The Humdrum Life of a Hero

Chapter 4.

Chilly, October mornings like this are ones I crave and loathe at the same time. I crave it because I love fall. It's my favorite season out of all four due to the craziness of Halloween and the dramatic drop of temperature. But I loathe it because of chilly, October, Saturday mornings like this one in which we all, well the twins and I, get up around eight in order to get to their soccer game on time.

Eight o'clock wouldn't be so bad for someone who slept all night, but when Tony is out practically all night, I have to stay up until he comes home. And last night turned into a two a.m, shopping channel night for me, but at least he wasn't drunk, and we won't have to go retrieve his car later on.

I pull into a parking space unfortunately far from the soccer fields, but we are running just a few minutes behind this morning. I shoo the boys out of the car, wanting them to go warm up as soon as possible. I watch them run off to the fields. I sit in the car a minute longer, willing my eyes to stay open at least for the next hour or so. I finally open the driver's door and shuffle out of the car. I grab a blanket and slowly make my way to the entrance.

I find a seat on the small sets of bleachers when I realize how many times I sit on bleachers during the week.

The boys and I only attend Tony's home games because I don't really want to drive an hour there and an hour back. On the other hand, the twins always play at the same place every Saturday morning, so there's no way I get out of that one.

I shiver when a blast of cold air hits my face, even though I've got my hood tucked up and over my ears. I wrap the blanket around me and watch the boys warm up. I wonder how none of them are freezing cold because they have less clothes on than I do. I have on jeans, a long-sleeve shirt with a hoodie, and thick socks on, while they have on shorts and t-shirts though some of them, especially mine, have long-sleeve sleeves on under their jerseys.

If they are cold, they don't act like it. They just continue to run around like they just snorted a pixie stix.

The sun starts to peak out from behind the clouds when they kick-off. Nick almost pushes a kid down while gaining the kick-off. Nick's still a little peeved at me for ruining his almost-first kiss last week, so he's been more aggressive than usual.

Technically it's my fault that kid almost hit the dirt.

But I stand firm with my decision to reprimand him. He's nine for God's sake. I'm seventeen and I still haven't kissed anyone. Trust me, he's got plenty of time, but Tony doesn't seem to see it that way because when he came home later that night he said that I should let the kid live a little.

"And what? Have him knock-up some girl when he's in high school?" I shook my head and put it in my hands. "I'm already raising them. I don't need to raise their offspring too."

"He's not going to knock-up some girl."

"If we don't set an example that his behavior is wrong now, there's a very good chance he'll think it's okay later on," I reasoned.

Tony laughed and said, "Holding hands and kissing aren't bad things, Sarah."

"I know that, but that behavior is basically a gateway drug to sex."

"And what parenting book did you read that in?" He smirked. I glared at him because at least I read them. I tried to be the best parent I could be at seventeen. "Look, Sarah, just lighten up a bit, maybe? I mean we've all been through a lot, them maybe more than us, and a little crush won't hurt him in the long run, I promise."

Tony had a point, but I still think I did the right thing by punishing him, even if it was just embarrassing him in front of his friends and not letting him watch a movie with Connor and I.