Sing Like a Milkshake

Sing Like a Milkshake

A Story by R J Fuller
"

Who will fight and who will be welcomed? And who will accept?

"
                                                                  
"Is it almost dinner time, Lynn?"

"Not quite, Bert, but I can put my knitting aside and start on dinner now, if you like."

"Oh, no, dear," Bert spoke without looking up from his tablet. "By all means, finish your knitting."

"Thank you, Bert."

The door opened and the bright blonde girl came in and sat down on a chair opposite Bob and Ann. 

"How was your day, Juney-Sue?" 

"Oh, daddy," she said, somewhat flustered. "I'm just feeling so confused right now."

"Why, dear? What's wrong?" Lynn said, placing the needles and balls of yarn out of her way. 

"This new boy started at school and I've been nice to him, but Cave has taken it all the wrong way."

"Uh oh," Bert said. "Another boy in the picture."

"I've just been nice to him, nothing else. We do school assignments together and Cave found out."

"Well, it was Cave's decision to drop out of school."

"I told him that, Mom, but he's just so jealous."

"Cave is very possessive," Bert replied. "I knew that when I first met him."

"Yes," Lynn agreed, "but of course, that's what attracted you to Cave in the first place, wasn't it, Juney-Sue?"

"Yes, it was," she wailed, "but Glint is really nice and he makes good grades and he's able to help me with my studies."

"Glint is the other young man?" Bert asked. 

"Yea," Juney-Sue said. "But we're just friends. It's just he doesn't know much of anybody else, so we spend a lot of time together in the library." 

"I wonder how Cave found out?"

"Now, Lynn, that isn't important."

"Of course, you're right," Lynn replied.  

"Some of the girls are jealous of me being with Cave told him. They want us to break up."

"How long have you and Cave been dating?"

"Almost a whole month." 

"It's gotten serious then, hasn't it?" 

"Cave was going to take me out on his motorcycle to the reservoir, but there's a science lecture this afternoon and Glint has two passes. I couldn't pass up the science lecture."

"How did Cave take it?"

"He got mad," Juney-Sue said, frowning. 

"Has Glint tried to explain you and he are just friends?"

"I told him to, but I think Glint has other things in mind. I told him I was dating Cave, but he says Cave isn't good enough for me."

Then Juney-Sue's phone rang. 

"Hello? Oh, hi."

"Who is it, dear?"

"it's Mrs. McAffee, Glint's mother. No, I was talking to my mother, Mrs. McAffee. No, ma'm, Glint isn't here, but he's supposed to be, . . . . yes, ma'm, I know. I don't see why there would be a problem, Mrs. McAffee. Could you, . . . could you hold on? I got another call coming in. 

Bert and Lynn exchanged a serious look, then turned back to Juney-Sue. 

"Hello? Mr. Von Gray, hello. This is Juney-Sue. Cave isn't here. What? But I told Cave I couldn't go riding with him today. I have other plans. Yes, it's with another guy. It's for school. What? What? Mr. Von Gray, no. That's not . . . that's not . . . "

Bert and Lynn looked on concerned. Clearly Juney-Sue was becoming upset. 

"Mr. Von Gray, I never said . . . hello?" 

Juney-Sue looked to her parents in frustration. 

"Cave's dad is coming over here to make sure Cave isn't hurt by anybody. What do I do now?" 

Then she remembered Mrs. McAffee was still on hold. 

"Hello, Mrs. McAffee? I'm still here. I was on another call. Who? What? Mrs. McAffee, Glint is supposed to meet me here in a while, but the guy I've been going with is on his way here, too. No, his father said he was going to . . . . but he's . . . . . . . could you stop Glint before he . . . ? Is he? No, Mrs. McAffee, you don't have to, . . . Mrs. McAffee. Hello? Hello?"

"Is everything okay, Juney-Sue?" Lynn asked. 

"Glint's parents are on their way here to make sure Cave doesn't cause a commotion."

"Cave is on his way here as well?" Bert asked. 

"Yea, he wants to have it out with Glint. I tried telling everyone Glint and I are just friends."

There was a knock on the door. Lynn stood up as Bert also rose and made his way to the door. 

"Let you father see who it is, Juney-Sue," Lynn instructed. She then walked around the coffee table to stand with her daughter. Bert opened the door. A youth with curly, dark hair and bright blue eyes stood outside. 

