Photo credit: DennisSylvesterHurd via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND
This is the second part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I before continuing.
“This is Joseph.”
“Hi, Joe, this is Ponce Powell from Station 11. We got your email about a dream you had?”
Joseph grimaced – he hated being called “Joe” – but he responded. “Yes. I’ve had a history of dreams that came true, and I’d like to warn everyone about this latest dream, if I can.”
“Great. We were hoping you’d be available to appear on our show tonight. Any chance you can make it here by five?”
Joseph hesitated. He and his family had tickets to Argentina that night. He would never make it if he had to be at the studio by five, get through hair and makeup and do the interview. He almost said no, but then he thought of telling Ashley about this offer and what her reaction would be. She’d want him to do the right thing. “Absolutely,” he told Ponce. “I’ll be there.”
“Excellent. See you then.”
They hung up and Joseph went to find his wife. When he found her, she was just closing up the kids’ suitcases while said kids dangled off her arm, asking her where they were going in such a hurry and why they were being made to leave all their friends behind.
“It’s not fair,” said their oldest, Ethan.
“Life’s not fair,” Ashley replied without looking away from her packing.
“But I wanna staaaaaaaaay!” Ethan collapsed onto the floor where he rolled about and flailed his arms and legs.
Ashley ignored him. When she looked up to find her husband standing in the doorway, she said, “If he keeps this up, I’ll be really tempted to leave him here to get blown up with everyone else.”
That put a stop to Ethan’s tantrum as he looked up at his mother quizzically.
“If it helps at all, he can stay with me. I just got a call from Station 11 and they want me on their show tonight, which means I’ll have to change my flight anyway.”
“I’m staying with Dad,” Ethan declared as he jumped up, ran to his father’s side and took his hand.
“You know we’re still leaving, right? It’ll just be a day or two later,” Joseph said.
“Right.” Ethan nodded firmly, but his eyes betrayed him. He thought this was nothing more than a delay in which he had a chance to talk his dad out of moving to Argentina.
“It’s up to you,” Ashley said. “If you want to take him while I deal with Matthew, it would make my life a whole lot easier than trying to deal with both of them myself.”
“You OK with that Matt?”
Two-year-old Matt looked from one parent to the other for a minute before toddling over to his mother, taking her hand in one of his and sticking his other hand in his mouth.
“Good enough,” said Joseph, hoping he and his older son wouldn’t run out of time. “Sounds like we have a plan.”
To be continued…
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