A Perfect Summer

The scrolling comments in front of me were still recounting all of the bad things that my son, Theo Sterling, had done in the past. They said that he was rude, had a bad temper, selfish, and often bullied the other kids at preschool.

Before I could process my thoughts again, I heard some noise coming from next to me, and I quickly saw a chubby little boy thundering down the stairs. It might be some sort of intuition on my part, but I could tell at once that this little boy was my son, Theo.

I was sitting in the living room, but Theo didn't seem like he'd noticed me at all and ran straight for the fridge. The nanny, Fanny Smith, was chasing after him.

"Ah, Mr. Sterling Junior, you've already had three ice creams today! If you get another upset tummy because of another one, Mr. Sterling is going to get angry with me again!"

Theo pretended not to have heard her at all. So, Fanny just turned to me and gave me a pleading look.

"What's the point of the nanny looking at Ms. Fodder? She's the kid's biological mom, and she was absent for the last five years of his life. She's only going to side with him even more out of guilt."

"Honestly speaking, doesn't anyone think that the previous transmigrator was a fake? She was supposed to shower the kid with motherly love, but she only continued spoiling him rotten. And look what happened now?

"The kid's even more spoiled and terrible than before. He's so chubby that he doesn't even have the looks to redeem his character anymore!"

"You can really tell what a person is going to be like when they're older when you see them as a little child. I foresee the kid growing up to be a gambler, a playboy, and an abuser of his parents!"

"I'm not even going to feel sorry for the kid if he were to suffocate in his sleep."

At that, I finally couldn't hold it in anymore and said, "Theo Sterling, put that ice cream down."

I remember that this was the name my husband, Austin Sterling, had given him when I was eight months pregnant. We had thought that it was a cute yet proper name for our baby boy.

Theo just looked at me disdainfully and said, "You're so annoying! Mind your own business!"

Then, he shoved a huge bite of ice cream into his mouth defiantly. The ice cream smeared across half of his mouth, and his eyes that nearly disappeared under all the baby fat kept staring at me, narrowing slightly, like he was challenging me.

When he saw that I was still glaring at him, Theo then raised his hands and gave me two middle fingers. At once, I felt the anger well up inside me. Was I going to side with him and spoil him? Not a chance!

I grabbed hold of him and said, "Who taught you to do this? Where did you learn this from?"

"Let me go! Let me go!" Theo shouted. "If you don't let go of me, Daddy's going to smack you when he comes back!"

I scoffed. On the contrary, I felt like smacking Austin when he came back instead, for raising Theo into a child who behaved like this.

I told the dumbfounded Fanny to get me some tape from the study. Then, I grabbed hold of Theo's middle fingers and wrapped the rest of his fingers together in a fist.

He liked raising his middle fingers at other people, didn't he? Well then, he could keep them raised for the rest of the time.

Theo didn't cry or make a fuss. He just held his fists up and glared angrily at me.

"When Daddy comes back, I'm going to tell Daddy that you bullied me! You're never getting this month's allowance from him! You'll also never be able to buy any fancy jewelry anymore!" he yelled.

"When is your father coming back?" I asked.

Theo drew his lips in a line and refused to speak. I glanced at Fanny instead.

She replied, "Mr. Sterling is in Brookbay for a business trip, Mrs. Sterling. He should be coming back in a week."