The angst of youth

I mentioned yesterday that we were about to become an Andrew free zone. Like most things worth having, that entailed a little work on our side.

Not an enormous amount of work as it happened; we had to deliver him to the campsite at noon. He's somewhere on Lake Pleasant which is a trifle under an hours drive away.

I've finally realised what my real problem is. I'm too bloody reasonable. Tell me that I need to be somewhere at noon and it's about an hours drive away and I'll expect to leave somewhere around 10:45 AM. That expectation naturally carries an obligation, which is to be ready at 10:45 AM.

And, you guessed it, he wasn't nearly ready. I have no idea what the holdup was; I was too busy enjoying my new music download whilst keeping an eye on the clock.

At maybe 11:15 AM he was finally ready and truculent to boot! All decked out in his boy scouts uniform and slamming doors just like he was Morgan.

I reckon Morgan is beyond any help I could give her but he's salvagable.

So we took off and Mom asked if he was hungry. A grunt or two from the back seat.

'Pardon?' I said.

Another grunt or two.

'Hmmm', I said. 'I thought we'd progressed a little beyond grunts. Is that a yes or a no?'

Reluctantly he admitted it was a yes. Mom suggested we stop at the In'n'out at Desert Ridge. Vile hamburgers. I said fine, but you're not bringing the burgers into the car, it'll take hours to get rid of the smell.

Thus ensued an argument (and you have to understand that this all took place in a 3 mile drive) the gist of which was that he didn't want to be seen in public wearing his boy scout uniform.

Impasse! I don't want the burgers in the car and he doesn't want to get out of the car.

'Ok' I said, 'go hungry'. I've got the power and sometimes I abuse it. 'Nuff said!

At which point he used THAT word!

'Andrew', I said, 'I don't care how often your sister uses that word, I don't want to hear you using it!'

'I use it less than you do!' he countered.

'Well let's just keep it that way shall we?' I said.

Discussing this whole thing afterward with Sonya she says I hesitated a second. She thought it was because I didn't know quite how to respond. I maintain that I was trying to remember just how often we do use that word - it'd be maybe twice a year in general household conversation. She reckoned my response was perfect.