Free My House, My Rules by Constance Masters Page A

a little guiltily. “He got too close to the edge.”
    “Oh?” Kelly asked. “You know neither of you should have been out there in the first place, don't you?”
    He nodded. “I know. We were watching Jay move the ladder out the window.”
    “The ladder?” Rick asked.
    “The ladder that we had against the fence so's we could get to the pool.”
    Rick's eyes widened. “You climbed over the fence to the next door neighbor’s pool?”
    “All the time,” Thom said. “But there wasn't a next door neighbor then. Now there's Jay.”
    Rick had heard about Jay. “That wasn't safe.”
    “That's what Jay said.”
    “Which is why he was moving it?”
    “Uh huh,” Thom said. “When Jay went inside, Aaron wanted to see if we could jump from the roof to the pool. So we climbed out the window, but we were just s'posed to look.”
    “And that's when he fell?”
    “Yep. I told him it was too far, but he never listens. Mom always makes me watch him, and she blames me when he does dumb stuff, but it's not my fault.”
    “Why'd he go so close to the edge do you think?”
    “I dunno. He thinks he's some kind of superhero, I guess.”
    “So, he was trying to jump from the roof into Jay's pool?” Rick asked, trying to get what happened straight.
    “No. He was seeing how far it was to see if he could jump when no one was around. I told him to get away from the edge, but he called me a chicken and he leaned right over, and then he slipped.”
    “It's okay, Thom,” Kelly said.
    “It isn't your fault that Aaron fell,” Rick said. “But, you shouldn't have been out there at all. Should you? You know, you need to talk to your Mom. Tell her what happened.”
    Thom shrugged again. “Am I getting punished?”
    “Well, you did spend the afternoon in your room,” Rick said. “No dessert tonight.”
    “You know what?” Kelly said. “I could do with some help with dinner. Why don't we let Rick go and talk to Aaron?”
    “Okay,” Thom said, brightening. He felt better now that there was some kind of end to it and at least someone had heard his side.
     
    * * *
     
    Rick took himself to Aaron's room with a sigh. He loved these kids, especially since he and Kel didn't have any of their own yet. He just wished that every time he got to spend time with them he didn't have to play the ogre. It'd be nice to play the fun uncle for a change.
    “Come in,” Aaron said to his knock.
    He was sitting on his floor building some sort of spaceship with Legos. “Hi,” he said.
    “Hi,” Rick said. “I hear you had a busy day today.”
    “Sort of,” Aaron said eyeing his uncle out of the corner of his eye.
    “Nearly fell off the roof?” Rick said.
    Aaron nodded. “It was an accident,” he said. “I slipped.”
    “Hmm,” Rick said. “Are you supposed to be out on the roof at all?”
    “No,” Aaron said sheepishly.
    “Well, then I'd say slipping was an accident, but being out on the roof was a bad decision.”
    “I guess,” Aaron said.
    “Nope, no guessing. You shouldn't have been on the roof at all, and you definitely shouldn't have been anywhere near the edge.”
    “Thom was there too.”
    “I've already spoken to Thom. Thom is responsible for Thom. You are responsible for you .”
    Aaron pouted.
    “None of that,” Rick said. “You need to stop ignoring the rules and start doing as you’re told.”
    “Okay.”
    “You could have been seriously hurt.”
    “But I wasn't.”
    “But you could have been,” Rick said. “No dessert tonight, and I want you to bring down your Legos when you come down to dinner. I’m putting them away here for three days.”
    “That's not fair!” he whined.
    Rick held up his hand. “Bring down your Legos, or I'll come up and take them and something else, and I'll take them all to my house for a week.”
    “Okay,” Aaron said grumpily.
     
    * * *
     
    Not able to eat anymore of her pasta, Alex sipped her wine.
    “So, you liked the book?” Jay asked.
    “I did,” she answered.