A Foregone Conclusion

When I was a few miles outside of town, I called a friend with some teenagers; the teens had helped numerous times when I needed a quick sitter or a hand moving furniture. I had to simultaneously settle my kids and clambor into my attic in search of the fish tank and filter; I'd had a long day and could use a hand. She sent over her youngest teen, to keep an eye on the kids while I got the frogs into their permanant home. It was a quick endeavor, and soon the three "Guard Dog"s were home and happy.

The kids and I got to bed early, and I woke up with the summer sun streaming through my window. I was surprised to find it was only 7 am, but I decided to get up and enjoy the peace before the kids woke up. It was the weekend of the town-wide yard sale, and even though I hadn't put myself on "the map", two of my neighbors had. My built-up spontinaity stores hadn't been sufficiently depleted on my vacation, so despite the fact that Michael was coming to town that afternoon, I set up a yard sale on the side lawn. It wasn't too much work. I'd had two yard sales already that summer, so the items were all priced and ready; they only needed to be displayed.

One at a time, the kids woke up. Jake and Jane ate breakfast while I finished the set-up, then played on the sidewalk as the buyers started to trickle in. I sold some big-ticket items, and had a fair amount of success. Michael showed up at 2:00, strolling casually down the street where we had so often walked hand in hand. It stung just a bit to see the smile on his face, but I wasn't going to allow myself to forget that he hadn't visited since February. He had walked over from his grandmother's house across town, so he asked me to shut down the yard sale long enough to drive the kids to the party. I pointed out that as cute as Jane was in her ballerina tutu, she might want to put on some actual clothes before going to grandma's birthday party. Michael couldn't take a hint, so I went inside, changed all three kids (Jake's clothes were dirty by then, and Tony's diaper needed changing) and got a diaper bag ready. I then put a note on my board outside, saying I'd be back in 20 minutes, and drove my kids and my ex-husband across town to the party. I asked what time I should pick the kids up, and he asked me to come back at five. At 4:30 I pulled my yard sale in. I'd made $90! I called Mike's grandmother to ask if he didn't want to keep them any longer. He said no. Just like last summer, he'd had enough time pretending to be their father.

When I (dutifully? foolishly?) picked the kids up at five, Ashley and her siblings thanked me repeatedly for bringing the children over. Sue later said I should have pointed out to her that Mike could be seeing his kids EVERY month, but at the time I was exhausted; I'd spent the entire previous day driving, and that whole day manning a yard sale. My inner "bitch in training" was out of commission. Besides, the entire Bronson family shouldn't suffer just because Michael is a jerk.