Good Man

We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep. It's as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out windows, or drown themselves, or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us are slowly devoured by some disease, or, if we're very fortunate, by time itself. There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children (and perhaps even they) know these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult. Still, we cherish the city, the morning, we hope, more than anything for more. Heaven only knows why we love it so.
- Michael Cunningham, 'The Hours'



It was one of those summers.

Despite the fog which cooled the city by the bay down to a lower degree on the thermometer, the overall weather was nothing if not nearly perfect.

The kids weren't back to school yet so their voices rang out in yards and on streets across the Bay area like confetti sprinkled upon a party in excited slow motion.

Life was timeless in these days.

Priceless, even.

It was August of 2012, just a mere five months following the marriage of Green Day's Tre Cool to his fiancee, Giselle Woods; sister of The Sinners' Caroline Pritchard; wife of Green Day's Mike Dirnt.

These had been a happy five months. Too good to be true, some would later say.

And in the midst of these fine hours that passed as preciously as the next, Caroline Pritchard could always be found sitting in her favorite spot in the backyard, beside the rose bush she loved writing lyrics by; but this time sitting by the rose bush was also occupied with watching her young children dance and play as her husband made sure they didn't wander close to the inground pool and fall in.

Their son, Michael, Jr. -- more simply referred to as Mikey or MJ -- was nearing his third birthday and could form sentences now. He would be starting preschool the following year but the little towheaded blonde boy seemed too eager to wait. A year to him felt like a lifetime and he whined about it every day.

His sister, Mike and Caroline's daughter, Chloe, had darker blonde hair than her brother. She took more after her mother who was dark-haired and had been a young girl with dirty blonde hair many a year ago. It was quite funny how each child was like a carbon copy of the parent they shared the same sex of. Mikey took after his father, having blue eyes, while Chloe took after her mother, having hazel. However, the little girl's particular shade of hazel was brighter than her mother's...giving her the hint of sharing part of her father's eyes.

Unlike Mikey, the eighteen-month-old girl showed no signs of wanting to venture off into the great unknown that was school. And not just because she was far too young to even grasp what school was yet, but because she was such a daddy's girl if there ever was one.

Caroline sat Indian-style in the grass, next to her rose bush with a pad of paper discarded with a pen beside her as Mike tried to walk around the backyard while Chloe had her entire body wrapped around his left leg. She was sitting on his foot with short, chunky legs wrapped about his ankles while her equally short, chunky arms were wrapped about his calf, just below his knee.

"Whoa!" Mike called out jovially, making like he was about to tip over, as he lifted his foot in a giant step; thus lifting Chloe up as well.

Her little giggles filled the air as Mikey dashed around his father with his arms out straight at his sides and making propeller noises; pretending to be a plane flying in circles.

"Mikey, you're gonna throw up your lunch if you keep doing that," Caroline called out to her little boy.

"Nuh-uh," he called back insistently, and continued to spin.

Rolling her eyes, she looked up and caught her husband's gaze just before he hunched forward and hooked his hands underneath Chloe's armpits and pried her off his leg as if he were peeling off a starfish that was suction-cupped to the inside of a fish tank.

Releasing an almost inaudible cry of discontent, the eighteen-month-old child pouted the way her mother did when she didn't get her way, but was fast to rest her little, dirty blonde head down on her father's chest as he walked over to her mother.

"Nap time?" Caroline inquired with a smirk to the 40-year-old man who rocked her world and then some.

"If not for her, then for me," he joked with an exaggerated sigh. "I'm getting too old to chase around toddlers. Let's hire a nanny."

"A nanny?" Caroline repeated incredulously as Mikey came teetering over to her as he became increasingly more dizzy.

"Yeah, I was thinking maybe a girl about twenty, rich tan, long blonde hair, huge melons and an A-S-S I can bounce a quarter off of," Mike grinned at his description and mentally laughed at how him and Caroline couldn't just come right out and say what they wanted to say anymore because of little ears always around.

"Alright, and while we're at it, let's hire a pool boy about the same age, same rich tan, but instead of blonde he's Latino like Jesse the gardener from Desperate Housewives and his A-S-S is equally taut, but his C-O-C-K can put King Kong to shame," Caroline replied, giving it right back to her husband.

Mike pursed his lips and twisted them to the side in contemplation and then looked mischievously at his lovely brunette wife. "How about we put our rugrats down for a nap and I'll be the Pool Boy?" He wiggled his eyebrows and flashed her a grin. "I'll even clean out your filter really good."

Caroline grinned in response as she grabbed her pen and pad of paper up in her right hand, then extended her left out to Mike for him to help her up.

Once she was on her feet, she took a few steps and scooped Mikey up just as he was about to fall sideways from constantly spinning.

"I sometimes wonder if you're Uncle Tre's kid, instead," Caroline muttered to her son as he tried to wriggle out of his mother's strong grasp. "You're too naturally wound up."

