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Author: Dix

Claus and Effect    

“Hey, Squirt gun!” Phillip shouted as his youngest brother tackled him in the foyer.  “How’s it hanging?”

“Phillip!” their mother scolded.  She raised her eyebrows and took a duffle bag, overflowing with dirty laundry, from her eldest so he could scoop up his baby brother in a bear hug.

“Oh, sweetheart!” Amanda sardonically wrinkled her nose as she gingerly set the bag down.  “You brought gifts; you really shouldn’t have.”  She smiled and scooted the duffle bag a bit further away, then reached around her five year-old’s enthusiastic shoulder-pounding to give Phillip a quick hug and kiss.  “Welcome home,” she added softly.

“It’s good to be back,” Phillip choked though his brother’s hug. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Hey!”  Lee Stetson scowled as he edged through the door, overburdened with three large suitcases, the one tucked under his right arm inching further forward as he moved.  “What am I – chopped liver?”

“Daddy!” Teddy squealed, arching from Phillip to his father, heedless of Lee’s burden.  He clutched his arms around Lee’s neck, as excited to see the man who had been gone for several hours as he had been to see the one who had been absent for several months.

Lee bent forward to lower the boy to the ground, but Teddy tightened his choke hold and wrapped his stubby legs around his father’s torso.  Caught off guard, Lee stumbled slightly and the battered suitcase he had clutched against his side shot forward onto the floor.  The clasps snapped open, rapidly decorating the foyer with a portion of Phillip’s wardrobe.  Lee, still off-balance, tripped over a sweatshirt and began to fall.  He quickly released the other two suitcases he had been holding and brought his arms around Teddy as he dropped into an instinctive roll.   As he hit the floor, he let out an even more instinctive grunt of pain.  Turning onto his back, he pushed Teddy away and grasped his right knee.

Teddy jumped up, shouting, “That was fun!  Do it again, Daddy!”

Amanda noted Lee’s pain-filled grimace.  “I don’t think so, sweetheart.  Once is enough for Daddy.”  She motioned Phillip toward Teddy and reached a hand out to Lee.  “Can you stand?”

“Are you hurted, Daddy?” Teddy added.

“Yes!” Lee hissed quietly.  He glared at his son.

Teddy’s lips puckered into the beginnings of a startled pout.

“Teddy,” Amanda softly, drew out the boy’s name, “why don’t you go show Phillip the cookies you helped me make?”  She nodded at Phillip and then toward the kitchen door.

“Yeah, squirt, come on.”  Phillip clasped his brother’s hand and reached for his duffle bag with his free hand.  “We’ll have cookies and you can help me do laundry.”

“Okay!” Teddy brightened as the glare on Lee’s face lessened.  “I’m a super good hepper!  I putted in the sugar.  Sugar’s yummy good, but Mommy said I couldn’t keep licking it up or there wouldn’t be any left for the cookies.  And I washted my hands before we maded them.  Mommy says you always have to wash your hands when you’re makin’ cookies.  Mommy’s really, really smart.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that,” Phillip chuckled.  “Did you lick the sugar before or after you washed your hands?”

“Can you stand?” Amanda asked again as her sons made their way into the kitchen.  She knelt beside Lee and laid her hand on his shoulder.

“I’m not . . . sure,” Lee grunted.  He clutched his hands into tight fists against the polished wooden floor.

“He was just excited to see you,” Amanda offered gently, absently rubbing his shoulder.

“I know, I know.” He relaxed somewhat, though still was unable to straighten his leg.  “It’s Christmas . . . brings out the best in me, you know.”  He attempted a weak smile as he took a slightly ragged breath.  “Just give me a minute.  I’ll be okay.”

With a deep, fortifying inhalation he rolled to his left side and slowly stood, bracing himself on Amanda’s shoulder.  Gingerly, he hopped into the living room, holding his right leg out at an angle and, with Amanda’s help, leaned against the back of the couch.

“Let me get a look at it,” Amanda demanded, reaching for the button on his jeans.

“Amanda.” Lee drew out her name with an odd mix of longing and petulance.  “The boys are in the next room.”

With swift moves born of long practice, Amanda quickly unfastened his jeans and let the denim pool around his ankles.  She bent to remove his shoes and gently prodded his right knee.  He flinched and she rose immediately to help him settle onto the couch.

