Calvin sat at the family’s home computer, excitedly reading about the riots. Various sources on the Internet were reporting thousands of people had taken to the streets around his house, but as Calvin spun around to look out the window, he couldn’t see anything that looked like a riot. He listened for some kind of stirring, but the world around his house was eerily quiet. Spencer sat on the couch in the living room, not really monitoring Calvin’s Internet usage, but more just spending time in the same room with his son.
“I’m gonna go,” said Calvin, as he got up from his chair.
“Can you tell me why?” asked Spencer.
“Why what?”
“Can you tell me why you’re going to go?” Spencer made eye contact with Calvin. There was no anger or animosity between either of them. If anything, there was an excited eagerness in Calvin’s face, as he knew there was a right answer—something that Spencer wanted him to say—but now he had to figure out what the right answer was. But it wasn’t coming fast enough, so the boy blurted out the first and most honest answer.
“There’s a riot out there, Spencer! It’s cool!”
“It’s not cool to destroy other people’s belongings. You wouldn’t like it if somebody broke into our house and stole your stuff. Is there another reason?”
Heather came into the room, drawn by the tone of her eldest son. She didn’t quite know what was going on, but she knew that she wanted to be around for whatever it was. She took a seat by her husband and snuggled into him. Spencer put an arm around Heather without taking his eyes off Calvin. Calvin continued, shaking his hands with his growing excitement.
“Because they’ve got Molotov cocktails and they’re burning buildings and smashing TVs! The big kinds with big screens! And they have guns and I want a gun!” Calvin struggled to remember the facts that he was about to spit out to substantiate his point. “It’s my Second Amendment Right!” He wasn’t corrected by either his mother or father. He had gotten it right, and Spencer smiled, knowing that Calvin was trying hard to justify joining the riot outside.
“Yes, people of age have the Second Amendment Right to keep and bear firearms. You are not of age.”
“But I will be in a year! Spence, there’s no time for this!” Calvin was getting frustrated. Heather made a subtle shift to rescue him, to save him from this uncomfortability of trying to find the right words to allow him out the door and join the mob of rioters, but she resisted. This was a good moment for him. He would learn to find the words or not. And if she saved him, he would not learn. Spencer was calm.
“There’s always time to think.”
“Dad, the riot’s gonna be gone soon!” And with that, Calvin made a break for the door. Before he got to the knob, he found Spencer’s hand there, lightly slapping it away. As a knee-jerk reaction, Calvin tried to backhand his father. Spencer was a trained fighter, though, and blocked Calvin’s attack. Even as Calvin tried to hit his father with repeated punches, he knew he wouldn’t land a single one. It was an attack borne out of frustration. Calvin threw punch after punch, and Spencer easily blocked all of them, throwing Calvin off-balance with each swing, which only made Calvin more frustrated. Spencer was careful to not hurt Calvin as he continued to press him.
“Why do you want to join the riot?”
“Because they’re letting out their anger, and I want to let out my anger, too!”
“You’re doing that now!” Spencer’s voice was quiet, yet it thundered in Calvin’s head. “Punch me and let out your anger more, unless you can tell my why you want to go out there!”
“Because!” Calvin threw a right. “They get to do what I want to do!”
“What do you want to do, son?” It was like his father’s voice massaged him in the right way and made the words fit together. Calvin's brain relaxed, and the words flowed out without effort.
“I want to make a difference! I want to be heard! I want to stand up for myself and not be bullied anymore! By anyone!”
Spencer grabbed both of Calvin’s arms in one of his meaty, father-sized fists and pulled his son’s face closer to his.
“That’s the right answer.” Spencer spun his son around and gently pushed him towards the front door. Calvin ran outside as Spencer grabbed a bat from the corner of the room and started for the door. Heather got up and went after her husband.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m going with him. I’m not letting him go out there unprotected.” He held out his hand at the same time that Heather responded.
“Well I’m coming too!”
She took his hand and they went out the door after their son.
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