"Is Juney-Sue here?" he asked. 

"Hello, Glint," Bert said. 

Juney-Sue ran forward, with Lynn following behind her. 

"Glint, I tried calling you. Cave is on his way over here."

"What's he coming here for?"

"He said he's going to have it out with you, . . . "

Juney-Sue's words trailed off as the noisy motorbike pulled up the driveway. The young man with long blonde har disembarked from the machine. 

"You need to get away from Juney-Sue right now, man!"

"You don't tell me what to do," Glint said, stepping down from the porch. 

"Glint, Cave. That's enough," Bert said. Lynn hugged Juney-Sue to her. 

"I said stay away from her!" Cave snarled as he lunged toward Glint. 

"Heavens!" Lynn reacted, clutching at Juney-Sue who seemed to be fighting to go aid the two youths. 

"You don't own her!"

Bert moved down toward the escalating fight. Lynn began motioning Juney-Sue into the house. 

"That's enough! Both of you! Break it up!" Bert grabbed at Glint's arm and the back of Cave's shirt, desperately trying to separate the two. 

At this moment, a car pulled up and stopped.  

"Let go of my son! Let go of Glint!" like a banshee scream, the noise came from the woman getting out of the car.   

"Glint!" the other one emerging from the passenger side shrieked. They began running to the slightly tangled trio. 

"Let him go!" the woman said as she struck Bert. He released Glint, but she continued to strike him. 

Now the second vehicle showed up and also stopped in front of the car, facing in the opposite direction. The door opened up as a man got out. 

"Cave! Take your hands off our boy! Cave!" 

Now both occupants of the truck also got out and came running toward the fray. 

"Let go of Cave!" the man yelled as he lashed out at Bert. Concerned, Lynn watched from the window. 

Bert backed away from the commotion to try to sort out what was going on. 

"I got a knife and will use it if you don't get your son away from our boy!" a woman yelled. 

"Mitche, you want me to use my gun?" the burly fellow said. "I got a gun I can use." 

"Do it!" the other woman screamed as she dragged Glint across the yard. "Neesy, you're going to need your knife, from the sounds of it." 

Bert was getting to his feet as he sorted out the feuding adults. 

"Get your punk away from our son! Glint told us he's a high school drop-out! No chance for a future!" 

"We raised Cave to live his life as he sees fit and not because of what anyone else thinks!"

"He's a criminal then! Worthless to society!" Neesy interjected. 

"You don't talk that way about our son!" Mitche shouted. 

"You just don't want to hear it because it's true!" the other woman threatened back. 

"Glint, come get in the car, so we can take you home."

"No!" Glint yelled back. "What are you doing here?"

"Glint, do as your told!" Neesy wailed. 

"NO!" Glint yelled again. "Why couldn't you just stay away?" 

"Cave, you come get in the truck. Dron will ride your bike home."

"No, Mitche! Take dad and go home!" 

"Cave!" 

"Leave me alone!"

Cave stormed off to his motorcycle and began climbing on board. 

"Glint, let's go home." 

"I'm not going with you, Neesy. Everything was okay until you showed up."

"Glint, you were fighting with two other people."

Bert was to his feet and looked surprised. 

"I was doing fine. Nothing was wrong. You didn't need to be here!" 

Lynn opened the door and stepped out. Juney-Sue was nowhere to be seen. Glint looked at Neesy, then to the other woman. He clinched his mouth up in a frown. 

"Glint," Neesy began. 

"Leave me alone!" 

Glint took off toward the road as Cave spun his bike around to also head out the driveway. As he neared Glint, he slowed and the two looked at each other. A minimum of words was exchanged, Glint looked back at the small crowd in front of the house, then Glint got on the back of the motorcyle and they rode away. 

"Is that who Cave is wanting to date?" Dron asked. 

"Dron, shush!" 

"Neesy, we got to go get him!" 

"All he does is get mad at us, Myra," Neesy said, somewhat dejected. 

"Neesy!" 

"I don't even know why we bothered," Dron mumbled. 

"Because we were concerned for Cave. We thought someone might hurt him."

With those words, Mitche looked at Neesy and Myra. 

"We got here, Glint was the one being hurt!" 

"I was trying to break them up, actually," Bert commented. 

Nobody made eye contact with anyone and just settled down from the yelling. 