“That leg is definitely not okay.  It’s already starting to swell.”  She carefully propped his knee with a couple of throw pillows and tucked another behind him.  “I’ll get you some ice for this,” she told him, “Just sit tight.”

“Where would I go?” he responded sarcastically.  Scowling, Lee crossed his arms over his chest.

“Lee,” Amanda said, slightly exasperated, “you’ve strained your knee again.  It’s not Teddy’s fault; it’s not Phillip’s fault; it just happened.  Now just--”

“Actually, it was my fault,” Phillip corrected as he entered the living room carrying a clear plastic bag filled with ice.  Teddy tagged behind, a saucer with three sugar cookies held carefully in front of him.  “It was my dirty sweatshirt that Lee tripped on.  If I hadn’t had my head up my--”  He caught himself, shooting a guilty glance from his mother to his younger brother.  “If I hadn’t been so caught up in my wreck of a love life, I’d’ve kept house better this semester and I wouldn’t have brought home twelve suitcases of dirty laundry.  I’m sorry, Lee,” he finished, handing the ice pack to his step-father.

Lee took the ice and eased his leg out a bit further, absently kneading his thigh.

“You didn’t bringded home twelve suitcases.” Teddy widened his eyes, aghast.  “You only bringded four!”

“Good job, champ!” Phillip tousled the boy’s hair.  “I guess you can count better than I can, huh?”

“I can count from one to ten hundred!” Teddy bobbed his head proudly.

“Really?”

“Yeah, Grandma teached me.  I can show you.  One . . .” Teddy intoned slowly.

“Uh, buddy, maybe now isn’t the best time,” Phillip patted Teddy’s shoulder gently, but then caught their mother’s indulgent smirk.

“Two . . .” Teddy continued.

“Okay,” Phillip conceded.

“Skip a few . . . ten hundred!” Teddy announced gleefully, flashing the adults a wide grin.

Lee chuckled, straightening his knee a bit more.  “Come show me what you’ve got there, chief.”  He motioned Teddy closer.

“Mommy and me maded cookies today, Daddy.” The boy held out his saucer with its treasures.  “I putted in the sugar and the flowers, only they didn’t look like flowers – I guess they were all squished down to flower powder.  Did you know that you put flowers in cookies?  I didn’t knowed that.”  Teddy paused for a breath, but resumed speaking before his father could respond.

“Mommy let me hep decorate the cookies, too.  I gotted to do the frosting and put on the little candies and the silver balls.  I maded one that lookted just like Santa Claus only I ate ‘im up.  Phillip said when he was little Mommy gived him cookies sometimes when he was hurted, so we broughted you some.  This is my favoritest one.”  He held up an angel-shaped sugar cookie, liberally frosted with red and blue icing; a large purple gum drop covered the head, and confetti sprinkles coated the remainder of the icing.

Lee took the cookie respectfully.  “You know what I think?” He winked at Amanda then turned a pensive gaze to Teddy.  “I think that this is the finest sugar cookie I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  I’ll bet this cookie will have my leg feeling better in no time.”  He patted Teddy on the shoulder and took a cautious bite of the offered treat.

“Oh, goody!” Teddy cheered, hurling himself onto the couch.

Lee grimaced and shifted his leg, but not quickly enough to avoid his son’s enthusiastic tackle.  Unable to avoid the boy, he dropped the cookie and drew his son up to his chest and held him tight, gasping and reaching one hand down to cradle his own knee.

Teddy let out a muffled squawk.

“Lee!” Amanda hissed.  “You’re squeezing him too hard.  Let him go.”

“Sorry, Daddy,” Teddy offered as Lee drew a ragged breath.

“Whoa, dude!” Phillip interjected.  “You are in bad shape.  You gotta let me do something to make this up to you.  It really was my fault.”

“Now, Phillip . . .” Amanda began.

“Well . . .” Lee mused, having evened out his breathing and snuggled Teddy firmly beside him.  He waved a hand, encompassing both Teddy and himself.  “We still have some Christmas shopping to do.  If I can walk at all tomorrow, you could come along and . . . ahh . . . help.”

“Sure, Lee.” Phillip winked and nodded toward his squirming baby brother.  “I’ll come along and help, ummm . . . carry things.”

