When The Kids Know

Start or end story with two characters sitting down for a meal

When The Kids Know

by Carolyn Varvel

Sue Carson whispered fugitively into her cell phone, “Are you sure? Do we really have to tell them? I’m not sure how the boys will take it.” She chewed her lip as she listened. She looked quickly around the kitchen and realized she’d forgotten to do dishes when she came in from her after work meeting.

Her son, fourteen year old Neil Carson slinky crawled out of the kitchen doorway, down the three steps into the sunken living room. “I’m tired of spying on Mom!” he whined to his older brother.

Barry waved his hands to speed up Neil’s discovery.

“Yeah, she’s talking to him again. That’s twice this morning!” The grimace face he made showed he disapproved.

Barry Carson texted: M talking to Bill. He waited for a reply. “It’s okay, Neil. Today will be the last time, promise,” he whispered.

Chime: D talking to Sue. Today?

Barry grinned, thought a minute then asked Neil, “Want to go out for lunch today?”

Neil rolled his eyes and banged the back of his head on the step. “Does it mean I don’t have to spy anymore?”

Barry texted: Lunch at Abbernathies?

Chime: Noon. Share a table

“Hey Mom!” Barry sauntered into the kitchen.  

Sue quickly stopped whispering and put her phone down. “Yes?” She tried to appear calm as she brushed a few wisps of light brown hair away from her unnaturally red face.

“Let’s go out for lunch today.”

Sue nodded, “We’ll see,” she replied. “I have to finish this call, then we can talk.”

Barry painstakingly slow grabbed a Twinkie from the cabinet and sauntered out, but not before he heard his mom whisper, “If we have to do it, how about lunch today?”

Barry grinned as he heard, “Abbernathies? Today? Noon?” Barry gave Neil the thumbs up sign as he strolled down into the living room. Text: See you at noon at Abbernathies.

Abbernathies on a Saturday at noon. Crowded, busy, loud. Food orders were shouted into the back, dishes clanked in the clearing tubs along with the tinkling silverware and waitresses and waiters hustled to keep up with the constant inflow of customers.

Megan O’Roak pushed her father, Bill, through the door and made a beeline for a table for three. They were early. She wanted to make sure everything was set up just right. The table for three was a good touch, it meant she and the boys wouldn’t be able to stay for lunch. Ice cream sounded good she thought as she smiled to herself.

Megs needed to stretch out time, to wait for Barry and his mother. Barry was constantly telling her how late his mother always ran. She nodded at the waitress who brought over the menus. “What’s the special for today?” she yelled politely over the din. 

The waitress pointed to the card standing on the table. “What do you want to drink?” she asked as she held up her order pad.

Bill, flustered at all the noise and the impending meeting, shook his head, “Water sounds good,” his voice cracked.

Megs nodded, “Water.”

The waitress scurred away and bumped into Neil as the Carsons came through the door.

Sue scanned the large packed dining room and spotted Bill O’Roake.

Before she could say anything, Barry pointed to Megs and her father, “Hey! My lab partner. Come on, Mom, you need to meet her.” He pushed Neil in the direction of the O’Roake table.

Stunned but okay with the direction the lunch meeting was taking, Sue followed along. She noted the table wasn’t big enough for all five of them. She wondered why Bill had chosen such a small table.

“Mom, this is Megan O’Roake, she’s my lab partner,” Barry announced over the blaring noise.

Under his breathe, Neil said, “And girlfriend.”

Sue nodded, confused. She looked helplessly at Bill.

“Hi, I’m Bill O’Roake,” Bill stood and put out his hand. It was awkward to shake hands with the woman he’d been seeing for the last six months, but, he did it anyway, to keep up the impression of this being the first time he’d met Sue. “Would you like to join us for lunch?”

“Sue Carson. I remember working with you at the February Fair,” she admitted. Sue felt the warmth of Bill’s hand as she shook it with her cold clammy hand.  She hoped her eyes thanks him for the after work meeting last night. Looking at the table, “Ummm,” she looked at the only chair left at the table, then looked at her two boys, “not enough room.”

Megs bounced up, “Sure there is, the boys and I are going for ice cream. Here, you sit next to Dad.”

Barry expertly sat his mother down next to Bill. “We know you’ve been seeing each other for almost six months,” he announced with a flourish. 

“We decided it was time you both knew that we knew,” Megs added. 

“And because I’m tired of spying on you!” Neil finished.

Afraid that the table next to them might hear, Sue quietly asked, “But, how?” Sue was so sure that she’d been able to keep her affair with Bill low keyed and out of the prying eyes of her two boys.

Bill’s face flushed as he realized his daughter was no longer a quite controllable little girl. She had put all of his police techniques to use to figure this out.

Megs and Barry grinned from ear to ear. “Do you remember the Christmas Dance?” Megs started.

“We wanted the two of you to meet so we decided you could chaperone the dance,” Barry finished. “Then we arranged for you to work together for the Valentine Fair, especially since you were designing the decorations, Mom.”

“From there,” Megs handed the conversation on to Neil.

Red-faced, Neil confessed, “I answered your phone one night. Mr. O’Roake didn’t answer but I saw who was calling.”  

“We took it from there,” Megs said.

Both parents quietly digested the manipulation they’d received over the last six months.

Finally, Bill asked, “The prom?”

All three kids nodded.

“The after prom party?” Sue asked.

Again, all three kids nodded.

Both Sue and Bill sighed then sat back in their chairs. Both had been so sure they’d kept their meetings secret. No one knew! They could have sworn to it. And they were so afraid the kids wouldn’t be open to their dating.  Bill reached for Sue’s hand under the table. Their fingers intertwined.

Realizing that the near tables were involved in their own conversations, Sue found her voice and asked, “Why?”

Megs shrugged her shoulders, “Because it was time!” With that, the three made their way out of Abbernathies, headed for ice cream.

The waitress slapped two glasses of water on the table. She was fairly certain there had been a young high schooler instead of the older woman. With a quick shake of her head, she yelled over the noise, “What’ll you have?”