The tutors settled in and everyone fell into a routine. Jordan was allowed to leave under supervision, against which she of course rebelled. She hated the mandate from her father that she couldn’t leave alone.
April became May; May became June. The boys had all been informed that David and Brie were having a small house built on the property for them to stay in that would act as a command center if need be. Jake and Delilah were trusted with the keys. Jake would see that his parents received them when need be. The house may have belonged to Jacob, but the property was still in David’s name. No one complained that Dad had decided to build a little vacation spot on the property. It was his land after all.
Marc was always willing to play with military grade technology, so he was more than happy to help Morbus wire his parents’ little cottage in the middle of the property.
Jake and Delilah were charged with making sure that the cottage was stocked with what their parents would need. Jake was given a grocery list which he passed on to Delilah. Delilah took Maddie and Kenna with her and they helped make sure that the pantries were stocked. The fridge was full, and the liquor cabinet was well stocked. Certain vintages of wine were removed from the wine cellar and take to the house so that their father could indulge some nights. Surely, he wouldn’t indulge every night, right? Little did David’s children know, but he surely would and so would their mother. Brie’s new motto in life was, You only live once, so why not enjoy yourself? When Jake questioned her, she said, “Jacob, I am going to be 70 years old the day after your father and I arrive there. As long as I’m careful, my doctor won’t give me too much hell and that young man decides to pick a fight with me, I’ll put him over my knee and bust his ass just like I still will you.” Jake had laughed.
So, everything was ready for his parents arrival. And, there were two young children that were celebrating the prospect. Ezekiel and Miriam were both beyond excited. Gramma was coming to town and she was going to spend their birthday with them. Miri talked her daddy’s ear off for an entire week before Gramma and Grampa were to arrive. “Daddy, do you think that Gramma and Grampa will let me and Zeke stay out at their house the for our birthday?”
“You’ll have to ask them when they get here, Miri. I can’t say either way. Gramma and Grampa will be tired when they get here, baby girl, so you might have to wait until your birthday to ask.”
“Can you ask when you call Grampa tonight?”
“No, Miriam. If you want to know, you will be the one to ask.”
Even though she was her father’s little princess, she still knew that when Dad got a certain tone in his voice, she wasn’t to push. She knew that she had to do as she was told. She straightened up and nodded. “Yes, sir.” And she would pester him again the next day.
Finally, David and Brie arrived. They were jet lagged, but still hung out with their grand children for a little bit before taking their leave and going out to their little cottage/ command center. Morbus would give them the grand tour later and show them what all gadgets they had and how everything worked. For the time, they knew that there was a single switch on the wall that turned their little house into a Watch Tower. Miri and Zeke both asked their grandparents then if they could spend the night the following night. “Gramma, Grampa, can we stay with you guys tomorrow night?” Miri asked.
“What do your parents say?” David asked his grandchildren.
“My dad told me to ask you and Mama agreed”, Miri said.
“Same with my parents”, Zeke echoed.
Brie looked to the children’s parents- Jake for Miri and Makayla for Ezekiel. They both gave a nod. Brie looked at her grandchildren. “We’ll see how well you both behave tomorrow and if your parents still feel that you deserve it, then Grampa and I will discuss it as a birthday present. Ok?”
The children both nodded and went about their business playing. Jake looked at his parents. “You have no idea how much that little girl has begged me to let he stay out there with you tomorrow night”, he said with a chuckle.
“Same with Zeke”, Makayla added. “Two weeks, I’ll swear it.”
Brie laughed. “I’m not at all surprised.” She looked over at David. “Are you ready to go, love. I’m fading fast.”
He yawned and nodded. “Me too. God, I hate this being in my 70’s shit. Makes me feel old sometimes.”
Their children all laughed. “Are you saying you’re old, Dad?” Marc asked.
“Did I say, ‘I’m getting old’, Christopher?”
“No.”
“No, I didn’t, I said that being 73 makes me feel old. I am not now, nor will I ever be old. As your mother has said on several occasions, I’m not old, I’m well seasoned. Now, Jacob, if you would be so kind and to show your mother and I to our little getaway house so that we can get some rest, it will be greatly appreciated. We will see you all in the morning after we’ve eaten breakfast and I’ve properly wished your mother a happy birthday.” And with that, they took their leave of their children.
Jake kissed his wife and told her he’d return shortly. “Are we ready to go?” Jake asked as he grabbed a couple four wheeler keys and handed one to his father.
