Do Over
It has been a hell of a day, one straight out of Dante's inferno. All Sam wants is to go home, have a cold beer and a hot shower (possibly at the same time) and fall into bed.
It's late in the evening when he finally passes through his front door. He heads to the fridge for his beer when he hears what sounds like a horse galloping down the stairs.
He turns around to find his fourteen year old daughter looking slightly surprised to see him, wearing what could only be described as hooker clothes (like the kind that would go perfectly with her mother's hooker boots). His FOURTEEN year old daughter!
There are so many words going through Sam's head that he can't form a simple sentence. He just keeps staring at her, hoping to God she will somehow read his mind and lock herself in her room until she's thirty-five.
"Um...hey daddy" Maggie says, acting like this is just a normal day and she isn't dressed to head to a nightly job on the corner of a street.
"I'm just going to Lauren's to study, mom said it was ok" She quickly states, leaning in for a quick kiss to his cheek.
Sam wraps a hand around her tiny wrist and practically growls "go to your room and put some clothes on!"
Maggie blows out a big sigh and huffs "I HAVE clothes on daddy. THIS is what girls MY age wear."
"Really" he says, rather loudly and more than a little condescendingly, though he is trying so so hard to control his temper.
"Because I saw that same outfit on someone last night in a holding cell." "And HE was not your age." "In fact, HE kept referring to them as his WORKING clothes." "Said we owed him seventy-five dollars for the skirt when someone got fingerprint ink on it and..." Wait a minute. "YOU SPENT SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS ON THAT?" Sam yells. (And yeah, he's pretty much yelling at this point)
This, of course, is when Andy makes her timely/un-timely (he's not sure yet) entrance.
Andy walks into the kitchen without saying a word, although her raised eyebrows speak volumes.
A visibly frustrated Sam, who appears to be beyond words by this point, just holds his arms out toward their daughter (kinda like a spokesmodel showing off a car).
He still can't get anything out, just keeps huffing out these short burst of air like he's a cat with a hairball.
"Welllll????" He finally chokes out.
Andy, who's usually pretty good at deciphering her husband's non-verbal responses (she's had a lot of practice, ok) seems honestly lost as to what the problem is.
"REALLY?" Sam says in a decidedly un-familiar, high pitched tone.
"What?" Andy asks very reasonably. (He hates when she gets like this.)
"Do you not SEE what your daughter is wearing?!?" (Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen, HER daughter. HIS daughter would never wear something like this. His sweet little girl, who would cuddle on the couch with him watching cartoons, dressed in PROPER clothes and pigtails would never, ever wear something like this.)
"Yes, I see what she's wearing" Andy replies in that same even, reasonable tone. She's really starting to piss him off here. (Un-timely entrance it is then)
"I also saw it when she tried it on in the store, Sam." Andy actually has a confused look on her face, it almost makes him think he's over reacting.
Almost that is until he turns and looks at Maggie again. I mean if she bent over you could see.... He starts stuttering again.
Andy cuts him off "Sam, it's fine" she tries in a soothing voice. " She's just going to Lauren's to study." Andy points her head toward the door and Maggie hightails it out before her father becomes coherent again.
After the front door closes Andy says "We talked about this Sam, remember?" "You said I handled the girl stuff, shopping for clothes, feminine hygiene..."
Sam starts coughing up hair balls again.
"Look" Andy says, with a little more attitude this time. "She doesn't dress any differently than I did at her age and I turned out fine."
Sam startles awake, feels Boo's hot breath on him, the dog's large head propped up on the side of the bed.
His breathing starts to slow when he realizes it was just a dream. No daughter, no hooker clothes, just a dream.
Still the dream was so vivid, he can still feel how upset he was. Starts to get upset again just thinking about it. He jumps out of bed and heads toward the closet with Boo hot on his trail.
Andy hears the commotion and sits up in bed, still half asleep. She sees Boo's wagging tail poking out of the closet and hears Sam softly muttering.
"What ARE you doing?" She ask (and yes, it's kind of a thing now)
Sam comes out waving around the boots Andy wore for the hooker detail. These are going into the garbage he says as he heads toward the bedroom door. He suddenly stops and turns around.
"You can be in charge of the feminine hygiene stuff but not her clothes!" He says and storms down the hall leaving Andy slowly shaking her head and wondering if maybe she's the one having a dream.