Evan came back into the house, slamming the front door while complaining. "I swear, human or were, that man is going to make me pull out all my hair or fur!"
"What's wrong?" asked Maggie, coming up to her husband.
"Dad! That's what's wrong. He just called me after breaking into our house!"
"WHAT? Why? And how did he get all the way down here from Seattle? I thought he didn't drive any more."
"He still does. Usually just to the grocery or liquor stores, but he still does," said Evan. "As to why, claims he came down to check on us after he didn't get an after action report from me about Bower Senior."
"Maybe he misses us?" suggested their daughter Spencer, coming to join her folks. "After all, how long has he been without Grandma?"
"Years before you had your first transformation," was Maggie's only answer. "Besides the fact you need to go check on the house, what's he going to do for dinner? I doubt anything is open today."
"Okay. If Elle says she has the room, I'll go get him," promised Evan. Besides, my dad versus your dad might be something to see Maggie, he thought, while kissing his wife and daughter before leaving.
When Evan Lawson returned to his house, he saw the beat up green pick up truck sitting in his driveway, blocking the garage door. The bumper stickers for the Seattle Seahawks, Mariners, and Super Sonics a clear indication of the owner, for Mike Lawson never went for the other sports, although he would critique the "performance" of their female cheerleaders.
"Hello son," said his father, opening the front door as if he owned the place as Evan approached.
"Should I ask how?" wondered Evan, while staring at his father.
"Well, either old age is starting to get to me, or you actually got a decent lock for once. Took me a whole minute to pick it," conceded his father, welcoming his son into his own home. "But before I opened the door and started the countdown on the alarm timer, I did have to stop and think about what the code might be this time. After all, you only get one shot at entering it properly."
"So how did you figure it out?"
"Looking through the window, I saw the keypad. Alarm company should never have placed it that close to a window."
"It was already there when we bought the house, but it IS a different company than the originally installers."
"Good. All those years working military security like I did have finally learned you a thing or two. Anyway, display's too short, with no ZERO on the keypad, so it couldn't have been anything related to Spencer, although I keep telling you to advise Maggie NOT to use anything personal. Anyway, a quick application of finger print dust revealed what was pushed, but not the actual sequence. When I saw the numbers, realized it was your wedding anniversary, although entering it backwards was a nice touch."
"Because the biggest finger print is usually the last button pushed, not counting the ENTER key. So since it was on the 2... 1991412, for 2-14-1991. You're really something dad," admitted Evan.
"You have to get up pretty early in the morning to pull the wool over my eyes son. Now then, what happened? I assume everything's all right since we're just standing here jawing like a couple of rookies instead of taking action."
"I'll tell you on the way back to Elle's," promised Evan. "Everyone's there getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner."
"I assume Tom's there," complained Mike Lawson, as his son changed the pass code (again) before locking up the house.
"It's his house," pointed out Evan.
"Amelia and the other ladies are real sweethearts. Elle's husband Jonathan is okay, but that Tom's a boil that needs to be lanced," complained his dad.
"I'm sure he has a similar complaint about you too. Now come on, we don't want to keep Maggie and Spencer waiting," said Evan, as he ushered his father back to the jeep. Yep. This is certainly going to be a fun Thanksgiving dinner to remember.
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AUTHOR'S AFTERWARD: Sometimes, you need a quiet change of pace episode after a hearty adventure. It will definitely be interesting to see the fathers butt heads. Besides, I have never been to a holiday meal that went 100% TOTALLY smooth without a hitch, have you?