Daniel: No Mom, I don’t want to come home right now. Can’t you just tell me over the phone?

Tina: No, Daniel, I will not have this conversation over the phone. If you want our explanation, you will either come home right now or you can wait until tomorrow. That is your choice. In the meantime, I suggest you calm down and get yourself together.  You are a guest in the Wilkins’ home. You need to be a good guest and not go into some tantrum over some misunderstanding you are having with your parents at this particular moment. If you want answers tonight, I will be there in about 15 minutes. What do you want to do?

Daniel: If I come home, can I come back?

Tina: No. If I come and get you, you are home for the weekend.

Daniel: Okay, I’ll wait until tomorrow.

Tina: Daniel, you need to put this out of your mind for tonight. You need to calm yourself and be a good guest. If you do not think you can be a good guest, then we will come and get you.  If you are too upset to sleep or watch the movie or whatever you two are planning on doing, we will come and get you. We love you Daniel and we want what is best for you and for John David too. So, do you think you can put this aside for tonight and behave like a gentleman?

Daniel:  Yes. I don’t want to come home tonight. I’ll come home at the regular time tomorrow. I’m a better now that I know you and Mama are going to talk to me about it. Yes, I can be a gentleman.

Tina: Okay, you get some sleep tonight and we will see you sometime after lunch. Okay?

Daniel: I love you, Mom. I love Mama too. Goodnight.

Tina:  I love you too, Daniel. Sleep well.

Tina then went back over to the group and asked Bette to step into the study so she could relate the phone call to her. Once she told Bette why Daniel called, Bette was little angry as well.

Bette: Maybe you should have insisted that he come home.

Tina: Bette, he is just beginning puberty. If we bring him home every time he has an emotional outburst, he will never leave the house until he is twenty-one. I believe that this conversation was between him and I. I don’t think he’s involved anyone else. But I was not going to have the conversation over the phone and certainly not without you present. Anyway, by the end of the conversation, he seemed to have calmed down and was not insistent on an instant answer.