Jeff with a pillow in each hand standing on a floor, covered with feathers. Alexa also covered with feathers, but holding an empty glass, with red watery juice all over her, all over Jeff, and also all over a goodly part of the floor.

Dad almost laughed at the sight, but caught himself at the last moment. This was definitely some disagreement, and the room was a mess. He quickly flipped back into “Dad Mode.”

“Who is to blame for this?” he asked, as calmly as he could muster. He added a squint, looking back and forth at each kid, like he was reading their minds.

At that exact same moment, the spell broke, and both children started pointing and talking and accusing each other at the top of their lungs. Dad knew what to do.

“I’m going back in the living room. When I come back, this mess will be gone. If it is not gone, you will both go to bed early!”

Eyes widened!

“If it’s gone, we will get in the car and go to ‘Ice cream Mindy’s’ and never speak of this again.” He turned, then said over his shoulder, “I’ll be back at three o’clock.”

Walking down the hall he heard angry whispers, and quick movement, and a few crashes, but small ones. Half an hour later, they left for Ice Cream Mindy’s.

Mom was shocked that he took them for ice cream so close to dinner. “What were you thinking?” she asked.

“It was one of those moments,” he said, as if he knew… in reality, however, he had no idea.