Babbler Excerpt No. 6

Tent boy takes off
He'd had it up to here!

Reprinted courtesy of The Beemer Babbler

Daniel Beemer packed his sack and headed for the door and when Remy caught up with him on that cold, moonless night he was almost to Gardenia Avenue.

Having misbehaved and been banished to his room while his parents were out looking at computers, he'd taken stock of his home life and decided enough was enough. So, into his Power Rangers backpack went two stuffed toys, a jacket, his jammies, and his blanket, and on went his parka, his mittens, and his rubber boots, and out the back door went Daniel Lee Beemer, 6 years old.

"I had to pick him up and carry him back home," noted Remy, 16, who'd been left in charge of her siblings. "And he was kicking and screaming like crazy."

"He said he hated everybody and everybody hated him and he was running away," added sister Kelly, 11, who witnessed the incident aghast with incredulity.

Naturally, the news of their son's narrowly averted departure sat poorly with Suffy and Shortboy, occasioning sanctions swift and severe.

"The tent came down and I mean pronto," said Shortboy, referring to the nylon pop-up camping shelter which Daniel had once again erected in the middle of his bedroom and in which he'd been spending every night for nearly a week. "And I pulled the plug on his Sega system, too, and gave him one heckuva scowl."

Susan nods affirmatively. "You were brutal."

"You gotta be tough or it ain't 'tough love,'" her husband soberly suggests.

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