FAMILY TIES
      By Spense
 

Chapter Two

"Hey Dad!"  Jonny yelled as he slammed the front door behind him with
a loud bang. The noise brought Mrs. Evans out from the kitchen to see
what the problem was.  You never knew in this household.  You never
knew in this household.

"Jonny," she scolded, "you don't need to slam the door!  And your
father is in the family room.  Yelling is not necessary," she
finished sternly.

Jonny grinned at her, totally unperturbed by her tirade.  "Sorry!" he
answered, and headed, like a whirlwind, for the family room.  His dad
was going to be as pleased as he was with his news.

"Dad!" Jonny called once again as he blasted into the family room,
waving the paper he held.  Suddenly, he was stopped cold at the sight
of his father sound asleep on the couch with Rae napping on his
chest.  Jonny was surprised, to say the least.  It was only 3 in the
afternoon.  Benton was usually engrossed in something or other in his
lab at this time of day, not sleeping.

Jonny registered the scene with some trepidation.  He really wanted
to show his dad the results of his math test.  Benton had been so
patient helping him, and he knew how Jonny had really been sweating
about the outcome of this test.

Any other time Jonny would have woken him up, but now, with Rae, he
wasn't so sure.  His dad always seemed to be tired and cranky.  He
might not be too happy about it.  Jonny sighed as he thought once
again about how much had changed since Rae was born.  He never would
have hesitated previously to wake up his Dad, and had known he would
always receive a warm reception.  But now, well, he wasn't so sure.
Last night had seemed normal enough, but who knew.  Everything seemed
to change by the day.

While Jonny turned this over in his head, trying to decide what to
do, his father blinked groggily and looked at him.  "Jonny?" he
muttered as he shook his head to clear it, and gathered his wits
about him.  "What's the matter?"

Jonny paused uncertainly.  "Um, nothing really, I guess."  He
hesitated.  "I just wanted to show you . . ."  He trailed off again
as Benton frowned slightly and shifted his hold on the infant.  Jonny
wondered what he'd done wrong.

Seconds later he realized with dismay that his dad wasn't even
thinking about him.  Benton was looking at the baby, and muttering
distractedly, "you need to be changed."  Suddenly, he looked back at
his son.  "I'm sorry, Jonny.  You were saying?"  He remarked as he
stood up and shifted Rae to his shoulder.

Jonny relaxed a little and started over.  "Uh, I got an "A" on that
honors math test.  You know.  The one . . ."  Jonny stopped once
again as he realized his Dad's attention wasn't on him at all, but
was riveted on Will as she entered the room.

"Great Jonny," he said absently, with his eyes on his wife.  "Will,
Rae needs to be changed."  He shifted his hold on his daughter as
though to hand her to Will.

Will began to laugh as she moved further into the room.  She squeezed
Jonny's shoulder lightly in greeting as she passed him.  "Oh no,
Genius.  She's all yours!"  Will looked conspiratorially at Jonny as
she walked behind her husband, placed both her hands on his shoulders
and began to maneuver him out of the room.

"But," Benton began, argumentatively.

"No buts.  You've had more practice than I have.  And aren't you the
one that claims I can't put on a diaper correctly?"  She grinned at
Jonny as she steered her grumbling husband toward the door.

Jonny stood uncertainly in the middle of the suddenly empty room,
then slowly made his way out the door and up the stairs.  When he
reached his room door, he paused a moment, listening to the vague
sound of laughter from the direction of the nursery.  Jonny suddenly
felt very alone.  Dejectedly he pushed his own door open and walked
in, shutting out the sounds behind him.

From his spot on the foot of the bed, in a warm patch of sun, Bandit
looked up, yawned, and gave a brief wag of his tail in greeting.
Jonny smiled and sat down next to him.  Here was someone who was
always glad to see him.

"Guess what, Bandit?"  Jonny said as he patted his lap in invitation.

Bandit looked up inquiringly and bounded happily into Jonny's lap,
needing no second command.  Jonny laughed.  "I got an `A+' on my
honors math test.  The one that I was so worried about!  My teacher
said," Jonny began to read directly from the paper, "'excellent job.
Best work I've seen you do this year.  Keep it up.'  Great, huh?'  He
looked at Bandit who leaped up to lick his face in response.

Jonny smiled.  "I'm glad you care.  Nobody else seems to be all that
interested.  They sure are when I don't get decent grades though."
Jonny sighed and dropped the test paper on the floor next to his bed,
and concentrated on playing with his dog.

His attention was diverted by a tap on the door, and Benton poked his
head in.  "You wanted to tell me something, Son?"

Jonny's spirits lifted like magic.  As he opened his mouth to speak,
the phone rang, and Mrs. Evans called, "Dr. Quest!  Telephone!"

Benton looked enquiringly at his son, but was obviously poised to get
the phone.

Jonny just shook his head, defeated.  "Nothing."

"Okay, then," Benton commented, his mind already on other things, and
disappeared down the hall.

Jonny lay back on his bed and let Bandit stomp on his chest, and lick
his face.

"Congratulations!  Great job!  Huh, Bandit?"  Jonny signed dejectedly.