In one single night, Thomas had many firsts. His first time sneaking out of the house. His first unchaperoned party. His first beer. His first time being drunk. His first time making out with a girl. First time sleeping with one. His first time coming home well past curfew. His first time blacking out. It would be weeks before he discovered the final first; getting someone pregnant. Many months down the road, his first and only child was born. Little Gerald. And all before he had even graduated high school.
The mother was a stranger from another school who only carried the baby to term out of a moral obligation. Only then did she disown him, giving Thomas full custody. Apparently, an education at Princeton was more important than raising a child. An education that Thomas couldn't get himself. Not with a little one to care for. Instead, he found a job straight out of school, working long hours to earn a living. Having a healthy network of family to help raise his son in those early years certainly helped.
Ten years later, and he had a place to call his own, and a new job where he could work remotely so he didn't need to rely on anyone's help. It was just Gerald and Thomas against the world. Which could be a struggle at times. It didn't help that Gerald had been given an ADHD diagnosis, forced onto him by a "concerned individual" at school. He didn't believe in labeling kids with such absolutism. He's just a rambunctious, energetic boy. That's what boys are like. And now he was expected to medicate him to keep him in normal classes and not thrown into the special needs pit.
Thomas complied for the most part. Until he discovered a workaround that aligned with his views. It was all thanks to Josie's Home Life, one of the parenting podcasts he kept up with. She'd mentioned an all natural Asian herbal supplement that was perfect for ADHD afflicted kids. Granted, it wasn't designed with that in mind, but it improved attention spans and calmed busy minds without any of the nasty chemicals and medical mumbo jumbo those quack doctors wanted you to ingest. And best of all, it was available to buy on Henka's marketplace for a fraction of the price of his son's medication.
It was a no-brainer really. He'd been giving Gerald the supplements every day for the past four months, and the results spoke for themselves. He seemed more well behaved, less off-the-walls energetic, and he threw far less tantrums. He was even well disciplined and focused in school. Going to a parents evening where the teacher praised his improvement in classwork and didn't even once mention the words "dog in diapers" had Thomas feeling like the best parent the world.
There were off days, of course. Even that so-called medicine wasn't 100% effective at handling Gerald's peak energy times. So it wasn't the biggest betrayal when Henka's magic tablets couldn't get a grip on his son. Sometimes he considered upping the dose when that happened, but the peculiar side effects had him err on the side of caution. It sounded ludicrous, but he didn't want to tempt fate. They just had to wait it out a day and he'd be right as rain the following morning.
That is, until today. Thomas had invited everyone from work to attend a dinner party. This would be his first time meeting most of the team in person, so he had to get those first impressions just right. He'd even invited the boss, and this was his best chance to get in her good books. If all goes well, he could be looking at a healthy bonus. But if it went wrong? Well, he'd rather not think about it.
With only 6 hours before guests arrived, a Gerald-cane had swept through the home. Paper and felt tip markers scattered across the dining room table, a drawing of Sonic left abandoned along with a half-eaten bowl of the soggiest Cornflakes caked in sugar. A pile of dirty laundry was dumped at the foot of the stairs instead of in a basket in the laundry room. Globs of failed cake batter painted the kitchen walls. And there in the center of the living room with the TV on full blast was Gerald surrounded by hundreds of LEGO bricks building a mismatched disaster of a castle, blissfully unaware of the chaos he'd brought about.
