Page 554 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
as the laissez-faire father of the year, closed my eyes, as I am known to do when I’m considering a question of deep complexity, then opened them, and responded with “No.” And that one word ended our talk.
At some other point, our exchange was a bit different. “Dad, I’d like to pierce my ear.” That was disposed of by my saying, “Okay, but if you do, I’ll start wearing an earring also.”
Finally, and perhaps the best evidence of paternal psychology, was our exchange when Peter returned from an auto trip with a girlfriend to Binghamton. As I recall, Peter was a relatively new driver at the time, and I had laid down some restrictions that he had agreed to before he left. As he walked in the door, having completed the two-day journey, I—for some reason, knowing nothing about what he had done when he was free from parental spying—chose to put on a very stern face. I greeted him and immediately looked squarely in his eye and said with a you-better-come-clean tone, “Okay. Tell me all about it.” Whereupon Peter, without hesitation, and assuming that I somehow knew how he had not conducted himself in a manner completely consistent with the rules that I had tried to impose, came clean, blurting out a description of all of his transgressions during the trip.
Peter, like all of the other children, had his botched automotive adventures during those years. First was the time when, backing out of the driveway of his friend Eric Flisser, he must have come in contact with the side of another neighbor’s car. Not only did this result in some minor (no pun intended) damage, but it also led to a very hysterical woman barging into our house through an open door, seeking out the father of the miscreant to demand recompense on the spot. I don’t remember the substance of the conversation, but it is probable that I said that the damage could be easily repaired and that there was such a thing as insurance companies, but, to this day, Peter says that I stood up for him and had his back. This makes me feel proud, but I don’t know exactly what I did to earn his plaudits.
Peter’s other automotive adventure involved his ill-planned but well-intended attempt to teach both Rachel and David how to drive using a stick shift. This he did by using my beloved Acura Legend and a
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