of my Daddy now?
Nope.
“I realize I’m not in a position to completely take on that responsibility, but I would be happy to help because I do consider us friends.” When he paused, I nodded and waited to see what else he would say.
Ostrich Daddy was kind of cute.
But I was really impressed by his ability to ignore things he didn’t want to talk about.
“But if I’m going to help you, that means there will be rules and consequences for not following the rules.”
What were the chances he’d done something very similar with Destin without even realizing it?
“Destin and I had some very similar conversations, although I’ve come to understand he’s of the brat variety of little and that’s frustrating.”
No giggling.
No giggling.
“I understand. I won’t be a brat.” I wasn’t sure what would happen if I was, but since that wasn’t my default nature, it didn’t matter.
Besides, if being a brat had put Destin in the friend category, I was kind of curious what being sweet would get me.
Leon nodded. “I’m not the type of person to make up chores just for the hell of it. I know you enjoy your little time and you need to be able to balance that out with relaxing as a grown-up too. However, when I make a suggestion about something, you need to carefully consider it.”
He made me want to grab my binkie and cuddle into him.
But I was pretty sure he wouldn’t understand why, so I made myself keep sitting. “Yes, Sir. I understand.”
“Thank you.” He sat forward again and reached out to brush his hand over my head. “I need to vacuum in here. We can’t have you getting carpet fuzz in your hair.”
He blinked a few times, then seemed to go back to our previous conversation. “Yes, well, when you refuse to do something that is reasonable and necessary, like dusting your room when it’s terribly dirty, there needs to be consequences.”
Was Daddy going to punish me?
“I guess so.” Petting the soft fur on Barry’s back, I watched Leon to see what he would do.
“From what I’ve read, there are several different categories of punishments, but we need to discuss what you would be comfortable with. Do you agree that punishments like taking away dessert or time outs are reasonable?” His face was carefully neutral, but all I heard was no dessert.
“But I wasn’t bad enough for no dessert.” Aww, that was mean.
He actually chuckled. “We’ll see about that. But do you understand it’s a punishment I might have to use to make you understand that your behavior isn’t appropriate?”
Nodding, I pouted again. “But you can’t do it this time because you didn’t tell me already.”
I liked dessert.
He nodded, but he was still trying to hide his smile.
Mean Daddy.
“I’ll agree to that this time. But for the pouting and drama about your room, you will go to bed half an hour early tonight. Missing out on some cartoons should help you to remember that you need to listen.” Leaning forward again, he reached out for my hand.
“Come on. I’ll help get you started and then I’ll vacuum out here to make sure it’s clean enough for you to play on the carpet.” He gave me another one of his behave looks as I took his hand and sighed.
When I was standing, I looked toward the other side of the living room. “When it’s clean can I move my toys out here?”
We’d talked about doing it earlier, but we’d gotten distracted talking about little stuff and watching cartoons.
Nodding, Ostrich Daddy smiled. “Deal. But only if there’s no more whining.”
Since he didn’t say anything about pouting, I nodded but stuck my lip out dramatically and headed toward my room.
He coughed several times, but never actually gave in and laughed, so I walked in still pouting. Okay, maybe he had a point. Sighing loud enough that he could hear, I looked around the room and tried to decide what to do first.
Dust?
Vacuum?
Nap?
I was voting for nap when Leon came into the room behind me lugging the vacuum he’d bought at a thrift store as well as a rag. “Alright, give me the box of toys and I’ll take those out to the living room. Then you start wiping off the dust and organizing a bit.”
It was torture.
“Yes, Sir.” I couldn’t be punished for not cleaning happily…that was nowhere in the rules.
I pulled the box out from under my bed and handed it over to him as he set the vacuum in the corner and