“Yep. Morbus took our luggage out to the house after he dropped us here.” David took the key from his son. “You know where the place is. I told Morbus to scout a place and surprise us.”
Jake cracked a smile. “Then allow me to show you out to your little one bedroom cottage.”
---------------
When they were finally in their little cottage and Jake had shown them which switch was to turn on the lights, David and Brie both collapsed on their bed. They were exhausted. They needed rest… not that they would really know the meaning on the word on this trip. They had testy, whiney adult children who were going to press on their nerves. They were in their 70’s. Weren’t their days of raising their children over?
“David, do you think our children are ever going to grow the hell up and stop bitching when shit doesn’t go their way?”
He sighed. “There are a couple that have. Jake’s handling everything fairly well.”
She nodded. “I’m very proud of him. He and Jeremiah are doing remarkably well in stepping into leadership positions.”
“That they have. I’m just waiting for Jordan to do something stupid.”
“We both know she will, but David, we can’t be too hard on her. She is an adult now.”
“If she puts herself in harm’s way, that’s one thing. But to endanger others in the family is another.”
“I agree. Let’s just see how all of this plays out. That’s really all we can do seeing as we’re here for the duration and we’re not as young as we used to be.”
He chuckled. “I bet I could still out shoot each and every one of our boys.”
“Do you really think that any of our children will allow it though? We’re not in our thirties and forties anymore, love.”
He sighed. “I know, damn it. And I hate it.”
“You think I enjoy it?” She pressed a finger to his lips. “Keep it to yourself. I don’t want to hear it. We should be resting because we have two grandchildren that are going to want to sleep out here with us if they can behave themselves. Let’s go to sleep for a little while, then we can get up and eat something, and we’ll figure out what we’re going to do from there.”
He smiled at her. “Ok. We’ll go to sleep.” He reached out and grabbed his phone. “What time do you want to get up?”
“In about 3 hours. Just a little nap.”
He set an alarm and smiled. “Your wish is my command. Let’s get some sleep, love.”
---------------
The rest of the night was uneventful on both fronts. David and Brie napped off and on throughout the night. When they woke up at dawn, David properly wished his wife happy birthday and took all morning to do so. They stopped long enough for him to make them breakfast, then he went right back to making love to her. It was a hell of a 70th birthday.
After eating lunch, showering, and getting dressed, David and Brie headed into the main house to see what was going on to spend time with the two children having birthdays. When they walked into the kitchen, they heard incessant bitching and saw Jake resting his head in his hands. He had started shaking. David opened his mouth to say something, but Jake beat him to it. “Would you all just shut the fuck up? Shit. Act your fucking ages for the love of God.” He then looked at his twin. “God damn it, Jordan. You’re 35 years old. Stop acting your fucking shoe size and just do as you’re being asked. Now, if you want to act like a dumb ass and risk your children losing one of their mother’s feel free, but don’t put the rest of us as risk. Just because you don’t think there’s a threat doesn’t mean that there isn’t.” He looked at his younger brother James. “And you, fucking instigating this shit. Is that all you can do is bitch, James Matthew? You’re 28, God damn it. Fucking act it.” Then, finally, he turned his attention to Marc. “Marc, really? At 25 you’re no more mature than this bull shit? Really? For God’s sake, I would have thought that being the only of us boys not born during the War would let you know that this shit is serious. Someone is out to kill Malachai and Jordan. Someone wants Reckless Disregard to be no more just like the Utopians wanted Disturbed to be no more. And you’re all sitting here bitching? Make the best of a bad situation and get along, or just shut the fuck up.” Jake stood and started for the back door when he saw his parents.
David and Brie both stood speechlessly for a few brief moments, then started applauding. “Shit, boy, you took the words right out of my mouth”, he said with a chuckle. He then turned his attention to his children. “What the fuck? You’re all acting like a bunch of children. Hell, your children don’t bitch nearly as much as you all are. I know your mother and I raised you better than that. So, I think Mom and I are going to hang out with the your kids, who have been acting a hell of a lot more mature than their parents are. Right, Mama?” She nodded wordlessly so that he could continue. “When you can all act like adults, let me know.” He took his wife’s hand and they went into the living room to play with their grandchildren… all 23 that were present, and to wish two certain children a happy birthday.
