Chapter 23: Thorns in the Rose Garden

The women were in the kitchen preparing some snacks for their quiet hour around the pool. Greg and Harry were waiting for them sitting in lawn chairs beside the pool. Greg stared at Harry wondering why his son was acting so edgy. In a way, it was as if he was angry about something. It was hard to keep from wondering if this was another test of his fitness as a parent. Rather than ignore the problem like he had in the past, Greg asked, “What is it, Harry?”

“Nothing,” Harry said. His answer was almost violent in its refusal to admit that something was on his mind.

“Oh,” Greg said resisting the urge to shrug his shoulders. There were occasions when Harry seemed to slip back into a resentful state of mind. Usually, there was something that triggered it, but it was understandable. Greg had ignored his son’s problems in the past; a fact that still made him feel guilty. He said, “Last time nothing bothered me so much, it turned out to be something.”

Harry stared at his father and shook his head as if to let his father know that he didn’t understand the problems faced by a teenage boy. He crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. It was the universal teenage position that screamed, ‘Don’t talk to me.’

Greg ignored the body language and said, “Last time I said nothing was bothering me, I was positive that I was heading towards a divorce. In hind sight, I’d have to say that was something.”

The little bombshell had the desired effect. Harry blurted out, “Ted’s parents are fighting. He thinks they are going to get a divorce.”

“Why does that bother you?” Greg asked surprised that the problem wasn’t a little more personal for Harry.

The question was so unexpected that Harry stared at his father unable to answer it. At first he wondered if his father was telling him that he was shallow and couldn’t care about other people. A burst of anger flooded over him and he rose from his chair. In a tightly controlled voice, he asked, “Why shouldn’t it bother me? If you hadn’t noticed, I can care about people.”

Before Harry had a chance to say anything more, Greg said, “You don’t even know Ted that well. I mean, he’s not your best friend or anything, is he?”

Harry didn’t know how to respond. It was an accurate statement. He and Ted had gotten together three times since the attempted attack. The first time had been when Ted’s parents had brought him over to the house. The second time had been the next morning when Ted had called out of the blue and ended up coming over for a swim. The third time was this morning when Ted told him that his father was now sleeping in the guest room. It didn’t matter; Harry still felt angry at the perceived suggestion that he couldn’t care. Frowning, he asked, “So what? Is that any reason not to care?”

Greg studied Harry for a minute without answering. When he decided that Harry wasn’t going to calm down, he tried to figure out the source of his son’s anger. The answer came in a flash of inspiration, he said, “You feel responsible for his life.”

Automatically and without thought, Harry said, “No I don’t.”

“A kid that you don’t know from Adam calls up and invites himself over to the house. You drop everything and entertain him all morning. You do that a couple of times. Now you’re all worked up about his parent’s marriage. It sounds to me that there’s something there. If you hadn’t disagreed with me, I’d have sworn that you felt responsible for his life,” Greg said watching Harry carefully.

“Why would I feel responsible for his life?” Harry asked. His father’s comments struck too close to the truth. Why was he so upset about Ted’s parents?

“There’s nothing more significant in a person’s life than a brush with death. Folks that share that kind of experience tend to feel a bond that’s difficult to break. You saved his life. Let’s be honest about that. You did save his life. It is natural for you to feel a little responsible for his life. Otherwise, what good did you accomplish by saving him?”

Stunned by his father’s statements, Harry thought about his reaction to Ted and his problems. Although his father’s question was rhetorical, he felt as if he had to answer it. In a soft voice, he said, “Maybe you’re right.”

“So what do you want to do about it?” Greg asked thinking about the responsibility that Harry was taking upon himself.

“About what?” Harry asked thinking that the question could be interpreted several different ways. Was his father asking him what he wanted to do about his relationship with Ted? Was his father asking him what he wanted to do about the divorce? Either question didn’t seem to have a good answer.

Greg looked at his son for several long seconds wondering why he was ducking the question. Then he realized the source of Harry’s confusion. He said, “Let me restate that question. What do you want to do?”

“I’m just a teenager, there’s nothing I can do to help his parents. I actually like Ted. Don’t ask me why, but I do,” Harry answered. He sat back down in his chair feeling defeated and asked, “So what should I do?”

