Episode 1002: This Is Your Night

This was one of those moments where he wished he was pretentious enough to require his household staff to get the door. Actually, he was pretentious enough for that, it was his wife who had the idea that they should be self-sufficient to some extent, including opening their own doors. Hence, increasing the pain in his ankle at the same time as he was being reminded of what a pain in the neck his daughter could be.

“I needed help, your mother should have some compassion. I didn’t send wolves to collect you, I sent my driver who has a sterling reputation. I guarantee he’s a better driver than your moth-”

“Insult my mom and I won’t stay.”

“You’ll let Walter be traumatized for life?”

Tansy frowned at him.

“I shouldn’t have criticized your mother, but my ankle pain has me a little cranky. I’m sure her driving has greatly improved since she backed into our garage without actually raising the door first.”

Tansy giggled. “I didn’t know about that.”

“See, you can tell her you learned an interesting fact so spending time with your grandfather isn’t ruining you despite what your mother says.”

“She’s almost okay about me working for you now since it’s been awhile and I haven’t shown any signs of turning into a mini-you. It’s the whole on a school night thing that she’s really mad about.”

“It gave me pause, too,” Phillip said. “Please relay that to your your mother, I didn’t want to disrupt your schedule, it’s very important to be alert and ready for school. I wouldn’t have called you here had I been able to get in touch with the first options I tried. Unfortunately, Walter was unable to schedule his breakdown for the weekend.”

“He’s really that bad off? Where is he?”

“At the back of our closet,” her grandmother said, coming down the stairs. “He’s whimpering and shivering and I don’t know what to do for him, which is beyond frustrating and alarming for a professional caregiver. I’m so glad you’re here, Tansy, Walter adores you and – Phillip! Why are you on your feet? I told you to rest your ankle.”

“You’re the one who insists on us opening doors, not me.”

“Well, I don’t want you opening doors when it could hurt your ankle worse than that dog already managed thanks to idiots and their leftover Halloween firecrackers.”

“I’ll go up and check on him, see if I can calm him,” Tansy said.

“Thank you. Now Phillip, please, sit down,” Katherine said.

Moments later, with Tansy already upstairs, something potentially fortuitous happened, something that might help Phillip solve the mystery of what was going on with his granddaughter. The doorbell rang again. He hadn’t planned for them to cross paths, they were both simply calls he’d made in an effort to help the dog. But perhaps, in the end, this night might help him out, too, and more importantly, Tansy.

Episode 1003: Total Eclipse Of The Heart