Chapter 20: Blindsided

It was late Monday afternoon, and the kids had finished school. Dexter had finished answering e-mails. He had worked a bit on an article about recouping the costs of operating a home office. Will had taken off on his own, presumably to play games on his computer. This left Dexter with the task of taking Sarah to the hospital, to visit her mother.

She sat in the front seat while he navigated through the after-school traffic. He was stopped at a traffic light staring up at the camera mounted next to it. That was another nice little ‘service’ of modern times: cameras to enforce traffic laws even when there wasn’t an officer around. It was another product to enforce ‘safe’ behavior.

He thought about the number of times that he had sat at a red light at night when there was not another car around. When he was younger, he would have gone through the intersection, after assuring that there wasn’t another car around. The traffic light was to improve safety. Now the traffic light was ‘law’ and ‘law enforcer.’ It was as though everyone had forgotten its original purpose.

“So what are you going to do while waiting for me?” Sarah asked interrupting his thoughts.

“I’ll drink some more of that foul coffee they serve there,” Dexter answered. He patted his pocket as he added, “I brought my pink pills with me.”

“You have stomach problems?” Sarah asked.

“I have a weak stomach. Bad coffee tends to upset it,” Dexter answered. “It used to be worse.”

“Why don’t you come up to visit mom?” Sarah asked.

“I don’t want to talk to her,” Dexter said.

“You’re going to have to talk to her sometime,” Sarah said.

“Why?” Dexter asked thinking that Sarah had sounded just like her mother.

Sarah said, “Family events.”

“Such as?”

“Graduations, weddings, and birthdays,” Sarah answered.

The only event that actually required his wife and him to be near each other was a wedding. He figured that would be years from now.

To make his point, Dexter asked, “Are you planning on getting married, soon?”

“No. I’m only sixteen,” Sarah said surprised that he would even ask the question.

“Is Will planning on getting married, soon?”

“No,” Sarah answered.

Dexter said, “We’ll cross those ‘family events’ bridges when we get to them. For now, I’m going to stick with the status quo.”

“There’s no bend in you, is there?” Sarah asked.

“Nope,” Dexter answered. “I’m an inflexible bastard.”

Sarah shook her head. She smirked thinking that there was more than one way to skin a cat.

She asked, “Will you give me your cell phone number?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Sarah asked once again surprised by his answer.

“Because you’ll give it to your mother. She’ll call me from some number that I won’t recognize. I’ll answer it, anyway. She’ll say something, and I’ll throw the phone against the wall. Then I’ll have to replace the cell phone. She’ll keep calling and I’ll keep breaking cell phones. I can’t afford to replace too many cell phones,” Dexter answered.

“How can I get in touch with you?” Sarah asked.

“You’ve got my old phone number. I still check it for messages once a week. If you need me in case of an emergency, you’ve got my e-mail address. Just don’t mention your mother’s name in it. The spam filter will put it in the junk folder,” Dexter said.

There were already a number of e-mails in it. He hadn’t bothered to check who they were actually from.

“God, I don’t believe you,” Sarah said.

She crossed her arms and stared at her father as if he was some sort of slime.

“It’s true. I wrote the spam filter rules myself,” Dexter said.

“That’s not what I meant,” Sarah said.

“Okay,” Dexter said.

Sarah looked around the front seat of the car. She noticed his Droid touch pad.

She asked, “What’s this?”

“That’s my new touch pad. I just bought it. I’m going to read while you’re chatting with ... you know...”

“You can’t even say her name,” Sarah said incredulously.

“So?”

“You’re hopeless,” Sarah said.

Dexter said, “No. We already agreed that I’m an inflexible bastard.”

Upon their arrival at the hospital, Dexter grabbed a coffee and took a seat in the cafeteria. He popped a pink pill and chewed it, then chased away the chalky taste with a swig of the vile coffee. He opened his touch pad and looked over the applications that came with it. There wasn’t much there. He went online, via the hospital’s wi-fi, to the app download store and browsed the applications.

He noticed that a copy of the US Army Survival Book was available for download. It was free. Satisfied with the price, he downloaded a copy, and dug into it.

After the second page, he muttered, “This is great. I should write a survival guide for the workplace.”

He took a sip of his coffee and returned to reading. The coffee irritated his stomach. He set down the touch pad and dug out another of the pink pills. He popped one in his mouth and started chewing.

He was reaching for his touch pad when, much to his surprise, Sarah sat on his lap.

“Wha...”

“Still eating the pink pills, I see,” a familiar voice said from behind him.

“Go away,” Dexter said finding that he couldn’t get up with Sarah on his lap.

“No,” Janet replied.

“Shit.”

Janet said, “Don’t swear like that in front of your daughter.”

“Fu...”

His words were cut off when Sarah put her hand over his mouth.

Looking over his shoulder at her mother, Sarah said, “He drops the f-bomb a lot. Particularly when talking about you.”

“That’s being a real good role model,” Janet said sarcastically.

“Go away,” Dexter said in a low growl.

He was half tempted to dump his daughter to the floor, and storm off.

Janet said, “I need a ride home.”

“Take a cab,” Dexter said.

“He’s hopeless,” Sarah said.

In a whiny voice, Janet said, “Poor little boy. The other kids won’t play nice so you’re gonna grab your bat and go home.”

“Shut up,” Dexter said while staring fixedly at the floor.

“You can’t abandon her here,” Sarah said.

Dexter said, “Get off my lap.”

“No,” Sarah said.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly.

“Uck!”

“Let your father breathe,” Janet said.

Sarah eased her hold on her father’s neck.

Dexter said, “Fucking ambush me like that. Shit. What did I do to deserve this?”

“See. He drops the f-bomb a lot,” Sarah said.

“Watch your language, we’re in a public place,” Janet said.

Dexter growled. “We’re not married any more.”

“Yes, we are,” Janet said.

“We’re separated. Sep - ah - ray - ted ... Do you know what that means? It means we’re not together. You’ve got no right to tell me shit. Got it?” Dexter said.

“I didn’t really want a divorce,” Janet said lamely.

With anger evident in his voice, Dexter said, “I got that all figured out. The ass wipe that you were sleeping with wasn’t all that interested in being with you, after you kicked me to the curb. He dumped your ass, and then you wanted me back. Well ... I don’t play that game. So fuck you, and the horse you rode in on. Leave ... me ... alone.”