These things are getting more difficult to clean up! Why was I such a bad typist? A quick note: This scene is pure fiction. I never ,et any of David’s kids except Samantha…when she was like, 2 or something. old enough to throw a tantrum AND every teddy bear in her closet at her family. The other two had not even been born yet. in fact, I’m not even 100% on their names! No matter! This is totally made up anyway.
So enjoy Chapter 5. Hopefully cleaned it up enough to it is entertaining and easier to read.
Chapter 5
Whitney looked at Daniel with a questioning look. “Are you sure you heard them right?” She asked, still holding the game controller.
Daniel took a sip of his water and put it down. He nodded his head as an affirmative. His eyes told the real story: he was positive Dad had buried a body.
“Dad killed someone and buried them in a refrigerator?” She asked, making sure she had heard it right the first time.
“That is what mom says.”
“Who would Dad kill?” Whitney gave a doubting stare. She began to pet the cat that had jumped up on the bed.
Daniel shook his head in uncertainty, “I don’t know. Maybe it was one of Sam’s boyfriends?” He offered, “Dad is always saying that he is going to bury them of they mess around with his daughter.” Daniels stroked his chin in a Sherlock Holmes way as if contemplating a possible breakthrough in the case.
“Dad always says that. And I’m sure Sam would know if someone from her school was missing.” Whitney paused not really knowing what to believe. Daniel might have meant well but he was 2 years younger than her and a little bit immature. He could sometimes make things bigger than they really are Or make up things that might not have happened at all. She was not sure she could trust him fully at this point. But one thing was certain. Mom and Dad never argued, let alone fought over anything. Whatever had happened last night, It must have been seriously heavy.
“Look if you don’t believe me, we can ask Sam when she gets home. She might have the missing clue.” Daniel really was beginning to feel important.
The reasoning was sound. Only Sam knew all her boyfriends; both real and imaginary. And if one of them was missing, it would certainly support the current theory. Maybe she would have an idea of what Dad’s attitude was with the last boyfriend.
This was going to be tricky though since neither Daniel nor Whitney liked Sam much at all. She rarely spoke to either one of them unless she could put them down in some slight way. She was very full of herself. Not to mention that she was obviously Grandma and Grandpa’s favorite. There was definitely a gap in the social structure and Sam felt she was at the top all the time, no matter what Mom or Dad would say or do. Secretly, both younger siblings gleefully relished any destruction Dad would do to Sam’s Social life.
“We have to ask her but we can’t let her in on the whole story.” Whitney asserted. “She will just make fun of us and blow the whole thing up and probably get us in trouble!”
Daniel shook his head in agreement. “Well what should I do?”
“Nothing, I should do all the talking. You should just listen and avoid the topic altogether.” Whitney advised, “If anyone asks you anything, just shove some food in your mouth and pretend you are eating. That way you won’t have to answer.”
The roar of the high school bus vibrated the wall of the room announcing that Sam was about to arrive. The whole house braced for her red carpet entrance. David and Tracy raced to get the food ready while Daniel and Whitney hid in Daniel’s room planning out their interrogation questions. The cat scurried under the bed for protection.
“I’m home!” Sam announced in a shrieking voice. She opened the door and let it slam shut. She kicked off her shoes and tossed her backpack into the living room.
“You’re going to break the door one of these days!” Tracy scolded “Be careful.”
“I’m starving!” She announced, then sniffed the air as she rounded the kitchen table. “Spaghetti? We’re having spaghetti?”
“Eye! That’s right lassie>” David waved his hand in the air again imitating an Italian baker throwing a pizza. “I makeah the spaghetti perfecto.”
Samantha scrunched her nose with disapproval. “What are you suppose to be? A Scottish Pirate or a mob hit man?” She paused. “Does this have any meat in it?”
David glanced over at her. “No” he confirmed “it is totally vegetarian.” Not really knowing if that was true or not. He decided to error on the side of the politically correct. Rather than get in a debate with her over the murder of thousands of poor defenseless animals to satisfy our ravenous desire for charred flesh.
“Where’s the jar?” She looked over the counter searching for the familiar label.
“Jar? What jar?”