Mike came up beside her and kissed her ear as he whispered, "Let's not make those jokes, babe."

"I know, I know. But can you not see how funny it is that Mikey acts more like a mini Tre than a mini you sometimes?" Cocking her head to the side, she threw Mike a look that suggested he had to be stupid, blind or both.

"Okay, maybe, but let's just not say it out loud."

"Whatever."

The couple dropped the subject as they carried their kids inside the house and up the stairs to the second floor where they deposited them each into their respective bedrooms -- in which during said process, Mikey seemed fit to throw a tantrum; kicking and crying.

"I not tired, I not tired!"

"Yes, you are," Caroline insisted as she tried to calm him down and pin his legs to the mattress while Mike manned his boy's arms.

"Hey!" Mike growled. "Stop it right now, young man!"

When his father's voice boomed with seriousness oozing from every pour, little Mikey froze and looked up at the man with wide, blue eyes.

"You be a good boy and take a nap like your mother and I tell you, understand?"

Pushing out his bottom lip in a pout and looking like Caroline for that moment, Mikey nodded. "Otay," he replied almost inaudibly.

"Now, here's Mister Monkey," Caroline spoke soothingly as she laid the stuffed chimp in her son's arms. "You were having so much fun today but now you need to take a little rest so you can have more fun later."

Mikey leaned into his Mister Monkey and curled slightly into a ball as he rolled onto his side, looking at his mother; nodding. "Otay."

Caroline leaned forward and kissed her boy's temple, then cheek several times before running her fingers through his thin, blonde hair. Smiling down at him, she stepped back as Mike crouched down and placed a hand gently on his son's waist.

"Mommy and me are gonna take a nap, too. And Chloe's taking a nap. We're all taking naps right now."

Mikey just stared; slowly lifting his thumb to his mouth.

Kissing his son's forehead, Mike got up slowly and frowned at his knees that felt like they were gonna snap the wrong way. Placing his hand subconsciously on Caroline's ass, he led her out of Mikey's bedroom and shut the door as they entered the hallway and walked toward their own bedroom.

Once inside and temporarily free of kids in their hair, they both meandered over to the bed and fell face first onto the mattress and just laid like that for several minutes before Caroline lifted her head and curled up beside Mike.

"So...here we are. Actually alone, during the day."

Mike lifted his head and met her gaze. Smiling, he added, "Whatever should we do to pass the time?"

Her smile turning into a Cheshire Cat-like grin, Caroline sat up as Mike rolled over onto his back and just watched his 32-year-old wife climb atop him and begin to lift her shirt off.

Flashing more of a lazy smile up at her, Mike rested his hands behind the back of his head and blew her a kiss. "I'm too tired to move. You do all the work."

A quick slap to his chest exacted a short groan from his lips as Caroline gave him a cross look. "Me do all the work? What happened to you being the Pool Boy and cleaning my filter?"

"After you play the Nanny. After all, ladies first."

Scowling, but only playfully, Caroline shrugged any further complaints from herself away as she began to undo her husband's pants.

He lifted his hips here and there to help her help him out of them, and before he knew it, they were connecting both their bodies together as they'd done so many times in the last five years.

When he rose, she fell.

When he touched, she shuddered.

And when he flipped her over so that he was on top, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and welcomingly allowed him to drive it on home.

And he would've too.

If it weren't for the bedroom door creaking open and Mikey calling out sleepily, "Mommy, Daddy. My eyes not closin' no more. No more nap."

Both adults froze and were mentally cursing the Gods for now, of all times, that their son had to walk in. Carefully withdrawing from his wife, Mike rolled off of her and made sure they were still covered by the blankets when he sat up enough to look down toward his son.

"Mikey, go back into your room for a few more minutes, okay?" he asked. "Mommy and me are still a little sleepy."

"Can I have a sammitch?"

Mike rolled his eyes as Caroline responded with a sigh, placing a hand to her forehead, "When you go back to your room like a good boy."

"Peanut butter an' jewwy sammitch?" the small voice pestered.

"Yes, Michael. Yes," both parents replied.

Happy with the answer, Mikey finally walked out of his mommy and daddy's bedroom; leaving the door wide open.

Looking sideways at his wife, Mike frowned. "Should we even bother to try and finish where we left off?"

"Why?" Caroline grumbled, starting to get out of bed to get dressed. "A few minutes to him is an eternity and if we take any longer he'll just come right back in on us."

"You're right."

As the pair got out of bed and got redressed, they grumbled to themselves as they left their bedroom to go make Mikey his peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with checking on Chloe to see if she was still napping.

Later on during the evening, Mike would look over to Caroline, while the kids were watching cartoons on the living room floor, as they sat beside each other, completely exhausted.

"Wanna reconsider hiring a nanny?"