Tarnished Armor
Part 136

Tad and Dixie’s house. The living room.

The living room is empty.

Junior, Amanda and Dixie enter. Junior is wearing his soccer uniform.

Amanda: Sorry I missed most of the game.

Junior: I wish I could have missed all of it.

Dixie: I thought you did great!

Junior: But we lost.

Dixie: That’s not the point. The team played really well together, and you scored four goals. I think that’s a big deal.

Junior: Not big enough to get us into the finals.

Dixie: One thing you’ll find out when you’re my age is that there’s always next year.

Amanda: A year is a long time.

Dixie: That changes too. By the way, I noticed that the secret bench was empty today.

Junior: What?

Dixie: The secret bench. In the park. You must think I’m one of those old fogey parents who doesn’t notice anything.

Amanda: No way.

Tad enters the house unnoticed.

Dixie: I saw someone at the secret bench yesterday.

Junior: Yesterday?

Dixie: When I was there with Colby.

Junior: Really?

Dixie laughs.

Dixie: What a little fibber you’re turning out to be. Don’t you want to know who was at the secret bench?

Junior: No.

Dixie: It was Liza.

Junior: Was Dad there?

Amanda shoots a look at Junior.

Dixie: Not that I saw.

Junior: Are you going to tell?

Dixie: What do you think I should do?

Amanda: I think it would be good if it was a secret.

Dixie turns to Amanda.

Dixie: I have a list of the secrets I’m keeping for Junior, you know. Once we reach ten, there are no more.

Junior: Mom...

Dixie turns back towards Junior.

Dixie: That was a pretty big secret I kept for you the other day. Maybe it counts for two or three.

Junior: What?

Amanda: What secret?

Junior turns to Amanda.

Junior: She knows. Colby had some of Liza’s hair on her.

Amanda shakes her head.

Amanda: Evidence.

Dixie: Never mind all that. Junior, I told you the ins and outs of what was allowed and what wasn’t. And all of a sudden, there’s Liza at the secret bench.

Junior: That doesn’t count.

Dixie: Why?

Junior: Because she was just in the park. It’s not like before.

Tad: What about before?

Dixie, Junior and Amanda look up.

Junior: Nothing.

Tad: Come on, kiddo. Fess up. What’s going on?

Junior: Nothing.

Tad: Secret benches, a list of secrets, keeping secrets. That’s a lot of secrets.

Dixie: Tad...

Amanda: Ix-nay on the ecrets-say. ake-Jake might be in the ouse-hay.

Tad: ope-Nay. I don’t ink-thay so.

Amanda: orget it-Fay.

Tad: You’re slipping. It’s orget-fay it.

Amanda: It sounds better my way.

Tad: So. Tell me what’s up.

Junior: You wouldn’t understand.

Dixie: You know, I think Tad would -- he would understand.

Junior: Mom.

Dixie: Because Tad would have done the same thing.

Tad: What?

Dixie: There’s no room for doubt. A baby with a smile plastered all over his face.

Tad: I don’t...

Tad sits down on the couch.

Tad: Oh.

Tad looks up at Junior.

Tad: When?

Junior: When what?

Tad: When did you take Colby to see Liza?

Junior: I didn’t.

Tad: Oh, no, you don’t. No secrets in this family. You can trust me.

Junior is silent.

Tad: You know you can trust me, don’t you, Junior?

Dixie: Junior?

Amanda: Jake is part of your family.

Tad: That’s right. He’s my brother.

Junior is silent.

Tad: Okay. If you’re not going to say anything, I’ll say something. I know why you took Colby to see Liza. And I’m proud that you have those feelings. But it wasn’t right. Not in the eyes of the law.

Dixie: Junior knows that, Tad. He’ll never do it again.

Tad: And Colby’s just a baby. We have to be careful with her. It’s hard enough for adults to be able to make sure that a baby’s okay. I think it’s probably harder for a kid. Doing that kind of thing alone can be dangerous. And not just because you can get caught. What if something happened to Colby?

Junior: Nothing happened to Colby.

Tad: But what if it did? What if Liza didn’t meet you, and you were all alone? And what if something went wrong?

Amanda: Please. We were in a very safe place.

Junior: Amanda...

Amanda: Let me handle this. Or we’ll both end up in the slammer. We went to camp. It’s not too far, we know all the important places around it, and Liza was coming. We knew she was coming. Belinda brought her.

Dixie: What?

Jake enters from the kitchen, unnoticed. He’s carrying Colby.

Dixie: Okay. I think we should discuss this.

Jake: Me too.

Tad, Junior, Amanda and Dixie look up.

Amanda stares at Tad.

Tad: Not now, Jake.

Jake: Not now? I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

Dixie: Jake, just go. We’ll discuss this later.

Jake: We’ll discuss it now. They let Liza see Colby, unsupervised, and her attorney is in on the big “secret,” and everyone thinks this is okay?

Dixie: No. Everyone doesn’t think it’s okay. But it’s over. And it won’t happen again. And their hearts were in the right place.

Jake: This is my daughter. My daughter.

Amanda and Junior exchange a look.

Colby begins to cry.

Jake: And no one in this family seems to understand that. And your son is taking orders from the Chandlers, breaking the law like only a Chandler can.

Junior: What?

Dixie: That’s enough.

Jake: No --

Dixie: That’s enough, Jake. No more!

Colby continues to cry.

Dixie: Why don’t you take care of your daughter, Jake?

Jake: That’s what I’ve been trying to do. And it looks like I’m the only one.

Junior: She’s crying!

Jake: And you. You think you know my own daughter better than I do. And I listened to you, Dixie. I let him close to her. I trusted him to be alone with her, and look what happened.

Dixie gets up and reaches for Colby.

Jake turns and goes back into the kitchen.

Junior: I’m sorry.

Dixie turns back to Junior.

Dixie: It’ll be all right, baby. Everything’s going to be okay.

Tad pats Junior’s shoulder.

Tad: Dixie, why don’t you and Junior take Amanda out for burgers? And I’ll have a talk with Jake.

Dixie stares at Tad. Then she looks at Amanda and Junior.

Dixie: All right. Let’s get going. Let the adults deal with this.

Tad: What adults?

Dixie smiles.

She gets up and goes to the door. She looks at Amanda and Junior.

Tad hugs Junior.

Then Junior and Amanda go to the door. Dixie, Junior and Amanda leave.

Tad scratches his earlobe and heads for the kitchen.

Tarnished Armor Index
Part One Hundred and Thirty Five
Part One Hundred and Thirty Seven