The World of Passions 2

Chapter 3: What about the kids?

"So, what are you suggesting?"

"Are you asking me?" Gary Oak chuckled. "You're the guy who married a woman from the city and had five children with her; not me!"

"I don't really remember how it all happened." Ash took a sip of the wine bottle. "Either way, it worked."

"Here is an idea." Gary and Ash were in Gary's farmhouse, seated at a table of two. The two were supposed to share the bottle but Ash has taken control of it. He was under pressure, he said. "You wake up, pack your things and go."

"I don't really have things." Ash looked horrified. "I don't have things! I have nothing!"

"Okay, look." Gary grabbed the bottle and put it on the table. "Take your parents to the backyard and tell them, straight to the face; quickly: I'm moving to Viridian city."

Ash licked his lips. "What if they ask me why I want to move?"

"You married a woman from the city." Gary narrowed his eyes. "That's a lot harder than wanting to live alone."

"In the city."

"Okay! How about this: tell them you want to be near Ryan when he goes to college."

"I really want crackers to go with this drink." Ash grabbed the bottle and filled his glass.

"Do you even care?"

"I'm under pressure!" Ash groaned. "I drink and eat when I'm under pressure! I'm a father of five! Cut me some slack!"

"You're being a baby..." Gary grumbled and turned to look in front of him. In the horizon, the workers were picking up the mint. "Wouldn't you really miss this town?"

"I don't think I would." Ash shrugged. "I'd miss the fields and the cliff, though."

"Do you still go there? Jump?"

"Of course not." Ash let a chuckle. "I look like a potato. I'm keeping my shirt on until my last days, dude."

Gary laughed. He looked far away again, at the mint field. "Good old days."

Ash looked down at his glass of wine. He turned toward Gary and said, "Maybe I could miss this town a bit, after all."

"This is not the purpose of our initial conversation."

"It doesn't mean I wouldn't want to leave, though." Ash shrugged. "I want my kids to have options." He looked at his friend. "Like Misty."

"Yeah. She had options, made choices. She could order pizza too."

Ash chuckled. "Unlike us."

"Maybe." Gary looked at his glass of wine. "It's all about what the kids want."

"Who even knows what do they want?" Ash sighed. A little far away, he could see Ryan ride his bike quickly with a girl on the back wearing a short skirt that keeps going up because of the wind, making her giggle. "What if they want to stay here?"

"Your children?"

"Yeah. What if they like it here?"

"Are you trying to say that you've never asked them about their opinion on this before?"

Ash gulped.

"Uh, no?"