Bonding Time Who: Jo, Mal and Henry Where: The Beach House When: Saturday, July 7th
True to his word, as soon as the sun rose Mal went out and brought the family a few extra blankets, then went home to collect his tools and bought some timber and a sealer for some cracks in the walls at the beach house. True, the place was a rental, but he knew the owner and had called him the night before to get permission to make some repairs. The owner had promised that he could have the place for two weeks next time for free, so it wasn't like his labor was for nothing.
Right now he and his son, Henry, were working on nailing some new floorboards that were rotted. "Now, you have to pay attention, especially when it comes to tools that have the potential to hurt you," he said to his son, handing over the hammer to him so he could hammer in a nail. He held the nail down himself, not wanting Henry to hurt himself.
Joanna had, with a bit of reluctance, permitted Nora to take her car into town. Hurley and Jackie of course insisted on going with as there was more to do in town than at the beach house. Joanna only hoped that they would all stay together without adult supervision.
“Now this would make for a nice family picture.” Joanna voiced softly as she stood within the open doorway, leaning slightly against the frame. She had indulged herself with a view for a few seconds before announcing her presence to her husband and son.
Mal looked over at Joanna and smiled, just as Henry struck down with the hammer... miraculously missing all of his digits. Mal looked back to Henry and nodded. "Alright, good. Give it one more hit for me," he said to the boy.
“Be careful.” Jo cautioned her son as she glanced past her husband’s shoulder toward the boy. While Malcolm gave their son a little more leeway, Jo went into mother mode. While she would never prevent Henry from helping his father with repairs or building anything, she couldn’t help worry when he did. And her worry tended to bleed over into her cautioning the boy when he worked with his father.
"Just focus," Mal assured the boy, giving him a nod to say that he trusted him. Even if Henry missed, Mal would rather it were his fingers involved than Henry's. A serious expression crossed his son's face and he struck down with the hammer again, hitting the nail. Mal moved his hand away from it, letting Henry strike it at will. "You're good," he said to the boy, "a natural carpenter."
“Even natural carpenters have mishaps.” Jo pointed out, then quickly pushed on to something else as she didn’t want this to turn into some kind of conflict of interest thing. They raised their children together, and Joanna wasn’t about to over-ride something that Mal seemed to think was a learning experience. “The girls went into town, so I thought I’d come in here and see if you hard working men needed refreshments or anything.” They had been working on the floor for a bit, after all.
It was true that Henry wasn't immune to being hurt, but Mal didn't tell the boy that, since his mother had just expressed as much. Once the nail was firmly in the floorboard, the boy put the hammer down and Mal took the chance to pick him up and toss him over one shoulder as they got to their feet. "A drink sounds good!" He said with a groan, soon whirling the boy around on the spot a few times. "I think that we're done for the day."
“Just when I think I only have three children.” Jo smirked playfully with a slight shake of her head. While her husband might complain of “being old”, he certainly seemed to be full of enough energy to match that of their children. “Come on,” she said with a wave of her hand as if guiding the way, “I’ll get you two something to drink in the kitchen and then wipe up a couple of sandwiches.”
Mal followed after Jo, still carrying Henry over his shoulder. While he had a lot of energy right now, he usually didn't when he came home from a hard day at work. It was possible that he did have the same energy stores as the kids, though.
Jo got drinks for her boys once they all made it to the kitchen. After which she set to making sandwiches for all of them. Henry served his when she was done with a whole pickle on the side. “So, what other projects to you have planned for this afternoon?” The question actually directed to both Mal and Henry, both Jo took a small drink of her water.
Henry told her that they planned to make a giant sand castle at the beach, then they were gonna come inside and watch Ghostbusters before bed. "You're welcome to supervise with the sand castle building," Mal told her with a sheepish smile.
“Sounds like you have quite the fun afternoon all planned out.” Joanna replied with a smile to her son. “I think I can trust you with sand building, as long as no sharp instruments are involved.” She teased, sending her husband a cute little smile. Maybe she could invite her sister to do something a little bit later, maybe a drive into town for a little antiquing.
"No, no sharp instruments involved," Mal told her, finally setting Henry back down on the ground and ruffling the boys hair. "And after that I plan to sleep. A lot," he said to Henry, yawning loud and stretching for effect. He used to say the same thing to the girls so he and Jo could stay in bed a little longer the following day. He had some success with that. Henry just rolled his eyes.