Chapter 20

Alas, all good things must end. Despite the fact that we did virtually nothing all day, Mark was still ready for bed by 7:30 p.m.

Kelly and I agree — gasp — that children require much rest. So Mark, who had to be at kindergarten at 7:50 a.m. each weekday, went to bed by 8 p.m. each night. That allowed him to have at least 10 hours of rest nightly.

As he grows older, the bed time will relax until he reaches the age that we feel he is mature enough to set his own. With Kasey, it was 15. With Mark it might be earlier and it might be later.

Of course, there are caveats: I do not care if you are awake half the night so long as you fulfill your responsibilities the next day. If you grumble and bitch about having to get up to go to school or to work or to something else you knew was coming the next morning, you are not mature enough to set your own bedtime.

I don't mean good-natured whining. Whining of the morning, to a certain degree, is acceptable — and in fact it is quite expected.

I mean full-fledged complaints, griping and generally assholishness. Because Kasey sets what time she goes to sleep, I do not wake her of the mornings except as a last resort. She has an alarm clock to wake her. We started to experiment with allowing Kasey to stay up as late as she wanted before she was able to appreciate the ramifications of getting too little rest.

It created a host of problems because Kasey's temperament was somewhat unpredictable as a young teenager. That is a nice way of saying that Kasey was a pain in my ass during those 18 or 20 months that I got a daily look at her as those years arrived.

Instead of gauging her maturity, Kelly and I set an arbitrary age for extending her privileges and responsibilities. We chose 13 for some ungodly reason and we chose poorly. At 13 Kasey was moody most of the time and downright mean the rest of the time. Why we thought it would be a good time for her to sleep less and work more I will never understand.

But I agreed and I thought it was a good idea — at the time. In hindsight, I know it was a horrendous idea. Of course, Kasey took advantage of the situation and began sleeping only four or five hours each night. That, in turn, meant she was a royal bitch of the mornings and the other facets of her life suffered.

She would be nearly exhausted by the time she returned from whatever sport she was practicing or playing. Her schoolwork began to suffer and so did the relationship with her peers.

I stuck it out for almost a month — hoping beyond hope that Kasey would recognize the contributing factors and make the necessary changes. But she was enjoying the ability to watch TV until 2 a.m. or wait until 11 p.m. to start her homework. So no changes were forthcoming.

It came to a head on a Saturday morning. Kasey knew Kelly had plans for them that day but I heard her up and rumbling around the hotel room until the small hours of the morning. She pitched a fit and called to tell her mother that she wasn't going with her wherever Kelly had planned to go.

I overheard the conversation and made a snap decision — well, a couple of them, actually.

Kasey was going with Kelly that day. I didn't know where it was or what it entailed. I only knew that Kelly had asked if I minded if she borrowed Kasey from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Because she took the time to ask, I permitted it with limited bitching.

I also decided that Kasey's bedtime was 11 p.m. until further notice. She didn't have to go to sleep but she had to be in her room without noise at that time each night — weekends included.

When Kelly arrived, I filled her in on what I had decided. Yes, I should have spoken with Kelly about it. Yes, she was pissed off that I had made an arbitrary decision without talking to her. At least she was pissed off until I pointed out a couple of facts — first, Kelly had made perhaps a hundred arbitrary decision regarding the children without even notifying me of them; second, I was Kasey's father and legally entitled to make decisions for the girl.

Kasey did not take the news well. I didn't really care and I pointed out that any future decisions regarding her life — from when she could date to when she could drive — would be based on maturity level and not physical age. She would be permitted no privileges until she proved she could handle the responsibilities that came along with them. In that vein it meant she could expect to see the responsibilities increase long before the privileges arrived.

For the most part, I have upheld my end of the bargain and so has she.

It was almost 8 p.m. when Kasey and Carrie returned to the house, and they had a strange boy in tow. Well, I can't really say he was strange but he certainly was a boy I had never met before.

"Dad, this is Cody Everett," Kasey told me. "He will be my escort to the party tomorrow."

Cody seemed to want to look everywhere but at me. He was nervous — I've been around enough nervous people to recognize that emotion.

