CH 104
CH 104
Marilyn
For the next three days, she saw those two boys get home from school and run off to check the mailbox. She
knew they were looking for a new phone to arrive, they’d not once coughed up the truth of what they’d done. That they’d told Calvin everything about that trip, and with that old phone gone she wondered if they actually thought they’d gotten away with it. There would be no conversation thread on a new phone.
Now it was Friday afternoon, and they’d just come back from checking the mail. Her two children were now
standing before her in her writing studio. She’d never actually hidden that phone. It was where she’d left it on Tuesday morning, on the corner of her desk. They’d just not come in here during the past three days was all.
Now they were in here and both of them could see it was right there.
Callum reached out for it, and she simply moved out of his reach. “Mum?”
“Yes Callum.” She asked right back.
“Is that dad’s phone for us?” he asked.
“Mm, I guess, seeing as he bought it, you could call it his phone. But technically it is my phone, not yours or
Vincents. It was given to me to check his whereabouts every day, not for you to do so. That was a privilege I
granted you. So it’s my phone.” She reminded them.
“You told us it fell in the creek,” Callum stated as he stared at her.
“Is there something the two of you need to tell me?” she asked right back.
They shook their heads no.
She could, however, see that they were both now looking at the phone. “Do you two recall the rules around this phone?” she asked and picked it up, and opened it when they just nodded. “Because I recall the rules clearly, no phone calls or texting and I believe the phone was to stay in the house at all times, never leave it.” she repeated the rules “They were the rules yes?”
“Yes.” They nodded.
Marilyn turned the phone around to show them the texts that had gone between themselves, and Calvin and their eyes fell to the floor. “Do you recall what I said would happen if you broke them?” she went on and saw them both nod slowly. “I stated you’d have no more access to it. That is all I did.”
“You lied about the phone being lost in the creek,” Vincent murmured.
“It doesn’t feel very nice now, does it, to be lied to about something important.” She countered and then closed the phone and put it back on the desk next to her. “I did not want Calvin to know about that new
house, and now he does. Right down to where it is,” she muttered.
“He’s our dad, and we didn’t want him to worry,” Callum stated.
“What would he worry about if the phone was still here? What is the difference between it always being in the house since it was given to me, and it staying in the house for that weekend… Nothing is what.” She stated right back. “But now I have to worry about finding another place for us to go if he’s not a nice person. I don’t know him, you two don’t know him either.” she stated simply, “I guess having a dad is more important to you than my own safety, yours even.” She sighed heavily “Because what happened to me the last time he saw me,
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where did I end up.” she reminded them when they said nothing “Go Inside, you’re both grounded to your rooms all weekend for breaking all of the rules, and then not telling me what you’d done even now, that you can see I have the phone, did you think I wouldn’t check it myself?”
“Mum, he’s our dad,” Callum stated.
“I’m aware of that fact.” She nodded, then gave the phone a push, and it slid across the desk towards Callum, “Take it, and go ahead and talk to him if that’s all you care about.” She muttered.
Vincent was looking at her apologetically. “We’re sorry mum.” He murmured.
She watched Callum pick up the phone and shook her head slightly. “No, you’re not. Only sorry you got caught is all. Go to your rooms.” She waved them out of her office.
They went, and she sighed heavily as she leaned back in her chair. She’d tried to guilt–trip them about that phone, a little wrong, but Callum didn’t even appear to care. Vincent had apologised but not Callum. What she’d done was in all likelihood wrong of her, but what if Calvin was actually a terrible person out to really harm her? Those two boys had just told him where that safe haven house was.
She did understand they wanted to meet and get to know their dad, and she was going to let them, had never once stated she wouldn’t. She had in fact told them it was up to them. It was only five weeks now until that day came. It seems they were as impatient as Calvin himself was and couldn’t stick to the rules laid out for
them.
They were more like Calvin than she cared to admit, that man had not even been around them for them to learn that kind of behaviour, yet they were still showing signs of being like him. She walked inside the house and everything was quiet. It had only been an hour. She walked up the stairs and found them in Callum’s room, and she could see they were texting on that phone.
They both looked up at her, and she watched as Callum tried to hide the phone and what they were doing. She walked across his bedroom and collected his tablet from his small desk where it was charging, without saying a word.
“Mum?” Vincent asked as he got up and trailed her to his own room and watched her collect his tablet as
well.
“You’re grounded to your rooms.” She stated simply “that means no technology until Monday.” They knew the rules about being grounded.
“He seems nice.” Vincent murmured.
She just nodded. “The two of you broke the rules and thought you could get away with it, just like what he does. Should I be expecting him to turn up and collect you, have you?” she looked at Callum, who still had the phone. “Asked him to do that?”
“You’re mean and stopped us talking to him, because you don’t want to know him,” Callum stated, glaring at
her.
She looked right at him, it wasn’t the first time she’d heard that, as a parent, no child liked being disciplined and that was what she was doing. “Yes, so mean, I gave that phone back to you, so you could have what you want.” She nodded and walked over and collected their gaming console remotes. “I’ll cook dinner and bring it up when it’s ready.” She stated simply and went back downstairs. Placed all their things on the dining room table.
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They’d been grounded to their room before, and knew that it meant she’d take their tablets and remotes away from them, it was part of the punishment was all. She’d not gotten drawn into an argument with Callum. There was no point in yelling at them. She made dinner and took it up to them, put it on the table they had up there in the alcove that was between their two rooms and told them dinner was ready before going back
downstairs.
She’d seen them sitting in Vincents room with pencils and paper out on the desk before them drawing, they had found something to occupy their time, it seemed. It wasn’t like they didn’t have games and books for colouring or painting things up there. They weren’t going to be board shitless up there, just no tablets and gaming consoles was all.
She ate alone and sat with her laptop to work. Friday night was usually movie night in the house, and they’d all normally sit and watch something together, eat popcorn, and she’d make milkshakes if they wanted them. Now she would just sit and work all weekend herself, though she would do that from here in the house instead of in her writing studio. She was curious if Callum had told his father she was mean and that he wanted him to come and get them. She’d heard it from other single parents how their children did that when they were being punished.
It could set off many an argument between the two parents about what was going on, or that one shouldn’t discipline the children like that. She wondered if Calvin was the type of person to do that, have the boys tell him she was mean, and they wanted to live with him. Would he get on that plane of his and come out here to take them?
It would breach the restraining order, but he’d already shown her he would do that, and didn’t care about it. She didn’t bloody know anything about him anymore. This new side of Calvin wasn’t one she’d experienced in their marriage, or what she recalled of it anyway.
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