Title: Adventures in Parenting 4: Alexander Washington and the Cherry Tree

 

Summary: PART 4!!! YAY!! Anywho, those of you who have read my Adventures in Parenting series, I love you, and here’s the next half!! Alex and Danny are at it again, and this time daddy’s tools are an object of fascination. Both boys are four in this tale!

 

Author: [email protected]

 

Rating: G (for cute Alexism)

 

Disclaimer: I think you all know that they don’t belong to me.

 

 

 

 

 

The doorbell rang, as Evelyn was busy washing the dishes from lunch. Rick was outside chopping wood for the many large fireplaces, and Alex was upstairs with his best friend Danny playing with his army men and his airplanes.

 

"Why don’t you two go outside and play? It’s a beautiful day out, and you can take your toys." She called up the staircase to the boys, who obediently came down carrying, what looked like to her, every toy in Alex’s giant arsenal. "What are you going to do with that many men? Take over England?" She queried, kissing the top of his head.

 

"Mum, stop! You’re embarrassing me!" He growled and they trudged out the front door with their shirts pulled out and filled with planes and tanks, and everything that you need to have a play war. They saw Rick chopping wood on the far side of the house, and set their men up in Alex’s tree house. Jogging over to his father, he smiled up at him like Rick was a golden idol.

 

"Hi dad, what are you doing?" He questioned, seeing the sweat on his father’s brow as the muscles in his arms strained with each chop. He jumped when he heard his son’s squeaky British voice, and he nearly dropped the ax onto his foot.

 

"Alex, you can’t just run up to me when I’m doing this, stay back please, I don’t want to accidentally hit you or Danny. Why don’t you boys go play war?" He ruffled his son’s hair, which always got a response from him.

 

"Dad, can we help you chop the wood?"

 

"No son, maybe when you’re a bit older."

 

As the boys walked back to the tree house, Alex trudged along with his hands in his pockets as he kicked a rock. "I never get to do anything Danny, they say I’m too little."

 

"Well you are too little Alex. I mean look at your daddy. He’s got bigger arms than my head." He giggled and Alex tackled him.

 

They had a good wrestling match until Evie called for them to stop before someone got hurt.

 

"Aw, it’s just for fun mum." He yelled back, but got rebuked by his father.

 

"Come on, let’s play war." Danny pulled him over to the tree, and they climbed up the ladder that Rick had made for them, into the flap door of their headquarters.

 

After a few minutes, an argument broke out. "No Alex, you got to be the green guys last time, it’s my turn." Danny reached for them, but Alex pushed him away.

 

"They’re my army men, I’ll be the green guys if I want. You’re the tan ones."

 

Danny decided he didn’t want to play, so the boys went out to the gardens.

 

"Hey, look over at that tree. I didn’t know you had one out here with all the flowers." Daniel commented as they walked over to a large Elm tree. It wasn’t as big as the others that lined the forest behind their house, but it wasn’t as small as the ones that he and his father had planted last spring.

 

"Huh, I’ll bet dad and mum don’t want this tree here, it’s mum’s flowers. He’ll probably chop it up with the others. You know, we could chop it down for him." Alex grinned touching the tree trunk, looked over at Danny.

 

"I don’t know Alex, if your mum and dad didn’t want it here, don’t you think they would have gotten rid of it long before it growed up?"

 

"I bet they missed it. It’s out here in the garden, so they wouldn’t have noticed it when it was time to chop the other trees down, so we’ll be doing him favors, right? You wanna help?" He questioned; starting off toward the shed to see his father had finished and was inside kissing his mother.

 

"Why do they always do that? It’s gross." He mumbled and Danny nodded.

 

"My mum and dad do it to, but your dad is an adventurer. I don’t see what he likes in girls." He grumbled and they made a beeline for the shed.

 

They found the ax sitting next to a freshly cut pile of wood, obviously the one Rick had just finished, and Alex picked it up. "It’s real heavy, help me carry it around."

 

"Why around?"

 

"Well, I’m not really supposed to get into dads tools without permission, but I want it to be a surprise for him." Alex smiled and the boys carried the ax into the garden without a peep.

 

 

 

"My back is killing me." Rick groaned as he kissed Evie lightly, sitting heavily onto the chair at the kitchen table as she brought him his lunch.

 

"Well you’ve been working all day. I think you chopped down the whole forest." She joked and he grinned as he inhaled his lunch. "At least we’ll be warm with all the fire wood burning."