“The jar for the sauce. “
“Are you suggesting that your mother would cheat on her Italian masterpiece by cooking spaghetti from a jar?”
“Dad, I want to see if there are any preservatives or artificial additives in the ingredients.” 
“Are you suggestion that you mother or I would poison our little princess with any artificial additives or preservatives?”
“No, I think you both would just warm up some sauce not really inspecting if for any hidden toxins that over time build up in your system causing loss of memory, weight gain, and sometimes loss of motor function.”
David scowled at her. “Just eat it and be happy!” He turned back around preparing to drain the pasta. “What kind of education is the system wasting my tax dollars on?” He mumbled under his breath.
With the pasta drained and the sauce served up, Supper was almost ready. Tracy commanded Sam to set the table, which she did under protest, while David brought out the garlic bread and parmesan cheese. Tracy summoned Daniel and Whitney to the table and supper was about to begin.
“Just a little for me thanks.” Samantha commanded.
“I thought you were starving a second ago.” Tracy challenged.
“ I just want to limit my intake of toxins.”
“What toxins? Oh you must mean the rat poison we put in, in addition to the arsenic.” David volunteered. “But that is nothing to the all the meat by products.”
Daniel and Whitney giggled as Samantha’s face wrinkled into a sour prune. They loved it when Dad took her down several notches.
Daniel loaded up his fork with a big roll of spaghetti and stuffed it in his mouth, dribbling sauce down his chin. Whitney followed his example, all the while looking at Sam as they waved their empty forks at her. Samantha’s face was filled with disgust.
“Wipe off your faces, you two.” Tracy commanded “Both of you should not eat like your babies.
Daniel wiped off his face with his napkin then cleared his throat. “So Sam, have any of your boyfriends disappeared lately? “
Whitney gulped down her mouthful and reflexively kicked Daniel under the table. Daniels did little to hide the pain. David and Tracy both looked up in surprise. First at Daniel, then at Samantha.
“What is that suppose to mean?” Samantha asked defensively.
“Yeah, what is that suppose to mean?” David asked Sam
Whitney interrupted “ I think Daniel means are there any friends of yours that didn’t show up to school today?” She turned to glare at Daniel.
Sam relaxed a bit “Well Jamie Miles has been gone for a while. They think he ran away or something.”
“Who is Jamie Miles?” David asked still looking at Sam. “Anyone I know?”
“He’s that guy that lives just a couple of blocks from here. Down the street. He came over once.”
David paused a moment, thinking back in time. “That guy? I thought you said he was not your boy friend.”
“Dad! He’s not my boyfriend. I barely knew him.”
Tracy interrupted. “Oh! I think I read about him!” Her eyes sparkled with a sudden inspiration. “He was in the paper, under missing persons. I thought that seemed kind of close.” She smiled inwardly as she now could put a face on the person the story was about.
Whitney glanced over at Daniel with a knowing gaze. Could this be the guy Dad buried? Daniel looked up quickly stuffing his mouth with spaghetti, conscious of avoiding another kick from Whitney.
“Yeah, he has been gone a couple days I think, His Mom and Dad just posted that article today I guess.” Sam slurped up a single noodle.
“Hmm the paper said it did not know much, but you seem to have the inside scoop.” Tracy pressed further, Hoping for another piece of the puzzle.
“Yeah you seem to know a lot for ‘barely knowing the guy’.” David accused.
“It’s all over school, you can’t help but hear about it. Everyone thinks he ran away cause he broke up with Christy Taylor. Who is one of the most popular cheerleaders in school. Anyway she told him that he was too Goth and she needed her space cause he was smothering her and stuff, but everyone says that she really had the hots for Brian Jacobs who is this really hot football player and even though he is only a sophomore, he is getting moved up to varsity cause he is so strong and athletic. So anyways, she breaks up with him so she can become available for Brian but he hooks up with Joann Lipkin and since she is a junior and more popular than Christy, he chose her so now Christy is single and Jamie disappeared because he couldn’t bare the shame of having Christy dump him … but if you ask me the joke is on her. I mean He was not too bad looking and even though he has some strange clothes and strange hair, He could have cleaned up and they could have been a couple but now Christy is alone.