I extended my hand and he shook it. His palms were sweaty. I glanced at Kasey who glanced at Carrie. When I shifted my gaze to Carrie she simply shrugged and smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Cody," I said. "I'm glad I get to meet the gentleman I'll be spending most of tomorrow with. Because I'm almost positive that these two will abandon us pretty early and only speak to us during lulls in their rounds."

Cody seemed to shake his head a little and looked up at me and smiled slightly.

"Probably," he said.

"Come on in," I said when I released his hand. "Do you want a Coke or something? I'll probably end up making tea for the ladies but I have hot chocolate and other beverages. I'm certain that the Three Amigos made certain you were fed."

"Uh, yes sir," he said softly. "A cup of tea would be fine if you're fixing it anyway. Don't go to any trouble."

"No trouble, Cody," I assured him. "It's no trouble to fix anything you might want — if I have it. My pantry is a little sparse since I live alone most of the time."

Cody's eyes shifted from mine to Kasey and then to Carrie.

"Well, I probably would like hot chocolate more," he said.

When we walked into the living room, Kasey and Cody took a seat — on opposite items of furniture — and Carrie followed me into the kitchen.

"So what's his story?" I wondered quietly while I put the tea kettle on. "He's awfully nervous."

"Of course he is," Carrie said as she punched me slightly on the arm. "He just moved here last summer. He and Kasey have a couple of classes together and he finally worked up the nerve to ask her out just before Christmas Break. But during the past five months or so he's heard horror stories about having to meet Kasey's father before going out with her. I think some of them took on a life of their own in the retelling."

"Probably not," I answered. "There were a couple of boys she brought around during the summer that I truly disliked immediately. I did my best to make them as uncomfortable as I could. With one I went to great lengths to point out clearly that I knew far more about him that what he probably wanted me to know."

"How did you manage that?" Carrie asked.

"Luck," I said with a shrug. "It's how I accomplish most things — pure, dumb luck. The boy Kasey brought home had dated one of my friend's daughters. He played on the basketball team and Sharon — the girl's mom — came by to see if we had any pictures of him. Then right after prom, he dumped the girl. I suppose you can say he got what he wanted and then left. Of course there were rumors started and other things regarding the girl. I recognized the name as soon as Kasey mentioned it and I tormented the boy — and I let him know that he doesn't exist in a vacuum. His actions have consequences and that if he hurt Kasey I would make certain that whatever portion of his life remained in this town would be somewhat desolate."

Carrie smiled sweetly at me.

"Somehow I think you were more subtle than that otherwise Kasey would have been royally pissed off," she said.

"I was a little more subtle," I admitted. "But not to Kasey. When I set her curfew at 10 p.m. she shot me a fairly hostile glare. But she knew she had better be in the house by 10 p.m., too. I explained what I knew of the guy and why I didn't think a second date was warranted. She made a face at me — because I'm certain she had heard the rumors and that she had disregarded them. But I noticed that she didn't date the guy again and that she still brings her dates home for me to meet."

Cody seemed like a nice enough guy. He was planning to study chemistry in college and he hoped to go into the research field or attend pharmacy school. His mother was a chemistry teacher at the high school and he looked up to her — even if he didn't know it.

I found him to be a perfectly acceptable date for my daughter — which meant New Year's Eve would likely be the last time I saw the kid. Oh well, win some, lose some.

"So, what are the costumes?" I asked.

"Anthony and Cleopatra," Kasey said.

I glanced at Carrie who nodded.

"This body is not meant for a toga," I said. "And these legs are not meant for a skirt."

"That's what we're going as," Kasey said.

Cody blushed. His body was too lean and lanky for the costume, too, and I think he knew it.

"We're going as a mermaid and a swimmer," Carrie said. "Your costume is actually much smaller."

Pain must have flared on my face because the whole room — Cody included, damn him — burst into laughter.

"Knowing your love of history," Carrie said. "I thought that something along those lines was appropriate. Since the most original costume wins a prize or something, I chose Maj. General Winfield Scott Hancock and his wife, Almira."

"Hey, it was my idea," Kasey huffed.

"Actually it was Kasey's idea about Hancock," Carrie corrected. "I had the idea of a Civil War soldier and a Southern Belle but she came up with Scott and Almira Hancock off the top of her head."