After kidnapping his only child from her mother, he kept her hidden so the mother couldn’t find them and take his baby away from him. He loved his daughter with all his heart and kept her well fed and happy.
Six years after their escape.
“Daddy, Daddy!! Looka what I made today!”
“What’s that you got?”
“I drew it for you!”
“Oh! Thanks Tory! It’s a beautiful picture! What’s that over there?”
“That’s the kitchen, silly!”
“Of course it is! I see it! So, what else did you do in school today?”
“Well, we did work and we played games, but they’re not anywhere as fun as the ones you and I play, Daddy!” she said disheartened.
“Like what?”
“They play ‘Simon Says’ and we play Strite Says!”
“Oh. And do you remember what Charles Strite did?”
“Yeah! He invented the electric toaster!! What ever did Simon do to get his own game?!!”
“Who knows!”
“Daddy, school’s no fun! Everything’s too easy!!”
“Oh really?” he said, placing an oversized magnet over the picture to hang it on the fridge.
“Yeah. I’m done with math in five minutes and everyone else takes twenty minutes!! And Mrs. Rice thinks I’m dumb!”
“No! I don’t think she does!”
“You should hear all the stupid questions she asks me!”
“Do you, at least, knows the answers?”
“Yeah! It’s kid stuff!! Like what’s 2+2 and to name the colors, seasons and months!!”
“Well, unfortunately, not everyone’s as smart as my little electrode!”
“Maybe she doesn’t know algebra!”
“Maybe I should talk with your teacher?”
“Uh, uh. I don’t want you to.”
“And why not? I’m sure everything will be alright,” he consoled.
“Here,” Tory handed him a note.
“What’s this?” He unfolded it and read: “ ‘Mr. Sputterspark, I regret to inform you that your daughter Tory is disruptive in class?!!’ What??! Alright, now we really have to see your teacher!”
“But Daddy!!”
“No butts! You get shotgun on the ride there!”
At the St. Canard elementary school. “Ah, Mr. Sputterspark. How may I help you?” asked Mrs. Rice.
He shoved the paper in her hand. “ ‘A disruption in class’??! The work is too easy for her!!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Tory came home telling me that math takes her five minutes and twenty for the others!”
“Have you seen her work?”
“Have you let me see her work??! I get nothing!!”
“Come see this,” They walk over to Tory’s desk and see the mess inside.
“Looks like my work table.” He comments.
“Really? How expected. Look through it.”
“That’s invasion of privacy!”
“You’re her father. You have the right to do so.”
“No I don’t! Do I let anyone go through my stuff without permission?!! No! I’m going to give Tory that respect!”
“And you do this at home on a regular basis?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not good parenting.”
Those words echoed through his ears and he felt his eyes well up with tear, but he held them back. Then he got mad cause he knows that he’s done a better job than most parents and even more better without Tory’s mother.
He said, in a low, menacing voice, “Don’t you tell me how to be a parent!” His whiskers acted like a Jacobs ladder as he filled with anger. Mrs. Rice looked at him, disturbed.
He realized his situation and before he did anything that he might regret he stormed out.
Tory was waiting for him on the bench in the main hall, swinging her feet cause they didn’t reach the floor yet. She looks up from the bug on the floor to her father. “Daddy! You alright?” She could see he was upset.
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “Yeah, let’s go home.”
Mr. Sputterspark thought about his life before Tory and realized how empty and meaningless it was. He watched her coloring across the table and smiled. It really wasn’t a mistake to conceive Tory; she was such a joy and a love.
“Daddy! Here’s a picture I drew for you!”
“Aw! You shouldn’t have! Thank you!” he takes it and examines it and then sees her go to draw another. He can’t really determine what the picture in his hand was of, but hung it on the fridge anyhow. Maybe he’d bring her to see his parents this weekend? They’ve never met before, which was a shame, but, they’re bound to love her to pieces now! “Tory, sweetie, my little electrode?”
“Yes wonderful father of mine?”
“You wanna go see your Grandparents this weekend??”
She gasped and smiled. “I have Grandparents??!!! YAY!! Let’s go see them!! Please, please, please??”
“Sure thing, little ampere,” He smiled as widely as she was.
So, that weekend they drove all the way across town to where he grew up, in the suburbs. Tory was so cute, pressed against the passenger side window in the front seat. They lived in the city along the coast, but it was still a lot more developed than this!
“Daddy, Daddy! Which one is it?? Huh, huh, huh??”
He chuckled. “Calm down Tory! We’ll be there soon! In fact…”
She looked through the windshield.
“There it is! Home sweet home!”
“Oh Daddy! It’s wonderful!!”
“Isn’t it though? C’mon, let’s go say hi? Ok??”
“Yeah!”
He parked the...oddly colored yellow, red, and blue battery car and walked up to the front door of a particular blue and white two floor house, hand in hand with his baby girl.
“Wanna ring the bell??”
“Ok, Daddy!!”
*Ding dong* “Marilyn! Somebody’s at the door!”
“Nat! why can’t you get it? I’m cooking you dinner!!”
“You’re just upset still over the fact we haven’t seen or heard from any of our 3 children! I told you this would happen!”
“Nat, please!” She goes to answer the door. “Who are you??”
“Mom! It’s me!! Your son…Elmo?”
“Oh my god! Elmo??!!! IS that really you??!!” Grabs him to hug him tightly for a long time. His mother started to cry. “Oh god, son, where have you been???!”
“In the city, Mom,”
“You have?? Where?? Why have you never called or visited??”
“Heh, I’ve been busy!”
Elmo’s mother looked down at the little girl gripping at her father’s leg.
“Oh god, Elmo, is that??”
“She’s my daughter, Mom. Her name’s…say, why don’t you introduce yourself, young lady?” he said to Tory.
“Hi, Granma, my name’s Tory! I’m very pleased to meet you!”
“Oh lord in heaven, she’s a perfect little angel!!! Elmo, who’s her mother?”
“Oh, ah, heh, she…has…no mother,”
“What are you saying?? How can she have no mother???”
“Well, Tory’s mother and I...didn’t really get along too well…”
“Then…why do you have custody of her?”
From inside the house a male voice is heard. “Marilyn!! Who is it??”
“It’s your long lost son, Elmo!”
“What??!!!” He ran to the front door.