"Would everyone like to come in for some tea?" Lynn asked from the porch. They all looked to her, then Bert standing at the bottom of the step. Gradually Bert made his way up then stepped to the side, pushing the door open a bit more. 

The four people seemed hesitant to approach, then Bert quietly spoke. 

"Please?" 

Neesy ascended first, followed by Myra, who eyed Dron a bit, then she continued up. Mitche was the last to enter. 

"I'll get the tea," Lynn said, entering the kitchen. 

"Please, sit down," Bert stated. The four people sat, just managing to take up the couch, leaving a gap between Myra and Mitche, while Neesy got the chair. 

"You got a lovely home," Myra said. 

"Thank you," Lynn called from the kitchen. 

"You need any help?" Neesy asked. 

"No thank you," Lynn answerred. "I can manage."

"Where's your . . . " Dron started. "You got a kid?"

"Juney-Sue?" Bert spoke, then looked to Lynn. "Where's Juney-Sue, honey?"

"She's upstairs in her room. I told her to stay there until . . . . until things settled down."

"It's difficult getting teen-agers to mind nowadays," Mitche said. 

"I guess we all saw that outside just now," Neesy interjected. 

"Girls are easier to raise than boys, huh?"

"No, not really," Bert replied. "Juney-Sue has her days."

"Juney-Sue is a good girl," Lynn called from the kitchen. 

"Well, Cave is a good boy, too. All that mattered to us was his being happy."

"We wanted Cave to feel like he could do whatever he pleased," Dron said. 

"Well, that's all good," Bert started. 

"Sometimes kids need guidance," Myra spoke up. 

"But not be told all the time how to behave," Dron shot back. 

"Well, Glint is going to stick with his studies and make something of himself," Neesy replied. 

"So is Cave."

"Not without an education!"

"Cave can do whatever he wants," Dron yelled, standing up. 

"Please, everyone," Bert calmly stated, "let's try to be civil."

"Dron, sit down," Mitche said, pulling the large man back to his seat by his arm. 

"The truth is," Mitche began, "Cave has expressed interest in returning to school, but we get the impression he does want it to be our decision."

"Sometimes," Bert began, "kids all but do seem to want parents to make decisions for them. If it's a bad decision, the kid will blame the parents, but if it's a good decision in the long run, they'll be grateful to their parents."
 
"Glint is so headstrong," Myra said, "but we still worry about him making bad choices. I hope he is allright off with . . . with your son. With Cave."

Mitche took a deep breath and exhaled. 

"For some reason, I guet the idea Glint and Cave have a lot to talk about, seeing as how they rode off together," he said. 

Lynn entered with the tea. 

"Here we are," she said, rounding the couch. "Oh, dont' get up," she said to Mitche and Dron as she sat the tray on the coffee table. She held a cup out to Dron. 

"Thank you." 

"Lynn, this is Mr. Von Gray, Cave's father." 

"Mr. Von Gray," Lynn said with a smile as she picked up the second cup and handed it to Mitche. 

"Mr. McAffee," she smiled as she presented the cup to him. Mitche looked at Myra. 

"No, dear," Bert corrected, "this is Mrs. McAffee."    

Lynn picked up a third cup and made her way down to Myra. 

"Mrs. McAffee," she said as she handed Myra the cup. She then turned to get the fourth cup and saucer. 

"Mrs. Von Gray," Lynn said, handing the cup to Neesy. Lynn then made her way to sit on the arm of the chair with Bert. No one said a thing and began drinking their tea. 

"I guess raising a teen-ager is difficult regardless," Mitche said. "No doubt about it, I'd say we definitely didn't quite turn out as our parents expected." 

"My parents love me unconditionally, as we do Glint," Myra declared.  

Mitche seemed startled. 

"I'm sure that isn't where Mitche meant to go with it," Bert explained.

"No, of course not," Myra said, then mumbled very quietly, "never is." 

"Myra, please," Neesy whispered to her. 

"Why did they ride off together, I wonder?" Dron asked. 

"Did Glint and Cave know one another?" Lynn inquired. 

"I don't think so," Mitche answered.

"No," Neesy replied, "they didn't." 

"Well," Lynn said, "they have something in common to talk about now."

"Meddling parents," Myra spoke. 

"No," Lynn said, "I . . . I meant Juney-Sue." 

"Tho you got to admit," Dron stated, "Glint is a good-looking fellow," he said with a smile. Neesy, Myra and Mitche all looked at him disapprovingly. 