Everyone stared at Samantha, amazed at her ability to talk very fast without taking a breath. David head spun with confusion.
“So, you have the ‘hots’ for this Brian guy? “ David asked. Impressed he could glean that much information.
“Well, yeah, Why? It’s not like he would even look at me. I mean I’m just a freshmen. “
“Maybe It’s cause you’re ugly.” Daniel muttered, looking up briefly then stuffing a forkful or pasta in his mouth
Whitney stifled a laugh, sharing a look at Daniel.
“Hey! Mom”
“Danny that is not very nice, Say you’re sorry! “ Tracy demanded.
Daniel took another large bite of spaghetti “Amm Morry.” He forced the words out between bites. Whitney stifled another giggle.
“Well I hope this Brian guy thinks twice before asking you out.” David threatened, twisting a ball of pasta and slurping it down.
“So you think Jamie Miles ran away? “ Tracy asked believing that she had new information that had cracked the case wide open. Another mystery solved for detective Tracy.
“Yeah I guess so. Makes the most sense to me.” Sam broke off a small bite size piece of garlic bread and nibbled on it.
“But something else could have happened to him, right?” Whitney offered.
“I don’t know, I hardly knew him.”
“Dad seems to think you knew him.”
David perked up. “What? What I say?”
“You said you thought there was more going on between Sam and this Jamie guy.” Whitney refreshed the record.
“No I said Brian”
“But you said Jamie before.”
“I did? Oh! He turned back to Samantha. “Well, was there?”
“Dad, I just explained that all to you. You are destroying my popularity and giving me a bad reputation!”
“Well if you want a bad reputation, Just keep running around with all these guys. They will destroy more than your reputation, they will destroy your life. You’ll be known as the girl that fools around with anyone.”
“Honey!” Tracy stopped him. “ Can we just enjoy a meal without the ‘you’ll get pregnant before you graduate’ speech? I’m sure Sam will make the right decisions when the time comes. Right Sam?”
Sam nodded her head. Her face was red with embarrassment.
“Fine, Let’s talk about something else. Danny, what did you do in school today?”
Daniel’s eyes grew wide as he struggled to fill his fork with spaghetti. He quickly stuffed in as much as he could “hfmfmmming He replied.
David stared at Daniel blankly, “You must get that from your mother. “ He turned to Whitney. “Whitney, please tell me that your day did not involve boys in any way shape or form.”
“I don’t like boys daddy, They’re icky! “
“That’s my girl!” David smiled and took another bite of garlic toast.
Whitney giggled, as Sam gagged. “Just wait till you get older, Whit’” Sam spat, biting her fork.
Soon the plates were empty and the conversation ended. Tracy commanded everyone was responsible for removing their own plate to the kitchen and that it was Sam and Whitney’s turn to do the dishes. David and Tracy cleared off what was left of the bread and spaghetti and wrapped it up for Tuesday night leftovers. Daniel jumped down and ran to his room eager to avoid any unforeseen detail that might need an extra hand. David and Tracy wiped down the table then settled in by the television. Tracy recovered the paper from earlier that morning rereading the missing person article with new eyes and fresh facts. David flipped through the channels between animal planet, discover channel, and the history channel. In the kitchen, Samantha washed while Whitney dried.
“So this Jamie guy was not really your boyfriend?” Whitney asked
“No he wasn’t I only brought him home that one time. Why does everyone care about me and Jamie? I didn’t even like him that much. I only brought him over to help me with math ‘cause he lived close by.”
Whitney slowly wiped the plate dry. “Do you think dad thought he was your boyfriend?” She placed the plate on the rack.
“In case you have not noticed, Dad thinks every boy is my boyfriend! “ Sam was indignant. “I have never even had a boyfriend! “ She declared.
Whitney picked up another dish and rubbed it slowly. “Do you think Dad would have treated Jamie any different if he really thought he was really your boyfriend?”
“What are you talking about?” She turned toward Whitney “You see, This is why I don’t talk to you or Danny. Neither of you make any sense.”
“I mean do you think Dad would have done something to Jamie?”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Like maybe killed him and buried him in a refrigerator.”
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