Finding Daddy

I busted out laughing yet again, causing Autumn to laugh and Teri and Jimmy to roll their eyes. “It’s not that funny Danny.”

“Watch out for the killer pool cleaner,” Autumn said in her terrible impersonation of a ghost. This caused me to laugh harder, holding my abdomen as Jimmy threw a pillow from the opposite side of the huge, makeshift fort we had created in their entertainment room.

“This is supposed to be a scary movie dammit!” Jimmy whined.

“Dude, it’s Paranormal Activity 2. None of these movies are scary,” I remarked, waving my hand towards the screen that was flickering between the cameras put up in the house. Why did we even agree to watch this thing? “And everything that’s happened before is so predictable. How can you get scared of this?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s ridiculous,” Jimmy agreed, scoffing at the thought.

“You cried the first time we watched this and swore ghosts were going to steal your drum kit since we lack a child,” Teri spoke with a deadpan face. Jimmy quickly covered her mouth with one of his hands, telling us she just must be tired. Teri ripped off his hand shouting, “Yeah! That’s why you put up cameras for a while to make sure nothing paranormal was going on. All you found out was that Brian comes over sometimes when we’re not home to eat your mom’s cookies.”

“Well, then it was worth it. I love those things.”

“Are they really that good?” Autumn piped up from next to me. Teri opened her mouth to say something, but before even a syllable could get out, Jimmy was already tearing out the back of the fort and running high speed down the stairs.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask. Now he’s getting the last batch he got and shove in my face how more people think they’re amazing,” Teri explained with a small sigh.

“You don’t like them?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that her special recipe he’s in love with has cinnamon in it and I’m allergic,” Teri clarified. “It’s like he doesn’t understand the fact that I physically can’t enjoy his favorite.”

“That blows,” I said. She nodded in agreement. As we heard feet running up the stairs, we fell silent again.

“Get ready to taste the greatest cookies known to man!” Jimmy shouted as he ran into the room and slid across the floor to land himself in the fort. Before he could offer the container he held, Teri kissed him on the lips. “What’s that for?”

“I’m going to head to bed, but I know you guys aren't even tired so I’ll let you continue in peace.” With that Teri bid us good night, which we returned, before she left the room with a skip in her step. I guess she was pretty glad she didn’t have to sit through another lecture of ‘how the cookies are amazing’ tonight. After a moment of being puzzled, Jimmy turned back to us, smiling.

“Now you need to try! Send your taste buds on a journey!” Jimmy demanded, holding out the open container of cookies. We each grabbed one but stopped, staring at him.

“Is this a weed cookie? You made it sound like a weed cookie,” I accused, frowning.

“No, dammit! I stopped that forever ago when I was a teen. Just - just try them,” Jimmy sighed. Autumn and I shared a look before taking an extremely small bite. I was stunned by the awesome taste. I mean, how do you make these so magnificent? They must be created by a god or something. That was it, Jimmy’s mother is a god! Does that make Jimmy a demigod? “So?”

“There are no words to describe this marvelous sweet. I have to know the secret!” Autumn shouted, jumping to her feet in a heroic pose.

“Good luck. She’s never told anyone, not even her own sister,” Jimmy scoffed. Autumn crumbled to the floor as if someone had just punched her in the face. She even pulled a spare blanket off the ground to cover herself as she curled into a ball.

“I don’t want to live on this planet anymore!”

“Oh, stop being such a drama queen,” I scoffed to her before shoving the rest of the cookie in my mouth. What? It’s a good cookie! “Jimmy, now that it’s just us, I need some advice.”

“If you need help making better cookies, do not talk to me. I burn mac ‘n cheese,” Jimmy huffed, taking a bite of the cookie he had in hand.

“That really doesn’t surprise me,” Autumn muttered from her blanket barrier.

“Hey! I bet you couldn’t do any better with cookies than me!”

“Jimmy, forget about the cookies!”

“You’ve tasted them, you know I can’t - ”

“Jimmy,” I sighed, exhausted with his talk of the cookies. I see why Teri left now. “Seriously.”

“Okay, I’m serious. What’s wrong?”

I gave him the rundown of what happened from the moment I got to Matt and Val’s home until the time I left. By the end Jimmy was sighing, shaking his head in disapproval. That freaked me out, to make it an understatement. Did I do something that Jimmy knows is counted as bad? Oh man, what was it? “What? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you did nothing wrong. It’s Charlie.” I let out a breath of air I had been holding in. That gave me more relief than I could ever hope to explain without sounding like a psycho. “I thought we raised him better than that. But then again, I guess I was waiting for him to get some of Matt’s old attitude.”

“So what should I do?” I begged.

“Well, do you think Matt would tell him who you really are?” I paused for a moment. I hoped so, just so I wouldn’t have to be the one, but perhaps he didn’t. So instead a real answer, I shrugged. “Yeah. See, I’m not sure either. In truth I think you should figure out if Matt did or if he gave some stupid cover story. After that, confront Charlie. Just be straightforward with him that you aren’t here to ruin anything.”

“What if he doesn’t believe me?”

“Open up to him. Let him ask you any questions he has and answer truthfully. You have to understand, Charlie is a complex individual. He’s way ahead of his age. I mean, come on, I was one of the people that helped raise him, he should be crazy.”

“So you’re telling me to press on a twelve year old until he breaks?”

“No, I want you to level with a twelve year old and show him that you’re no threat,” Jimmy corrected. I thought it over in my head and sighed softly. In a way it made sense. He had a confident atmosphere around him, I had to fight fire with fire. “Whelp, I’m heading to bed. It’s, like, three in the morning.”

“No way.” I looked at the analog clock hanging on the wall and saw he was right. And of course now my body is starting to feel the toll of sleep on it.

“I hope you guys don’t mind me leaving you in here. It’s pretty comfortable with all the blankets for cushioning,” Jimmy remarked, crawling out to the hardwood floor past the fort.

“No, it’s fine. I can understand for you to rather sleep in a bed. But Autumn and I can tough it out. Right Autumn?” When I got no reply I tossed off her blanket. Underneath she was hugging a pillow with another under her head, out cold for the night. “Well, if you didn’t believe me, you should now.”

“Have a nice sleep. Night Danny.”

“Goodnight.” Jimmy turned off the TV and DVD player, causing the room to instantly bathe in darkness. I laid down on my own pillows and snuggled up under the comforter I had chosen to use as my blanket for the night. I saw Jimmy hesitate for a moment before walking to the end of the fort closest to me.

He kneeled down, planting a kiss on my head. “Sweet dreams.”

“Hey Jimmy?” I called just before he walked out the door. He turned on his heel, looking back towards me in the darkness. “Thank you, for everything.”

“Don’t mention it, Danny. You’re my god baby; I have to look out for you.”

With that he left me alone with my thoughts. So now I have a game plan. All I have to do is set it in motion. I’ll definitely have to speak to Jimmy and Matt about helping me arrange it. The sooner we got this over with and moved on, the better.

At least, I hope so.