---------------
Jake followed his parents into the living room where they were greeting their grandchildren. Miri and Zeke were getting birthday hugs from Gramma while Grampa was trying to get out from under the pile of grandkids that jumped on him the moment his ass touched the couch. Although his father was laughing, Jake knew something had to be done. “HEY!” he barked. “If Grampa didn’t say it was OK to climb all over him, then back the hell off.”
The children complained but started to climb off of David. “Ok you guys, two at a time. I only have two arms and there are 20 some odd of you and only one of me.” He waved the two birthday kids over and gave them hugs, wishing them happy birthday then moved on to the other grandkids. Finally, greeting the grandkids was done, and they all ran off to eat lunch. David sighed and sat back against the couch, wrapping his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Now that that’s over with”, he laughed. “What seems to be on your mind, Jake? Other than the fact that your brothers and sisters are constantly bitching about having to be here.”
Jake sat in one of the arm chairs and sighed. “They act like they can’t go anywhere; like this is just like when we were all kids and there was a war outside out front door. They can leave and do whatever. They can take their kids to the park. I would just prefer that no one leave the house alone unless they have no choice. It’s a safety precaution. And they’ve been bitching about the same fucking thing over and over again for the last two months. It’s rather tiresome. I just snapped.”
“And you channeled your father”, his mother laughed.
Jake chuckled. “I noticed.” He sighed. “On to another topic. Dad, are you still doing that twitter thing?”
“Yeah, occasionally. I like to stay close to the fans if I can. Just because Disturbed isn’t recording anymore doesn’t mean that I can’t drop them a line and answer questions every now and then”, David said with a nod.
“I noticed the last time I was on your page that some of them are like militant trying to figure out when you’re going back into the studio.”
“And your mother is quick to put them in their place.”
The look on Jake’s face quickly became one of shock. “Seriously, Mom?”
“Oh yeah. And there’s always the fan that thinks that he’s typing it and gets shitty with him. It’s an endless
cycle of stupid people.”
“Example?”
“This one douche that seems to always be on your Dad’s page trying to get what he thinks of as insider information about the band asked Dad once, So, what’s the story? Dad says, What do you mean?, in his usual all caps style. Douche replies, When is Disturbed going back into the studio? It’s been five years. Well, this was enough for me. I was sitting next to Dad as he was going to reply, so I snatched the computer from him and answered for him. I said, Never, that’s when! I stole him away and that’s all you get. The fans had him for 40 years… it’s MY turn now- Mrs. D. I turned off the caps lock of course so that people would know it wasn’t your father saying it.”
“Wow Mom. Selfish much?”
“These days, very much so. I spent the first 30 years of our marriage letting him do what he does to entertain the masses and encourage them, help them gain catharsis through his lyrics. Now that he’s retired I’m going to be as selfish as I can be and keep him all to myself.”
“And I take it that people don’t like that Mom’s answer didn’t go over well?”
His father shook his head. “Not at all. I had fans tweeting back that I didn’t have to pretend to be my wife to say no, or that your mother had no right to be so rude. Better yet, that I didn’t have to be so rude. I responded back, IF YOU DON’T LIKE WHAT’S SAID ON MY PAGE, FEEL FREE TO LEAVE. MY WIFE CAN SAY WHATEVER SHE WANTS… SHE’S EARNED IT. And that was one of the nicer responses.”
“What’s an example of the less kind ones?”
“WHAT PART OF I’VE BEEN RETIRED FOR 5 YRS DON’T YOU GET?! NO MORE STUDIO, JUST TIME WITH MY WIFE. DON’T LIKE IT, FUCK OFF. I DON’T REALLY CARE. I'll go on to say, MY WIFE IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR APPROVAL. I'M STILL THERE FOR THE FANS, BUT SHE'S MY #1.”
Jake laughed. “Nice! Leave it to you to put fans in their place when they get shitty with Mom.”
“Your Mom was more than patient with my career. Now that I’m not recording and touring anymore, I’m going to spend as much time with her as I possibly can. The militant Disturbed fans are going to have to get the fuck over it. Your Uncles and I aren’t going back in the studio. It’s time for us to be with our wives rather than trying to figure out what’s next. There’s nothing left for Disturbed to accomplish. We’ve pretty much done it all and then some. It’s time for bands like Reckless Disregard, Crosshairs, Wrought Iron and other bands I’m not mentioning to carry the torch now. If the fans don’t like it, tough shit.”
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