Why not? - English

12-10 The Caribbean Cookout

"Well Macolm, have you settled in well here?" I asked the police officer as I gave up chasing Radar and sat down next to him on the ruin wall.

"Absolutely, Sam. You were definitely right about one thing. It doesn't get boring in Pontypandy," he replied to me and we laughed briefly as we looked after Elvis and Garreth, as well as the wild men who were still trying to get Radar to take the sausages off of him.

"And you're sure you want to become a wild man?"

"Not really, but you have to do something to fit in in the community, right?" he objected skeptically. "Tom and Moose are pretty okay, it's just that their ideas are a bit...unconventional."

"Not to say crazy sometimes!"

"That's what you said, Sam!" he reprimanded me with a grin and winked at me.

"I'll definitely be relieved if you actually stick with them. They could use someone a little more down to earth to slow them down a bit. Speaking of slowing down, you should just get into the habit of putting the parking brake on your grill, especially when you're with them."

"I'll pay attention to that in the future. I promise, Sam!" he replied, raising two fingers as a silent promise.

We looked down the slope again when Elvis yelped. Apparently he and Tom had wanted to pounce on Radar. The Dalmatian was still running happily across the meadow with his prey and digger in tow. Tom, on the other hand, had landed on Elvis. We laughed briefly and shook our heads at their futile attempts to get something to eat.

"I think I'll call my sister and ask her if she can bring us something to eat. These sausages are a little too laced with dog drool and grass for me now, if you ask me," Malcolm objected and pulled out his phone to write a quick message to Helen.

“How is it that I was able to grow up with Helen without ever meeting you?” I then remembered the question that had been going through my head several times since Malcolm showed up in town.

“You surely remember that our parents lived separately, right?” he then asked me and I just nodded. That wasn't a secret. Especially since Helen had difficulty getting used to her mother's new boyfriend when she was around 11 years old. He was a nice guy, but as a child it was always difficult to accept a man other than your own father in the house. "I was only three years old at the time and our dad took me with him. I grew up with him. Our parents said at the time that it was better for a boy to be with his father and Helen should just stay with mum."

"So? Is that how it was?"

"I didn't have a bad time there. On the contrary. But of course I also missed my mother. But I was with her on some weekends and holidays, and Helen came to visit us as well. I had the bonus of having a great big sister, without the nerve factor, that my friends always told about having with their siblings. Helen and I always got along well. But probably only because we weren't always on each other's nerves."

“Well, you can do that now that you live in Pontypandy,” I said with a grin.

"True, but I think we've grown up enough now to stop hitting each other's heads when we don't agree," he replied with a cheeky grin.

"I really hope so!" I laughed and pulled out my cell phone, which vibrated in my pocket. Unfortunately for me, it was just a message from Mum saying we were meeting at the Cafe for dinner.

"Bad news?" Malcolm immediately asked me seriously and I looked at him questioningly before shaking my head. "You just looked like you were disappointed."

"I am a little bit. It was just my mother. We're having family dinner with Charlie and Bronwyn today."

“You would have rather done something else?”