'F' is for ... Fundamentals on the Fourth

 Part 12

 

“Hey, what’s wrong, AJ?” asked Mac.

Between sobs they could make out words such as, “… monster … growling … at Mommy.”

“Aw, honey, it’s okay.  It was just a bad dream,” Mac tried to comfort the youngster.

“Yeah, there are no monsters here,” Harm also assured him.

“Big fangs!” AJ insisted.  “… Biting!”

Harm noticed that someone had a dog nearby that had been barking and growling.  He hadn’t paid attention to it earlier, because he was too focused on Mac, but he now registered that it must have been going on for a minute or so.

“I think the sounds from furry Fido over there made their way into his dreaming.”

“I think you’re right,” agreed Mac.  “That, plus worrying about his parents earlier.  Probably left him with foreboding feelings.”  She tried to soothe the boy.  “It’s okay, honey.  It’s just a doggy over there making noise.”

AJ shook his head.  “Monster.  After Mommy and Daddy.  I want Mommy and Daddy!!”  He started to cry more.

“They’ll be back soon,” Harm assured AJ.

“Mommy and Daddy!!” the boy insisted.

“Okay, okay.  Let’s go see if we can find them.”  Harm stood and reached out his arms to take AJ.

After Mac handed the boy over, Harm took a step in the direction of the buildings, but when his eyes caught sight of the very people his godson wanted, he decided to stay put.

“Look, AJ! Your Mom and Dad are coming back.  See, they’re fine.”  Harm kept a tight hold on AJ, who struggled to get out of his godfather’s arms.  Harm knew the boy wanted to rush over to his parents, but he also knew it would be tough for Bud, still finding his footing with his artificial limb, or Harriet, in her advanced pregnant state, to lift up and carry their son across the field.

“Let’s wait until they get here,” Harm told the boy.  AJ protested with a wail and squirmed some more.

Mac stood up and rubbed the child’s back.  “Hey, you can see that they’re safe.  No monster is after them.  And you can get hugs from them as soon as they get here.”

AJ turned, shifted his weight, and wrapped his arms around his godmother, but it soon became clear that he was using this as a means of escape, believing he could break away from her grasp easier than Harm’s.

Mac did almost lose hold of the boy before she had gotten a firm grasp on him.  “Whoa, AJ!  Hang on!”

“He’s a flight-risk,” said Harm.  “Let me have him back; I’ll keep him from fleeing.”

“You’re taking his wings?” Mac asked jokingly, even as she struggled to get a proper hold.  “As a pilot, that’s not your forte.”

Harm rolled his eyes as he grabbed AJ up into his arms again.  “Calm down, buddy.  If you want hugs from your Mommy, you’ve gotta wait until she gets here, okay?”  

The four-year old continued to cry, but stopped fighting to get free.  As an aside to Mac, Harm noted, “If we’ve taken his wings, does that make him a fuselage?”

Ignoring her partner, Mac assured Little AJ, “Mommy will be here in just a few seconds.  You have to be good and wait until she sits down before you go to her, okay?”

Harriet finally reached them.  “What’s wrong, baby?”  She wanted to take her little one into her arms, but Harm indicated that she should sit first, which she did.

“He fell asleep,” said Mac, “but something must have frightened him and woke him up.”

As soon as Harm placed AJ in Harriet’s lap, the boy quieted, satisfied to be surrounded by the safety of his mother’s arms.  The tears slowed and his breathing eventually resumed to normal.

“Did you have a bad dream?” his mother inquired.

AJ nodded, but exhausted from his crying fit, did not speak.

Mac filled in, “He said there was a monster, with big fangs, that was after you and his Daddy.”  She looked at Bud who now sat next to his wife and was rubbing his son’s head in a comforting gesture.

The dog that had been growling was now quiet, but Harm mentioned that its earlier snarls were probably the cause of the monster fears.

“Aw, honey, Mommy and Daddy are fine,” Harriet assured her son.  “And see that dog over there?  He was just making noise because he wasn’t happy.  But, he’s not after anyone.  There’s nothing for you to be afraid of.”

“Yeah, look,” Mac pointed out, “he’s just playing a friendly game of fetch now.”

“Bad doggy,” said AJ with a sniffle.  “Full of fleas!!”

“What makes you think he has fleas?” Bud asked his son.

“Grandpa says bad dogs have fleas.”

“Well,” started Harriet, “Grandpa is sometimes full of …” She struggled to find an appropriate end to that sentence.

“… Flotsam?” offered Bud, understanding his wife’s sentiment.  He had always been a little nervous about things his father would say to his son.

“I’m sorry you had a bad dream,” Harriet soothed her little boy who was curled up around her large belly.  “It was just a dream though.  Everybody’s safe and sound.”

Not too much later, AJ was dozing off again.  Harriet apologized, “Sorry about that.”

Bud added, “He hasn’t had any bad dreams that made him cry in a while.”

“It’s not a problem,” Mac assured her friend.  “I just wish he hadn’t gotten so frantic.  I hate to see him so scared and upset.”

Harm responded, “Even the best of us have moments when our courage falters.  It’s part of life.”

“Yeah,” Mac agreed.  “Doesn’t make it any easier to watch.  I can’t feign indifference when someone I love is hurting.  Especially if I had anything to do with it.”

Harm’s heart tore a little.  He understood.  Moreover, he felt guilty.  Not about Little AJ, but he realized that his earlier foible in making assumptions had not only hurt himself, but his pained reaction had hurt Mac, as well.  And the cycle continued, as her pain that was caused by his pain simply gave him a new pain. But he foisted that aside.

“Not your fault, Mac,” he quickly assured her.

AJ stirred, muttering something about ‘fleas’ and ‘f’s.  Harriet stroked her son’s head and calmed him.

Bud, also trying to assure the boy’s godmother that she was not responsible, added, “He probably remembered that fable we read recently with the … feline and the … f-o-x.”  

Mac noticed that Harm suddenly had an amused expression.  “What are you smiling about?”

“Just Bud’s use of the parental spelling filter,” Harm noted.  “My mom relied heavily on that when I was young.”

“Just wait until you have kids, sir,” said Bud.

“I look forward to it.”  Harm grinned as he fervently avoided looking at Mac for fear that he would advertise exactly who it was that he wanted to have those children with.

“Do you think that’s going to happen sometime soon?” asked Harriet.  Realizing that she may have overstepped, she apologized.  “Sorry, sir.  It just sounded like you were counting down the days.  … And frankly, I’m surprised that no woman has snapped you up yet.”

“Well, it’s not that none of them have tried.  … I’m just very fastidious when it comes to who I want to start a family with.”  This time, his eyes did wander over to Mac.

 

 

Part 13
 

 

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   TBC ...