“I have no idea. I don’t have any advice for you,” Greg said.

“What do you mean you don’t have any advice? Isn’t that your job as a parent?”

“If you haven’t guessed by now, I pretty much suck at being a parent,” Greg answered with a slight grin.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Harry said. The past few months had been much better than he expected.

Seeing the expression of surprise on Harry’s face at the fact that he would admit it, Greg was also pleased that Harry suggested that he didn’t suck at being a parent. He said, “I mean, up until recently I wasn’t doing a very good job of being a parent.”

“True,” Harry said.

“The fact is that you are facing issues that didn’t exist for me. I never saved anyone’s life. When I was a kid, none of my friends’ parents got a divorce. I’m totally clueless about what you can do,” Greg said, admitting that he didn’t know what to do. The honest response felt rather liberating in the sense that he wasn’t taking responsibility for trite answers.

“Oh,” Harry said feeling a little disappointed. He looked down at the ground and said, “That sucks.”

“Sure does,” Greg admitted. He wished that he had some piece of wisdom to bestow upon his son that would fix the problem, but he didn’t. He looked over at Harry and said, “That doesn’t mean that I can’t help you find a solution.”

“You just said you didn’t know what to do.”

“True. That doesn’t mean that we can’t talk about it and figure out what you can try,” Harry said.

Sharon and Cathy came out of the house and noticed the males in a deep discussion. It looked like a very intense exchange. Still, it didn’t look like they were angry at each other. Sharon looked over at Cathy and asked, “Do you think we should interrupt them?”

“I don’t know. The appetizers will get cold if we don’t serve them now,” she answered looking at the tray of egg rolls she was carrying.

“How about we pass the tray by them and go off to talk by ourselves,” Sharon suggested.

Cathy wondered what they would talk about, but she nodded her head in agreement. Passing the tray in front of Harry and Greg, they barely acknowledged her while removing a handful of the egg rolls. She followed her mother over to the patio and put the tray down on the table. She looked back at her father and brother wondering what they were discussing. Sighing, she sat down and said, “It’s kind of rude to ignore us like that.”

“We could see that they were involved in a discussion. It’s kind of rude for us to interrupt it,” Sharon said.

“I guess,” Cathy commented. She said, “I know that things are better now, but there’s something missing.”

“What?”

“I don’t know,” Cathy answered. She sighed and looked at her father. The day when Harry had been attacked, her father had said that he loved them. He hadn’t said anything like that since then.

“You’ve never been very close to your father,” Sharon said watching her daughter and thinking that it was a shame they weren’t closer. She had always been very close to her father. Some of her fondest memories of her childhood were of sitting on her father’s lap while he read stories to her when she was a little girl. He used to call her ‘Princess.’

“I guess,” Cathy said with a sigh.

“We’re still trying to work things out. Our lives were a real mess and we can’t expect miracles. Your father is trying to patch things up with you kids the best he can,” Sharon said.

“I know. I just wish that he’d give me half the attention that he gives Harry. He’s taken him out driving all of the time. He bought him that new jeep. He’s over there helping him with his problems,” Cathy said.

Smiling at the sibling rivalry, Sharon said, “And it was his idea that you be allowed to have your boyfriend in your room. He’s driven you on most of your dates.”

“It was his idea?” Cathy asked surprised to learn that. She had always figured it was her mother’s idea and that her father was forced into letting it happen.

“Sure. After Harry took on the serial killer, your father came to me and said that he didn’t want you sneaking off into the woods like that with your boyfriend. We discussed the matter and he proposed that your room was probably the safest place for you two to make out,” Sharon said.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Your father loves you very much.”

“He doesn’t say it,” Cathy said. She sighed and said, “Sam says it all of the time.”

“He does, does he?”

“Yes, he does,” Cathy answered with a dreamy look on her face. She really liked Sam. Sure he was a goofball at times, but he was fun and attentive to her. She was really enjoying the attention, particularly the physical attention. Things were really heating up in her bedroom. She suspected that they’d be doing it soon. The idea excited her while terrifying her at the same time.