story: Dad’s Rules

Dad’s Rules
By Joanna Kelly


Ginger’s room had everything she had asked for at Christmas: a queen-sized bed, mini fridge and a new microwave. She and her dad tested it out with a cold cup of tea. When it dinged, she got the tea out and took a small sip. “It’s good right?” he asked. “Now you guys won’t bug me when you’re having your party.” As part of her first slumber party, her dad would not smoke pot nor have his clients over to the house. It was 8 year old Ginger’s reward for finally living in one school district long enough to make friends. She heard him on the phone with his girlfriend, Brandi: “She wants to bring four girls here. I think people in this neighborhood are cool but little kids get into everything. Like roaches.” He winked at Ginger. “Can you come over that day and help me out with them? Oh, that’s OK. I’ll handle it then.” He hung up and asked “What’s Lee’s number again?” Lee was his other girlfriend, a graduate student who Ginger actually liked. She recited the number to him and he dialed. Lee was much nicer than Brandi and never talked down to her. “Lee will be great at this,” he muttered.

The afternoon of the slumber party, Ginger had checked everything in her room. She watched as they were printed on the long green and white printer paper. “Make sure every girl reads it and knows it,” he nagged. Now she looked it over and felt an urge to break every dumb thing on the list. Lee arrived, with some of her books and homework, and Gin read the list over and over while waiting for the girls to show up:

1: Stay away from Dad’s bedroom. There is NOTHING there.
2: Everything you need is in Ginger’s room.
3: The bathroom across from Dad’s room is the guest bathroom. This means adults Only.
4: Only food should go in the microwave; use microwave safe dishes.
5: Only Ginger is allowed to operate the new microwave. Handle all micro-waved food with care. Avoid standing in front of the microwave.

Lee teased Greg about the list saying, “I thought you’d enjoy hosting this. This list will embarrass them.” Greg didn’t want to hear it, there was too much that could go wrong and the list made him feel better. Ginger and Lee holed up in her room the rest of the night, Lee studying a book, and Ginger arranging and rearranging things in her bedroom. Ginger’s rotation included her videocassettes, books, stuffed animals, and shoes. “Relax, it’s only 10pm,” Lee said after the girl started reshelving her books. “But they should be here now,” Ginger said. “My invitation said it starts at 8 o’clock.” Lee stopped reading and asked her if she was sure she gave them the right info. Ginger gave her a copy of the invitation and watched her read it. Lee didn’t remember hearing any phone calls to cancel since she had been there. In fact the phone rang once but Greg got it while they were in her room. She told Ginger to wait in her room and went to Greg’s home office.

She knocked on the door but came in after hearing his voice. She hoped he wasn’t talking to a client and tying up the line. “Greg, no one’s come or called her.” Greg’s back was turned and he was on the phone. He finished the call and turned around to face her. “Of course not. I called them and cancelled. It’s not a good night for this.” He turned away from her and started to dial but Lee got right in his face and asked for an explanation. Greg stood up to her and lowered his voice, “I’ve got to help out my brother and his friends.” “What does that mean?”

“It means Chris is in jail and I have to help him. I don’t know what he did but I have to go right now,” Greg was trying to keep calm but she didn’t seem to believe him. “I don’t want to be going in and out of the house while they're here. And I definitely don’t want his friends here scaring the kids.” Lee was amazed; he didn’t trust her to be in the house alone with the kids. Lee argued that there were alarms on every outside door and a guard dog in the backyard but he went to his closet and looked for some clean clothes. There was nothing to feel guilty about and Lee could frown all night if she wanted, he had to cancel it. “Just take her to a movie. Pet Sematary or something’s at the Gateway.” Lee said she was OK with calling the girls back but Greg said it would be too much stress for everyone. Lee kept protesting and even blocked the door. Greg shut her down by asking, “You wanna break up over this? Let’s do that after I get back.”

Thirty minutes after telling Ginger the party was cancelled because of a family emergency, they were in line to buy tickets for The Little Mermaid. Ginger’s face was streaked with tears and she had gone silent. Lee tried to convince her seeing a movie at night was much better than a slumber party. She made a big deal about getting a large popcorn, large drink, and candy. Both sat still in their seats while the other people laughed and whispered throughout. After it was done, Ginger tapped her arm. “You’re not coming back to visit us, are you?” Lee took a deep breath and told her no; Ginger was too smart to be lied to. Ginger nodded and told her it was OK since, “I hate Dad too.” Without saying a word they stayed through the next showing; Lee paid a tired looking usher who cleaned their aisle. It was worth it so they could stay together as long as possible.

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Bio: Joanna Kelly was born in Houston, Texas and has been published in College Bound Magazine. She’s a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and writes for the video podcast “Student Filmmakers Showcase TV”.