 

"When are we never warm?" He questioned, grabbing her onto his lap as she screamed and laughed, pushing at him to get away.

 

 

 

"Well, here we go!"

 

Together, the boys swung the ax at the tree, making a large gash in the trunk after.

 

"Wow, we’re really doing good." Danny squealed, and they continued to chop the small tree down.

 

An hour later, the beautiful tree lay against the ground, and the two triumphant youngsters marveled at their work.

 

"That was really fun." Alex sighed as he tried to regain his breath. "I didn’t know that chopping was such a hard job, I’ll bet my dad will really ‘preciate this." He smiled, and they took the tool back to the pile of wood, noticing that it was time for dinner.

 

"Bye Danny, I’ll see you tomorrow!" Alex called from the front doorstep as the other culprit jogged home.

 

 

 

"Mum, I’m really tired." Alex commented as she and Rick sat playing a game of chess. Evie looked down at her son, noticing that Rick was exhausted as well.

 

"Well, it’s off to bed with you both." She lifted her son into her arms as Rick picked his toys up, and then carried him upstairs.

 

After a bath and a bedtime story, Alex was sound asleep against Evie’s chest as she rocked him. Carefully, she laid him into bed and walked from his room, leaving the door open slightly in case he needed them in the middle of the night.

 

"Well, he went right to sleep. I guess the boys played hard today." She smiled at Rick who was trying to keep himself awake long enough for them both to be in bed. Evie got dressed, and walked over to open the window to their bedroom. She smiled down at the garden, then gasped. "My tree!" She screamed, making Rick stand quickly.

 

"What? What happened?" He looked down at the beautiful elm on it’s side, the base chopped unevenly away from the stump. "Alex." He growled as Evelyn began to sob.

 

"Alex O’Connell, you’re in trouble mister." Rick walked into his room, flipping on the light as his son woke with a start to see his angry father standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

 

"What happened dad? What did I do?" He questioned as he was lifted from the bed, and got three good smacks on his rear end. When it was over he was crying as Rick glared down at him.

 

"You and Danny got into the shed and chopped that tree down today didn’t you?" His son’s tears usually phased Rick, but this was that last straw. Slowly Alex was becoming more and more disobedient and destructive, and it was time to put a stop to it.

 

"I….I didn’t know….that it …..It was a special tree." He cried hard, burying his face into his pillow. "I thought that….that you would need some help chopping th-the wood to we helped you." He screamed into his pillow, his backside stinging where he’d gotten spanked.

 

"That was the tree that your grandfather planted for your mother before he died, it was a very special tree to her. That’s not the point Alex, you keep getting into my things without asking, and I specifically told you boys that chopping wood was dangerous, but you continue to disobey me. You’re being punished for that reason. You’re grounded Alex, that means no Danny for two weeks. He can’t come over here, and you can’t go over there. You will go to bed when we tell you, and you will do as we say, is that understood?" He snarled, and Alex nodded his head into the pillow as he sobbed. Rick walked from the room and nearly ran into Evelyn, who looked pain-stricken for the treatment that Alex got.

 

"Honey, do you think that was necessary?"

 

"He needs to learn Evie, he can’t get away with everything." He kissed her forehead lightly as she walked into her baby’s room, and he to his own. Rick slid under the covers, tears in his eyes. He hated punishing his son, but sometimes it needed to be done.

 

 

 

"Why does daddy hate me?" Alex sniffled as he cuddled next to Evie in the rocking chair.

 

"Daddy doesn’t hate you baby, he just wants you to be more obedient. That means you need to do what we ask, and not go against what we say. It’s just so you won’t get hurt." She kissed his head, feeling him hiccup against her shoulder as he calmed down.

 

"I’m sorry I chopped your tree mummy." He sobbed, and Evie smiled down at him.

 

"That’s okay honey, but why don’t you go apologize to your daddy for taking his things?"

 

He nodded, and walked into the bedroom, finding Rick away reading a book waiting for Evelyn.

 

"Daddy?"

 

Rick looked up at the sound of his son’s tiny voice, and smiled at him.

 

"I’m sorry for taking your ax without asking, and I’ll be more bodediant." He stumbled over the big word, making Rick laugh.

 

"I’m sorry for yelling at you my son." He pulled him up on the bed and under the covers as the family snuggled together as sleep claimed them all.