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Danny the Disrespectful Kid
An Excerpt
By Elizabeth Pantley
Danny's smart enough to read her warning sign, but not wise enough to understand the social impact of his rude manners. A sarcastic and belabored "Plllleeeeeease" spills out just below his wrinkled nose. Mom brings him a glass of milk, napkin and plate. "I only asked for milk," Danny grumbles. He tosses little muffin paper basketballs across the room toward the trashcan, decidedly blowing the three-pointers and littering the floor. As his mother cleans up crumbs and papers, she looks over at him and suggests, "Why don't you start reading the book until dinner's ready?"
Danny sighs and rolls his eyes. "I just got home. Gimme a break here."
His mother takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "But, honey, you're already behind on it ... "
Danny gives her a look that says he thinks she's stupid. "Would you shut up with the book already?"
Shocked and finally, deeply humiliated, his mother's eyes widen with the sting of her son's meanness. "Don't talk to me that way, young man. I want you to sit down and read some of that book. I don't know why you always wait until the very last minute to get started on your projects. Then you stay up 'til midnight trying to finish, and you end up rushing ... " She glances up to see Danny's back as he's walking out of the room.
On his way out, spoken in a very loud voice obviously for her benefit, she hears "Yadda, yadda, yadda," followed by the din of the TV.
"Danny!" Mom calls, "Don't sit down in front of that TV yet. Come set the table!"
"Why do I always have to do it?" he yells to no one in particular. And that is the end of that. From the volume he's turned up on the TV, it's obvious to his mother that she'll be setting the table again tonight and that all discussion on any subject is over. Mom roughly grabs a pile of plates off the counter and slams them on the table, complaining (to herself, I suppose), "I don't know why you can't be more polite and helpful ... "