"Dron, it's like sometimes you don't even know your own son," Mitche snapped. "Cave has made it abundantly clear he is only interested in Juney-Sue." 

Dron looked perplexed. 

"And Glint has likewise spoken fondly of Juney-Sue as well," Myra declared. "She's a lovely young girl." 

Lynn smiled. 

"Well, then," Dron tried to re-assess the situation, "I hope the boys are okay, wherever they are." 

"I just got a text," Myra said. "Glint's at home. Cave just dropped him off. Seems Glint used the other ticket to the science lecture," she looked up at Mitche and Dron. "For Cave. They talked a bit and . . . . " she fumbled a bit. "They're okay," she finished. 

Myra stood as did Neesy. 

"I guess we can go now. Glint is okay," she further added. 

Mitche stood up as well. 

"I guess we should go also," he said. "Come on, Dron." Dron set the cup on the tea tray and stood up, too. Bert and Lynn made their way to the door to show their guests out. 

"Thank you for a wonderful evening after a bad start-off," Myra said. 

"You're welcome," Dron replied. "Oh, you were talking to . . . . "

"We had a good time, too," Mitche said as he checked his messages. "Yea, there's a message from Cave. Says he went to the science show. He wants to talk about schooling with us when we get home."

"That sounds wonderful," Bert said, smiling. 

So they departed, the four parents, waving good-bye to one another as they did. 

"Drive carefully," Lynn called out as she waved. 

The motors cranked and headlights came on, glaring straight at each other in the process. They each then proceeded to back away. 

Bert and Lynn returned to their interior as Bert closed the door. 

"Well, I wonder if Juney-Sue knows Glint took Cave to the science lecture," Lynn said. "Juney-Sue? Honey, can you come down here?"

The teen-ager came bouncing down the steps. 

"Juney-Sue, Glint's ah, Glint's mother got a text message Glint took Cave to the science lecture."

"Yea, I know," she said. "They sent me pictures of themselves with some of the displays," she stated, giving way to girlish giggles. "Then they called me and we all managed to talk a bit," she paused, then aded, "about parents." 

Juney-Sue made her way over to bert and Lynn and hugged both of them at once. 

"Just in case I don't say it enough," she said, "I love you." 

Juney-Sue let go of the smiling parents and sat on the couch, staring at her phone. 

"So," Lynn asked. "Have you decided which one you are going to date, or will you date both of them?"

"Yea," Juney-Sue replied. "I know which one I really want to be serious with." 

"Well," Bert asked, "when do we find out?"

"I'm texting him now. Can he come over? It's not too late."

Bert and Lynn looked at each other. 

"Well, Juney-Sue, I think Glint's parents will want to see if he's okay after today," Lynn said. 

"And Cave's parents need to discuss schooling with him," Bert added. 

Juney-Sue stared at her phone and smiled. 

"I'm so glad Cave is going back to school. I'm going to go upstairs and ask the one I want to go with if he can let his parents know I really want him to come over this afternoon, after everything that happened."

"Well, I don't guess it will do any harm, if he's over only for a little while," Bert answered, but Juney-Sue had already bounded up the stairs. 

"She's so much like you," Bert said. 

"I wonder who she picked?" Lynn stated. She picked up the tray of cups and saucers and carried it into the kitchen. She began washing up the bit of dishes and putting them away. Bert had sat down and picked up his tablet and began checking the news. The household was quiet. Lynn made her way into the living room and sat once more and picked up her own phone. No sooner had she began scrolling, the doorbell rang. Juney-Sue came excitedly down the stairs. Bert and Lynn stood to greet her young fellow. 

"I'll get it!" she yelled and opened the door. A smile broke across her face. 

"Hi!" she said with absolute joy. Bert and Lynn approached behind her and gave approving smiles as well. 

"Hello," Bert said. 

"Won't you come in for a while?" Lynn said, stepping aside. Approval was met by all. 

"I enjoyed meeting your parents earlier," Lynn further stated. "We'll have to try to get to know them better now, I suppose, and have them over more often," as she closed the door behind her. 

 

© 2021 R J Fuller


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Added on April 25, 2021
Last Updated on April 25, 2021
Tags: parents, teen agers, fighting, conflict, maintaining peace, dialogue

Author

R J Fuller
R J Fuller

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