“Yes,” Lee hissed slightly, squeezing his son’s shoulder.  He flashed Phillip a weary, conspiratorial smile.  “You can definitely carry . . . things.”

~~~~~/\~~~~~

“Here we are, Teddinator – Old Line Mall, where you can find everything new!”  Phillip hoisted Teddy onto his shoulders after they came through the mall doors.  Lee limped slowly beside them, eyeing the bench near the escalator.

“I could have dropped you off and saved you the walk, Lee,” Phillip reminded him.

“Nothing personal, Phillip.” Lee sighed heavily. “Old habits die hard, and I like my car just the way it is – intact.”  His smile took some of the sting from his words.

“So,” he continued, punching Teddy lightly in the leg, “what does Mommy want for Christmas?”

“Mommy says that gifts you make are better than gifts you buy,” Teddy intoned sagely.

“Really?” Lee shot Phillip with a wry glance.  “I wonder why she never told me that,” he added under his breath.

“Okay, better make that two trips to the jewelry store for Lee.” Phillip teased.  Mom’ll love that one,” Phillip chortled.

“First my car, now my marriage.  Is nothing sacred to you?” Lee’s voice took on a mock hurt tone.

“Not lately,” Phillip muttered.

“There are other fish in the sea, Phillip,” Lee advised.  He sobered, but kept his words light.  “Let her go; it’s indecent to settle down when you’re twenty-two anyway.”

“Really?  What if you had met Mom when you were twenty-two?”

“When I was twenty-two your mother was already married to your father,” Lee began, “and I probably would have hit on her anyway.  I definitely would’ve been too stupid and self-involved to do the right thing, whatever that would have been.  What matters,” he continued, noting Phillip’s arch look, “is that I’m not twenty-two, and I’m very happy about that.  You are, and you should enjoy it.”

“Yeah, well.” Phillip dismissed Lee’s advice with a shrug.  “What I’d enjoy right now is to find Santa Claus.  What do you say, Tedmeister?”  He glanced up at his brother, jostling him playfully.

“Yay!” Teddy clapped his hands gleefully.

“Ah . . . that may not be the best idea, guys,” Lee interjected reluctantly.  He stopped walking as he noticed the end of a line of children ahead of them.  “Your mother’s insisted on bringing Teddy to see Santa every year.  The last two years he’s been terrified – screamed like a banshee.”

“Yikes!  I remember those days.”  Phillip pulled Teddy down and braced him against his waist.  He looked at the boy intently.  “You wouldn’t do that to good old Phillip, would you, Tedster?  It’s one thing to torture your parents, but brothers have to stick together, you know.”

“I wouldn’t scream at Santa.” Teddy shook his head vigorously.  “Santa’s not scary.  He’s the bestest man in the whole world – except for Daddy, and Phillip, and Uncle Billy, and Uncle Bob, and the White Ranger!”  He nodded with exaggerated precision as he recited each name.

“Way to go, Phillip!” Lee joked.  “You rank higher than the Power Rangers.  Pretty impressive, since you can’t even mutate into anything.”

“Daddy!” Teddy demanded.  “Power Rangers don’t mutate – they morph!”

“Oh, yeah, right, morph.” Lee threw up his hands in mock surrender.  “I’ll try to remember that.”  He glanced pointedly around at the surrounding stores, striking a thoughtful pose.  “How about if we look for presents for Mommy first, then – if you’re very good – we’ll see just how good Santa’s ear plugs are this year, okay?”

“Okay!” Teddy said brightly.  He slid down Phillip and took his father’s hand.  “Mommy likes pretty things.  There’re pretty things in here.  Let’s go see.”

“Ear plugs?” Phillip glanced at his stepfather quizzically as the trio made their way into a nearby boutique.

“Mall security insisted after the first time.  They wouldn’t let us back in unless we either agreed to supply their Santa and their staff with ear plugs – perpetually, mind you – or left Teddy at home.  That first year we brought him here was pretty intense.  It sounded like the Emergency Broadcast System on a broken record.”

Four stores later, Lee and Phillip had both completed their shopping, but Teddy’s interest had strayed.

“Mmmm . . . pretzels.” He hungrily eyed the stand in the middle of the mall.

“One pretzel coming up,” Lee decided, “as long as you can find something for Mommy in the next store.”

Teddy wolfed down the warm, soft pretzel and scanned the nearby storefronts.  He gazed, entranced, at the colorful display in the Disney Store window.  Dropping the remains of his pretzel, he pulled his limping father in that direction.  “Mommy likes ‘Winnie the Pooh,’ same as me.” 

Go to Conclusion

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All "Teddy" stories by: Dix.  Screen Captures by: SpencertheCat
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